My Presentation

Karl Fisch and Her Blog on Technology and Teachers

First I listened to "You Tube as an Educational Tool", next I listened to Possibilities of Facebook for Educational Tools. These pod cast were very informational, but boring. Karl Fisch's blog Is It Okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher? is very opinionated about teachers knowing their technology. I agree with her in some ways. Yes the world today is all about computers and technology. As teachers it is our duty to understand them, but that is not all that we need as teachers. The classroom should not be all technical there should be "Old Fashion" teaching.

There should be hands on teaching (old fashion teaching) where the teacher is not reading straight off the power point. I am a kinesthetic learner and technology is not how I learn. I believe that technology is isolating us and we are becoming an unsociable generation. Students do not have civil one to one conversations anymore. It is all about the text or instant messaging; no more conversations there should be equilibrium between computers and old fashion teaching.

Podcast and The way They are Done

Pod cast is like a talk show on the Internet. Many pod cast are instructional and teaching. I listened to many pod cast - SmartBoard Lessons, Kidcast, EdTechTalk, MacBreak Weekly, and This Week in Photography- doing research to see how most are setup.

Many pod cast start with interesting music. The music is what lets you think that the pod cast could be interesting. Many people put cool rock music to get a "hip" feel to their pod cast. Some will put in neat sound effects as in the pod cast SmartBoard Lessons. They put in school bells ringing to go along with their theme.

After the music, the introduction to the pod cast comes on stating the pod cast name; what they will be talking about; and sometimes advertisement. This allows the listeners understand what they will be talking about and discussing on the show.

When it is time to start the main person will introduce the co-host, if there are any. They will talk a few about news and other things to get relate to the listener. Most pod cast sound like talk shows off the radio. Many times these discussions lead into the issue of the pod cast. They clearly discuss the issue at hand. Some put in jokes to lighten up the mood, and to not bore their listeners. Some of the pod casts were boring so I agree with the ones that put in jokes or stories as in This Week in Photography. Pod cast are great instructional audio files that allow you to learn things easily.

International Teachers and How They are Using Blogs

I searched and searched for international teacher's blog, and found one. This blog is for international teaching community. It has post for students and teachers of the international community.
It just has things for students and teachers where they can relate and fit in. It gives them a place to ask and get answers for questions. I think this is a really great site and blog for students.

USA Teachers and How They are Using Blogs

Many teachers in the United States use blogs to keep parents, students, and other teachers up to date. As in these two examples:

In Fox Hollow Elementary fourth grade teacher Mr. Bachler has a blog for the parents of his students. Mr. Bachler's Blog has newsletters where parents see what he has planned for the week and also homework. This allows parents to be more connected to what their child is doing. Mr. Bachler has web links for parents to go to as in Scholastic book orders , Utah Core Curriculam , and Natianal standards for physical education. His blogs really connect the student's parents and give them easy access to web sites they need. She put pictures up from their class.

Also in California Mrs. Davis at Rio del Mar elementary uses her blog just like Mr. Bachler. Mrs. Davis' Blog states that "this page was created to help streamline communication between school and home, with information about field trips, homework, and other important news." Her blog shows homework, events, test dates, and what they will be learning. She has polls as well that way she can get parents and students' opinions. Her blog is set up to really help the students and connect the parents. She has links downloads and wish lists.