"Growth" vs. "Fixed"

At the beginning of this video the Author of "Mindset" Carol Dweck stated that some students have the thought that they have to do a certain task correctly so that they will look or seem smart. She went on to explain how other students go into the learning process with the mindset that they are pretty much going to do their best while trying to better their intelligence by studying and being on tasks with their assignments. I thought this was very interesting for her to say because this is the honest truth and I feel that is what hinders most children from using their intelligence to the fullest. For one reason, a lot of children look at intelligence as sort of a competition. They want to be just as smart or even smarter as their friend. I wish that students would not go through school feeling this way because no matter how smart or not they may think they are, some students are smarter in one area than another student is and vice versa. We all have our strengths and weaknesses in certain areas. The 8 session workshop she talked about seems like a really great idea. She explained how it teaches people to learn at a growth mind set. She also talked about how the study skills they taught them did not work at all because they had no motivation what so ever. This is a major problem with children today. The main think you have to have dealing with any kind of education is motivation. I have to motivate myself to this day with education or I would not make it through college. I really enjoyed this video because Carol really explained this topic well giving her audience examples to understand what she is talking about like the race car driver.
This discussion greatly affects me as an upcoming teacher. It really has opened my eyes to how children really learn and mainly that most of them are just not motivated enough to learn and open up their minds to new things. I plan to use this as an opening to my class each year and explain to my students that if they are not motivated and if they are not ready to learn then they will greatly suffer. I think by me giving them a talk about how they need to have a growing mind will probably open their eyes and maybe they will then be motivated if they were not already.

Solar Eclipses

I listened to the podcast about Solar Eclipses from the K-5 section. This was a very interesting podcast because it explained in pretty good detail about what a Solar Eclipse is and what happens during one. A Solar Eclipse is when a shadow from the moon falls from the earth. The woman who was doing the podcast made some really good metaphors while explaining a Solar Eclipse she used a softball and a sidewalk to give an example about how the softball can only cover a small area. She explained that the sun does the same thing. It can only cover a small portion of the Earth at a time. She also went on to explain how only the people in the umbra can see the Solar Eclipse and someone standing on the penumbra will only see a partial eclipse. She also explained that if the moon was smaller or father away from the sun we would not have Solar Eclipses.
Podcasts like the Solar Eclipse one would be very useful to me when I become a teacher because I could play the podcast for the children to get a different way of explaining things like Solar Eclipses. I think it would also be a great tool to use for activity time because I could find some children music to play while they do their activities. I think it would benefit the children for me to find some related to math because all children need a little extra boost on math. I could find some fun math songs that might help them with math facts and problems. I think this tool will be a very big help for me when I become a teacher.

The Edible Schoolyard and A Night in the Global Village

The Edible Schoolyard was so interesting to me and I think this program is just amazing for students to be able to experience. For one thing, some students learn better when they can put their hands on things rather than having a boring worksheet to do and some would rather have the worksheet. I think this is great because the children get to do the things on their own. Also, the cooking part was very interesting because the only reason I know how to cook is from my mom and some kids are not that lucky, so I think that was just awesome for them kids to be able to cook things by themselves. I think I could use this is my classroom to teach children that they do have to learn how to do these things on their own because one day they will be on their own without someone there to tell them what is right and wrong. I think this would be a great lesson for children to learn at an early age.
A Night in the Global Village was also amazing to me because it is such a great lesson for children to learn about because these things really occur and some children have no clue of it. I think this would be a great thing to incorporate into my classroom because it teaches children about how some people have to live. I also thought this was awesome because these students actually got to experience in real life how those people really live, work, and do certain things. They also had to sleep in the conditions those people had to sleep in. They had to learn how to make a fire with the material they had and they found it very difficult because they said they have never even had to do things like that before. At the end the students performed skits of what they experienced and I think this was a great way for the students to think about and reflect on what they experienced and realize how those people live.
Both of these podcasts were just amazing and I think these topics would be great to have when I have my own classroom because it is concepts that students should know about and learn about as well as learn how to do.

iTunes University

I found a lot of useful information on http://www.apple.com/education/mobile-learning/. First of all, it stated that learning no longer happens only at a desk. Students now expect constant access to information, no matter where they are. Which is exactly why more and more faculty are using iTunes U to distribute digital lessons to their students. This statement is so true because students have some form of a device to use whether it be an iPhone or a computer. This site also stated that iTunes U has the largest collection of free educational media available to students, teachers, and lifelong learners.
It also stated that iTunes U has become the the engine for the mobile learning movement. It puts the power of the iTunes Store in the hands of qualifying universities so they can distribute their educational media to their students or to the world. This is so amazing to me that we actually have something like this to use in our everyday lives. Another cool thing I found out about iTunes U is that you can set up your on site with a password and have selected members be a part of it. This information is very helpful because it is definitely something I would use in my own classroom. I could use this device for many things and I hope that it expands even more by the time I am a teacher.

iPod Suggestions

http://news.duke.edu/2005/12/ipodupdate.html
The article I found on Duke Universities use on iPod in instruction was very interesting. It stated that the number of students using iPods has quadrupled and the number of courses incorporating the devices has doubled while trying to use more technology in academics. They also stated that since the use of iPods has increased so has the use of videos in lectures. I think this is a great way to incorporate technology in students academics. A lot of students have things like iPods and even if you do not have an iPod you can still do a lot of the things on the Internet which is provided by most Universities. They also explained how using devices like the iPod has taken the learning experience outside of the classroom and it has also taken learning to a whole new level. They stated that the use of this device is in all types of classes from computer science to Human Anatomy. I think every University should consider using technology in this way. It makes the learning experience so much better. The most interesting thing they stated in this article was that in 2004 Duke distributed free iPods to all first year freshman. I thought this was a great thing to do and a great way to open the door for a new style of learning.

Dr. Christie's Site: Internet Resources and Tools

Dr. Christie had a lot of interesting information and resources on her site. The part I liked and learned a lot about was the Internet Resources and Tools section. I wish I would have known about this site long before now because it has so much useful information about using the internet from simply navigating the internet to electronic citations. I can remember doing papers in high school and I never knew the best places to go to look for the information for what I was doing my paper on and this site was very helpful in that aspect. Also, I really thought the electronic citations link would be very helpful for high school teachers to pull up for their students on the day they talk about research papers because this would be so much easier for the students to find out how to cite something rather than them finding out themselves and do it wrong. I also thought the ClipArt section was really neat. I already have an idea of how I want to use ClipArt in my classroom and this link gave me so many more ideas to use it in my class one day. I think that this will be a very helpful site for me to use when I have my own classroom one day.