Why YouTube?

         Don’t know if you guys have seen this one before, but this is a great article that you should check out and read!  It seems like more and more YouTube has been under fire about being used in school or not.  I am the type of person who likes using YouTube due to its many features.  Along with that, it is my thoughts that YouTube can be used in a very educational and beneficial way for a child’s schooling.

         So what is all the fuss about blocking it from our schools to keep harmful material from a child’s eyes?  Since when has the Internet been so vile and despicable that we find it necessary to keep a useful and educational teaching tool from their use?  That seems absurd to me that there is such a drive to block it when there are countless useful possibilities in an educational setting.

         An article put out by “State Impact” from 2011 touches base on a lot of the useful aspects that YouTube allows teachers and students to do.  For instance, a teacher can create a video on something that they are going to cover, and instead of having the kids come and sit through it, they could watch it on YouTube and come prepared to class to do an activity and expand on it.  To me this sounds like a great idea to actually reach children on their level and get them interested in school.

         As talked about in Tina Barseghian’s piece linked at the bottom, YouTube is a way to access more students.  Not just the ones who are in the classroom but any other that might find it.  Isn’t that what education should be about?  Reaching as many students as possible and broadening their horizon?  That is how I see our educational system, which is why I am a strong supporter of using videos and especially YouTube in our classrooms for our students.

Stokes, Kyle. "How YouTube Is Changing The Classroom." Indiana RSS. State Impact, 11 Oct. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/2011/10/12/how-youtube-is-changing-the-classroom/

Barseghian, Tina. "MindShift." MindShift RSS. KQED, 8 Sept. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/09/five-reasons-why-youtube-rocks-the-classroom/

Political Cartoons and Policies

     We have all seen these political cartoons about politics, people, and even education.  The one above is something that caught my interest when I came upon it.  Standardized testing has become more and more of a focus in our schools these days.  It is hard to think that young kids are being overwhelmed with test, one after another.  Education should not be students preparing for the next test to come along.  However, this is what our educational has become of the past couple years.  It truly is quite sad.  Looking at the political cartoon above it is clear that there has been a major shift in the focus on school.  It used to be the younger grades were not as focused on grades and testing, but that is no longer.  This huge change in the education of our young children is truly terrifying.

http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Standardized_Testing/

     The link above is right in line with the idea of our standardized testing ruining a child's educational experience.  It would seem that the more and more we throw at students, will only turn them off of school.  Though standardized tests show us where students are struggling and where they need help, at what cost are we paying for that information.  It would seem that we spend more time teaching to the tests than we do actually teaching the material.  School used to be a place that students could learn and grow in their education, however, now students and teachers are so worried about performing well that they loose this love and drive for education.

Transition from Talk to Action...

     We all know that things are never as good as they sound when they are first talked about.  Not everything can end up the way that someone might want them too.  This is true with a number of things, the one that I am going to focus on, Edtec policy in the classroom.  We can always wish for something to work out perfectly the way we wanted it too, but this is never the case.
      When I did my interview with a teacher from a school I used to go too, I was surprised at a number of thing that she talked about.  On the case of having technology in the classroom, that isn't so much the problem.  The problem lies in the fact that teachers are not being trained on the technology.  They get some training, but not enough to use the technology in a beneficial manner.
     Personally I wish that things would always turn out the way they are planned to turn out, but that is just not the case here.  Though the technology is being provided that was promised, the training talked about is falling short of adequate.

State and Ed tech Policy

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      It is no debate that technology has become number one on public agenda when it comes to schools.  At least, it is no debate in my mind with the growth in the amount of technology that has been thrown into our schools and classrooms.  But, I still have a question about all of this technology into the classroom.  Obviously the state plays a huge role in the ed tech policy throughout the state of Indiana, but are they playing a good role?

      If you were asked what they new and “hot” technology of today’s schools was, you would most likely say I-Pads, and personally I would say you were right.  That being said, I’m not going to talk about this, I would like to dive deeper into the bases of all technology, the Internet.  Without having accessible Internet in the classrooms, I-Pads are pretty much pointless.  So what percentage of schools do you think have Internet access in their school??

      In 2010-2011, the Indiana Department of Education spent roughly 4.3 million dollars towards 22 schools for “Classroom Innovation Grants.”  That is a lot of money for schools to use to add technology to the classrooms, but what about the basic Internet in other schools?  What percentage of computers in classrooms do you think have access to Internet the students can use??  Any ideas?  Well according to National Center for Education Statistics, 93% of these computers have access to Internet.

      I don’t know about you, but that was surprising to me, I personally thought that number would have been a great deal lower than it is.  Technology runs on that one thing called the Internet and it is the base to start building off of.  However, from looking at that statistic, it would seem as though the schools are set up with a solid base to start building off of.   That ties back into the thought about how they got that base, the answer… Indiana policies.  So all of that being said, I personally think that the state government plays a huge/important role in the educational technology policy that is created and are a big factor in these technologies.

"How Indiana Schools Are Integrating Technology In The Classroom." Indiana RSS. State Impact, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.

"Fast Facts." Fast Facts. Ies, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013.

 

Fed Gov and Policies...

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            Some something that has been bugging me recently and I am curious on is why are there so many policies that are created by the national government?  There is a policy about making a policy, a policy for how a policy can be used, a policy to initiate another policy, etc.  There are so many policies in our world and it can be overwhelming and confusing for even someone of high educational status.  So the question that I would have for someone to try and answer for me is how much is to much?  Is there someway to cut down on the amount of policies that the government puts out?

            Continuing with that theme of having to many policies, as technology continues to grow in our universe, the amount that is spilling over into the educational world is overwhelming.  I remember back when I was in elementary school we had a chalkboard and a projector.  To me back then I thought it was high tech in a sense, however now I am blown away by the influx of technology in our schools.  That all being said, certainly we can make an educated guess and say that the government has created a policy for this growth of technology in the classroom.  So is the government overdoing it again with these policies?  Are they pumping to much technology into the classroom without training teaches?  The questions could go on and on but there is no real answer to any of these questions.

            We live in a world of pollution, waste, and excess.  And these are just descriptive words for the policy that the government pumps into our schools again and again…

Hello there everyone, my name is Joshua Sanchez and I am an Elementary Education Major who is planning on student teaching in the spring of 2014.  After completing my student teaching successfully I will graduate in at the end of the year in 2014.

Some of my future teaching goals that I have looking forward are to graduate and teach for 5 or so years here in Indiana somewhere.  I do not have a particular preference for the area in which I end up at but getting a job in general would be wonderful.  I hope to be anywhere from a 3rd grade teacher up to 5th grade or so.  That being said that I wish to be an elementary educator, I shall be teaching all subject areas in the classroom.

I believe that technology is an important part of teaching and learning in the classroom due to the value that the technology can bring to the classroom.  When used correctly, the technology can have an extremely beneficial factor on your students learning.  Therefore, I see the great value in using technology in the classroom with the students and others in the school.

I am enrolled into this class because I find a great deal of importance in using technology in the classroom and with students.  That being said, I must first understand how to use the technology correctly, appropriately, and ethically.

Some of the main goals that I have set forth for my time in this class are:  One of the goals that I have for this class is to dig deeper into the field of technology in the classroom, and become more well versed in the importance.  To make connections with this class and the other classes that I have taken to develop a more rounded understanding of technology.  Continue my growth as a future educator to develop a higher understanding and top notch educational background.


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