Sunday, January 27, 2013

Blog Post #2

Did You Know

In our country today, educators of the nations seem to think technology is effecting our children's education. I think that most technology distracts our children more than it helps them: According to the video most children want to do things that are "fun" with the technology they have such as texting, you-tubing, or social networking - instead of using it according to the rules. The problem lies with the child's desire to learn. So the question is: How can we use technology to keep them interested in learning?

In the video, Doctor Strange referred to India having more "honor" students than the whole U.S.A. has students alone. I think with India being a country not as technologically advanced as the U.S., they have a bigger desire to learn, because they depend on technology less, and depend on education more. They have a smaller distraction in other words. In the U.S. we have phones, laptops, tablets, and the internet that get more of our attention. I think the problem could also possibly start at home.


Mr. Winkle Wakes

This video is portraying how technology over the last century has improved. We can have business meeting across the world, keep people alive with machines, and organize our life on a phone or tablet. It implies that our schools should be using technology to keep up with the outside world.
If we reflect for a while and ponder on how we are where we are today its because of schools without technology. People went to school and learned things to help invent technology for us today.


Creativity

This video has a lot of great topics on how our school systems are killing creativity. Instead of letting them expand their minds and finding out how they learn, all of the kids are doing the same thing over and over again. The story that caught my attention was about the young girl who learned by dancing and being in motion. The school pushed her aside and said she was ADHD instead of embracing or accomodating her learning methods. This is a prime example of the schools being lazy. Another point he made that caught my attention is how important it is to let the children be creative at a young age, and letting them continue that creativity until they graduate. They can be creative by expanding their minds to broaden their knowledge on certain subjects. Also, letting them make mistakes, and learning from them.


Thoughts on Mr. Winkle

The video, Mr. Winkle Wakes, is about how we use our technology throughout the world in our everyday lives; such as computers,vehicles, solar technology, etc. My reaction is that we do not even realize how much and fast our technology is changing everyday. We have cars that run off solar power, and we have wifi.
I believe that sooner or later kids will not even have to be in the classroom to attend school. They will watch their class lecture from sites such as Skype and Facetime. Right now, there are homeschool programs such as Abeka that send DVDs for the children to watch. I believe that each child in America should be in a classroom with hands-on activities with pen to paper objectives. This is how they will learn the material and get the full learning experience.


My Top Pinterest Board

On Pinterest, I chose boards such as, the board on education technology for beginners, which is what I am. The board on help with lesson plans is best, because of me being new to teaching. I chose the board with educational resources and to help live classes up, so I will have to liven a boring class up and to have help finding resources for education. Lastly I chose the board that focuses on Elementary technology, because I am going for Elementary Education and I figured it would be nice to have.

Project #2 Wordle

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Blog Post #1

About Me

My name is Ethan Sumrall and I am 21 years old. I am married with no kids. I live in Lucedale, Ms, which is about a hour from the university. I attend church at Crossroads Free Pentecoastal Church and teach children's church and I am a commander in Royal Rangers. At Crossroads, I have went on mission trips to Mexico. My main interest is helping children and trying to bring more people to Christ while building my relationship with God.
My education consist of a Diploma from George County High School, and an Associates of the Arts degree from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. While I was at MGCCC, I was on the leadership team at the Baptist Student Union. I went on a mission trip to Peru and helped children in three villages while there. I would say that the opportunities I had to minister to children are what led me to elementary education.I wanted to teach kids, show them love, and be a great role model to them. My passion is about getting out and witnessing to people by showing them the love of Jesus Christ.



My Classroom

The way I will act in my classroom is simple. I will always be caring and listening to everyone. I will try my best to get to know a little about each student to be able to help them if they have home problems, learning problems, or behavior problems. As I do these things I want to gain respect from the kids by being stern, but with a gentle spirit. This will let them know I care about but is serious about my authority.
I know there are three types of ways that we learn: auditory, kinetic, and visual. While I'm teaching the required material I am going to try and incorporate all three materials. For example, in Math I would use a chocolate bar and divide it into 8 pieces and demonstrate the fractions. This would use all three methods. I will also try and figure out what type of learning methods the students react best too.
I presume the first few years as a teacher will be a major learning process for me learning how the children like or understand different methods or tools. Some tools I would really like to employ are hands on activities such as nature in science; we would go outside or to a museum or park nearby. I think examples and other similar tools will provide the best learning experience for the children and help them to remember things in the long run.
I want my classroom to provide an inviting atmosphere I want the kids I teach to enjoy coming to class and to not only have a learning experience, but to remember the material we learn for a long time. I would like to have fun learning games and inspirational quotes on the walls. This would encourage them and keep them focused.



Time Management

I have learned that the issue with most people is the way time is used and managed. The way we use our time effects our everyday tasks and our stress levels. Stress then effects our actions and the way we do everyday tasks.
There are different ways to planning your time correctly. We should always understand the relevance of our tasks., this way we can stay away from the things that are less important and focus on the more important things. This will help us to finish our daily requirements, but we should always remember to be flexible . We've all heard the saying "practice makes perfect!" When we make mistakes or lack in the department of time management, it's all a lesson learned.