Video Response - Harness your Students' Digital Smarts

I just finished watching a video titled “Harness your Students' Digital Smarts”. It is about the Edublog award winning teacher, Vicki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher), uses innovative technology in her classroom. She seems to be a excellent teacher and her students allows seem to be engaged. Their class has wikis, blogs, podcast, and many other different methods of teaching. Mrs. Davis uses all this technology and even travels to tell about her methods of teaching. In her classroom, students turn in assignments online to wikis. She allows her students to teach themselves. She also says teachers say she need to know something before she teaches it and she disagrees with that. She feels like she learns along with her students since technology changes so much. The children also get to learn from one another.

For me as a future teacher, this classroom shows what I will use in my classroom. This video also shows technology is not going away and teachers should take full advantage of these tools to help them teach and engage the students. Technology is important also because it always changes. Teachers should take advantage of professional development to keep up to date with the ever changing thing that they use in their classrooms. Student can also help with this by keeping up to date themselves (which they always seem to do).

I personally feel like I will be a lot like Vicki Davis. I hope to be as innovative as she when I began teaching. I will take advantage of every opportunity to learn a new technology or professional development offer to further my knowledge.

Below I am posting the video for you if you would like to watch it. To my fellow future teachers, it worth watching and it is only five minutes. Thanks for reading.

Social Networking

Social Networking has impacted my life in such a positive way. Facebook is a way for my family that lives miles away to keep up with each other. It’s also always me to keep with college friends. Twitter allows me to do the same thing but also allows me to keep up with current times on the go. I follow local and national news and also National Education Association. The things I follow help to ensure I am update with what’s going in our world. Therefore, social media has definitely affected my life in a positive way.

Below are links to the articles I responded to.

http://performancing.com/negative-effects-of-social-networking-sites-for-students/

http://www.business2community.com/social-media/negative-effects-of-social-networking-sites-for-students-0311887

According to these articles, social media has seriously impacted students. The negative impact it has had has caused low grades, loss of motivation, effects on their health, and seriously reduced real human contact. Students have started trusting on these sites for research which can sometimes in not always accurate. Students have also “slacked” with manners and other human interaction learned behavior which is a direct result from these sites. Like the article says, “social networking communities are here to stay,” and there should be way to help monitor these sites for student. As the future generations, students from all ages should be limited to use of these sites during learning times.

Studies have also showed that health problems have surfaced. According to the site, students who use these in excess tend to have more stomach aches, sleeping problems, depression and anxiety. Because I’m a substitute, I have observed in the classroom that students talk about staying up all night because they were on Facebook or Twitter. They tend to sleep more and pay less attention during class.

Hopefully as the future goes on the students will see the importance of limiting their selves on social media communities.

Welcome to my blog! This blog is for my Education Technology final at HSU.

First things first:....My name is Hannah Topor. I was born and raised in a small southwestern Arkansas town. Nashville has 5 stop light. Yes that's right. 5. I married the man of my dreams, Brandon Topor, in September of 2010.

November of 2011 we found out that we were expecting a bundle of joy! This was the most exciting thing in the world. In July of 2012, via c-section, I delivered a beautiful baby girl. We named her Bella Faye. The picture below is one week after she was born. She is my everything. My life. My hobby. My interest.

As you know, my life changed for good. While on maternity leave my job was reassigned to a different part of the state, so I lost my job.  Eventually I realized that losing my job was a blessing in disguise, because I could finally achieve my lifelong goal of becoming a teacher. After losing my job, I began taking classes at our local community college and was amazed how much I had matured as a student.  I took pride in my work, studied more and made great grades.  After taking all that I could at CCCUA, I transferred to Henderson and became a full-time student, wife, mother and a substitute teacher in the Nashville School District. 

I am now the best student in the world. I try to the best of my ability and appreciate school more now. I am studying to be a Middle Level Educator because it my passion. This age group of kids are tough! (Remember, I am a sub.) I can get on their level to reach them but I can also stay tough. 

Another aspect of my life are my friends! I have the best friends in the world. Beside my husband, my sister is one of my best friends. Sarah and I shared our pregnancy together and we have had so much fun becoming new mommies. We also attend the same college with the same major. 

We are majoring in Middle Level Education with an emphasis on Language Arts and Social Studies. My life stays busy with school and the babies in my life. Wyatt and Knox are my two nephews and Bella loves to spend time with them.

Hope you have enjoyed my intro to myself. Stay tuned for more fun!! Also, one last sweet picture of sweet Bella Faye.