C4T #3

I was assigned to Mr. Bill Ferriter who is a 6th grade Language Arts teacher in North Carolina. His blog is entitled, The Tempered Radical. The first post of his that I commented on was, Using Google Docs to Create Digital Kits for Student Projects. What is a digital kit? Essentially, it's a collection of images, sounds, music, and videos that correlate with the curriculum being taught. They are very helpful because it gives students all the materials they would need for a project and saves the time of each student spending hours and hours on the internet searching for materials. They are also good because the teacher can make sure all the information they provide are available to be used without permission. In this post, Mr. Ferriter explained the benefits of using Google Docs to create a digital kit. One big benefit of using Google Docs is the fact that the teacher can share the kit with the students and the students can share their projects with one click of a button. Plus, they can simply provide a link to their projects online.
I started working on a digital kit just for fun and am really enjoying it. I have loved using, Creative Commons which is a website that provides you with digital materials that are available for reuse without having to deal with copyright issues. You should check it out and use it even for our blog assignment photos. I thanked Mr. Ferriter for his post and explained to him that I always enjoy learning new and interesting ways to teach my future students. Here is a great link to a Slide Share presentation that explains a little more about digital kits, Digital Kits for Differentiation and Engagement

The second post by Mr. Ferriter that I commented on was titled, What Can Schools Learn from Best Buy's Continuing Troubles? He compared the troubles Best Buy is facing (stores closing due to competition from online sources) to the troubles traditional schools are facing. He feels traditional schools are also on the brink of extinction. He explains that people go to Best Buy for the human interaction and to physically view the product. However, the employees are not being trained or paid as well as they should be and Mr. Ferriter feels this compares to school teachers and their training and pay.

I commented on his post and agreed with the comparison he made. I explained to him that as a future teacher, I worry about finding a job when I graduate and that even though I am receiving a wonderful education and will be well qualified, I worry that qualifications other than simply having a degree might not matter for much. I know that education has a long way to go and I hope that soon teachers will again receive the credit and acknowledgement they deserve.