How to Survive My First Year Teaching

     In order to "survive" my first year of teaching, there are a couple tasks Dr. Haskell has recommended doing before hand. To be a successful teacher, one must have a vision in mind and plan for a goal. I need to physically write down what I want to achieve in my classroom such as goals for my students and me, what my vision of the classroom is going to look and feel like, how the experience is going to be for my students, and any other little thing that can help plan for the future of my classroom.  Something to keep in mind, is the look of my classroom and the feeling the students will get when they walk into it (colors and decoration do matter). No matter how nervous I am feeling on my first day as a teacher, having a "game plan" ready beforehand will definitely help me. By being prepared, I will be a more successful teacher.

Creative Technologies

     I really enjoyed looking at all the new technologies Haskell showed in his video. In my future classroom, I would love to use the smart board and the active table. Both of these technologies would be extremely helpful with having the kids actively participate in class and in activities. The smart board allows dual touch which means two children can work on the board at the same time. This could be great for math, spelling, or any kind of engaging activities. I also thought that the active table would be perfect for a classroom. This table allows multiple children to work together on assignments or activities. It reminded me of a tablet or iPad just jumbo sized. Many useful apps can be downloaded onto the table and can be used in a classroom setting.

     I think including more technology in the classroom will make learning more fun for children. Since they are already growing up in a huge tech savvy generation, I don't think it would be hard for the children to learn the technology; in fact, I think they would excel at it. My little brother, who's eight years old, is always using some kind of technology whether it be a tablet or someone's phone, but he is always figuring out new apps and playing all sorts of games. This doesn't quite sound ideal, but I bet many children are like him. So by incorporating technology in their classroom, I think they would find learning more enjoyable and actually have fun while in the classroom. 

Who's Smart and Who's Dumb?

     When we ask ourselves who the smart ones are and who the dumb ones are in the classroom, the answer normally is the smart student is the smart one and the dumb student is the dumb one. But that doesn't make too much sense if you really think about it. The smart students are the ones who utilize their resources to the best of their ability and try and make the best decisions possible. The dumb students are the ones who don't try and use different resources available to them and they make poor decisions (we've all probably been there at some point in our academic career). Sometimes it's hard for a dumb student to become a smart student, but what if the student isn't the problem. What if the teacher is the dumb one? All students learn in different ways so isn't it the teacher's responsibility to make sure every student is learning in a way that benefits their strengths? If teacher's took the time to help the "dumb" students, whether it be teaching them how to study, how to utilize resources, or figuring out the best way to teach the student, I think we would have a lot more "smart" students.

Technology of the Future

     In 1987, we had many expectations for the future. Apparently we wanted to be more advanced in technology and The videos actually showed more similarities than I expected, but it, of course, had its differences. Some similarities I noticed in the video was the video chat that they used to do their project together. Today we have Facetime, Skype, and all sorts of ways to video chat with people. When they were doing their project, they kept saying they accessed their schools database and today we have many databases and online texts we can access. BSUs library has many online databases that students use to complete their assignments. Another similarity was him using a voice command, which is like Siri or Galaxy today. One more similarity I noticed was the teacher using an electronic projector board. Today, they are extremely common in a classroom. When I was in elementary school, they were not common and we had the light projectors.
     Some differences in the video were the video chat to the classroom. Even though it can be looked at as an interesting idea, most students don't want to go to class when they're at home sick or injured. I think another big difference is the fact that all of our technology is more convenient than it was portrayed in the video. Their video chat had its own monitor and computer keyboard and today, even though we still use computer monitors to video chat, the most common way is through our handheld cell phones. I was impressed with their portrayal of the projector board because most of ours today work the same way. We have remotes for them, and use them for many things. One plus that ours have is that some of them are a touch screen.
     I can't wait to see what the future of technology in the classroom looks like. We've already advanced so much in the past 30 years that it will be exciting to see what other helpful tools and technological advances I will be able to use in my own classroom.