Sunday, February 26, 2012

Blog Post 5

Don’t teach your kids this stuff. Please?

 Dr. Scott McLeod is an associate professor at the University of Kentucky and the founding director for the Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE).Dr. McLeod, uses a little bit of sarcasm to convey his opinion for the need
to have more technology in the classroom. He expresses some of the concern that parents have about their kids being online. As a parent I do understand the concern of kids being online, especially younger children. This is still not a good reason to shelter them from technology. We must educate our youth to properly use the resources available to them. 

The iSchool Initiative 

Zeitgeist Youngmind's Entry

In this video Travis shows us what education can be like in the future. He believes that we can revolutionize the education system by using Apple's iTouch interface program. By using a variety of apps that allow for notes, recorders, scientific calculators, and other available apps in history and reading he shows us a unique way that we could save money and expand our learning capabilities.
The arguments presented in this video are very impressive, especially by someone as young as Mr. Allen. The idea of students having one small computer as opposed to multiple books is very appealing. To think about our teachers being so accessible for their students is  exciting! I think this would be a great step forward in our educational system. 

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

I found this video very interesting, but I'm not sure that I would ever use the internet in this way. I do find it fascinating that the internet has a way of connecting us all over the world. I think in music and art classes this would be a great way of sharing new ideas, and different forms of art and music. 

Teaching in the 21st Century by: Kevin Roberts

What does it mean to teach in the 21st century? That is what Kevin Roberts is asking in this video. He tells us that teachers become obsolete if all they can do is provide information. Technology allows students' to have unlimited access to plenty of information. it is our job to filter this information and help them use it effectively. He states that our job is to teach students both life skills and technology skills, as opposed to just fact and content.
Technology today allows for learning to be both fun and engaging.
As a teacher in the 21st century, I am going to make sure I find and use technological resources to keep my students engaged.  I feel that I need these technological resources to keep learning activities relevant to my students.

Reading Rockets

As a future history teacher I found the section on oral history very helpful. History is full of facts, and dates. As a good teacher it is our job to teach students not to read the information, but what is important in the information they read. Allowing students to connect their personal family history with important events in history is a great way to help them understand what really happened and what life was like back then. 

 

 

 


 

 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

C4Ksummary for February

I was assigned to Frank for my 1st C4K for the month of February. Frank is in grade 5 at Pt England School in Auckland, Australia. School has just started in Australia, and Frank's first post was a picture of him, and just said how excited he was about the first day of school.
We had a special C4K assignment: A sixth grader shows demonstrates why you do videos in EDM 310 in which Lauren used imovies to show her understanding of the customary system. She did a great job on this video, and the amount of time and effort she put into it really shows! The dialogue was great, I thought the segments were perfect in length, and I loved the interviews and commercials! This video really shows the importance of using technology in the classroom. Lauren as a 6th grader did a much better job at making and editing this video than I could have done. I hope that as a teacher I can inspire this level of creativity in my students.
Emma was the student I was assigned to for C4K week 2. Emma is in Mr Avery's 6th grade class at Dennett Elementary in Plympton, Massachusetts. Emma blogged about her school's recent spelling bee in which 10 students from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade were picked to compete. Emma was one of the 10 6th grade students in the spelling bee and she came in 3rd place. Emma and the other students should be very proud of themselves for participating!
For my C4K week 3 I read Maha's blog. Maha is in Ms. Eppele's 5th grade class in British Columbia, Canada. Maha's most recent blog was a short story she had written called "Under the Rug." Her short story was about a bear that was under a man's rug one day. The bear wiggled around so much it scared the man, but then the bear disappeared. After two weeks the bear came back, but this time the little bears mother came and got him. I thought Maha's short story was cute and creative!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

My Sentence Video

Blog Post #4

globewithheadphones

I started this week's assignment with The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by: Joe Dale. In this video some of the benefits of podcasting in the classroom are described. Podcasting delivers radio quality instruction and content can be listened to any time and any where. Students now are what are known as Millenial students, or students born after 1980. These students have never experienced life without personal computers or technology. Innovative technology is part of their every day life. Podcasting is a form of learning students of today are familiar with, therefore making it relevant to them. Podcasting focuses on the higher order thinking skills in Bloom's taxonomy and allows for creativity and innovation in the classroom. Teachers can use a project based learning approach where students are writing and then acting out the scripts, or teachers can record a lesson and students can play it back for review later. You can also use visuals to enhance student learning and this is called a vodcast. I really like the idea of using podcasts to help students not fall behind in their work when they have to be absent for school, or as a way to review material they aren't quite getting. It also allows for parents to hear and see what their children are learning at school.I think podcasting is a great way to challenge your students and can make learning fun. Another great thing about this video is the links at the end for tutorials to help you get started with podcasting.

Judy Scharf Podcast Collection
I liked how Ms. Scharf started with the terms, told us what podcast meant, how it came about and what sites and software we could use to start our own . Then she gave seven tips to success on using podcast in the classroom. She told us to start with making sure we learn the software which in theory is common sense but can be over looked by thinking on the lines of learning as we go. She also provides some terrific tips for allowing students to create their own podcast and making it a success. To let students make the decisions on, who they want to work with, their topics, and giving them a time frame. Then Ms. Scharf broke down a time frame of how to teach students how to make their own podcast.The You Tube video "How to Create Your Own Podcast" was very helpful and I will be using this as a reference when I make my podcast. Ms. Scharf provided an abundance of information from topics to project formats for when I have my won students one day!

Podcasting with First Grade
On the Langwitches blog A first grade class had really enjoyed listening to a second grade podcast on animals. They loved that the second graders had received so many comments from teachers around the world.They were enthusiastic and eager to record their own voices to get them “into other people’s computers and iPods” too. Their teacher had started reading a chapter book called Vacation under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne from the Magic Tree House series with them.The idea was to pretend that they were interviewing Jack and Annie, the two main characters, about their latest adventure that had taken them to Pompeii. They read and then discussed each chapter as a class. The teacher then took the questions and answers the students came up with in the discussions. They used this as a script and then recorded the questions and answers. She rotated all students to be either the interviewer, Jack (boys) and Annie (girls). Then had them record several segments as a class chant together (ex. gasping, “no children allowed”), which they seemed to enjoy very much. She would let several students at a time come to the back of the class and record directly into Garageband, while the other students were silently working or reading a book.
The teacher was astounded at how engaged the students were with this activity, even going so far as to ask to edit and re-record parts of their recordings so that they were perfect. Furthermore, the students loved listening to themselves while following along with the script. This is a great activity to engage students and encourage them to be creative. This also helps students gain a more in depth learning experience because they are teaching concepts to others.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Blog Post 3



Technology in Special Education

In this video special education teacher Lace Cook talks about how technology, especially laptops has improved the way student's learn and how she teaches in her classroom. Many of the students in her special education class are non verbal, and have physical and cognitive limitations. Technology facilitates student participation. She talks about how without technology life can be difficult for teachers and students. One student, Corbin used to have to be taken out in the hall for assisted reading. Now he uses audio books on an ipod touch to help him. This makes silent reading exciting, independent, and more importantly he is with his classmates. Another non verbal student, Chris communicates by using a mouse to type words on the computer. Technology makes it easier to get and keep her students attention. She uses power point in the classroom, and even has a website for her class. She plans to keep implementing new technology to improve the way her students learn.
Incorporating technology in the classroom helps include students with disabilities in the regular classroom setting along side their peers. I think the zoom application on computers would be very effective to use with smart boards in the classroom


How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism

In this video we see how Braden uses the ipad. He uses the app Toddler Counting, which gives immediate feedback as he counts. He uses the the My First Word app to help him with his 3rd grade sight words. The Kids Writing Pad app helps him practice his writing skills. It was great to watch Braden sit down and work with the ipad, his parents said that before the ipad he didn't want to do school work.
As a history teacher I think one of the apps I could use in my classroom would be the History: Maps of the World app. I want to teach World History and I think this would be a great app to get my students to learn about the geographical locations of the places we study. Knowing the geography of a certain place can help students understand why the specialized in certain trades, or grow certain things. I looked over some of the other apps too, and was impressed but the Maps of the World app was my favorite.

Garys Social Media Count
Gary's count really surprised me, it shows why we need to use social media in the classroom. It's mind boggling how big the numbers are and how quickly they change. It really shows how many people use the internet everyday, all day. Most of our students will be using things like google, youtube, twitter, ect. so we as teachers should incorporate these tools in our class.

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
This video had a very powerful and important message of why we need to use technology in the classroom. This video really shows how everyone uses technology and how we CAN use to make education better...we just aren't. Today's students will graduate and have a job that doesn't exist today. Students are still buying expensive textbooks that they never open. Technology can help get students attention with videos and pictures. You can have live discussions with programs like skype, which is free. It's time to really sit and think of how to use technology to teach students, instead of students using their laptop to facebook, or email in the classroom. 

Project 5, Google Presentation

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

C4T #1

technology must be like oxygen
The teacher I was assigned to follow over the past two weeks was Will Richardson.  The first post I read was a reflection of the time he spent at the recent Educon conference in Philadelphia. The conference is where people come together to discuss the future of schools. He shared a couple of narratives about reform in our schools, and what bold schools might do to get there. First he touched on the ischool in NYC, and about 2 sessions presented by teachers and principles that made a great case for inquiry/challenge based learning. The students participated in a video "Disastercamp" where they attempted to answer the question "How can first responders use social media to improve communication and coordination for disaster relief?" They also looked at the question "What does it mean to be 16?" In the "16module" students used skype to connect with classrooms in Europe, Australia, and the United States. They used flip cameras to document their lives, and edited the footage in imovie. This let them get a glimpse of what being 16 is like around the globe.
He talked about what he thought was the best part (and I agree) that when prepping for the NY state Regents Tests students have access to self-paced, online test prep courses they work through in their own time.  As he points out "if were going to be stuck with the test, why not just offload it to technology and spend our time in more valuable learning pursuits." While at the conference he had a conversation with Chris Walsh, the director of Innovation and Design for the "New Tech Network" of schools. New Tech Network is a nonprofit organization that works with school districts and communities to implement innovative public high schools. They've either started or refashioned 86 schools across the country and have plans for 30 or more schools next year. Funding for these schools comes from the community through fund raisers, donations, ect. The community invests in the change happening at the school, which helps those changes weather problems such as leaders leaving or pressure from the state government. Then he touches on the great thing about Educon is the sincerity from everyone in the building trying to figure out what is best for kids in terms of learning and schools.
The second post I read was The Sorry State of Standardized Writing, about the Hewlett Foundation and it's 100,000 contest to create automated essay scoring software. The Hewlett Foundation feels that software like this will do a better job of assessing student writing than human graders can do. While he points out there are problems with the current grading system, will computers really be better? Will gives his opinion that this is more about money than about serving kids well, and points out that machines don't have the advantage of emotion like human graders do. He assesses this will result in us teaching kids how to write what the machines want instead of focusing on the uniqueness of human communication.  I agree with him. One of the main concepts of writing is reaching your audience. That's more than just proper grammar, sentence structure, or knowing how to write a 5 paragraph essay. It's being able to write something compelling and unique...something that people want to read. That is something technology can't teach us, knowing how to write is a long messy process. A process that can't happen without human interaction. What good is it to teach proper essay structure, if we aren't teaching kids how to write something that people want to read?

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Blog Assignment 2

babyoncomputer


Did You Know? 3.0 a John Strange Version
based on Did You Know? 3.0  by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod

This video explains the rapid rate at which technology is changing, and how quickly things go from being the newest and best to being out of date. It outlined the United States progress compared to other countries and really emphasized how much the job market is ever changing. It makes several surprising points, but two of the most shocking are that China will soon be the number one English speaking country in the world, and that the top twenty-five percent of India's population with the highest IQ is greater than the population of the United States. This illustrates how quickly the United States is falling behind in education and technology. Technology is here to stay, it's time we embrace it and use it effectively. Stop being scared of it, or we are going to continue to fall further and further behind countries like China and India. 
The rate of how fast technology is growing is illustrated by how jobs that were not in demand in 2004 were the top 10 sought after jobs in 2010. That is an amazing statistic, and honestly a little scary.
It's overwhelming to think that we will be preparing our students for jobs that don't even exist yet! How do we do that? How do we prepare students to use technology that isn't even invented yet? I think the answer is, by teaching them how to properly, and effectively use the technology available to us today. I want to know that when my students walk out of my class that I have prepared them for what is ahead. I want them to be able to grow and learn with ease, to be able to compete (and hold) those jobs not yet created, or possibly be the next Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs. How do I do that? By not limiting myself, by remembering that you are never too old to learn. By knowing how to effectively and creatively incorporate technology into the learning experience.

Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman

Mr. Winkle is an old man that has been asleep for a hundred years. When Mr. Winkle awakes from his hundred year slumber he sets out to explore the world. He found himself wondering into an office building filled with machines and technology he has never seen before. It is too overwhelming for Mr. Winkle, he begins to feel sick. He wonders down the street until he sees a hospital, he goes inside hoping that there he will feel better. Inside he is once again surprised at all the new machines and devices. He decides that this place will not make him feel better either, so he begins to wonder the street. He eventually finds himself in front of a school, and goes inside. This all looked very familiar! Students were sitting in neat rows listening to their teachers lecture all day. He did notice one of those machines like at the hospital and office building, but it was sitting in the very back all covered with dust. Mr. Winkle realized that nothing about school had changed in the past 100 years, it was just as he remembered.
While Mr. Winkle was very happy to find that little had changed in school, after 100 years shouldn't education have changed dramatically and not just a little? This clearly shows that while yes we have had some technological advances in education, not nearly enough as the outside world. How can we expect our students to leave school and work in offices and hospitals successfully, if we aren't giving them the tools they need to succeed? With technology evolving at such a rapid pace every single day in the outside world, we have to bring our schools to up to date standards. Standards that change with the outside world, not decades behind. We also have to make sure as teachers that we utilize these technologies in our classrooms, or we will have a bunch of dusty old computers in the back of the room just like Mr. Winkle saw.

The Importance of Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson

In this presentation Ken Robinson comically explains that schools kill creativity. He speaks about how all children have talents, and an enormous capacity for learning. He asserts that creativity is just as important as literacy. He illustrates that at one time none of us were scared to be wrong. That "if you're not prepared to be wrong then you will never come up with anything original." Schools put such emphasis on what is right and wrong, that we stifle creativity. He speaks of the hierarchy in education, and how it is the same all over the world. Education is built upon 2 principles; the idea of what subjects will be most useful for work and the road that leads to attending college -math, language, the humanities, and lastly the arts. What happens is many valued brilliant people become to think that they aren't. That we need to rethink the way we teach our children. Not stifle creativity but encourage it. Creativity is original ideas of value.
If we don't encourage children to be creative, then where will new ideas come from? What will happen to originality if we are all scared to be wrong? Creativity is as important as literacy, maybe not for everyone but we all have talents and gifts. Everyone is not meant to be a university professor, just as not everyone is meant to be ballerina. Let's give children the opportunity to explore their talents and to be individuals. Don't stifle them, encourage them to grow.

A Vision for 21st Century Learning

 We live in the 21st century;  a world of instant gratification with constant networking, digital technology, and global connectedness. This video emphasizes the need to innovate our learning methods, and to take education into the 21st century. The video points out that very little has changed in how we educate our students. They still sit and listen to teachers lecture most of the day, have to memorize facts with little or no context, and read mostly from textbooks. How do we innovate our learning methods? According to this video one way is game based learning. The video points out students are introduced to computers or gaming devices by the time they reach kindergarten. With the technology available today, we can make the learning process fun, educational, and all in 3D!
I agree that our schools are behind the times, and we should take advantage of this digital era we live in. As a future history teacher the idea of students being able to immerse themselves in ancient Rome is fascinating. It would totally change the way students look at world history! I think the best way to learn is through being involved, and the ever changing advances in technology will help make that possible.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts: Vicki Davis
Vicki Davis is a teacher and blogger in rural Georgia. She uses technology to connect her students to the outside world, and encourages her students to think for themselves instead of just listening to her lecture all day. She believes that every child can learn, but if you only  use paper and pencil then only certain students will benefit. I completely agree about getting to know your students and tailoring your teaching methods to fit that class. She also pointed out that you don't have to know everything before introducing it in your classroom. Letting students figure things out not only on their own, but being able to show their teacher is extremely rewarding.
Kids today are used to being constantly stimulated by video games, computers, cell phones, etc. It's our job as educators to keep them active and stimulated in the classroom if we expect  students to succeed.