Virtual Me

I will have a sub for the next two days in my class, and I missed much of last week due to personal illness.  I received an email from a wonderful aide I have the honor of working with during my first period class, and he let me know that the sub I had on friday was AWFUL!  The sub looked really confused (even though I left incredibly detailed - simple instructions), and eventually began yelling at my students out of frustration.  

Now, I understand how difficult it can be as a sub - I subbed for 2 years - so I always make sure I leave simple instructions.  Sometimes, however - no matter how simple the instructions - subs aren't prepared for spending a day with 7th grade students.  

This brings me to the solution.  I made a video to show my students both Monday and Tuesday.  I call it VIRTUAL ME.

file:///Users/kellieoneill/Desktop/It's%20Tuesday!.mp4

Technology as a Teacher

There has been much talk in my circle recently about teachers becoming obsolete.  Technology is a taking an exciting role in education in this day and age, but it is also becoming a source of concern for many educators, parents, and students.  This whole push for technology in the classroom stems from, it seems, the availability of information on the world wide web.  Never before has our society been able to get information as quickly as it can today.  

What does this do, then, to the classroom?  How does this shift impact direct instruction? Assignments/Projects? Classroom management? How do teachers take the shift in stride, moving forward with this technology boom?  

First off - teachers are NOT obsolete!  Students need to learn primarily HOW to become effective members of society.  That is more and more becoming the teachers role in the classroom - to teach students how to be "good" people.  Technology cannot do this.  Students need to learn how to sift through the information they find on the web, they need to learn how to be conscious of what they see and post.