Technology

Respond to that idea. What do you think about it? Do you think that teachers could be more effective if they used technology tools (think podcasts, web videos, online discussion forums, electronic assignment submission, tech-related project assignments)? Are modern students technologically inclined? What about being a student in Utah? Do you think that being in Utah keeps you a little behind-the-times as far as technology learning is concerned? Would YOU do better if more multi-media was used in your classrooms to teach and present, and for you to demonstrate your learning and communicate?

I do not believe that teachers would be anymore effective if they used things like podcasts, videos, etc. Why, you ask, not? Most students have an automatic response to a screen and a dark room. "I can talk..." I think that if teachers used more things like that students would space out more and pay less attention. When it's a teacher talking face to face you feel more inclined to pay attention. A, they're more likely to catch you. B, you feel that you need to show respect. You don't feel like that when you're watching a screen. I believe modern students are technologically inclined, yes. But maybe not in terms of education. Most teenagers you know can use technology way more effectively than adults over the age of 20-30. However, I think that education should entail an actual teacher. If I had a choice between taking an online class or a class with a physical teacher, I would take the physical teacher. You feel like you learn more with someone there talking at you. As far as Utah goes, I don't know. In all the schools I've been in (all of four, but most not here) it seems to me that I hear tales of other schools who have WAY more technology. I think that it doesn't have quite as much to do with Utah (some, but not as much as you'd think) as it does with the money for the district or school. I mean, if you take kids who live in a poor district in New York, and ones who live in a filthy rich district, obviously the one will have technology that the other won't just because they can afford it. I think that if we were to become so much more multimedia, I would fail. I am not technology savvy. I want to be, but not to use it in my education per say, more so that have that knowledge and information in case I need it.

Teachers (bum bum bum!)

Since we're reading Nothing But The Truth, which involves a boy who doesn't get along with a teacher, I want you to consider teacher-student relationships you've had in the past. Have you had teachers that you just got along with whether or not you did well in their class? Have you had teachers whose personality just didn't mesh with yours? Without naming names, expound upon these ideas and thoughtfully consider how personality differences or similarities have affected you in your classes.

Teachers in general have a tendency to like me. I like learning and I generally only dislike classes for my peers or specific people IN the class. I almost always do well in all of my classes. Personality conflicts are few and far between with me in life itself, but even more so with teachers. If I don't particularly like a teacher, or if I'm indifferent to that teacher, or that teacher is indifferent to me or dislikes me, I know I don't enjoy the class as much as I could. That doesn't happen often though, and when it does it's not that big a deal. Thusly, the whole teacher-student relationship thing doesn't affect me much. However, from things other students have said and discussions I've had, when a teacher doesn't like a student, or vice versa, it totally messes with the class and subject itself. Students who don't like a teacher might just not do their work to spite the teacher.