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Autobiography: I grew up in a household that didn't have cable, didn't have internet and didn't have any connection to the world other than our landline telephones. So my experience of being a user is limited to my school experience and college. I view technology very timidly, it has been an obstacle that I have had to overcome rather than a tool to use for teaching and learning. Because of the very hands on nature of learning in the classroom today I am going to have to learn about how I can learn new ways of making old material new and exciting. I think putting computers in the classroom is a non-negotiable today, students need to be given an opportunity to use the computer on a regular basis because of the fact that some kids are not fortunate enough to have a computer at home. The world that the kids will be going out into will be require that they have a much more advanced knowledge of technology than I do, which is why it is important that I attend professional developments in the future that allow me to expand my current knowledge of technological resources. I think computers should play a big role in the K-12 classroom since our job as educators is to prepare students for post-secondary education, where they will be required to utilize computers and other various technologies in order to succeed. If I ignore the changing technologies I am setting my students up for failure, and that is the number one thing I cannot do.

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This video surprised me that the United States was not as developed as some other countries that are considered to be less developed than us. They were more developed when it came to technology use in the classroom. I am amazed at how the world is changing around us, in some cases more rapidly than we are able to keep up with it. The biggest surprising statistic in this video for me was that 1 in 8 relationships begin on an online dating site. media type="custom" key="12151956"

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media type="custom" key="13466022" This particular video really amazed me. The amazing thing was that this researcher Mr.Lee was able to create such a (seemingly) technologically advanced whiteboard/smartboard-like piece of technology with a Wii remote, a dry erase marker and a pair of googles is mind boggling. Yes, the teacher would have to have a laptop to be able to use these pieces of equipment in that way but it is still quite remarkable that Mr. Lee is able to do so much with so little. I also liked the premise behind his research, so much technology is being developed but those that would most benefit from exposure to it are the people with no access or limited funds. The first thing that typically gets cut from school budgets are technologies, and with these innovations teachers can still bring technology into their classroom with little cost associated with it.

media type="custom" key="13466120" I enjoyed listening to this Ted talk, partially because the speaker had a British accent (and who doesn't love those?), but also because I knew that when there was background noise I was less able to focus on given tasks but I didn't know there was since behind why. The tidbit about open offices leading to a decrease in productivity of 66% made me wonder if that same statistic carried over into open floor plan schools? Noe Middle School is a primarily open floor plan school, yet they boast some of the highest test scores in the district. Any time I have visited Noe I have been impressed at how quiet it is from classroom to classroom, but at the same time I have hear it said that a quiet classroom is only appropriate sometimes and that real learning often takes place when kids are doing hands on activities, thus, not (necessarily) quiet. media type="custom" key="13466162" I found this Ted Talk to be slightly humorous, but at the same time a very good example of how using a social networking site such as reddit.com can work to cause change to take place. There is power in numbers and the more people are willing to put their names out there for a cause the more credibility the cause has. As a democratic society, the people's voice is taken seriously. Before the internet was the global phenomenon that it is today people were relying on television and print media to relay messages, which was still effective but not nearly to the effect that today's internet populations are. The instantaneous quality of the internet allows for information to be transmitted across time and space to people that otherwise never would have come across the issue. media type="custom" key="13466220" I think this professor is on to something when it comes to changing math curriculum so that students learn statistics instead of calculus. Granted, I wasn't required to take math my senior year, all I had to do was up to Algebra 2. However, I see the merit in his push for statistics, many people I know dont realize that the probability of winning the lottery is in the millions, because of the random nature of the selection process. Like the speaker said, perhaps knowing statistics would help the current economic situation in the United States. I think it would be useful to show students statistics like how likely it would be to be to become a professional athlete, singer/actress etc.