Blog Post #12

Videos games are taking over our kids lives. Is this a good thing? Michael Rich is a director of the center of media and child health, watch his video about how video games affect behavior.
Write a paragraph about your thoughts of this video.

What age do you think kids should start using the internet? Watch another video from Michael Rich and his look on this question. At what age should a child use the internet? Write a brief paragraph on what age you think is appropriate and why.

Kids even at a young age are getting more involved with video games and the internet. We as future educators need to involve these technologies in our teaching lessons. If we include technology even into our elementary classrooms our students can learn to use these media's in a educational way.

Also, think about the teaching techniques your teachers used while you were in school. Did they go along with the trends of your decade. Write 2 paragraphs on an experience and what you could do differently using technology.

In some ways video games are a positive thing for young children because it teaches them strategies and a way to behave. I think kids who play video games can be more independent and more advanced. Yes, I do think the violent video games can lead to bad and aggressive behavior but the majority of kids playing games helps them advance in cognitive abilities. Often kids who play video games are better at problem solving than those who do not play. Although, I think the more active video games such as Wii fit is a great way for kids to be involved and be up and moving but it also is important that outside activities are still being done.

I think 5 is a good age to begin using the internet. They are old enough to be able to search the web, but of course there needs to be a child proof blocker to keep them from accidentally drifting to bad sites. Kids at the age of 5 want to feel a little independent and they can be capable of using a computer all by themselves and actually learn skills. My 8 month old niece is aware of bright lights such as the television, computer and cellphones. She is always curious just to look at them, so I think at even young age it seems as if they are aware of technology in some ways. Kids always wonder and want to explore so teaching them to use the internet will only help them advance in our world of technology.

While I was in school we barely used computers which made me a little behind in the world of technology. I graduated high school in 2009 so we definitely should have been using more technology in the classrooms but my school was poorly funded so we didn't have much. Although, my school never had SMARTboards, the teachers did use powerpoints and tried to use technology in their lessons. I think half of my teachers were updated with the trends of my decade or at least tried to be.
If I could go back and change my high school experience there would definitely be more computers and lessons taught with technology. Once I got to college I felt behind and out dated because I was learning everything that most kids my age were familiar with and already knew pretty well. I would like to change my English and History class because there are better ways to read poetry or learn past events to keep you interested. English was the one class I dreaded because I hated going and reading books that I couldn't understand and comprehend. History was never fun because I didn't care about past events that occurred before my time. There are multiple apps and ways to interact with the lessons that could help students comprehend and be more involved. Interaction through technology with the lessons would be a better way to learn and keep students interested in subjects such as English and History.