U.S. Weapons Sales Project By George (International School of the Americas, San Antonio)

George did a great job with this project. It was very informative, and the pictures on the slides complimented his overall statement flawlessly. Anyone who views it will have a better understanding of the overall Arms problem occurring internationally. Here is a link to his project on slide share and the comment I left him. Below is the actual video from the International School of the Americas page for projects. GREAT JOB GEORGE!!!!

Us Weapon Sales

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Luis: "Leader Of A Revolución"

Luis is a great role model four Latin youth, being that he is skilled with technology, has family values, and fact that he is clashing against "status quo" in a revolution against the social class biased stereotypes of Hispanic/Latin youth in our society. I really like this video because it hit pretty close to home. The other few videos were great, but this kid can not be denied his respect. I also am of Hispanic/Latin decent, and I to had parents who had simple technologies in the household. My parents also made me buy just about everything I have had since I was old enough to work. Here this kid is, barely 18 and has more responsibility then half of the people I've met while at UCO. Luis goes to school, pays for his own gadgets and gizmos, even takes his little brother to school in the morning. Luis is great at multitasking, balancing school, being involved with the 4H Tech Wizards as well as the street tree census project in Oregon.I could keep going on forever, so just watch the video and see for yourself!

After watching, I think my biggest takeaway is that disadvantaged youth, as well as their families have a better chance at a higher quality of life if they can take advantage of technology and education.

This video relates to me in that my father is a Cuban immigrant who needed my help with technology(and allot of other things) during my childhood as well as here in the present with various tasks that include paying bills online, translating using only the finest Spanglish, etc. Luis and I both had to buy are own computers, which is a feat as a youngster in itself. In general lower socio-economic status families can really benefit from the use of technology,one example being checking on bill reciepts online, and another being the use of the Internet for talking and keeping in touch, instead of using a phone for long distance calls to Cuba- OUCH!

Thanks Luis's story, as well as many others, I now know that as a teacher I want to make sure I give my children every opportunity to use technology at school as I can, and I also want to possibly figure out some type of homework that maybe the children can try to get their parents to help them with in order to possibly help build their parent's tech skills.

Kiwi Classroom ; What Exactly Is An Overhead Projector?

Wow...where to begin. First of all I have to mention that this elementary classroom is by far the most technological classroom I have seen in grades K-12. What happened to the days of markers and overhead projectors? To sum it up, this techer and her classroom make my education in elementary just a few years ago seem like "cave" writing. Rachel Boyd is the presenter of this video, as well as the class teacher. The video basically sums up how technology can be used in all aspects of teaching, even using YouTube videos to engage students in P.E. These guys have an awesome online "learning hub" that is user friendly and guides students effortlessly. I also loved the term WALT used throughout(we are learners to).There is just too much too list, inluding this great website that teaches math and engages students in competition(building affective skills) called Tutpup.



My most significant take away from this video is probally the knowledge of the fact that there are so many technological resources out there for teachers. I had no clue of websites like Tutpup.

This video relates to me in that Britton Elementary, the school I went to during elementary/have done some field experiences while attending UCO, Was and STILL is lagging behind in technological tools for learning. For instance, they still only have maybe one projector in the classroom, and thats basically their technology. I can imagine how much better these kids could perform if they had access to tools such as hands on learning hubs, etc.(according to Oklahoma State records, the are doing semi poor in achievement testing0

The thing I would most likely implement in my own classroom would probally giving my students access to an online class specific learning hub, where I would provide somple links for students to use for studying, blogging, question asking, turning in assignments, and so on.

Blog Comments & Blogging Buddies

This class seems to be flying, and so do my finger tips as I try to get all this techno homerwork done for class lol. I am somewhat affraid of this class, but I am "getting there" slowly but surely. I have already commented on two T4T blog posts(I hope they have been approved), one on tnachelleedwards blog and one on nayshomeworkthoughts blog entries. In addition I am proud to announce that i am blog buddies with two awesome students named Antoinette and Blake.

Nafiza: Global Kids Role Model

In this video, Nafiza is an 18 year old student who lives in New York. She is a very interesting and intelligent young adult. She is good with things such as Teen Second Life and Flickr. She is a role model in that she goes above and beyond her duties as a student by helping classmates and being involved with positive groups such as Global Kids, a group that ispires urban children.






My most significant take away from this video is probably the impact that technology is actually having on "urban" youth. I now know that just about anyone can have access to inspiring sites such as Global Kids, and in all I believe technology may help keep some of these youth in a positive state of mind.

This video connects with me in that I was a very shy child/ young adult, who had problems with socializing. I wish I had access to technological resources, and knew about sites such as teen second life so I could have been a bit more involved socially.

The main implication of this video that i would use in my own teaching practice would be using technology to help inspire young children who may be lacking in socialization skills and/or children who are of a lower socioeconomic status and need inspiration.

Blogging Buddies Prove That There Is More Than One Way To Skin A Potato, (Well, At Least When It Comes To Teaching Students)

After watching the video We Like Our Blogging Buddies: The Write Stuff with Blogging Mentors, i realized that children using blogs in school can benefit in many different ways. I would say the most important part that I have "taken" away from the video is the fact that blogging helps children to improve their writing mechanics and language skills, not just their technology and computer skills.
During my experience as a child, the only way I learned skills about capitalising, using correct punctuation, etc was buy very critical teachers who simply criticized and scolded me when my punctuation was off. I think that having a blogging buddy to read over your students work and provide constructive criticism is not only a valuable educational resource, it also is building some important social skills. These kids are looking up to the mentors for advice, and what could be better for them than hands on writing back and fourth with someone they look up to. I know that I would have fared somewhat better if I had these resources as a child.

The idea of having someone other than me as a teacher doing some of the "correcting" sounds great to me. I think children will actually respond differently to someone who is closer to their own age,and who they somewhat look up to. In addition to this physchological aspect of learning these blog buddy mentors are helping with, the actual act of using computers and blogging is a great way to brush up on those mechanic skills. I believe this appeals to students like myself who are hands on learners, as we can be repetitively told how to do something, and will never get it until we do it our self. Using other hands on/physical activity like buddy blogging, instead of just writing with paper and pencil all the time to practice writing and mechanics will highly benefit students of this "hands on mechanical" nature, not to mention the above mentioned social skills that the student would never of gotten from practicing them by writing them over and over again on a piece of paper.

Cameron; Boy Genius Or Simply A Technologically Inspired Child?

In this videoCameron is an 11 year old boy child who has technology skills that would put most of us to shame. Being as young as he is, he has miraculous skills which include but are not limited to making movies and videos using tools such as an imovie application and a home made "green screen effects" that he has made himself, editing various programs, teaching technology skills to students as well as his own teachers, and the list goes on, not to mention that he is a gamer that could possibly make some of us "grown men" quiver at the idea of challenging "a kid" to some friendly online gaming competition.He has even built the set for the school in which he does morning announcements with different "backgrounds" in a news anchor type setting. This kid is a perfect example of how technology can inspire today's youth. Yes, Cameron is way ahead intellectually compared to his young peers, and I nor any one else can take that away from him, but as a future teacher who has had "field experiences" at socioeconomically challenged schools that have few computers and very little funds to move up technologically, and in turn do somewhat poorly when testing time comes around, I have to wonder if these schools and kids where to be inspired technologically at schoolas well as at home, how much could they benefit all around in the classroom? Cameron is a perfect example of how technology in the classroom( as well as at his home from his parents at a very young age )can shape the mind of an inspiring young individual.


I have realized that as a future teacher, I think the biggest thing that I have learned from this video is the fact that there are no boundaries to a students learning potential, as Cameron shown. I now know that keeping technology up to date in the classroom is important, and as teachers we should try to incorporate it and cut as few corners as possible.

Relating to what i mentined earlier, I can relate to the content in this video in that ive seen what schools and families with little or no technological resources have to deal with. In addition i can relate myself, being that I never even touched a computer until late middle school due to poor school funding and a low family socioeconomic status. I think if I as well as current students have a head start with technology, we will have a higher chance of having success in school as well as in life.

In the future when I become a teacher,I have realized through this video as well as practical life experiences that I need to make an effort to use tachnology to educate, communicate, as well as to allow my future students to explore whats out there, based on their own "filters" and prefrences. There is a whole new world out there when it comes to technology, and the educational possibilities that are possible through it are endless.

A little somethin somethin about me.

Hello, my name is Adrian and I am an Elementary Education major. I have lived in Oklahoma City my entire life. I am of Cuban, Puerto- Rican, Irish, and French decent. I like football, sleep, food, and just relaxing when I actually have the time. I am going to school full time(12 hours), and I work at Walgreens full time as well to support myself.
As an education student, my goals are to simply graduate, I know this might not sound like a professional goal, but if I obtain it I will be the first in my family to graduate from any sort of higher learning facility( college ). I would like to teach a grade in which I do not have to worry about "teaching to the test"(Thank you State Department of Education) , such as 4th grade. I want to become a teacher so I can have a chance to help children who come from lower socio-economic backgrounds (such as myself) do well in school, also I think young males in this group need more positive male role models in their life.