Mr. McClung's Message

This was a great read, from the beginning Mr.McClung recounts his nervousness and how he learned to deal with it. It just goes to show that no matter how much you think you are prepared, you just do not know how you will react until you put yourself out there. Mr. McClung is entirely correct that you have to be willing to talk and get to know your fellow teacher/workers and your students. My favorite teacher was my fourth grade teacher because she talked to us as if we mattered.
I thought it was great that Mr. McClung has such a positive attitude, he will be remember by a lot of children. And about all this new technology, if I can do it, anyone can do it. And remember what Mr. McClung said at the end, we work in a learning environment, so why not soak up as much knowledge as you can?

Old Style Language

elloha veryoneea, llwaysaa emembera ota everna etga aughtca upa nia ourya wnoa gendaa ota heta ointpa hata ouya illwa otna istenla ota notheraa pinionoa. Fia ouya anca otna istenla ithwa naa penoa indma, ota llaa deasia, henta ouya reaa eadingla ourselfya ownda aa athpa hichwa ourya wnoa eelingfa reaa ontrolingca ouya. Oda otna verea etla ourya motionsea ulera ourya ationalra ehaviourba. Your emotions rule your world, stop it.!! Use Logic.

Me In The Sunset

South Alabama

click here to go to the University web site.

Beautiful Sunset

My Life and Friends

Wikipedia: Trust It or Not?

At first one may surmise that Wiki would not be a trustworthy fact finding avenue. Whenever I read some article or such I always know that the information in it could be false or misleading. Now, however, we are being told that the articles on Wiki might have been changed to suit someone else's need or opinion, so every time you read something on Wiki, you will do so with a grain of salt, so to speak.
Now with Mr. Griffith's new snooper program, everything has changed. Any changes to any article can be traced back to its source. If you read a report on a person/company and you see that that person/company has made changes, you will know not to totally trust the changes and you can check the facts, hopefully, somewhere else. As far as trusting Wiki right now, I'll wait a little longer and see how these changes work out.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

In no way could anyone watch this lecture and not be moved. Learning and giving inspiration to others is one of the greatest ways to love and live, as long as you have friends with you. You may not grow up with parents, but along the way through your life, friends are one of the best things to have. Randy mentioned "head fake" learning. I was introduced to this type of learning when I was about 15 yrs. old. Had the worst year ever at batting and after the season was over my dad bought a ball on a string. We did not practice, we had fun in the back yard, about a hour per week. See, no drilling it into me, just go practice and fun until I got better. Next season, first time at bat, I hit a triple, and that was a great season for me. Then as I grew into a young man I started using this technique on myself. When you have to learn something you consider boring, make it into a story in your head that you can tell to others, and come test day, no worries.

Randy, or I should say Mr. Pausch, talks about brick walls and waiting long enough for people to show something different. I was lucky enough, or wise enough?, to notice when I started working that most of the bosses I had were smarter than me in their thinking process and even though they were not happier than me, something was different. Then I began to teach myself different things, such as I made myself better at math, and I improved my social skills. That led me to notice that some people treated me different. You get invited to gatherings that your red neck friends, as good as they may be, will not be invited to. So begins the path of personal betterment. Now comes the point in your life that you use this knowledge and impart it to others and help them see that they too can be different if they apply themselves.

I was born with a physical imparement in my foot, and the doctors told my dad I would not be able to walk correctly much less run. Wrong! I quickly went through that brick wall by walking up the stairs into our house and scared my mom nearly to death because I had disappeared. I was 3 yrs. old and it is as if no matter what the obstacle, I always find away to persevere. When Scott Paper laid me off, along with many others, I tried to get into the chemical factories in North Mobile County, along with everyone else. So I spent two yrs. driving an eighteen wheeler to get the experience, then transferred into hauling chemicals. After about 3 yrs. I was hauling chemicals all over the place making a good living. And now after that I'm in college to become a math teacher, so do not ever give up.

Mr. Pausch also talks about saying things in a different way and to just wait, someone might surprise you. I have quite a few stories from my life about how I just waited, acted the way I always act and letting people see how I am, and letting them come to the realization that what they were told could not be true because I do not act that way. Pay attention and do not compromise yourself in any way and always be faithful and truthful to those that deserve it. The others, do the best you can without ruining your own reputation.

Remember this the most from Mr. Pausch's speech, have fun in your life and share your enthusiasm for it with others. If there is someone whom you see is not as happy as you, invite them over for a cookout or something, to show them that things can be better. Remember to never set a permanent bar for yourself, also be prepared to change or raise that bar. Here's the cliche: Live your life as if there is not tomorrow, you may never know.

Figure out my head fake. This was not for you, it was for my grandson.

Did You Know 4.0

Another interesting video about the future, which, as a big science fiction fan, I've been waiting for this technology to finally get here. All those years of watching star trek and wishing I had a communication device, and now they are here. Instant tracking device with GPS locator built in, watch a movie, press pause, call a friend, is not technology great?
But the fun part was growing up as a young, and older, man and watching the tech actually get here. What will the future hold, with tiny implanted divices that connect you with the awesome technologies to come. Here's a prediction of a future application for you phone: Someone walks up to you and speaks a language you do not understand, you hold up your phone, ask them to repeat themselves and your phone translates. Viola! You heard it here first! Later.

Okay to be Technology Illiterate Teacher?

Well of course not, but I've seen it myself when people are not ashamed or concerened about the fact that they can not read or write. They consider their lack of knowledge to be the way things are, and there's no sense in changing. All so very sad, espically for their children whom will carry on their traits and habits. And then someone becomes a educator and might not have the drive to instill any passion for learning to their students, and it is all a shame.
I can see now how I will be able to use all this new technology is the classroom. Not all students will have the drive in them to be their best, but, if a teacher uses the available and advancing technology to instill just a little drive into an otherwise "does not care" student, then you will have changed someone for the better, and just maybe, I'll bet, that attitude will carry over into their children and maybe even their friends and family.
An educator must be an technology literate person, for the good of all the young people, because everyone you inspire to learn will do us all a favor.

It's Not About the Technology

Ms. Hines certainly makes a good point about how teachers need to be passionate about their subject and teaching the subject to others. Throughout my long life I have seen it too many times when a teacher is just there to get by and go home for the evening. Boring, and if she/he is boring then I am bored! I can not very well learn from someone who is boring. In today's classrooms it is being proved that if your students have access to the world with their subjects, the students show a better attitude toward learning with just about any subject.
Ms. Hines suggest that even without a smartboard or other technology one can still instill a good attitude for learning to students. I agree with that, but, without the tech one could surmise that that class will learn, but a similar class with some world wide tech will probably enjoy learning much better, whereas the tech less class will not advance at the rapid pace achieved by the tech wielding class.

A Vision of Students Today

Mr. Wesch certainly has a great perspective on the amount of time that technology is being used for something other than class assignments, even while in class. Of all the time spent in contact with one another, quite possibly the use of Facebook or some such application would be put to use as a learning tool instead of just a gossip tool. Not having grown up with these new forms of communication makes it different for me to get up to speed, but it's not hard to do.
The use of mass communication would be a great way for students to pair up with other students, even students from around the world, to learn a subject or two or three or ? No more textbooks, now there's a thought. My experience is somewhat different and I don't believe the movie captured my experience, but that is changing quite rapidly. Soon, it seems, there is going to be another big change in the academia world, first the chalkboard and now this.

Tech Lit Teacher and Podcasts

I could not get the Tech Lit video to work, I'm still trying. On the subject of pod casts, I looked at the cite from www.curriki.org and under the table of contents is a nice selection of subjects for the making of a podcast.
The material covers a wide variety of subjects, from time travel with Lincoln to interviewing a gorilla. I have the suit for that!
I watched the podcast from Joe Dale, http://is.gd/2cd21, Benefits of Podcast in the Classroom, which was an informative cast. It incorporated other teachers and the students while giving an example of some students making a podcast. The teachers are using a "project based learning experience" which is enabling the students to learn at a faster rate.