Blog Post #5

1. In Travis Allen's video about the "iSchool Initiative" I frowned upon this idea because it seems too far out there to even think of putting all the lessons on an app. I don't think the world is caught up enough to all the technology advances and it's easier said than done to get those advances in a classroom, let alone have every student have an iPhone/iTouch to do this iSchool app. Would all these apps be free or would they cost money to download? I'm thinking they would cost money. Also, teachers wouldn't be needed anymore and that is just hard to imagine right now. It could happen but I don't see it happening anytime soon. I don't think many kids would want to go to school by going on their iTouch. Kids don't want to do homework on their cell phones or keep up with school work on it, in my opinion. If I'm wrong, so be it. Honestly, I would LOVE to see this happen and the world run on a perfect technology based system and let everyone be business leaders by using their iTouch or whatever technology they may have, but I am skeptical as of right now. I think Travis is a brilliant person and has a lot to offer for the education world. His ideas of having all of these apps like grades, lunch menus, graphing calculators, notes, email, calendars for attendance, etc are amazing! He may one day be a billionaire for creating this iSchool Initiative! I really hope it does work out and that would be so awesome to save money for our children but what about teachers? Where would they come in at that point? Someone would have to run the class right and keep track of all the students. Also, would they still have class meetings everyday or just once a week? Also, not everyone would have access to an iTouch or internet for that matter. Did he think of that? What happened to experiments and dissecting frogs in science class? Kids wouldn't have that or any hands on experiments which is what engages and motivates children to learn. I don't see any motivation for children with the iSchool Initiative. Aren't kids supposed to get out there and explore the world and take field trips? I don't see any of that happening on an iTouch. What you see on a computer screen is different than seeing it in real life. The more real life experiences children have, the more they learn and remember, in my opinion.

2. "Virtual Choir"
This was a pretty amazing video. I can't believe someone could actually do this. How in the world did he do this with 185 people from 12 different countries? Where would you even begin? He must know a lot about music as well as technology to create something like this. This is just a very impressive work of art! I wonder how long it took for him to audition people and then record them and put it all together. That is so unique and very impressive! Job well done! :)

3. Kevin Roberts' video Teaching in the 21st Century" made me think about the future and how teaching would be so different from when I grew up. Roberts is showing us all the technology skills there are to know and also to teach! He can see how all the advances in technology can help students more in the future than ever. I think it is great that he put together that video because it can be a great resource for parents too. I am excited to see what the future holds in teaching and what technology we will be using in our classrooms. It's all about skills and finding out how to do things on your own. You'll never learn if someone always tells you or shows you how. Just explore and you'll be amazed at what you can do and find. I think this class is similar to Roberts' video. It's all about handing you the materials to create these assignments with some help and direction along the way but mainly we are doing this by ourselves. That is going to really help us as educators in the long run because we can teach our students everything we've learned.

4. Why I Flipped My Classroom!"
"FIZZ-Flipping the Classroom" and
Flipping the Classroom-4th Grade STEM" are all really great videos and ideas!! I love the idea of flipping the classrooms! I think it would be ideal and so much better than having lectures everyday for so long and losing touch with the kids. I just wonder if the kids would actually be excited to watch the "lectures" at home. Would the parents be on board with this and make them watch? Also, the parents would have to understand that this would be the key to learning! Some parents now don't have 5 seconds with their children to do schoolwork or even spend quality time with them so this worries me a little. I really hope this is successful in all schools! This is amazing and I would love to do it in my own classroom. Students would really enjoy being prepared before going to the actual class. I think they would want to know what they were going to be working on and what they needed to do ahead of time. Brilliant!