INTO THE FUUUUUTUUUUUUURE!

The White Paper didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know from my own experiences. I am personally plugged into a variety of online sites. I already knew that students are using technology to communicate and even date from across the globe at an almost constant level. I myself have felt the high that comes from having new notifications and texts, so I know how addicting it can get and how fast-paced the online culture is.

It is very true that youths are much more likely to want to learn things from other youths, usually who are within their same interest groups. I feel like this indicates that we should be stressing peer-to-peer tutoring more. I went to more study groups in college than I went to tutoring labs. So I feel the same could be implemented in high school. For example, students with a study hall could instead be tutors to younger students. I think that would be a great way to capitalize on their desire to learn from their peers.

Webcam tutoring would be a cool thing to set up in my opinion. However, I have tried doing so before and found out my camera was too poor quality for me to show my friend the solution to the equation I was helping him figure out. However, I believe with some decent quality webcams and some white boards, students could tutor each other from pretty much anywhere. 

I think most of the stuff I saw on the site seemed pretty cool. I honestly don’t think body modifications will become much cheaper in seven years, especially if they do branch out to include things that affect the mind, than they are now, even if they do become more popular and more practical. But It was cool to read about it.I feel like one of the most important things I will need to be able to teach my students in 2020 is how to discern facts from fiction in the virtual world, how to deal with cyber bullying, and how to not be a cyber bully. The thing about the internet is that it removes the human factor and with it some people’s humanity. 

At the same time I have seen people be too open. I think one helpful thing will be to show students how to be more cautious about what they post. For example, I have to be careful what I post on my Facebook, even though it is private, as I am a Sunday School teacher. Jokes with foul language in them would be inappropriate for me to post. However, up until the time I graduated college, no one said a word to me about what was appropriate or inappropriate or why it was important to care about such things. In this new digital world, students can end up hurting themselves when it comes to job opportunities based on what they’ve posted online. So I feel that will still be worthwhile to teach my students in 2020. 

Youtube Assignment: Foiled your plan

After viewing the video I think the same I thought before. Technology is important in the classroom. I took a class last year that taught me the importance of including technology so I already planned to use it as much as possible. I agree that students should be taught how to use all the resources available to them. I think it will help students to embrace learning and even learn to love learning. I love to learn how to cook something new because I love that experience of learning how to do something new. But I especially love doing it within my own interest of cooking and baking. The internet and technology is an area of interest to the students and they should be encouraged to try new things within that area. 

                                         

I know this video doesn't really do much other than teach the lesson, but I feel like it shows my students that there are resources online they can tap into. I honestly never thought to search for a video for math until college and I grew up a computer geek. I just feel like It would be beneficial for my students to see that they can find homework help online as well. I also feel like this is an honest example of the kind of way I would use Youtube in the classroom.

I would likely post videos like this that review content we covered in class once a week or however often I feel necessary. It would be fun to play a video like this in class as well every once in a while because the students get to be taught the same material in a different way from a different teacher. I think that is a valuable thing. It will also help shake up the monotony of day to day class time.

Assignment

I absolutely adore how http://simsbumponablog.blogspot.com/ uses humorous video clips on their blog. The only thing I dislike is that I cannot find the teachers name anywhere. While I understand why the teacher requests students do not post pictures, names, or any personal information on their blogs, I cannot understand why the teacher has not posted their name anywhere. Regardless, I like how the blog is not a typical homework and assignments blog. There are interesting clips and links that relate to class. Whether students want to read it or not is the question. But I would like having a teacher like this.

The blog http://deborahharris.edublogs.org requires her students to post twice a week about the novel they are reading and once about the article of the week. I think that’s a really good idea because I feel like students will be unable to get away with just using sparknotes to get by. Or it will be much easier to tell who is actually reading and who is not. I also really really like her circle of links. I don’t know how to describe it. But it’s a bunch of links in a rotating circle that you move around by moving your mouse through it. I think it’s a great and creative way to avoid having a long list of links.

The blog http://lsquires.edublogs.org/ has an Important Dates section that I like and think I want to use. I also liked how the Junior High Science Program, http://mrguilianelli.edublogs.org/ posted slides for things. I think that would be a neat way to communicate. Another guy, http://mrmansour.edublogs.org/, posts mythbusters videos. That's perfect. I love incorporating fun things from the history channel and discovery channel into school. I hope I can find math videos one day. 

I like the concept of students having their own blogs and being required to post in them, but I feel that would be impractical for a Math blog. So I think I would want them to comment on my posts once a week, perhaps. I am not sure.