9/30 Exit Slip

After the discussion took place, we reviewed the three steps that should take place during a presentation, Tell us what your going to tell us, tell us, then tell us what you told us. I feel that this is extremely effective and something that is useful in all presentations as well as lessons. During class we discussed the idea of student to student discussion rather than teacher to student discussion, which I found to be interesting and never thought about before. In many of my classes this semester I feel that there is a great deal of student-student discussion, and I hope I can maintain that in my classroom someday because I find it to be more effective.

We touched on the lesson that we will have to conduct though the SMARTboard which I find myself getting nervous about because I have never used the program before. It will be interesting how mine will turn out, because it is the first of many!

C. 3 Technology skeptics’ argument

Myself being in the middle of becoming a technology enthusiast and or a skeptic, I found that these two chapters had compelling arguments for each cause. As I stated in my previous post, I worry about how much technology should be intergraded in the classroom as well as the safety for students involved.  But even after reading the two arguments, I still find myself contradicting what I have previously stated because I am still torn between the two ideas having very different opinions on each.

            The chapter starts out with many quotes stated prior to my existence; it was really eye opening to see people thinking about paper and pens as ‘new technology’.  Many quotes made me giggle as they referred to ballpoint pens ruining education, and teachers refusing homework that was done on the computer.  It is mind boggling that these simple things that we take for granted were new ideas for people years ago. It makes you think that if people in the 1800’s were referring to paper/pens as new technology, what will our grandchildrens' new technology be?

            I agree that the cost of providing students with a personal laptop is high and that many of the things that would help make this technology problem more manageable is cost efficient.  Although it feels like most families have a home computer, some children don’t. This is a disadvantage to students working on online homework which they would not be able to do at home.

What I feel it seems is that the root of the problem for the technology argument comes down to the fact that all students must have access to a computer for their resource.

            An argument brought up in this chapter is the amount time that is lost when students start up a computer before use in the classroom.  Teachers would have to make transitions between each subject as this loading time would cause waiting periods between each discussion and activity.  Even though this is true, and that integrating technology in the classroom may be costly, it can still help maximize individual learning with the students.

            It’s true what the chapter says, that computers can’t teach.  It is not the same as the human interaction that takes place in all classrooms around the world. Teachers are there to help students by teaching social skills, playing fair, keeping hands to themselves, to put things back where they found them, cleaning up after themselves, and proper hygiene as well.

            All in all I find that there has to be a common ground between the two sides. There should be enough human interaction as well as technology used in the classroom.  Children should have to learn the way to do things on their own rather than just rely on a computer.  For example, students should learn how to write/print before they learn how to type; they should learn to do math on paper before they do it on a calculator.  Writing with pen/pencil should still be taught, but technology should be integrated in as well to have the students learn what resources they will be using in the future.

9/23 Exit Slip

My favorite thing that I took away from class today was learning about this website, SMART Exchange, I think it will be extremely useful in many different classes and in the future as an educator. Learning how to calibrate smart boards was also really interesting and I feel will be very useful. It was interesting to see all the feedback that was given for the student presentations today, and made me realize what things I should be aware of, to work on my professionalism.

Technology Enthusiasts’ Argument

One great thing that this chapter talks about is the games and simulations that can be done to enhance learning that is taking place in a classroom.  Most of these games involve motor skills and can provide different methods of learning in any particular subject.  Many of these simulations can be extremely beneficial for students and in the chapter it briefly talks about having a simulation that allows students to feel what it would be like writing for a political campaign.  I think this example would increase interest during a class unit on politics or government.

                The publication section of this chapter definitely made me see a different view on exposing student work on the internet.  Prior to reading this section, I thought it could be very dangerous to have minors’ work be published on the internet. However, I never really realized the major benefits that this could have on children.  Student work being publicized allows many more people to view the child’s work, and this in turn allows students to feel pride in their accomplishments.  I know when I was younger I would be excited to see my work pinned up to a bulletin board for all the students and faculty to see, but with the technology that we have today, this can be done on a global level and available for anyone to see who is interested.  When reading the publication section it made me think of a few things I may do in my classroom in the future.  I feel that publishing student work on a website and giving out the URL to family, relatives, faculty and community members would be an excellent way to promote the school and let others see what is going in the subsequent classrooms.

                As the title of this chapter shows, it is clearly from a technology enthusiasts’ point of view.  I felt that it many good insights and it leaves me questioning how much technology should be used in the classroom.  Although many things are being done through different forms of technology, I still feel that there should be some things we should keep doing in the traditional way.  I think integrating technology in the future ultimately does concern me.  For example, on pg. 12 Kate spends a lot of time communicating with people around the world, but because of this connection it takes away from the connection that she lacks with her neighbors and local community.  Even though I am still in the middle of a battle between becoming an enthusiast and a skeptic, I’m looking forward to reading the skeptics argument to help me better decide where my views lie.

Growing Up Online

              The video explains some of technology’s disadvantages, including different resources children have access to.  The program makes you think of all the problems that can come from having the internet available to minors.  With the many different social networking websites parents are afraid of predators that can get access to their child’s information and the idea of children being vulnerable.  As seen in a brief clip, children need to be educated on web safety and web “manners” when being exposed to this amount of access to the internet.  When viewing this program it makes you think of all the problems that can happen with children using the internet, and makes you realize that the internet is an excellent place for resources.  The internet can be a good tool if used properly, safely, and with a little knowledge on how to do it.  I feel this should involve the parents as well in monitoring and controlling a child’s access to the web.

                I was really impacted during the video when they showed the difference between the technologically intuitive classroom versus the pen-and-paper classroom.  The social studies class being shown was fully engaged with the use of computers, projector, and a smart board and the teacher was fully aware that his students were using all the available technology to their advantage.  The other teacher however, the one who was not using technology, felt that the students have a hard time engaging in her class.  She talked about how children these days are bombarded with so much activity from the many types of media that to sit them down in front of a teacher with a piece of chalk is less likely to fully engage their attention on the lesson at hand.

                The program made me realize what a necessity it is to have technology integrated in the coursework, to get students more active and interested. Because children are so use to using the internet in their daily lives, using it in the classroom will only be beneficial to the learning experience.  

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms Chapters 1-3

As a college student that has gone through kindergarten, elementary, junior high, and high school before, I have many memories about my days in school and how most of them played out.  When I think back on my younger school days, I don’t recall using the same technologies that we are learning about now; blogs, wikis, podcasts, etc.  It seems strange to me that soon, if not already, elementary students are getting their assignments off weblogs and using wikis to get involved in class activities.  What caught my interest the most in this reading was the way Richardson talked about the “old” read-only web of the past and how the technology has improved in a way that has transformed the way we use the web.  Now that I am using these technologies in this class as well as my personal life, it has dawned on me how beneficial they really could be in a classroom setting.  Technology’s role in learning is so important because without knowledge on new technologies, children will not have the necessary skills to be successful in a technology-heavy society such as ours.  The age at which people are adopting new technologies is getting younger every year, so it is important that we keep up with this by including things such as blogs and wikis into the classroom.  It is crucial that children get the experience they need in order to use new technologies in their futures.

                The truth is technology changes with time.  As we continue to teach new generations, each requires new skills which in turn require new methods of teaching and new media.  As a future teacher, I intend to employ the newest of technologies in order to benefit my students both in and out of the classroom.  By using new technologies such as weblogs, it will make it easier for my students to access their homework, receive class updates, and keep track of their progress throughout each year.  Also, parents will be able to get involved in their child’s learning process by using the media that it accessible from home.  By using these new technologies, I know that I will be enhancing my students learning experience for the better.

What is Technology?

1. Technology:  Objects of human design that are meant to make human lives and activities simpler and more efficient.

2. Technology Integration:  Defines an era of civilization and measures its advancement.  It makes the world interconnect with thoughts and ideas using different forms.

9/15 Exit Slip

Today in class I learned many tips on how to present more professionally. I feel that these tips we talked about today will be beneficial to me in the future. I really enjoyed the presentation using Prezi (http://prezi.com/), because this was new technology that I have never seen before and I feel it would be excellent to use in a classroom.  The few minutes before class ended we touched on a few tips on using Smart Boards, which I felt was extremely helpful because we will be expected to use them to their full potential.

Evaluating websites for credibility

There are many great uses of the internet these days, but for some people it can be overwhelming. There are so many different websites out there, how are you suppose to know what sources are reliable and what are not?  There are many different factors that go into evaluating a website for creditability, and there normally are a few steps that make this easier. The first step I would express to my students is to make sure who is producing the website, to look for authors and their contact information. This particular step is the step I had to check on Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination. After realizing the site is produced by a white supremacist organization and not an educational one, you would have to dismiss this website as a reliable source.  Another important step in evaluating a website would indicate what url is attached to the website.   You would have to stress to children that url’s that are typically more reliable are websites with a “.edu” because they are educational websites.  Another way to remember to evaluate the website would be to look at the most current update. More reliable websites are frequently revised and maintained.  If a website was created a while ago, and was not updated since, the information on the website could not be as current as other sources.    An obvious thing to look at on the website is the content that it is displaying.  Just looking at the page and its structure is an excellent way to figure if it is a reliable source or not; if it is easy to navigate around.  During this process, some questions you could ask would be if there is too much/ too little information, any grammar/spelling errors, are there reliable links on the page and most importantly is the website trying to advertise the product rather than inform a person, weather this is viewpoint or an actual product.

I was pretty amazed with the website activity where we had to view these four sites

o    Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

o    Martin Luther King Jr. - A True Historical Examination

o    All About Explorers

o    Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division

I myself had to take multiple steps in a few of these websites to determine the creditability of the site, and found it to be more difficult than I had intended.