I Told You I'm a Professional Princess...

Photos from our fashion show on Sunday at my place of employment, Once Upon a Bash!

Literacy in the 21st Century

For the most part, I felt like I already knew the information we studied in class this week. As a college senior, I have learned what sites to avoid (like wikipedia--I actually had a professor TEACH straight off of wikipedia. Needless to say, I didn't trust anything we "learned" in that class). I might not have been able to put all of the "how-to-properly-evaluate a website" information into specific terms, but I already knew how to evaluate most websites to make sure they were legit and relevant to my research. I think that this information would be extremely helpful to incoming freshmen, especially the "Internet Detective." I'm actually going to send that link to my brother--he is a high school senior and I feel like that is a great resource for him.

There are a few things I did find really helpful though. "How to Choose a Search Tool" and the "Search Engines" link are great resources! I usually use Google Scholar or the library search engines. The list of different search sites will remain in my database long after this class is over. I also really like the snopes website the "Internet Detective" site gave. You can check the websites legitimacy by putting the URL into the site at http://www.snopes.com/.

Here are my thoughts on my own Information Literacy Competency Standards: I am much more literate than I thought myself to be! This makes me quite excited, because I have always assumed I am hopeless at most technology.

Thoughts on the generation below us: Grace, one of my classmates, wrote in her blog, "When we are looking for something, we want it now." (read it here: http://graceedi399-glarosa.blogspot.com/2010/09/literacy-today.html) I completely agree! This is such a problem with our generation, and it is only becoming more of a problem for the generations below us. Children today are used to having things instantly. Have you ever sat down and watched a kid's show and thought, "No wonder kids' attention spans are so short!" Everything is fast and furious, changing topics and packed with action. Maybe it is a sign I am getting old, but I just can't believe the shows we watched as children were like the shows children watch today. I watched Winnie the Pooh and Reading Rainbow.

As future teachers, we will have to plan our lessons accordingly. When the attention spans of your students are much shorter than your own, and increasingly so each year, what can we as teachers do to capture students' minds? It is something that worries me, especially if I am to teach in low-income schools with limited technology.

Reasons I love Apple!

Reasons I love Apple: laptop begins making concerning noises. Take him in to Apple store. Receive new Keyboard/top cover, new fan, new Hard Drive, new battery, and get an upgrade to the new operating system. for FREE. I'm an Apple customer for life!

If We Learn By Doing...

"If we learn by doing, what are we learning sitting here?"

This quote really struck me, especially since I want to go into teaching. I am a kinesthetic learner, which means I learn by doing. I think most people are kinesthetic learners. Some people are also visual, or auditory learners.

My favorite times in school were when I was allowed to have a hands-on project. That is when I got most excited and retained the information best. As a potential teacher, I owe it to my students to make sure they are learning in the ways they learn best. I also need to be cognizant of how technology affects their lives.

In "A Vision of Students Today," (the college version) I agreed with nearly all of the facts presented. A long time ago, when I was a freshman in a U101 class, I had to map out how much time I spent everyday doing things. I, too, came out with more hours than are in one day. (In the video, it said college students have 26.5 hours of activity in each day). It sounds impossible, but it is because our generation is the king of multi-tasking. We are really good at doing a bunch of stuff at once. For example, my roommate and I are having a discussion, I'm writing this blog, I'm texting my mother about cooking chicken, and I'm making a to-do list.

One of the facts that really struck me is when a student held up a sign saying "Over 1 billion people make less than $1.00 a day." It is ridiculous how privileged a society we are. We are used to getting things our way, instantly, and many of us don't think about how the $8.99 salad costs more than what 1/7th of the entire world's population makes per day. What? How do we reconcile this?

This ties into the information provided about a K-12th grader. In the video, viewers were presented with facts about the average student in grades K-12.

Here are some of the facts that stuck out:

16.5 hours watching T.V. in 1 week

76% of teachers have never used wikis, blogs, or podcasts

There are more honors students in China than there are people in North America

only 1/2 of USA students will graduate high school (this is the worst statistic, in my opinion. I am so passionate about the need for educational reform in our country. The achievement gap is unacceptable, and everyone deserves the opportunity to receive an equal education.)

Here is a link to the Profile of K-12th video: https://global.slu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tabGroup=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_207989_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_3705_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Fwatch%253Fv%253D7N-mzrI86NM

And here is a link to the college profile: https://global.slu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tabGroup=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_207988_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_3705_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Fwatch%253Fv%253DdGCJ46vyR9o

Hello world!

Hello dear reader!

This blog is being created for my online technology class at SLU. I already have 2 other blogs, but I might post "life" updates here as well, besides posting blog entries for class.

Hope your semester is going well! I'm already stressed out but everything is going to be great. I can feel it.

Much love,

Erin