Post #9

In this versatile age of technological advancement, the evolution of the world wide web has been significantly influential in both the public and private spheres of everyday life. From its initial assent, the Internet has spawned a number of useful tools and web-based resources that can be readily applied to instruction within the classroom. Of all of these tools, however, there is one the clearly outweighs them all in its ability to deliver a monumental amount of viable information to students in a clear, concise and completely accurate way. What is this Internet colossus? I have one word for you: Wikipedia.

Yes indeed. The peer edited and mother approved encyclopedia for every subject imaginable. This site offers articles, pictures, outlines, and a full litany of other functions that provide you, the user, with the best information electricity and a 56k connection can buy. Despite all of its glorious utility, here has been a movement arising almost simultaneously from its birth that staunchly opposes Wikipedia and its constituents. Ironically, this warmongering is lead by the very educational institutions that promote learning and knowledge as the backbone of their existence- but when a learning application hits the public sphere...guess what? It is no longer under their "professional control" and therefore must be "evil" and ultimately skewed and unreliable. In reality, it is actually that very "peer edited" element that Wikipedia promotes that ensures the removal of the biases and pretenses that say a single professor would have in a college class room. Wikipedia offers accountability for fact and truth. In a teacher's classroom, however, they are the only one with authority- projecting a narrower view of events and opinions upon their students. In conclusion, Wikipedia will one day replace all textbooks, articles, and structured curriculum- and the world will be better for it.

The next technological skill I desire to learn, is that of digital map making. You see, I have a craving to venture far into the wild, live by the rushing rivers and thriving forests- and eventually die from excessive frolicking in warm, breezy meadows. However, if I am to find the best and most desirable locations for my jaunting, I shall be in need of some detailed maps to guide me in my search. So, graphic design is where I shall be headed next. Maybe before I finish all of my maps, I will make a simple version of PAC MAN- play it 32 times in a row- and then continue eating my hot-pockets and crafting the longitudinal lines of the Ohio River Valley. In conclusion- corn dogs are better than hot dogs.

The road to success is paved with hard work- blood sweat and tears. It is also paved with lots of money and debt. So, if I am to have the necessary means to reach my technological goals in the classroom- the State of Florida better provide some massive mula. My goals consist of multi-media projectors for each student to take home as gag gifts, individual palm-pilots for the children so that they always have a way to send notes to each other during class, and a mechanical Panda Bear that teaches the class for me while I develop maps using my newly acquired graphic design skills. When it's all said and done, we're looking at an overall cost of $123,987......so are there any doctors out there who'd like to donate 1/2 their yearly salary to the guy whose gonna be teaching your children their fundamentals of speech, while you're on a 2hr lunch break golfing with your buddies? And that's how the cookie crumbles.

Post # 8

Upon perusing the contents of chapter 5, I must admit that at many a point in my reading, my eyes became dim and fluttered in the face of the surmounting exhaustion and boredom associated with my task. It almost seemed as though sleep would carry me away- when hark! a light through yonder window broke! I came upon a segment pertaining to my area of study, "Social Studies" and the appropriation of computer software programs therein. As I was reading the list of approved Social Studies applications, I was surprised to see some of my favorite pastime computer games on the list! The Oregon Trail, Amazon Trail and even the Carmen Sandiego series were approved as viable resources for the Social Studies classroom! I am now thrilled to know that my role as an educator, now aided by such entertaining and impactful computer software, can go further in reaching into the lives and cultures of my students.


It has now been a few weeks since my last post, however, in corresponding with our current time frame - I'd say at about this point I was enthralled by my newfound expertise in the Power Point application. Retrospectively, I dare say that those weeks in Power Point had to of been some of the most fun filled and beneficial portions of this course as of yet! My favorite tool I learned was the "hyperlink" technique. Not only could I add links to transfer my presentation to an outside website- I could also use said hyperlinks to deliver my viewer into any one of the slides within my presentation. Talk about fun! To celebrate my new found ability, I crafted a "choose your own adventure" story for our Power Point 2 project, which I hope to see published and hitting bookshelves around Summer of 2009.


I wonder reader- right now- are you doing what you truly want to be doing? Or are you merely following along with the "to do's" and demands of life's ever present schedule and obligations? There is little I believe we do today as individuals that is not a result of the outside influences of our daily lives. Sure, we make our schedules- don't we? I mean, we have appointments and tests and agendas and practices and rehearsals and parties and jobs and yard work and a whole litany of things that occupy our time- but...they are for our good, right? These things are important. We are behind the steering wheel after all. Surely no one is telling me what to do. Well- let me ask you to do something. Take a moment, right now or later in your day, and just stop. Stop doing, stop thinking, stop worrying, stop talking, stop laughing, stop moving- stop. Take a breath. What are you doing right now? Nothing? Maybe. Try a little harder. What are you doing right now that you can't help but do? As you read this, the little voice that repeats these words in your head is telling you the answer. You are listening. The car passing by- the chatter of kids crossing the street, the steady drone of drills and hammers on a construction site- even your own thoughts and feelings- all of these things constitute the noise in your life. The things that consciously or subconsciously are directing your day. Listen closer. Is that all you hear? The external, the internal- but somewhere in all of that noise there are gaps aren't there? It's interesting- sometimes we think it is the biggest or most exciting things- like getting a great new job, meeting the love of our life or the birth of our first child that are going to change our lives- but what if what we were looking for was in the silence? Those little gaps in between the mountain tops of our lives. What if they held the secret to the question we answered in the beginning: am I doing what I want to be doing? Am I living the way I should be living? Amidst all the noise of the things that you think will bring you satisfaction, could you be missing the greatest things? Take some time to think about that. I'll close with a story.

In the Old Testament, God had told the prophet Elijah to go up on a mountain top- for he was going to "pass by" him. So, Elijah went up on top of the mountain and waited. All of a sudden, there was a great and powerful wind that swept over the mountain, shattering the earth and tearing at the ground- but God wasn't in the wind. Then, there arose an earthquake under Elijah's feet, but God was not in the earthquake. Soon after there was a terrible fire that descended upon the mountain- but God was not in the fire. Then there came a "gentle whisper"- in Hebrew literally meaning "in the silence". God was in the silence. Reader, sometimes we can find the best things when we are listening in the silence.