in response to sara :)

A few days ago I was reading some of the other blogs from my class and I came across this one:

socialist media?

Anyone can be a star.

Perhaps this is what makes some technologies so excited and terrifying. People can connect with people without any middlemen.

Those in control no longer have it, because anyone can produce professional quality recordings from their living room.

Composition for the people, music for the people, videos for the people.
Hm.


I have to say that I love this entry for many reasons. First is that it is short and to the point. Second, it is somewhat controversial in describing anything American as socialist. Part of the American Dream is that you can make it on nothing, and youtube and the internet are just extensions of that dream for everyone. However, I do find this description accurate of the trends of technology and the use of the internet today. I do not however find it to be frightening at all. Just like anything else in this reality, with new power comes new responsibility. My only hope is that humankind can find that responsibility, to each other.

all that uploading

whooo! I'm just up putting my final touches on my web page assignment. I must say that in the three short weeks I have been using more facets of technology, I feel very empowered and excited to turn them over into my classroom. I feel that presentation of information is so important in teaching, the clarity is especially important for younger students. It is also very important that students become responsible for their own learning, and technology is a great tool to make that happen. I have a hard time thinking of what the possibilities will be in the future, but I can say that it seems like when I had my first dial up connection was forever ago.

music editing

Music editing is a very new experience to me. I have always wanted to be able to have these skills using music editing software, but I never made the time or new where to start. I created my music concrete project today. I can see that there is never an end to details when you start to get creative in using this technology. I am excited for my first music concrete, I wish I had more time to explore.

for the future

One buzz idea that my principal discusses is the concept of preparing our students for jobs that have not been thought up yet. I believe the foundation for this idea is surrounded with the always changing field of technology, and its ability to incorporate itself in all subject areas and job areas. Just the advances in the past five years have been astounding, specifically the size of things. I remember the first time I saw a flash drive and I was shocked about its capacity. I used floppy disks through my undergraduate studies(which was not that long ago). How small can we go? How much stuff can we store? This journey with technology forces me to really consider perspective and size today, and in the future.

star trek realized

The discussion today in class was very intriguing in that technology has effected humanity and our own definitions of what life means and is. I had no idea that the 'transport' technology was actually possible, and that there are current experiments with it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I look at my cell phone and see the communicator Captain Kirk used.

The other piece of this that really got my gears spinning is the coding of DNA, and other organic materials for use by technology. The concept of being able to take flesh and turn it into digital signals and electrons sparks the imagination to what kind of possibilities the future will hold for humanity.

getting better all the time

Well, now that I have had a week and some to fool around with all of these new computer concepts, I have found that there is tremendous freedom of expression using technology. When I was growing up, I was always encouraged to use and explore my folks computer. I remember America Online back when they charged by the minute, and I know I spent way too much time instant messaging. Now, more than sixteen years later, I find myself saying similar things to my students as my parents said to me as a child. Technology is the future, and young people need to be encouraged to embrace and feel comfortable with it. I am excited to now, not only for technology' s sake, that I can encourage my students to stretch their abilities of expression to include the internet and computers.

number one

So I always considered myself fairly technically savvy. But this week I learned that there is more, and the vehicle is the internet. Since my first introduction to the internet, I knew that it would be extremely important to use. I never expected that I would ever be able to write a web page. Go figure. So here comes the explanation to the title of this blog, don't really kill your computer, but it is ok to feel that way, at least that is what I say to justify my own frustrations with learning about technology.

Anyway as I am learning how to become a web author, I see as an invaluable tool for me and for my students. My school does not have a web page yet, so I am using this opportunity to build one. I hope to build a school program where my students will take the responsibility to keep the page current.

Last year, I made a CD with my students and we were reviewed by a local newspaper. One of their criticisms was that there is no website to hear the students' recording. I am glad to say that very soon, it will no longer be a criticism.