Blog Post #5

The iSchool Initiative

In Travis Allen's first video, he explains how our world is changing with advancements in technology. He said that with iSchool, students, teachers, and parents all benefit from using the school provided iTouch because all the textbooks, homework, and calulators are combined in one device. It actually makes sense to switch because you will save over $500 by not buying bookbags, binders, paper, pens, etc. Can you imagine what you could do with all that money that you have saved? I know I can because I have already started to do so with my iPhone and Kindle Fire. Keeping all your course work in a tablet, in my opinion, can save you a trip to the chiropractor because of lugging all those heavy books on your back.
In his second video he explains how much has changed since his first video that he did when he was seventeen. He had gotten CNN to recognize him and his work with the iSchool initiative. How cool is that? To have the most watched news, CNN, talk about how you think the education systems should be ran. I think that all school systems should make the switch because if we are all about saving the Earth and making it greener, then why not start with using technology that has been given to us.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

It is amazing to think that you can have an entire choir and never have to meet in person, all because of technology. To see and hear how these people sound just from recording on their laptop webcam is awesome to me. I am a huge fan of music (playing instruments and singing) and I absolutely loved hearing all the voices in Mr. Whitacre's virtual choir. Also, to have him directing, from a screen I might add, is truly amazing as well.

Teaching in the 21st Century

In Kevin Roberts' Prezi presentation, he thinks that to teach in the 21st century, the students and the teachers will need to be up to date on technology. Because of rapidly changing technology we, soon to be educators, often have diffculty using technology that has been given to us. How can we expect students to learn technology if we do not know how to use it ourselves? Roberts sees teaching changing with how students are using Twitter, Facebook, and Skype to connect with fellow students to work on projects, and to ask the teachers questions about assignments that they are confused about. I feel that the positions expressed in the video are true. In my mother's family and consumer science class, she has almost completely changed the way she wants the class work to be done, by using Moodle. If Roberts is correct, I personally do not think that it will affect me as an educator because I will have adapted to using technology in a way that I can teach my students how to use it.

Why I Flipped My Classroom

In Katie Gimbar's YouTube video, she explained how flipping her classroom has helped the three levels of students: the middle (eager to learn), higher learning (wanting to be challenged), and the stragglers (have no idea what is going on in the class). When she was able to flip her room, she was able to meet all the students needs about questions on the assignments. She was also able to post the videos ahead of class time so that the students were prepared for the lesson that day. With doing this she spent 90% of the time applying the applications for her math class and only 10% discussing; where it was the other way around before she had flipped. I would use this technique in my classroom because I do not want my students to fall behind, but instead, be ready to move forward and learn more when they enter.

Dr. Lodge McCammon's FIZZ-Flipping the Classroom

Dr. McCammon created FIZZ because he felt that his students were not getting the full benefits in being in a classroom. He had made it so that the students could watch the videos that their teachers had created before class starts, and feel better about the assignment instead of feeling disoriented. All in all, flipping a classroom is an excellent idea for all levels of students so that they will not fall behind or want to learn more; but can not, because of the other students holding them back. I would use this technique in my classroom because I do not want my students to fall behind, but instead, be ready to move forward and learn more when they enter.

Flipping the Classroom-4th Grade STEM

In Ms. Munato's video, she explained how Dr. McCammon came up with the idea of flipping the classroom. The main reasoning for flipping for Ms. Munato was so that her students were well prepared for the next day's assignments. She also mentioned that if a student does not have a computer at home that they were more than welcome to use the school's computers or iPads the following morning. I would use this technique in my classroom because I do not want my students to fall behind, but instead, be ready to move forward and learn more when they enter.