Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, or more commonly known simply as MIT. He died on pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008. In the last months of his life, he gave a stunning lecture giving his last bit of advise to his students. This last lecture entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," was not only clever and funny, but full of great advice and lessons on life in general.

Pausch started his last lecture by simply telling the audience a few of his childhood dreams. Some of them involved being a professional football player, an imagine er for Disney, and even being on the Star ship Enterprise as Captain Kirk. Although it seems that he couldn't have possibly attained these early childhood dreams, he actually did achieve some of them. He then went on to say that no dream is unattainable and that they are your dreams, and that you should always try to reach your dreams.

Another thing that he discussed was one of the assignments that he gave one of his classes. It didn't require any books or note books, because he wasn't going to give any lectures and there would be no reading of any text books. He actually split the class in half and gave them a huge group project. One of his ideas was that the best ways of learning was to learn by doing and that hands on projects were in fact the best ways of learning. I thought that this was awesome because I totally agree with that conclusion. He even said that the students met and exceeded the requirements that he gave them. But when one of his student showed him their projects before it was done, he told them that they could do better, so that they would be pushed to do their very best.

It seems that we lost one of the best educators of our time when Randy Pausch die. His last lecture was full of great advice and he really seem to be a truly inspiring individual. The idea that he could give a lecture full of hope and encouragement in the face of death is absolutely amazing.

iPods as a Teaching Tool

It seems that everywhere you look, you see people with headphones in listening to an iPod. The iPod is a MP3 player produced by Apple. It is one of the most popular pieces of technology on the market today. It is widely used by children and adults alike, but can it be used in the classroom? Duke University seems to think it can. In 2005 the Duke Digital Initutive program was introduced. It provided freshmen with an iPod in an effort to enhance the learning process. It contains information about orientation and classes.

This is one of the best examples of technology in the classroom. The introduction of iPods to further the distribution of information in a school is one of the best ways to utilize current technology. I think that this is a great idea on the part of Duke University, and I think that universities around the country should get on board.

Dr. Christie

Dr. Alice Christie's website seems to be an extremely useful resource for incorporating different kinds of technology in the classroom. The website is designed to share some of the insight of Dr. Chrstie's over 40 years of experience in education. On the site you can choose from photography to searching the web and from web design to GPS and Geocaching.

I chose to look into the GPS and Geocaching portion of her website. She states that here in the 21st century, we as educators are obligated to keep up with current technology. We should push our students to use these emerging technologies, such as GPS, and we should teach them practical was to apply these technologies in their lives. I think that it was a very informative website and I really liked her approach to education. http://www.alicechristie.org/geocaching/index.html

Wikipedia

Can you really trust the all knowing Wikipedia? I know that every time I'm curious about something, or my friends ask me a question that I can't answer, I always just look it up on Wikipedia. But is it really reliable. Apparently it isn't. According to NRP, the seemingly center of all knowledge, can not be trusted.

According to the post on NRP, anyone can change the information that is put on the website. There isn't very many restrictions or anything holding people accountable for the information that they put on Wikipedia. Even though Virgil has made it possible for us the public and the government to monitor who changes information on the site, it still isn't that reliable. It's a shame but now we know that Wikipedia is in fact not that reliable and should never be used to do research.

More From The Fischbowl

Professor Barry Bachenheimer of the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools in New Jersey, posed the question ,"how many of the 180 days of school are used for true instruction." One piece of data that he used was a presentation that showed the frequently missed or wasted classes throughout the school year. He concluded that only 120 days are actually used for teaching and instruction by teachers. This was made up mostly of absences and the first and last days of the year. Test days where also some of the day's that students would miss out on instruction from their teachers, which I never really thought about.

Bachenheimer creates makes a really good point and facilitates really good discussions on the topic. I personally haven't ever really thought about how much time is wasted at school. I remember thinking when I was in high school, "man it seems that we have a lot of down time." I think it would be a good idea to find ways to give teachers more time to actually teach in their classrooms. But I don't think kids would like having a shorter summer and a longer school year. As a teacher, I know I wouldn't.

Best of The Fischbowl of September

Karl Fisch is the writer of the blog The Fischbowl. His blog entitled, Is It Okay To Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher? won the Edublog award for 2007. Despite his great humility on the issue, this is a very impressive award and a great achievement for him. In this blog he explores the very question posed in the title of the blog. Does it really matter if a teacher is technologically iliterate? Does this enhance his or her abiltiy to prepare students or does it inhibit it. Karl Fisch definitly seems to say that it greatly inhibits a teachers abiltiy to affectivly prepare his or her students for a successful fufilling life. He even makes the bold statement that being a teacher who is technologically iliterate today is like being a teacher who was reading or writing iliterate 30 years ago.

Fisch gives a good argument as to why we as teachers have an obligation to stay on top of current technology and to provide our students with the tools they need to succeed in their future jobs. I for one totally agree with this argument possed by Fisch. It is our responsibilty as teachers to provide our students with all of the advantages they need to survive in this technologically growing world. This was a well thought out argument and very diserving of and award like this one.

International Classroom Blogs

This classroom blog comes to us from Nelson Central School in New Zealand. This is a year 2/3 kids class, which would be 6 and 7 year old children and their teacher is Rachel Boyd. Most of the blog entries are videos, and it seems that it is a very interactive site and is very useful to the children and their parents. http://room9nelsoncentral.blogspot.com/

The next classroom blog also comes to us from New Zealand, but this time at Manaia Kindergarten. The blog stated that the school had over 30 families attending this school. This blog also has numerous videos for the children to view. This seems to be a trend with the younger grades. It seems to be very useful for the childern and is also very interactive. http://manaiakindergarten.blogspot.com/

Classroom Blogs Around the Country

This blog comes to us from Noel, Montana. Mr. C's Class Blog, as it is titled, is one of the most elaborate blogs I've ever seen. It has dozens of links and applications on the right and left sides of the page. It is very interactive. Each student in his class even has their own blog and he has the links to thoughs as well. It is a very impressive blog and I think that it is very benifitial to the students. http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com/

This blog is from Waukesha, Wisconsin. This blog was created by Kevin Kais, a teacher at the Beautiful Savior Lutheran School. This is a very small private christian school in rural Wisconsin. Mr. Kais teaches all subjects to 6-8 grade students. He uses the blog to post homework assignments mostly, and other activities that are going on in class. He also has links to the main school website. This school is run by the Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church and also has a link on this blog. This seems to be a very helpful was of assigning homework so that the students can keep up with them, and also the parents. http://www.bslc-lcms.org/blogs/kais/2008/09/world-history-ch_29.html

Actual Classroom Blogs

Fizzics
Mr. Mackenzie
This example of a classroom using a blog comes to us from the UK. Mr. Mackenzie teaches high school physics. This blog is used to post notes, grades and other resources for the students to use in his class. It has a numerous amount of videos to enhance the learning of his students. He also has many links to educational websites that students may use to learn more on the subject of physics. It is a well laid out blog, and seems to be a really good resource for his students.

http://mrmackenzie.co.uk/

The Fischbowl

I guess that in our arrogance, we Americans still feel that we are the best and the brightest. This video by Karl Fisch really makes you think. It makes you question the idea, that probably all Americans have, that we're somehow superior to all other countries. Not to sound non patriotic, or to overlook the progress that we've accomplished, but after viewing this video, it seems that we're declining in today's world.

Maybe declining isn't the correct word, but maybe not keeping up is? Maybe India and China really are passing us in this global race of power? The statistics in the video seem to support this idea, that we really are being passed. I don't know about you, but that is a pretty scary scenario. Although, the statistics in the video, like all statistics, are probably a little skewed to prove the point that he creator had. India and China had more college graduates than the US because they have a bigger population in general. Either way, it seems that it is up to us, the future educators of America, to do something about it.

My Presentation

Directing Links That Do Not Work

The four most important reasons that links do not work are:
1. The link is not correctly spelled. For example, I misspelled MY NAME in a link earlier today. Silas caught it and did not believe me when I said it was intentional.
2. Nothing is placed between the two parts of an a tag. I will demonstrate this to you.
Apple's Web Site, which you may find interesting.
3. You forgot to include http:// in the address. It must be included.
4. Sometimes Google doesn't like a / after the address. Try removing it

ACCESS Program

The ACCESS Program stands for the Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators and Students Statewide program. It is and initiative by the Alabama Board of Education. This program provides high school students with a greater chance to take advantage of AP, or Advanced Placement, courses and other classes that they may not have access to otherwise.

According to the Alabama Board of Education, the ACCESS Program has six objectives. Two of which involve providing access to advanced diploma courses and advanced placement or dual enrollment. In my opinion, this is a great initiative put on by the state. Giving high school students the chance to gain college credits be for they actually go to college is a great idea. This program simply enhances students chances of utilizing these great opportunities to advance their education.

ALEX Progam

The ALEX program is an educational resource website made to equip teachers with resources and information in a quick and easy way. ALEX stands for the Alabama Learning Exchange, and their slogan is "Quality for Every Facet of Learning." ALEX is a project of the Alabama Department of Education and is connected to the Alabama Course of Study by the National Board of Certified Teachers. It provides information and materials, such as lesson plans and web links, for educators in an easily accessible site.

In my opinion, ALEX is a great tool that can be greatly utilized by teachers, administrators, and parents. It is a very well laid out website and is very user friendly, making to easier for less technologically inclined people to use it. I think that it can be a huge asset to anyone who is in education.

About Me

Hi, my name's John Hardman. I went to the University of South Alabama because it was close to home, and because everyone in my family went to south. I also decided to go to south because of the opportunities to be in the outdoors around here. I am an avid fishermen and hunter.