We started class today discussing how we all felt about technology and I liked how Boyer explained that he wants to push us to enjoy technology and work it into our classrooms. But that some teachers are obviously not going to always use technology or like to use technology in their class because of many reasons.
I think as a future educator the thought of using technology in my classroom is kinda scary but that with enough practice it can be handled.
While the group was presenting a good point was made about "what is going to be the next step down the road from a GPS" Why would we want to learn how to use a compass when we have GPS? What are you going to do when your computer crashes? Also, Are you teaching or are you facilitating? Thats a good food for thought. Teaching is the skill but how do you teach? Are you going to be the lecturer? Will you be more of a facilitator?
What went well for discussion:
encouraged peer discussion
Balanced responsibility
Movement
Teacher voices (Loud)
Introductions
What could have been changed:
Presenters could have talked more
set us up, do it, wrap it up
other ways to encooporate movement
what ways we can get everyone's attention
Don't generalize
Don't offend
Student to student conversation
We have to think about the person who offended and the person who is offended; their both at fault, and you have to make sure that your not generalizing to all students.
You can throw your opinion in as a teacher towards the end of the discussion because no one will disagree with the teacher. I know that is very true because many students don't like to "challenge" the teacher.
The idea of student to student conversation instead of teacher to student conversation is something to think about. How do you encourage student to student conversation?
I was very happy that I chose a good question for the technology question!
I can say that I am nervous about creating lesson plans on a smartboard and what not, but I will not accept anything less than an A in this class. I think it comes back to being nervous about encoorporating technology into classrooms, i'm afraid of failure. I'm glad that we get many drafts to perfect this assignment instead of just haivng it thrown at us and told "do it!" I'm glad that our peers get to review our lessons as well, its nice to hear different feed back from not only the teacher but from peers.
"The best teachers beg, borrow, and steal" great quote, shows me that its acceptable to use soemone else's lesson and put my own touches too it!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Technology Skeptics Argument
I think that schools have always been afraid of change. Its apart of the American culture, we don't like change and its happening now more than ever. Especially in schools, there is a huge change from going with traditional schooling to technology advanced schooling. But, it was also interesting to read about the 1950's when televisions were brought into the schools and the arguments they had against those are similar to the ones people have against the new technology today. For example, page 36 says "in that they battle for the minds of students between learning and entertainment." If you bring in for example podcasts and allow ipods and cell phones in your classroom will this be educational or entertainment?
It was intersting to read that writing on computers leads to decerasing scores on pen and paper. That is somthing to seriously think about. Although, I believe that computers are always going to be apart of our world now I still don't believe that you should write off the pen and paper method. I believe that it is very important to teach a child how to write; call me old fashion.
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It was intersting to read that writing on computers leads to decerasing scores on pen and paper. That is somthing to seriously think about. Although, I believe that computers are always going to be apart of our world now I still don't believe that you should write off the pen and paper method. I believe that it is very important to teach a child how to write; call me old fashion.
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Thursday, September 23, 2010
Out of Class Slip
During class today, I really think that the group that presented chapter one did a great job! I really enjoyed the quotes that they chose from the chapter. While, I was reading the chapter I missed those two particular quotes and I really liked "trying to prepare students for the 21st century wtih 19th century technology is like teaching people to fly a rocket ship by having them ride bicycles." I liked how someone said that bicycles are still working so why change something when its not broke? But, we also have to roll with the punches I guess you could say. Times are changing, technology is changing and becoming very important in the world, and I guess I never noticed how MUCH it was changing until I took this class. I knew that it was changing and there are always new tools out there that I hear about, but I am learning about so much more in this class. I think it was great that we went over the things that went well, and that can be improved during the presentation; I can take that with me for when I have to present and for future presentations in any of my classes.
It was great to be able to watch you calebrate the smart board, because I know that its frustrataing when you use the smartboard and its not working out the way it should be! Now I know how to fix it!! :) Also, while Jeff was trying to show us that once we wrote something on the SMARTBoard, you can move it around and it didn't work, it was nice to see that, its not always going to work and that you can just move on and or act like its not a big deal.
Since taking this class at day one, I pay attention to the way people talk while their presenting and it BUGS me so bad when I hear someone say "um or like" a million times while their talking or presenting. I am very aware of it now!
I was unaware of google search, so when we did that activity I was excited cause I had never knew that was available. Also, I think its awesome that you can find web pages that are similar to ones that you really like!
There are some parts of this semester that I am very nervous about. For example, every aspect of the A Contract, I really want to recieve in a A in all of my Ed classes this semester and after leaving class last monday after going over majority of the contracts, I was nervous. I know that I should "Not Panic" because we will go over everything that we will need to complete all the assignments, I am nervous that my work will not meet expectations. While at the same time, I do like that some of the assignments are all about what you think, the technology wiki allows me to take something i'm interested in that I may not know a lot about and go more in depth with teh thinking and how I can incoorporate it into my classroom.
I really like the resource of SMART Exchange. I think that its really useful to fall back on a source when you need an idea. I also, enjoyed that their is a jeopardy activity on their, jeopardy is such a fun game and a great way to review in classes.
The one thing about this class that interests me is that there is a lot of homework assigned, reading, blogging, reflecting, questions to answer, etc. But it doesn't feel like it. I enjoy reading the books, and I am really enjoying having a blog! Its fun and I love being able to just write down or type out everything that i'm thinking!
It was great to be able to watch you calebrate the smart board, because I know that its frustrataing when you use the smartboard and its not working out the way it should be! Now I know how to fix it!! :) Also, while Jeff was trying to show us that once we wrote something on the SMARTBoard, you can move it around and it didn't work, it was nice to see that, its not always going to work and that you can just move on and or act like its not a big deal.
Since taking this class at day one, I pay attention to the way people talk while their presenting and it BUGS me so bad when I hear someone say "um or like" a million times while their talking or presenting. I am very aware of it now!
I was unaware of google search, so when we did that activity I was excited cause I had never knew that was available. Also, I think its awesome that you can find web pages that are similar to ones that you really like!
There are some parts of this semester that I am very nervous about. For example, every aspect of the A Contract, I really want to recieve in a A in all of my Ed classes this semester and after leaving class last monday after going over majority of the contracts, I was nervous. I know that I should "Not Panic" because we will go over everything that we will need to complete all the assignments, I am nervous that my work will not meet expectations. While at the same time, I do like that some of the assignments are all about what you think, the technology wiki allows me to take something i'm interested in that I may not know a lot about and go more in depth with teh thinking and how I can incoorporate it into my classroom.
I really like the resource of SMART Exchange. I think that its really useful to fall back on a source when you need an idea. I also, enjoyed that their is a jeopardy activity on their, jeopardy is such a fun game and a great way to review in classes.
The one thing about this class that interests me is that there is a lot of homework assigned, reading, blogging, reflecting, questions to answer, etc. But it doesn't feel like it. I enjoy reading the books, and I am really enjoying having a blog! Its fun and I love being able to just write down or type out everything that i'm thinking!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Rethinking Education Chapter 2
First of all, I want to start off by saying, I really like this book. Its an easy read, and it is actually very fascinating. Next, my thoughts about chapter two are as follows. I understand that technology is where the schools are headed and obviously thats a smart move because that's where the world is headed. But my question is, what happens if some school districts can't afford to keep up wtih the new technology? Do those children in that district just get forgotten and are behind on the world of technology? Also, it still blows my mind that we are able to talk to someone in Europe from the comfort of our own home. The whole idea of all this technology really excites me, but it also sets me on edge a little bit. What if I am unable to stay on top of all the new technologies? Am I always going to have to go to technology conferences for the rest of my life in order to try and stay ahead of the game with my students?
Next, I don't understand what just in time learning is, but I totaly agree when they say that most of what we learn throughout our schooling years we will forget. I have always said that, or questioned my teachers on the relativity of having to learn a specific topic.
"Computer based learning environments are likely to make education much more engaging" (19) I agree with this statement, but at the same time do you think that its going to be a distraction? I think with any teacher, its all in the way you present information. If you hand a child a history book and tell them to read the first 3 chapters and take a quiz online, their not going to get a lot out of it because I don't think much will be stored in their long term memory. I think that if you were to reenact an event in the chapters that they have to read they will get a lot more out of it and be able to read it a lot more. Although, I feel technology is important to bring into schools, I still believe that the "old school" way of teaching is also very important and its all in the way the teacher presents it to her students! My other thought on technology is that it has a tendency to not work, or crash. For example, today D2L was down state wide. Some classes were unable to access their quizs (even though they should have already been done) but that is just a downfall for technology, what do you do if your relying soley on a specific technology tool?
Lastly, I loved on page 28, last paragraph where their talking about students sitting still, listening to a teacher talk all day, and then having to regurgitate it back onto a test. For me personally, this is how I have always felt, I am a much better learner hands on, and I know most students are not all like that, but I feel that in the teaching society today, many more teachers teach lecture style than hands on. When I become a teacher, I will for sure add in a lot of hands on learning to get students up, engaged, and moving around. Also, I feel like the competition to get good grades ruins students ability to engage thought processes, I think if a student puts all their effort into their work it will be shown, but I think that grades should be the least of their worries.
Next, I don't understand what just in time learning is, but I totaly agree when they say that most of what we learn throughout our schooling years we will forget. I have always said that, or questioned my teachers on the relativity of having to learn a specific topic.
"Computer based learning environments are likely to make education much more engaging" (19) I agree with this statement, but at the same time do you think that its going to be a distraction? I think with any teacher, its all in the way you present information. If you hand a child a history book and tell them to read the first 3 chapters and take a quiz online, their not going to get a lot out of it because I don't think much will be stored in their long term memory. I think that if you were to reenact an event in the chapters that they have to read they will get a lot more out of it and be able to read it a lot more. Although, I feel technology is important to bring into schools, I still believe that the "old school" way of teaching is also very important and its all in the way the teacher presents it to her students! My other thought on technology is that it has a tendency to not work, or crash. For example, today D2L was down state wide. Some classes were unable to access their quizs (even though they should have already been done) but that is just a downfall for technology, what do you do if your relying soley on a specific technology tool?
Lastly, I loved on page 28, last paragraph where their talking about students sitting still, listening to a teacher talk all day, and then having to regurgitate it back onto a test. For me personally, this is how I have always felt, I am a much better learner hands on, and I know most students are not all like that, but I feel that in the teaching society today, many more teachers teach lecture style than hands on. When I become a teacher, I will for sure add in a lot of hands on learning to get students up, engaged, and moving around. Also, I feel like the competition to get good grades ruins students ability to engage thought processes, I think if a student puts all their effort into their work it will be shown, but I think that grades should be the least of their worries.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Wiki's, Blogs, podcasts
As a future teacher, I see the importance of encoorporating blogs into my classroom. I really like the idea that students can post all their work on their blog much like we do, this keeps me from losing any of their homework assignments and like it said in the reading it keeps their excuses to a minimum; either you did it or you didn't. Also, I like that parents can be apart of their child's work as well, they can go online and see everything that is due, maybe a calander of events for the classroom, the syllabus, etc. Speaking from the experience with my parents and my brothers, my parents would always ask "do you have any homework" and sometimes my brother would say "no" when he really did have some. Now, this is a way for parents to find out for themselves. I like the idea of parents staying engaged in their children's schooling; not saying all parents will, but there is always the opportunity for them to. Its also a great curriculum, teach kids the safety of the internet, the credibility of internet sites, etc.
As a future teacher, I am seriously considering trying out blogs with my classroom, obviously it will have to be age appropriate for an elementary school, and their will have to be a lot of instruction to begin with I think, but once the class gets going I don't see any problems. Like I said above I like the idea of getting parents involved, and also always sending home 50 pages of memos to the parents every other night, gets old, now I can just post it to the blog and parents can go on and check it out themselves.
As a future teacher, I am seriously considering trying out blogs with my classroom, obviously it will have to be age appropriate for an elementary school, and their will have to be a lot of instruction to begin with I think, but once the class gets going I don't see any problems. Like I said above I like the idea of getting parents involved, and also always sending home 50 pages of memos to the parents every other night, gets old, now I can just post it to the blog and parents can go on and check it out themselves.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Growing Up Online
This video was very eye opening, I feel like children now a days are losing their way of being social in reality. They don't talk to their parents, they don't know how to talk to people face to face because all they ever do is online chatting, etc. One parent in the video said that it was easier for him to email his son rather than go interrupt him while he's upstairs on the computer. Another family said that they can't go on a family vacation without their children texting constantly and always having to be in the loop with their friends and whats going on back home. Children do not know how to disconnect from the internet, they don't have a boundry line. They come home from school and they are immediately on the computer. I did like that one family only has one computer in their home and they keep it in the kitchen so that their mother could track what her children are doing.
Also, children hash out their conflict online now, they don't know how to confront people face to face and say "hey i have a problem with blah blah blah." Online they don't have to care about what they say, they don't have to think twice, you can say and do as you please and its not an issue. Face to face, you may get punched in the face for what you say, you may cry and then get made fun of, etc. you are invincible online. Then there is the idea of pictures and videos being posted about you on facebook,myspace, youtube, etc. it may seem harmless to post a video showing you fighting at the time, but colleges and employers are turning to the internet to research their candidates now a days, later on that "harmless" video could ruin your chances of getting a job or being accepted into a school. Your actions today reflect the rest of your life.
As far as the teaching and learning with technology, again I think its a great source to use, but I don't think it should be the ONLY source that is used in the classroom, I think that students need to still hand write things, read books, and have interaction with their classmates.
As far as reading books, there is sparknotes so students don't have to read the book, but their is also turnitin.com where you can find out if their papers are plagerized. I think there is a fine line between too much technology and not enough. Students growing up in this world now, thats all they know, is how to use a cell phone, ipod, computer, etc. we can't teach them the way we have always been taught and have that be our only way of teaching. But I feel like if we don't teach them at times the way we have been taught then they are going to miss out on fundamentals of life, like being able to talk to people face to face.
I think that parents need to become much more involved in their childs lives, the one girl had an eating disorder and her parents didn't know, another had inappropriate pictures and didn't know, and one child lost his life because he was being bullyed online. Is there a fine line between parents being in their childs business too much and not enough? Yeah, i'm sure their is, but I would rather be in my child's business to much than to have them lose their life beccause I didn't know what was going on.
Also, children hash out their conflict online now, they don't know how to confront people face to face and say "hey i have a problem with blah blah blah." Online they don't have to care about what they say, they don't have to think twice, you can say and do as you please and its not an issue. Face to face, you may get punched in the face for what you say, you may cry and then get made fun of, etc. you are invincible online. Then there is the idea of pictures and videos being posted about you on facebook,myspace, youtube, etc. it may seem harmless to post a video showing you fighting at the time, but colleges and employers are turning to the internet to research their candidates now a days, later on that "harmless" video could ruin your chances of getting a job or being accepted into a school. Your actions today reflect the rest of your life.
As far as the teaching and learning with technology, again I think its a great source to use, but I don't think it should be the ONLY source that is used in the classroom, I think that students need to still hand write things, read books, and have interaction with their classmates.
As far as reading books, there is sparknotes so students don't have to read the book, but their is also turnitin.com where you can find out if their papers are plagerized. I think there is a fine line between too much technology and not enough. Students growing up in this world now, thats all they know, is how to use a cell phone, ipod, computer, etc. we can't teach them the way we have always been taught and have that be our only way of teaching. But I feel like if we don't teach them at times the way we have been taught then they are going to miss out on fundamentals of life, like being able to talk to people face to face.
I think that parents need to become much more involved in their childs lives, the one girl had an eating disorder and her parents didn't know, another had inappropriate pictures and didn't know, and one child lost his life because he was being bullyed online. Is there a fine line between parents being in their childs business too much and not enough? Yeah, i'm sure their is, but I would rather be in my child's business to much than to have them lose their life beccause I didn't know what was going on.
Technology
1. The word technology has changed over the course of years, it has evolved into computers being a focal point of everything we do whether it is work or leisurely based.
2. Technology integration has evolved into smart boards and computers and I feel like in the next generation or so, ipads or some form will be making its way into classrooms all over the world. It’s crazy because when I was in elementary school we had old school computers that were just becoming popular and now a child the age of 7 knows how to work their parent’s cell phones and knows how to access the web and what not on a computer. Technology is a huge part of society now in every aspect of life.
2. Technology integration has evolved into smart boards and computers and I feel like in the next generation or so, ipads or some form will be making its way into classrooms all over the world. It’s crazy because when I was in elementary school we had old school computers that were just becoming popular and now a child the age of 7 knows how to work their parent’s cell phones and knows how to access the web and what not on a computer. Technology is a huge part of society now in every aspect of life.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
End of class slip 2
Today in class I liked how we divided up into groups of agree,disagree, no opinion to see everyones take on different statements. Also, being able to listen to everyone explain their reasoning for the choice. I think that technology is going to be difficult at first if it's something new that I haven't been exposed to yet, but I think just like with anything else, with a little practice you can get a good handle on it no problem. I still really enjoy the attendance and being able to use the SMART boards, I think those are good tools and I really look forward to using them more as I further my education and also getting a teaching position in a school. I also like how you went over different tools and ways to use the SMART board because I did not know any of that before.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Rethinking Education
I was very intrigued by the preface and chapter 1, it made a lot of good points but also made me think.
I agree that technology should be incoorporated into classrooms because that is the day and age that we live in and that children now a days are growing up in. But at the same time if when children go home they sit behing a computer screen and or television with their cellphones in one hand and ipod in the other and then they go to school have the same thing going on, are we not allowing our future children to become anti social? They don't know how to talk face to face with people because they either text or chat or online gaming, etc. Also, we have a high obesity rate in children already how do we encoorporate physical excersise into classrooms more, we know their not getting it at home because of all the technology. I think that we are losing the basic fundamentals of learning. Like I said previously I agree that technology needs to be in classrooms but we also need to remember the fundamentals like writing, and talking, and being active as well.
As far as in the future what I plan to do, I will definitely incoorporate technology into my classroom, i really like the idea of podcasts, and I actually didn't know that you can get podcasts for educational use, so that was something new I learned. I don't think I will use cell phones because I feel that is more distracting, unless I did a text message scavanger hunt or something like that. To be honest I really don't know specifics yet because the idea of using technology like podcasts, etc. never occured to me. So as I the semester goes on I look forward to learning new ways of incoorporating technology into my classroom.
I look forward to reading this book to see what kinds of ideas they have for incoorporating technology into classrooms and maybe some of my worries will be answered as well.
I agree that technology should be incoorporated into classrooms because that is the day and age that we live in and that children now a days are growing up in. But at the same time if when children go home they sit behing a computer screen and or television with their cellphones in one hand and ipod in the other and then they go to school have the same thing going on, are we not allowing our future children to become anti social? They don't know how to talk face to face with people because they either text or chat or online gaming, etc. Also, we have a high obesity rate in children already how do we encoorporate physical excersise into classrooms more, we know their not getting it at home because of all the technology. I think that we are losing the basic fundamentals of learning. Like I said previously I agree that technology needs to be in classrooms but we also need to remember the fundamentals like writing, and talking, and being active as well.
As far as in the future what I plan to do, I will definitely incoorporate technology into my classroom, i really like the idea of podcasts, and I actually didn't know that you can get podcasts for educational use, so that was something new I learned. I don't think I will use cell phones because I feel that is more distracting, unless I did a text message scavanger hunt or something like that. To be honest I really don't know specifics yet because the idea of using technology like podcasts, etc. never occured to me. So as I the semester goes on I look forward to learning new ways of incoorporating technology into my classroom.
I look forward to reading this book to see what kinds of ideas they have for incoorporating technology into classrooms and maybe some of my worries will be answered as well.
Website Credibility
I think first and foremost a credibile website will have publishing dates and resources on where all the information on the page came from. Determine if the content on the page is fact or opinion, is there a lot of advertising on the page, and does it post the name of the institution or organization that has created this page.
The Martin Luther King website has an inappropriate quote that if it was for educational purposes I don't believe that would be on there. Also, the layout of the website does not look credible, it looked as if someone off the street put it together.
Dihydrogen website is asking for money and also has advertisement for babelfish, this obviously is not a very credible source.
The Martin Luther King website has an inappropriate quote that if it was for educational purposes I don't believe that would be on there. Also, the layout of the website does not look credible, it looked as if someone off the street put it together.
Dihydrogen website is asking for money and also has advertisement for babelfish, this obviously is not a very credible source.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
End of class slip
I really enjoyed class today, I felt like I learned a lot. Writing on the smart board was very complicated, my name turned out to look like "Carl" instead of "Cari" because I couldn't figure out how to get the dot about the i. I was very thrilled about that let me tell you! Then, I really liked the "delicious" website because I know I like to "favorite" websites when I find a good one, but I can only do so much to keep them organized. I think this is a very usefull tool and I also like that you can see other peoples, teachers can share and I love that! Overall, I am very thrilled about this class because I am not very smart when it comes to technology so I look forward to learning new tricks and hearing the different suggestions that Professor Jeff has to offer us along with the other students in the class.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Summer 2010 Collage
http://animoto.com/play/NVis4c7rJ6rxh3aCM6TxhA
This task took me a lot of effort because I started using Vuvox and I decided that I didn't like that program and it was really confusing to figure out. As soon as I started using Animoto it was so much easier. I enjoyed it a lot more because I was able to add music and I liked the backgrounds on Animoto better.
The value in completing this course task was because it allowed me to try something new that I didn't even know existed before. It was complicated at first because about the only thing I could figure out to do was how to upload my photos. I wanted to add music but I couldn't figure out how to do that on Vuvox and the text wouldn't type in the style I wanted. I became very frustrated so I decided to try a new website. The other value that I had for completing this task is because I wanted to recieve the best grade possible.
I think that this impacts my future teaching because as a teacher i'm not going to know how to do everything right away, but I have to keep trying and ask questions when needed and I will get through it. With all the technology that I will need to know as a teacher this will have to be my approach; try myself first and ask questions.
This task took me a lot of effort because I started using Vuvox and I decided that I didn't like that program and it was really confusing to figure out. As soon as I started using Animoto it was so much easier. I enjoyed it a lot more because I was able to add music and I liked the backgrounds on Animoto better.
The value in completing this course task was because it allowed me to try something new that I didn't even know existed before. It was complicated at first because about the only thing I could figure out to do was how to upload my photos. I wanted to add music but I couldn't figure out how to do that on Vuvox and the text wouldn't type in the style I wanted. I became very frustrated so I decided to try a new website. The other value that I had for completing this task is because I wanted to recieve the best grade possible.
I think that this impacts my future teaching because as a teacher i'm not going to know how to do everything right away, but I have to keep trying and ask questions when needed and I will get through it. With all the technology that I will need to know as a teacher this will have to be my approach; try myself first and ask questions.
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