wikipedia, reliable or no?

I have used wikipedia before, but now after reading about this wikipedia scanner, and about how we know that people have been influencing information on the website for their own benefit, I probably won't use it anymore. I don't know if it will every credible again. I mean if any random person can go in and change the information that is shared with the world, how can it, in any fashion, be accurate? why would anyone want to use it?

What I've learned this year --Mr Mcclung

I appreciated his thoughts on his first year. As a Education major I'm a little nervous about graduating and starting my first year. It was nice to have a first year teacher's view and insight. I agree completely with him when he says that listening and creating a teacher/student relationship with your kids, is so important! If they can't feel comfortable with you and relaxed and able to learn, I don't believe you'll accomplish very much.

I also liked the part about the communication. I know a lot of times, words and thoughts can get turned around and misunderstood. Then people's feelings get hurt, or someone else gets mad, then gossip starts to spread, and all because a few words were misinterpreted. I think it is very important to keep all lines of communication open for your students as well as your co-workers.

Erica Freeman and My People

Comments for kids post

I had a blog from a 1st grader named Allyas. He posted a blog about making patterns. He did a very good job on his patterns and I let him know.

Randy Pausch

I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture from Mr. Pausch. It seemed like I had watched the video before, I'm just not sure when or where. I thought he chose a very good topic for his last lecture. I enjoyed hearing about his childhood dreams and how he helped others achieve their dreams. The Vomit Comet was really cool I thought. I would love to be able to float on air!

There were a few quotes he used that really stuck with me. The first is "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted." I really liked this one, because it's so simple and so true. Even when life doesn't go the way we want, we'll always come out with something, experience.

Another quote I liked is, "Brick walls are there for a reason: to show our dedication and to prove how badly we want things." When things get in the way of our goals and what we want to accomplish, keep going, keep trying, keep working and show your desire for what you want.

The last one is when he said "When you don't know where the bar should be, you'd only be doing them a disservice by putting it anywhere. If students only have certain qualifications they will do just that, but if they don't have limitations, you'll see what they can really accomplish!!

It was a good video, sad that he had to make his last lecture, and sweet that he had everyone sing happy birthday to his wife. I really liked it.

is it ok to be an technologically illiterate teacher?

Obviously according to Karl Fisch, it's not ok to be an technologically illiterate teacher. I have to agree with him. It does seem that there will soon be little success without the knowledge of technology. I hate to say that because I'm having to admit that I'll have to learn it myself. I'm not technologically illiterate, but I certainly have a lot more to learn.

I want to be the best teacher I can be. I want my students to learn as much as possible and as much as I can give them. I need to know more about technology so I can give my students the education to help them succeed.

It's not all about Technology

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Hine's post about technology. While I agree that Technology is good to have and use, I also agree that it's not everything. I think that learning in the classroom has a lot to do with the approach and the level of enthusiasm from the teacher, and how they make it interesting. Granted making it interesting for some students may require technology, but really it's about getting on their level and working hands on with them to help them understand what you're trying to teach. I like what she said, if the child is not learning, you are not teaching.

A vision of students today

This movie was amazing!! All of it was so true!!! We spend tons of money on tuition and books and unnecessary fees. How does this improve our education? Classes are large and only a fraction of the faculty know the names of their students. And in a lot of classes the teachers lecture day in and day out. This movie really captured the reality of college life.

I don't believe that technology alone will save us. I believe that being creative and working together and being hands on will save us. I believe we'll learn more as well.

podcast blogs

These different websites have lots of information on them about different conferences and resource sites. I think they would be very helpful.

PodCasts Blog

I listened to the student prepared podcast about burpback education. While there was a lot of good information in the podcast, the students didn't hold my attention very well. You could tell that they were only reading what they had written down for the podcast, which is fine, but it is hard to feel the emotion in a audio only podcast.

In the podcast that I will do later on this semester, I would hope that I'd put a little more enthusiasm into my presentation and use my voice to captivate the listening audience.