The first blog post of Mr. Smith's that I commented on was entitled, College Professors and Twitter. In this post, Mr. Smith commented on the importance of college professors, especially those teaching education, having a Twitter account. He mentions that he has many followers including college students, teachers, principals, assistant principals, superintendents, and parents. However, he is somewhat dismayed to find that none of his followers are college professors. He is worried that the people teaching the future teachers and administrators of education are not keeping up with technology the way they should be or at the rate that the students are. I responded to his post by explaining that until Dr. Strange's class, I had never had a Twitter account nor the desire to create one but that after beginning to use Twitter I am seeing the benefits it offers. I also explained to him that my professor, Dr. Strange, has a Twitter account and talks about the rewards it can offer. He responded to my comment with a short but very true statement, "Twitter is like so many things - you get out of it what you put in it." This is so true. Twitter will be of no use to you if you don't use it to its full advantage. You must increase the number of people you are following (but make sure you are following people that are of benefit to your learning), make sure to get on everyday and read what these educators are saying, and keep up with who you are following. Mr. Smith also mentioned he is a fan of the state of Alabama and gave me a, "GO JAGS!".
The second post I commented on of Mr. Smith's was titled, My Daughter Hates School. I Did Not See That Coming. Although at first glance it appeared as though it might be a housekeeping post, as I read further I realized I could apply the use of technology in the classroom to his problem. Mr. Smith reflects on his daughter (middle school aged) and her sudden distaste for school. After talking things over with her, he discovered she is burnt out on the monotonous routine of sitting in a desk for eight hours a day while knowledge and facts are being shoved into her head. He mentions that although she loves to learn, she is bored. He also mentioned some of her likes and almost all of them included something to do with technology. After thinking about his words, I wondered once again if this boredom that many students are facing could be helped by the use of technology. I raised this question to him in my comment I left. I discussed how technology seems to keep students engaged and helps them to be interactive in the lesson. Though his reply did not offer an answer to my question, I believe that technology can help and should be used much more in the schools.
I enjoyed Mr. Smith's blogs and look forward to keeping up with his posts as well as his posts on Twitter.
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