Teachers

James 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

I just want to encourage you all. Teaching is a calling (Eph 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers). It is not an easy one, but it is great. Not great is the meaningless sense that most people use the word today, but great as in powerful. It will be exciting, tough, painful, stressful, worthwhile, rewarding, and life changing. I know that each and every one of us will be great. I know that we have all been called to shared our knowledge and to share our faith. Blessings to everyone!!

Amazon's Wireless Reader

CHECK IT OUT!

We talked about this briefly in class, but it interested me so I read up on it a little bit. So this thing comes with wireless internet, so you don't need a computer or any cables and you don't need to sync it in anyway! (syncing is basically uploading media files or files of any kind onto a device from your computer) Also right now there are over 90,000 books to choose from and that includes 95 of 112 from the bestseller list!

Get this it can hold up to 200 books and it only weighs 10 ounces! Its dimensions are 7.5"x5.3"x.7" So it is pretty much incredible.

I think that this would be amazing for traveling and especially for convenience sake. I know we expressed how detracting this is from the experience of holding a physical book, but the idea will save multitudes upon multitudes of paper.

and just FYI there are completely sold out. The cost is $399 and each book is roughly $9.99. Also, there is no approx. shipping date other than amazon saying "we'll deliver when available"

Random Technology Thoughts

I was at work last week (yea I have a lot of free time there), and I was thinking about how everything has changed technologically. I know I talk about this elderly man who still works in the nursing center a lot, but his situation really displays the point that I am speaking about. My boss and I were talking about simple things like e-mail and Outlook and just how important these tools are for a business. When this elderly gentleman works a shift, he will leave a post-it note when something goes wrong or we need to order something (or anything of that nature). However, he leaves that note just wherever the problem occurred instead of a centralized system like e-mail. I know that's incredible random and quite specific, but it goes shows the old way versus the new way and how much of a difference there is between the two. I tried to apply this to my spiritual life and how hard it can be to change things that you are so used to doing. We can be just so stuck in our ways spiritually, and it may not be wrong, but there might be a better way out there, or maybe it's not better it's just different and that can be hard to adjust to.

Wow I'm done!

I am so thankful that I was able to take this class. I was really upset when Pam told me that I might not be able to take this class this semester. I figured that this class was going to be nothing, like I said before. But, when Lynette asked me after my presentation if I felt that I had missed out since I am not placed in a class yet, and I am. I want to tell everyone that after listening to your stories and reading your blogs about your experiences in your classrooms, and I am very excited. You guys have shown me first hand how useful technology actually is in the real classroom. Like I said after my presentation, I knew how to work through a lot of this but now I see how useful it can be.

Final Project

This project and the whole semester really have changed my view on the use of technology in today's world, and more specifically in the classroom too. I thought that this class was just going to be a waste of time. I had no idea what I was about to begin. This project doesn't necessarily culminate my entire learning experience in this class, because, if it did, it would take a whole two hour class period! For this project I chose to make a mini lesson using power point software and to incorporate video and audio from United Streaming. In my power point I used the custom animation and the slide transition features to make my presentation more unique, but that's a given right? I used the background feature to use real photos as backgrounds for each slide, but that's still pretty amateur. I linked the first two sections of the lesson to different United Streaming videos. These videos come from different Discovery channel programs, and they are really awesome to watch. The third section is linked to a web page I found through United Streaming and answers.com. My last slide I linked each of three different pictures to different reliable internet databases, so that students could further their knowledge with correct information.

I had never used, or even seen, United Streaming before this project, and I think that it is really interesting and useful. When I first heard about it, I was a little skeptical. However, now that I've used it and had a chance to mess around in it. I see that it can be incorporated very and managed quite easily. I think that only drawback is that sometimes it takes a little while to buffer and load. I definitely feel that I can add this technology to my expert list now, as well as power point (because I had never used the hyperlink feature before and it can be a little tricky).

Here is my project, hope you enjoy!

Nature's Wrath

I always find it amusing how dependent we are upon our technology. I can't even imagine how people survived before indoor plumbing and heating systems. Like today, the moment it starts to snow, people freak out. We are dependent upon our electricity, and yet with the slightest breeze, a tree (and most of the time a dead tree)will knock it right out. I know that it's not "funny" but I do think it is ironic just how dependent we have become.

The Future Classroom

I guess my future classroom really depends on where I will be teaching. I know that I want to teach overseas and in more underdeveloped countries. I want to get out there and help those who are less fortunate and those who really desire to be educated. Therefore, I will be lucky if there is internet in my classroom, or even in my entire school. I hope to see each student able to have their own desk, their own backpack, their own textbooks, and their own materials. From what I've seen, schools desperately lack the materials necessary to instruct students and to give students the opportunity to practice and experience on their own. In five years I want to see each student have those chances. This scenario almost seems unreal. Here we are messing around with high-tech gadgets and things that only supplement the educational process, instead of things that are vital to it. So my future classroom is really primitive, to us, but seems impossible to those that deal with it today.