Duggan Flavin : Weblog

Review of Technology

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 15:49:39 GMT

There will always be more questions I have on technology, as there is always new technology being constructed, invented, and distributed; its neverending. As long as said technology has some sort of instruction manual (for the love of God, make it easy to understand!!!!!), I should be just fine in the using and adminsitering of any piece of technology.

My own ramblings aside, I still seem to have trouble with Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Power Point. I find that there is always something new I am finding out in each program. For Word, there are numerous examples of which I have no idea how to do. Currently, I have a bitch of a TA in my EDCI 270 class (Vanitha) who doesn't really explain what to do, she just focused on "why haven't you learned this?!" in that ever so delicious Indian accent of hers. So any help in creating better Word documents would be greatly appreciated.

As for Microsoft PowerPoint, I would like to know more features I can use in making presentations more interesting, rather than having all words and no pictures on a presentation. Thanks for your help!

Case Study #2

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 13:23:18 GMT

This is in response to the Case Study #2 that we were supposed to view. The teacher REALLY got on my nerves, VERY quickly. She seems to have a predispostion that her students are not very capable. She need to have faith in her students and start doing her job: EDUCATING!

She first whined about how her students might "drop the digital cameras", or if they "should or can edit the video on their own". This brings to light a BEAUTIFUL learning experience! Why not teach them?! Instead of complaining to the camera that is recording you, how about taking the time to learn how to do this task, and then teach the students how to do it? If they drop the cameras, big deal! Its better that a worthless piece of integrated technology suffer some minor scratches, rather than one of the children.

She also mentioned how the games are "disruptive", even the "educational games". They are called "educational" for a reason; not just because some doofus in Doofusland decided to add the label "educational" to it. Use them! Games are how children learn a variety of things, including numbers, patterns, puzzles, memory skills, etc. To say they are disruptive is a MAJOR error on her part.

In closing, I am sick and tired of these "teachers" that whine about the most mundane of things. Teach the kids, open your minds, and put some effort into your job. That is all.

Observation Entry

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:44:17 GMT

The video that I viewed was of Kim Bradshaw of Buckhorn Elementary in South Hill, Virigina. The age group of which she is teaching over is the Pre-K level, and their lesson plan that was presented was based around the idea of visiting places without leaving their classroom. What I saw from the video was that she has a room puppet, Simon, who has clones that travel around the world and keep in contact with the "original" Simon on their travels from such places such as Ireland and Egypt.

When the classroom actually did visit places, like the Memorial Park where they were greeted by war veterans, Ms. Bradshaw brought along a digital camera to take pictures of what they saw and learned. Issues that were brought up as semi-barriers of the children's learning, were other objects and things of the places they visited. For example, at the Memorial Park, the children seemed to be more excited about the presence of the large number of lady bugs, rather than the American Flags that were handed out.

My suggestion for her to do about the Simon puppet issue is to integrate music into the lesson. I am addicted to music, as it paints a mental picture of what something is and what it is like, varying between people. Since this Simon puppet seems to visit different places of the globe, "he" could send back to the "original" Simon different music from the different locations of the globe. This could be done with an iPod: putting music from that region of the earth onto the iPod, and integrating that with a music storage program, say iTunes. This, in tunr could be used to show children what other cultures view the importance of music as.

Welcome

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:04:41 GMT

Ahoy there!!!! Welcome to my blog; I am majoring in Early Childhood Education at the awesome University of Purdue and this here is a blog about my teaching and the using of technology stuff. Hmmm...I need to get a new picture soon, as I tend to be technology illiterate.