Prompt #5

I find the issue of keeping the same kinds of libraries we have now in schools very interesting. I personally believe that OF COURSE we should continue to keep our libraries open to all students just the way they are. Libraries are the perfect place to study, research, and to simply just relax. I think for a lot of kids the library is the only place they can get work or studying done at their full potential; especially if their home life isn't the best situation. It is true that maybe we can make some adjustments to libraries to incorporate newer technologies, but all in all, I would hate to see the wonderful libraries we have now disappear.

Prompt #4

There are a couple technology ideas on the horizon that really stand out to me that teachers should prepare for. One of my favorites is game- based learning. I believe that with the amount of online and video games students are already playing today at home, having lessons available to learn through games in the classroom would be extremely appealing to them. As young students continue to delve more and more into the gaming world, instructors should be delving more and more into researching better ways to keep their students' interest sparked with learning games. The other technology I feel will be important for teachers to keep up with is iPhone apps. New iPhone apps come out every day and, as a student myself, I can honestly say that a lot of the new educational apps are quite helpful. If instructors were to be on the constant lookout for new apps in education, students would have the opportunity to use these even at home.

Prompt #3

The evolution of technology integrated into society and into the classroom has greatly impacted me throughout the years. One of the main things I remember from first starting off in kindergarden is when our teacher would wheel in an old big television on an AV cart and pop a tape into the VCR for us to watch. Over the next couple years the TVs got smaller, VCRs became DVD players, and eventually there were flat screen TVs already installed in every classroom. When I got to high school, the videos ceased to be played on the classroom TV, but instead on an individual computer for each student to watch at their own pace. Even growing up with all these changes it still managed to shock me that by my senior year in high school we were each given our own iPad from a classroom set used in class to watch the same videos on. It seems now that even in just my own short few years in school, I witnessed some of the worlds most major changes in technology. I know that I, as well as growing students today, will continue to be amazed at the future of technology and it's integration into the classroom.

Prompt #2

To achieve the first educational standard, Creativity and Innovation, I would incorporate designing personal web pages into the students curriculum. This would allow each student to be creative and come up with their own ideas for whatever they want web pages to look like. One way that Communication and Collaboration could be taught is by having the students create Google Docs to work on projects together outside of class. This would let the students communicate better online and teach how to use programs like this that will keep all of their work organized and in one place. Research and Information Fluency is extremely important for students and could easily be helped along with the use of library databases. Teaching the students how to use and navigate this kind of data base should be a top priority for instructors. To teach students Critical Thinking, Decision Making, and Problem solving, I would incorporate teaching the students how to digitally conduct experiments or surveys and also how to record and graph their results. Digital Citizenship could be taught by introducing students to online news websites and blogs such as these. After achieving the first 5 educational standards it would be very simple to make sure that students understood Technology Applications and Concepts because it would be incorporated into all previous lessons.

Prompt #1

I can honestly say that I was shocked by both videos. "Did You Know" surprised me in all the ways that technology is growing so fast and exponentially. It also brought to my attention that the U.S. is seemingly falling behind in this technology climb. Not only are we falling short population wise to places like China and India, but we are now falling short to their intelligence as well due to technological advances in society and culture. After viewing "Pay Attention," I also realized that our educational system is maybe falling short to these other countries because teachers are falling short on the kinds of technology they use in the classroom. I hate to agree with the video because a lot of times I feel that using too much technology will make classrooms impersonal and threaten future teaching jobs. However, in order to keep up with other rapidly growing and up and coming countries, the use of here and now technology in the classrooms will most likely have a positive impact.