week 6 animoto

Week 6 animoto

The theme for my animoto video was my trip to Costa Rica to visit my dad. I thought the program was really cool and easy to use. It basically did all of the work for you, all you had to do was get pictures and pick a song. I was limited by animoto in that i couldn't pick out any of the transitions for my pictures. It automatically did that for you. I was not upset because it did a way better job than I could ever do.

week 7 response

Here's my response for this week's blog activity.

week 6 voicethread

My theme for voice thread was my trip to the 2006 world cup in Germany. It was a great trip and voicethread helped me explain my pictures with my own commentary. Other than that, it is just a basic slideshow with a voice over. You can not make it anymore creative than that.

week 6 scrapblogger

The theme for my scrapblogger was the 2008 Olympics in Beijiing which I attended. It was a great experince and scrapblogger allowed me to create a basic powerpoint slide that showed some of my pictures. It is a good program but it is basically just a powerpoint slide show of my pictures with extra transitions. It doesn't allow you to do anything beyond that.

Week 5

The internet has an unbelievably powerful impact on this new generation of kids. Most adolescents spend every free hour online using the facebook, myspace, and you tube. Their whole lives are posted for the world to see. It is up to our generation to understand this as we have grown up with and without computers. We have to be at the forefront of using technology to better this new generation and not to harm them. The first part of the series documents teachers that don't use technology in their classroom. Students describe their class as a barren desert. It is difficult for students to learn nowadays if they are not visually seeing something. One teacher commented saying that this generation has very short attention spans because everything is usuallly at their fingertips. As teachers and future parents, we must undestand the importance of this technology and use it to benefit our kids, not harm them. There are too many horror stories out there of kids misusing the internet and geting into a lot of trouble. I personally do not have a story but I am curious to read the other blogs to hear some of the stories.

Week 4 response

After reading some responses from group A, I think the idea of monetary incentives for A's in the inner city is ridiculous. These students do not need to be made a charity case by giving them some extra cash to do what they are supposed to be doing. CPS should be ashamed of themselves for even proposing this idiotic idea. They should use the money they are planning to give to students to buy new books, hire better teachers, buy more computers, build newer facilities and to create a better overall place to learn. If they did this, then students would not need monetary incentives to get better grades. Better facilities and the idea of possibly going to college should drive them to get better grades like it did for most people at U of I. I truly think this is an insult to the parents and students of CPS schools and they should reject this idea. The students and parents have suffered enough and they deserve a competent CPS that will fix the root of the problem instead of trying sugar coat it.

I reviewed: pdpillini.blogspot.com/
http://odonnellreport.blogspot.com/

Week 3 response

After watching the two clips from youtube, it is clear that implementing education in todays classroom is crucial. The clips emphasized that the new generation, which grew up with computers, ipods, video games, and the internet are what we call "digital learners". They best learn with technology because that is what they are used to and have been taught their entire lives. The clips mentioned a surprisingly high statisitc of teachers that do not use technology in their classrooms. This trend has to turn around and it will because the new generation of teachers, our generation, basically grew up with technology their whole lives. Our generation knows the advantages of technology and will be ready to incorporate them in our classrooms.

The clips also mentioned that the U.S is falling behind in education and a lot of students are having trouble analyzing problems and being creative. It is our responsibility as teachers to meet this challenge and to help transform the U.S education system.

Response to group A

After reading a few of the responses, they all agreed with what Mr. Robinson said. The responses gave great reviews and I was able to get the main points of Mr. Robinson's speech. I agree with the notion that creativity is not emphasized enough in our schools and it is important to change that. I think as a society we are just so stuck on the notion that math, science, English and social sciences are the only subjects we should focus on. We also believe that there is always a right and a wrong answer for everything. This type of mindset doesn't teach children to think outside the box, and think critically for themselves. It also doesn't teach them to question everything they hear or read, which is important especially in history. I will definitely keep this in mind when it comes time for me to teach. The main thing I will do in my classroom is to make sure everyone feels safe in sharing their ideas on any topic.

Technology in the classroom

"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?"

One of the most important aspects of teaching is to prepare the students for the world they live in. Learning modern technology such as the computer and the internet is crucial in survivng in today's world. The teacher should be aware of this and regularly use technology in the classroom so that thier students become proficient in basic technology skills. It shouldn't be the teachers choice, in fact I beleive school districts should set a standard of the amount of technology that should be used in any given classroom.

About me

Hello everyone! My name is Emmanuel Pena and I am a first year graduate student. I live in Morton Grove Il. which is a suburb just north of Chicago. I have two older brothers: Carlos, 27 and Danny, 24 and a younger sister Nicole, 14. My parents both immigrated to this country. My mother is from Mexico and my Dad is from Costa Rica. I went to Niles North H.S and went to Uo of I for my undergrad. I graduated from U of I with a degree in history last fall and now I am just beginning my first year in the masters plus teaching certification program here. I want to teach social sciences at the secondary level and hopefully make a difference in people'e lives. I look foward to meeting all of you. Have a great weekened.