Blog Post # 3

Peer Editing:
I was excited to see that this assignment came from Paige Ellis. I have the joy of having Paige in my Diversity in Society course this semester. During my education, I have, like others, been asked to edit other classmate's papers. I just have never known, like Paige, the correct way to go about it. The slideshow "Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial" gives 3 useful and clear steps to follow when peer editing. Compliments, suggestions and corrections is the 3 steps to follow. The 3 steps are helpful, because they help you stay organized and focused on the purpose of peer editing. I like how in the video they say to stay positive. I have had people act like it was a competition when editing my paper. When peer editing, I would also keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion and creativity. It is important when peer editing to not criticize someone's imagination or originality.

Peer Editing is a adequate way to catch errors in a paper. When writing things sometimes we have in our head what we want to say and when we actually read it back, we read the way we are thinking it. When we let other people read over our papers, they catch things our eyes would not. When you are a student writing a paper, you spend an excessive amount of time focusing on it. When someone else edits it, the material is fresh and new to them. I like this assignment, and know that the tips will come in handy as i finish my college education and as I become a teacher.


It's Not About The Technology:

After reading "It's Not About The Technology" by Kelly Hines, I've come to the conclusion that my college degree is not the end of my education, but only the foundation of the things I will learn. Technology is continuously changing, so we as teachers must continue to learn. We need to better ourselves to ensure that we better the future, through our students. Technology is not the most important thing, but yet the most important thing is that we stay educated as teachers. We need to never stop learning.
Teachers have a tendency to stuck in their ways. We need to stay on top and take our students with us. The world has so much to offer and we need to give students the full advantage of it. So I have taken two things from this assignment. 1. We never stop learning 2. It is important to keep yourself, as a teacher, educated!

Is it okay that I can't read!?
I found "is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher?" by Karl Fisch to be very enlightening. I have never looked at technology in this way, especially from a teacher's aspect. I have found myself annoyed when walking into a class room which didn't use power-point but instead the good old chalk board. I know this is harsh, but I have felt the same frustration as Mr. Fisch before. I sat in a class room my sophomore year at South with fellow classmates for 45 minutes. The reason we sat there with nothing to do, is because my teacher didn't know how to turn the sound on and insisted on doing it herself. This teacher would not let anyone in the class try to help, when majority of us knew a quick solution to the problem. I have to say I completely agree with Fisch, We should begin to look at people like they are crazy when they do not how to use a computer in basic ways. Come on it's 2011 people, if you don't know how to use computers, you are going to get left behind. I have not started my career as a teacher, but I know every job I have had during college has involved a computer.
I would like to use my dad as an example. My dad has told me before that when he started his career as a CPA everything was done on paper, and took forever! He now updates his computer software yearly before he starts each tax season. My father's clients would think he was a joke if when they came in to get their taxes done he begin to do them on paper, no one would come to him. In this time and age no one wants to wait. Teaching and educations are not a joke, so why do we not look at people in education the way my father's clients would look at him, if he were technologically illiterate. Teaching is no joke and neither is being technologically illiterate, so YES I think we should be held to some kind of criteria.

At This Rate
As I sat here and watched the numbers of Gary's Social Media Count, I am amazed at how high the numbers are and also how fast they change. This count can mean many different things to a teacher. As a future teacher I think two different things, my first thought is how children are rapidly learning to use technology. It is important to stay on board and use every advantage of these social media outlets. My second thought is wow,this is a lot of information going out into the world that can never be taken back. I think as teachers it is important to teach children the proper way to use social media. I think it is important to become more familiar with social media, so as a teacher I will know what is going on in the media world. I need to know how to use them to my advantage and also to encourage students to use them in a educational way.