Blog Assignment 3

Michael Wesch:
    This video of A Vision of Students Today, I believed was a fairly accurate portrayal of the average college student. The parts that seemed to match my experiences would be the part that mentioned buying very expensive books and never opening them. For me, that wasn't because I was lazy and chose to not open it, it was because my teacher didn't teach from the book. Several times I have regretted buying the book for a class where the book was not even necessary! That is frustrating to me. Juggling school and work has also been part of my college experience. Time management is something that I had to learn quickly. Work and school is difficult, but can be done. The pages of emails I send is definitely more than the pages of paper that I write.
    My experience has been slightly different from this video. I hardly ever have time to sit and watch T.V. I usually don't spend three hours a day studying, I do usually complete school work for about three hours a day, while working an average of thirty hours a week. If I were to add anything to make this a more accurate portrayal of my college experience so far, I would calculate the hours spent at work and on school work and then see how many hours are left for free time. There certainly isn't much time left for extracurricular activities!

It's Not About The Technology
    I really enjoyed reading Ms. Hines's post. She raised some very important points. One point that really struck me as true was when she talked about teachers being learners. This is so true! Teachers must stay up-to-date on many aspects. Times are always changing. What a teacher learned ten years ago and what is being taught in the classroom now, could be very different from each other. Teachers must continue to learn. This is important, not only for the newest curriculum available, but also necessary in order to relate with the students. To be able to connect with your students, you would have to be aware of what is happening in our world today
    Another point that I loved was when Ms. Hines mentioned that learning and teaching aren't the same thing. This is sometimes hard to understand, but once you experience it, you can see the obvious difference. I've had teachers that have just stood up and taught a lesson and then I've had teachers that I've actually learned from. I believe in trying different methods of teaching until the student actually learns the material. All children are different and they all learn in their own way! As a future educator, my desire is to teach so that children learn!

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay To Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
    I really liked the way Karl Fisch approached the technology issue. I feel like so often people are extreme on this issue and either want strictly old school ways of teaching with pen and paper alone, or want robots in the classroom. I think that Mr. Fisch was right when he said people shouldn't use the excuse of being technologically illiterate. I know for me, it often takes me longer on the computer compared to computer savvy people, but I'm constantly learning! It is not an option to sit back and refuse to learn new things!
    This also goes along with Ms. Hines's post when she said that teachers must be learners. They must continue to learn and keep up with our changing world. This is absolutely mandatory in order to connet with your students.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count
    These numbers are incredible and almost hard to believe! For my professional career as a teacher, it is definitely one more reason to stay in touch with today's current technological offers. Things will only become more technologically advanced and it is important to master what is available to us now. This way when new things are offered, I will be ready to learn instead of playing "catch up" with things that were invented five years ago. Learning new things is not always an easy process, but it's necessary.