Blog Post Assignment #8

Robert Miller's: This Is How We Dream parts 1&2


Robert Miller is a professor at Rutgers University, with the Department of English and also a supporter of putting the arts and humanities with reading and writing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=PHvoBPjhsBA). He loves to work with books, and ended up writing one that ended up not being in print after a short time; like other books, it is now on amazon. He brings up a point about this by saying that our work space for reading and writing now is the internet, a desk, and anyplace we can find that has internet! There are some projects we can do and never step into a library.

In the very first few minutes of this show, he pulls up a visual and audio video of Martin Luther King, jr when he did his 'I have A Dream' speech. Like Mr. King, Dr. Miller has a dream that one day people will be able to share everything through multimedia and books. He talks about how writing things now involves a keyboard with a computer screen, composing text with images. He also talks about using iTunes U to listen to podcasts and get ideas from lectures by other people. All the restrictions we have using paper and pencil are put on ourselves by us. When we use different programs on a computer, or any kind of device, we have endless options.

As a future teacher, using multimedia in my lessons and writing with it will be a process I am always learning about. There are so many different ways to write in multimedia that we have today such as images, text, and video, that we will always be learning more about it as time goes on. When I do start to teach, my students will be taught how to do this be me, their other teachers, and through activities in the classroom that we will be doing daily. Also, the students now a days are raised in the age of electronics and all things internet. They may not understand it completely, but they will have an idea and will be curious to look further into writing with multimedia.



Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12


Creativity and genius, as Carly says in this blog post, is what it takes in this day and age to really be a good teacher and innovative educator. Even as we finish out our education and take EDM 310 with us through our careers, we will still be students because there will always be something new. I like how Carly has made her own playlist of useful podcasts and videos that can help us to keep creating using multimedia, but also help teach others in the process. Also, the daily activities, cool little rap by an English student, shows how students really need to be up to date so they can relate to the students....and not look uncool. Even having audio-books for the kids to listen to at home or for us to listen to, on subjects about anything and everything. Personally, I like the YouTube videos for kids because they can hear and see what they are going to be learning or get extra information on what they already know. Being creative in a classroom can really open up all sorts of doors for the teacher and the students, considering children like to be hands on and visual at the same time. We have to make things interesting and stir it up a bit to have students that really want to learn and make it fun for them.








The Chipper Series


This video was highly entertaining and very interesting, though I would prefer to not drop out of school. I would like to do videos on how it is to be a teacher in everyday life, maybe something on how kids act and behave in class. I think this video goes to prove why we need to stay in school, get an actual degree that will take us places, and keep striving for more in our lives. Chipper goes through so many careers and failures, but all she really had to do was to stay in school. Dr. Strange brings up a good point that "through all the things in life, we will always end up on our feet somehow" and that is very true. The best part of this video is that Chipper ends up back in school to get her Master's degree and get in further in her life.

EDM 310 For Dummies


I have been using these accounts, and mostly understand them. EDM 310 really is good for us as a class that is majoring in education of any kind. We will need this information, all these sharing and learning sites, and other modern devices in order to teach our kids and keep ourselves in loop with all things education. The best part of this particular video is when the girls go crazy and pretend to smash the key boards....because I felt that same way when this class started.













Learn to Change, Change to Learn

As a person who loves texting and getting free apps on my phone that are worth while, this video just says it all to me in one hit. We need teachers who are willing to get experience with connecting to other teachers around the world and giving each other tips and ideas on our classroom. Our students will need to know how to things like Skype, Instant Message, Facebook, and Twitter to really get the full experience. Instead of having it banned in the schools, why not make it a little challenging: have them show you what they know about these technologies on internet and how they can use them in all different ways. Forget standardized testing, how about we make the end of quarter exams about what they have learned so far about using Skype or their PLN (Personal Learning Network), what they use and how they use it, what they have found out, how many sites they actually use to help with their school work and assignments for home.