"A New Life" Oral Response

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mcholew2/shared/Digital Story Oral Response.mp3

Digital Storytelling

Creating the first story, "The Zoo," was the easiest. The animoto program was simple to navigate and the links to the picture materials made the creation smooth. The stop by step process of creating the story was good for first time users. I liked being able to add music to the video, but I was not able to select any music that didn't have lyrics, which I think would have fit the video better. Also, the pictures look really pixelated, and I don't know if thats limitation on animoto or from the source I got the pictures from. The Scrapblog was not my favorite but I found the embedding videos portion was good instructionally. A limitation was the choice of music. I didn't like any of them, so I simply embedded videos in order to make the scrapblog more appealing. 

The voicethread program was the most enjoyable to make. It was pretty weird recording your own voice but after awhile it was neat.I liked being able to record, delete, and edit multiple times. The voicethread is a good tool to personalize videos. 

Digital Story 3 (London/Paris)

Digital Story 2 (Soccer/Swimming)

Digital Story 1 (The Zoo)

"Growing Up Online"

I believe that the internet's impact on kids is both positive and negative. At times, the internet can be a great tool for immediate information, and it can be great for communication. However, there are negative results from such immediate information. For example, the internet allows for students to be lazy. In the video, a student commented that he has never read Romeo and Juliet because he was able to just look it up on Sparknotes and read it in five minutes. The video also mentions a generational gap in terms of technological advances. I agree with this and with Chris's (http://chrishidakasblog.blogspot.com/) comment about having to help his parents with computers or cell phones. There is definitely a generational gap, and it's going to keep expanding. The excessive use of the internet does worry me personally and as a future educator. Personally, I do not like like using the internet for personal usage. I have an email account and facebook I'm always hesitant of what i put on it. As a future educator, the internet will play a significant role for my students. I will have to be able to understand it and be able to keep up with its the changes.

"Earn an A? Here's $50" (Chicago Tribune)

I do not think that paying students for grades is a smart idea. I agree with one of the opinions in the article that it is for the wrong reasons. Also, those who advocate for the program feel that "it evens the playing field" or that it is a great motivational tool for students (especially low income student). While I can see what they are saying, I feel that there can be other, more beneficial programs established for the students the discussed program is targeting. There are other ways to create incentives for students to do well. For example, more sufficient funding for schools with the majority of their student body coming from low income families/neighborhoods. Such funds could go to implement school day/after school tutoring programs. I also agreed with the statement from the article that paying students can take away from the creativity and process of learning because all the students are going to want is their money. I would have to say that even as my position shifts from teacher, parent, and taxpayer, I would still say that paying students for grades is not the best solution. 

The following are links to other articles that discuss the debate about paying students for academic performance:

1. http://www.thebeanblog.com/2006/04/25/the-great-paying-for-grades-debate/

2.http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-01-27-grades_N.htm

3. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/15/paying.grades/index.html

4. http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7414640&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.8.1

A Vision of Students Today (YouTube Video Post)

I agree with Dustin's (http://unoriginaloriginality-uiuc.blogspot.com/) comment about how factual information is undervalued in the two videos. Although not all teaching needs to be through the "essentialist" perspective, I do believe that students must have a foundation of content and facts in order to be successful in content analysis. Also, I agree with Chris (http://chrishidakasblog.blogspot.com/) that the first video "Vision of Students Today," presents how technology has advanced society, but how it has also been detrimental to learning. For example, one statistic that came from this video was that a student will read eight books, but 2300 web pages and 1281 facebook profiles a year. Technology is drastically changes how and what students are learning today. As a future teacher, I want to be aware of technological advancements to that I can use them to enhance the learning of my students by using it or by choosing not to if I believe it would be more beneficial to my students.

Blog Activity (Group A)

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Sir Ken Robinson's talk presented a unique perspective on the impact that our education system has on creativity. Although I agree with a few of his arguments:  academic inflation and hierarchy, he doesn't offer to present any solutions. Nevertheless, he still present an important issue. In my opinion, I can see perhaps the opportunity to nurture creativity more in students by being aware of the diversity of intelligence. In my future classroom, I think this would be one of the best ways to detect, nurture, and encourage  the creativity of  my students. 

Week 1 Question

1. "Given the realities of our modern age and the demands of our children's future, is it really  ok to allow teachers to choose whether or not they incorporate modern technologies into  their instruction?"

In my opinion, I think that it is ok, but it would be better to incorporate modern technologies. It would be ok to not use really modern technology because students are still able to comprehend the subject matter. I think that using modern technology helps in bridging a connection between subject matter and modern technological advances, which may be of more interests to students today. For example, a teacher can assign students a project in which they can utilize technology such as Powerpoint, Wikipedia, or Youtube. Basically, I think it is important to incorporate some features of technology in instruction, but it isn't absolutely necessary because if students don't pick it up in the classroom, technology is something that really, in my opinion can be grasped, at times, easily on an individual level.

Hi :)

hello.....my name is Marisol. I am from LaGrange, IL (Chicago Suburb). I am a junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am in the Teacher Education Program and I created this blog as an assignment for my Curriculum & Instruction 335 Course. I want to teach History at the Secondary level. :)