Dan Brown on Education

Dan Brown states that education is essential. He starts with the history of education and who had and who didn't. That the upper class has always had it and the poor do not. Which to me is similar to days society. The upper class and middle class have access to everything educational and at times, the poor do not. He says that education is now free, that textbooks are not as needed as in previous times and that the old way of learning is obsolete, so to speak.

I do agree that education is essential and that information is free. I also believe that along the line of a persons education there has to be someone to lead a student into the education process. That is where a teacher will come in and stay in. We can always find information on our own but once we have it, will we know the proper way to deal with it. If there is even a proper way. Teachers, in my opinion, are also essential and always will be.

Comments4Kids Week 10

I was assigned a blog by a little girl named Hannah. Her blog was a poem about feeling good about yourself. It was short but well written. I could probably get my high school students to write at least that much. It was good entry for a younger student.

ALEX & ACCESS

ALEX

ALEX is the Alabama Learning Exchange. This is a great site for teachers. I have actually used it to find ways to extend my lessons. I have so many different learning styles in my classroom and I need as many ways as possible to reach them. Creating lesson plans is another part I have used in the past. I find the site easy to understand and maneuver.

For new teachers the site offers many new ideas and additional ways to teach their specific subject. By accessing this site teachers can share with others and see what others are doing. I would recommend this site as a very useful tool and a needed part to a teachers PLN.


ACCESS

This assignment actually hits close to home for me. My school is thinking about using ACCESS in our classrooms. ACCESS uses E teachers instead of the actually teacher. Podcasts and Skypeing could be used. I think this would allow students to get many different views and perspectives on various subjects.

The problem I can see my particular school having would be that our computers are outdated and often out of service. This is not a problem that I see being resolved in the near future. We have an off site computer company that comes when we call. But we are charged by the hour and sometimes have to wait for the service. It gets very frustrating for the students and myself. If I actually have more students then it would be near impossible to utilize ACCESS. I see ACCESS being beneficial to my school but only if the funding comes through and new computers are purchased.

Comments4Kids Week 9

I was assigned www.rosenglish.blogspot.com for my Comments4Kids Week 9 post. Ms. English posted a short video advertising International Women's Day, which was
March 8th. The video was short but very eye catching. It has great music, good colors and easy to understand audio. I enjoyed watching it and now know the date for International Women's Day.

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

The video by Randy Pausch was truly uplifting and inspiring. His message was interesting and so well presented that I could watch it without realizing I was watching a lecture. His way of incorporating childhood dreams into reality was awesome. I would have loved a college professor that would have inspired me in such a way.

By reaching into all of the departments of the university, he brought in more talent and ideas that could have been reached before. That takes some faith in your teaching and even more faith in your students. It seems that he had ideas early on that are still working today when it comes to gaming and technology today.

Making the class fun and interactive, how else would you do virtual reality, really seems to have worked . He tried new things and put great minds together to get great results. His masters program at ETC created an atmosphere that enhanced creativity. The company had jobs set up for their graduates. That has a strong belief in your students and in your university. And by giving the students the power to rate each other, gives the students feedback. And quickly.

I think the part I like best about his teaching strategies would be the part about the "head fake". Teaching the students something hard but making them think they are learning something else is a great strategy. It keeps the students engaged and active in their learning journey. I can only hope to help my students on this journey with as much enthusiasm as Randy Pausch. What an inspiring story he had to tell.

Comments4Kids

This was just a wonderful post by my assigned student. She was to write about why Arkansas was 48th in the area of happiness. She repeated her criteria as set by the teacher and went on to explain it in detailed paragraphs. She seemed very informed on each part and was very detailed. She had a good grasp of her subject and you could tell by her writing that she was a good writer. And what was kinda cute was a comment she made in a previous comment on her own blog, she stated, "I can comment on my own blog! yeeahhh!" It was just cute.