January 24th Assignment

The auditorium classrooms and the 80 or so fellow classmates were the epitome of my Freshman and Sophomore years. At least here at South, that is how it is like when you have to take the same generic classes that everyone else has to take too. Once you get farther into your major, with your more concentrated classes, the classrooms get smaller and you get fewer classmates. I believe that the material that you actually need to focus on is when you get into your more concentrated classes and not so much in the bigger, generic ones. This movie did capture my college experience but only for the first two years. Not all classrooms are like the big ones where the students get lost in the crowd either.
Honestly, I had to stop the video half way through because I got motion sick from it. All of the moving around was constant and didn't really give much time to make any emphasis on the words. I thought it could have been a little bit more like the "Did You Know? 3.0" video we watched and not been all real video. It was a bit depressing for me and if I were going to be a Freshman in college next year, I would not be excited at all. This video makes it seem like all colleges are a waste of time and money when I think that I have gotten a lot done here at South. It gets a really good message out about how some kids aren't getting much from their class experience in college but I think it makes college out to be awful for everyone, everywhere.


I thought that Kelly Hines' post "It's Not About the Technology" hit the nail right on the head. She made several points on how a teacher can have an effective and positive impact on his/her students. I personally like the one labeled, "Teachers must be learners". I will always remember this because I believe that even when we become certified teachers, we will never stop learning. I do not think that anyone stops learning up until their final day on Earth. Everyone knows of the quote, "You learn something new everyday"! Well it is definitely true especially with all of the technology that is expanding with each new day.
Another point that Mrs. Hines made is critical I think when becoming a new teacher. "Technology is useless without good teaching." I totally believe this point because technology is such an important factor in learning these days and can sometimes be confusing. So it is important for every teacher to be technology savvy in order to get their lessons across to their students. Not only is technology useless without good teaching, but anything is useless without good teaching. How would any of us understand long-division or how to write in cursive if we didn't have a teacher that was able to get us to understand it. If there isn't a good, tech-savvy teacher in the room with one of our new Smart boards, how in the world will we be able to figure that thing out?!


I think that it is quite bold of Mr. Fisch to be so honest in his post, but I like it! It is SO true that people should want to learn how to be technologically literate and be proud that they are. I dont understand either when people say that they aren't good at certain things and dont care if they are or aren't. My mom is not very good with certain programs that I find easy, like Word. I usually have to help her if she needs to email a document that is saved on the computer, or write and save a document on the computer, or figure out little problems (that are easy to me to figure out) that she can't fix. I do not know how I would feel if I had kids later on in life and was unable to figure something out on the computer and they had to show me how.
I also agree with the post from Terry Freedman that he added to his post. I like how he created a list with who should be technologically literate. He also stated in some that if they were not, that they should find other jobs. It is important that everyone related to the future of the kids today is literate with technology because they need anyone's help that they can get. This is a very well stated post and pushes the right buttons. It puts the issue out there so that people can read and wonder if they are in the right career based on their literacy in technology. The fact that some people in the school systems aren't literate with technology shouldn't be hidden anymore and this post is a great way of getting the truth out.


I was unable to see the 'Gary Hayes Social Media Count' link with my computer...but I will try again soon and add to this post with my answer.