Rethinking Education ch. 1-2 response

I think this book has made some very interesting points from what I have read so far. An interesting quote I have pulled from the book is "Enthusiasts argue that trying to prepare students for the 21st century with 19th-century technology is like teaching people to fly a rocket ship by having them ride bicycles." I find this to be a pretty extreme statement; the book argues things such as books, chalkboards, and paper and pencils are obsolete technology for the classroom. It's ironic that I read that books are obsolete from a book. However, I do partially agree with the quote. I think part of the reason schools are so stuck in the past is because of funding. It costs a lot of money to adopt today's technology in every classroom, so it is difficult to eliminate such primitive technology such as a chalkboard. However, it does work to use a chalkboard, a lot of teaching comes from within and not the tools you use. I believe there is both sides to the argument, but regardless, it is always best to have the latest technology in your classroom.

Website Validity

Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
I decided to Google search "tree octopus" only to find several articles on revealing this website as a hoax. I really couldn't justify looking into the website more to determine if it is real or not.

Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination
I find this website to be somewhat credible, as it contains sources in each of its articles. However, it seems to sometimes blend in personal opinion in some of its sections, such as the rap lyrics section. It also appears to be fairly dated, as some of the links go to a website called "the way back machine," which is an archive of websites from pretty far back.

All About Explorers
The website is a little bit confusing as the home page encounters a 404 error. Looking at the website authors page, the descriptions of the website authors seem to be pretty odd. One of the authors is the "staff psychologist and botanist." I take this website as a bit of a joke; the information on the explorers is pretty brief and there isn't much to them.

Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
I know this website is a joke; "dihydrogen monoxide" is just another word for water, or H2O. Google searching "dihydrogen monoxide," the website is one of the first to pop up. It is classified as a hoax.

Digital Nation Response

In all honesty, documentaries like this turn me off from technology; it scares me to look at all of those M.I.T. students wired to their technology. Obviously, technology has its benefits, and I would probably be better off embracing it rather than turning away from it. However, I feel that it is becoming a huge crutch for students in a lot of ways as well. We are becoming very reliant on technology and I feel it is a cause for some mental decay amongst all of us, especially students of today. We are less serious about our multiplication tables because of our calculators, less serious about our grammar because of auto-correct, and so on. We're losing the "hard" in "hard work", and I would say technology is a large part of that.
As a teacher I would work hard to incorporate technology while keeping this in mind. While no one is perfect and it would generate more that I would have to do in an already crammed curriculum, I would try to put emphasis on the traditional way of doing things while teaching the new way involving technology of doing it. I also hope to spark this sort of awareness in my students, telling them that it is important to learn how to do things without a "crutch", so to speak.

Podcast for Class

I created a podcast for class this week and used this time article as a resource for my topic, which was discussing using iPads in the classroom. I thought it was a lot of fun creating a podcast, although I must say I probably have a big advantage over my classmates. I work for UWSP's radio station, which has large and expensive microphones and the fancy program Adobe Audition that make recording things such as podcasts a lot easier. Working for the radio station also has increased my communication skills a great deal, so I read the script I made a lot easier then if I had not worked at the radio station.
Overall this project was fun to do, because I take an interest in recording things such as podcasts. The topic of iPads in the classroom was interesting as it made me think about using computers in general in the classrom.