Thursday, February 23, 2012

Blog Post 5

evil Apple skull and cross bones

Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. With the aid of sarcasm, McLeod expresses the idea that, sarcastically speaking, technology is dangerous, children can't be trusted with expensive equipment and pen and paper aren't going anywhere. After reading Scott McLeod's plea, I agree that this is the way technology is generally approached in public schools today.  Of course cell phones can be a distraction in class and computers open doors to many dangers,




  I am a bit sarcastic myself, can you tell?

 but the fact is in today's society nearly everyone has them and yet few know how to manipulate them to draw on their usefulness as a positive instrument.
     By highlighting the dangers instead  of the benefits of today's technology there seems to be much
more "behind closed doors" use of computers rather than useful skill building with young people now. That should be the goal of teachers today, teaching skills needed for expanding opportunities for their students. Not letting the fear of how can it be used against us, but for us!

      Computers can be used to create many positive opportunities but without the knowledge of how to access them much of these opportunities will be missed. Kids today know how to manipulate youtube and Facebook, but what about filling out job applications online or creating a power point presentation to bring interest to a school book report. Computer labs are readily available in public schools today but unless they are utilized what good are they?
     By incorporating sarcasm to address the situation McLeod approaches this issue the best way possible, in a way that demands one to consider the ridiculousness of not teaching the practical uses of technology that can lead to future occupations and employment. In order to be successful educators we need to be able to teach all possible avenues for success.



Ischool Initiative logo
Travis Allen: The iSchool Initiative

The iSchool Initiative  is a youtube video created by high school student Travis Allen in 2009. He presents a power point presentation of a curriculum using the ipod touch. He points out the benefits to his proposal would be immense to the school budget problems, the environment, and the education system as a whole.
This idea may sound radical but it is the direction in which our society is heading. I think this should be considered as part of our education process in public schools today. Just think of it, no heavy books to tote around, and less paper waste saves the need to reduce our precious resources.
I do worry about the drawbacks as well. Such as these expensive gadgets are easily broken, lost, or stolen. They can also pose as a distraction when students are using them for self entertainment purposes instead, but what I feel is the main disadvantage is the reliance on the unreliable internet service. If there are issues with the service it would cause a loss of usable class time and readjustment of activities. It would require teachers to always have a backup plan which would require extra planning on an already heavy load.
Overall I do believe this is an outstanding idea. I would love for my children to have access to everything they are doing in class and be able to study better at home. Currently, due to the limited budget in schools, there is only one set of textbooks and each class shares them so  no one is able to bring them home to review. Having the iSchool Initiative in schools would make textbooks obsolete and that is worth any risk, in my book, and outweighs any drawback.



virtual compilation of a choir with lights and conductor185 voices, 243 tracks all combined into one incredible virtual choir! This video is a perfect example of the direction technilogy is headed. I can see the future classroom becoming a virtual classroom. Wouldn't that be great. Think of the environmental benefits of not having to go to school everyday. Less paper waste, less carbon emissions, less electric services required and the money that would go to building maintenance could be spent on increasing teachers salaries! I think the idea of combining the virtual world with the real world is in our very near future.


twenty first century teacher name tag
Kevin Roberts Prezi presentation asks future educators to analyze what it means to teach. He points out that teaching is allowing to learn. By connecting with other experiences and analyzing past achievements allows application of best possible ways to convey learning.
Another statement that grabbed my attention is when he contrasted entertainment vs. engagement.By engaging students to apply what is being taught in creative ways we activate understanding of complex subject matter. Entertainment requires only to sit and watch, while things can be learned this way engaging takes it to a deeper level by allowing application which helps solidify new skills.



a child in a green rocket flying upwards This is a web cite resource that has endless ideas and information for educators, parents, and everyone in between. All you need to do is click on the link to their web cite and watch out because before you know it an hour has passed. So many helpful connections will be sure to initiate any experience level teacher with more activities than can be done in a school year alone.
One of the things I feel sure I will utilize is the link to the store with teacher approved materials. Another way I am sure to use it is the podcast and video links. And the professional development webcasts that will allow me as a novice teacher to learn from top experts.



Thursday, February 16, 2012

Blog Post 4

ipodI recently was introduced to the idea of podcasting in the classroom. I will be creating one on my own later this semester so I wanted to learn more about them. I began by researching what podcast means. I found a website that explained what it is. Jennifer Kyrnin, web designer/ html guide, describes podcast as a word derived from iPod and broadcast and defines it as "... an MP3 or other audio file delivered off a Web site via an RSS feed." She explains that it's more than radio, this file since linked to an RSS feed is automatically updated and can be listened to over and over.

 Curriculum 21 Podcast. Here I heard an interview with Vicky Davis and Julie Lindsay, two teachers/authors who are energetically spreading the word about how to best keep self and students connected and engaged in classrooms.

Benefits of Podcasting in Classrooms In this podcast video you will find an entertaining discussion on benefists of podcasting in classrooms in Joe Dale's blog, such as, it's a great way for children to connect with the class when unable to come to school. This blog also gives links to podcasting video tutorials. This is a really great blog with lots of easy to follow directions and information on ways to improve student participation and skills in technology use. I plan to visit this blog regularly when I am in a classroom of my own. Check it out!

First Graders Podcast Is a 15 minute podcast with first graders. They are able to listen and follow along with their finished product. What a fun way to read a favorite book!

I plan to use these ideas and instructions to create prerecorded books for children to listen to in my classroom. Many children find it difficult to stay interested in a book if they are struggling with the vocabulary. Hearing the words as you follow along in the text can help to make reading less of a drag.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Google Presentation

C4T Summary #1

Frank Noschese
Brainstorming with a dry erase boardMy comment for teacher assignment directed me to Frank Noschese's blog titled Action-Reaction. This blog has been awarded 2010 EduBlog Award for most influential blog post. The blog post that received so much attention is The $2 Interactive Whiteboard. It explains the concept of saving the $2000 being spent on smart boards in classrooms and instead using tile/shower board pieces that can be used as dry/erase boards. He suggests the money would be better spent on sending teachers to professional development workshops that promote methods of modeling instruction. Modeling instruction presents an environment where the students,as Mr. Noschese calls it, "think, pair, and share" their findings. While he does believe in and use a smart board in his classroom, he suggest that they are a great tool but if only used in a passive learning environment to merely lecture then students will still grow bored. The resources available on his blog give many wonderful suggestions on how to improve student participation and collaboration where thinking is a requirement.




red angry bird crashes through castleAnother great post on Mr. Noschese's blog is Angry Birds in the Physics Classroom where students get to play Angry Birds and learn about how the laws of physics applies to the application. How many students do you think were sleeping in class during that assignment? But even better they are all hands on and working together to understand why one small action can create such a large reaction while teaching each other. This is what a classroom is supposed to be and I will focus on ways to use modeling in my classroom.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Blog Post 3





A video by Lace Cook, a special education teacher, demonstrates some wonderful ways technology can be used in the classroom. With the aid of computers her students are now able to communicate clearer and easier which allows greater student participation.
In special ed. classrooms you will find many children with greater cognitive abilities then their physical disabilities can express. Computer software is now able to allow clear communication, offer magnification for vision impaired, and read along to students who would otherwise require additional help. This technology is also creating an outlet for intrested participation in class lectures and assignments. By using these technologies in special education classrooms teachers can offer greater quality of life to students with disabilities.

 


iPad and Acadmeics for Autism

With so many technological advancements available today there is no reason why these tools shouldn't be used in combination with learning and autism. The abilities of an autistic child can range greatly from severe autism to mild forms of the disease. Those who have severe cases of the disease will have little to no verbal abilities while those with only mild forms will be considered slow learners and just require a little extra help. All forms can benefit from the growing number of programs offered on the ipad.
One app I would like to incorporate in my classroom is Adj&Opposite,Joy preschool Game. This app builds spelling and language skills while keeping interest. It is colorful, fun, and educational while incorporating opposites such as far and near, fast and slow, and happy and sad. With so many great applications available today I would also add new apps every week. Some other great one's include my first words, toddler counting, kids writing pad, math bingo,zoo train, and speech with Milo. These are all great tools for allowing children with autism the opportunity to have fun with learning.

Social Media Count
If you watch the counter below you will see the numbers grow exponentially by the minute. These numbers represent how much our culture has grown to depend on technology. Many use it for social connectivity or a work related fixture. But no matter how you are tapping into the market, one thing is for sure, with a great number of new additions daily one must stay up to date with the growth or risk being left in the dark.

This information affects the education field and encourages educators to rise to the challenge of staying one step ahead of students. The goal is to sift through the mass amounts of static and connect with other educators in effort to pool ideas and creativity. Computers are a wonderful tool.
Gary Social Media Count:



 

A Vision of Students Today
 My interpretation of this film is that students today feel as though the education they are paying for is generally a waste of their time and money. I disagree with this generalization. I am 36 years old and have been back in college for about 2 years now. All of the classes I have taken taught me some valuable information and I have not bought a book for a class that was not utilized in that class yet. Perhaps age plays a key role in this equation, but I think if less time was spent on facebook and more attention was spent on listening to the professor there would be more to gain.
I do agree with using technology as an aid to maintaining interest and student participation. No one enjoys sitting idly by day in and day out listening to boring lectures, like learning history. But by incorporating technology in that lecture history can come alive and help uninterested students enjoy learning. For example, Dr. Faust here at South teaches Western Civilization 101 and in an early lecture he discusses where the first civilizations have been found. It is called the fertile crescent and is an area located around the mouth of the Nile River in Egypt. As he lectures you can look around the class and see a few are listening intently while many others are facebooking, on computers, or sleeping. Then he incorporates a video from the historychannel.com about a researcher who travels to that part of the world and asks questions as to why this area , how they began to consider settling as opposed to nomadic living, and what tools were available and all of a sudden there is renewed interest in class! 
Technology is a very useful tool that allows students a visual aid for remembering why learning in all classes, even history, is important to an educated society. Do we need to mention India again, come on people, there is a competition going on in this world and education seems to be the deciding factor to who is #1 and who is the rest.


Sunday, February 5, 2012

Blog Post 2

DID YOU KNOW 3.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXVO0vccn5s
After watching this video, along with the original one by Fisch & McLeod, I couldn't help but to feel overwhelmed. Seriously, I had no idea that the population in India was so immense and advanced compared to the US. It brings me to feel an urgency for gaining technology fluency as I grow in experience as an educator. Although I'm not so sure how to prepare anyone for overnight fame due to an uploaded viral video the way Justin Beiber began his jump into stardom. The ability to share events and have conversations with people thousands of miles away, an ability never though possible before computer technology, is a tool with unlimited possibilities. I guess that is a starting place, by encouraging creativity where there is no right or wrong answer, only infinite imagination.

  MR. WINKLE WAKES
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm1sCsl2MQY
Today there is a great deal of stress upon the outdated education practices here in our country. Schools remaining essentially the same for a hundred years........that just will NOT do! So I am now asking myself the question of how can I do something about this. But, how to prepare children today for jobs with technology not even invented yet? Poor Mr. Winkle has been asleep for a hundred years and wakes to a world that is alien to him. If there are so many advancements around him everywhere except the classroom, shouldn't that be a sign that the classroom is in fact working to some extent? If there are so many improvements in medicine and technology that means a person that excelled in the classroom then continued asking questions until an answer was found. I don't believe that our system of education is broken but there should be balance to allowing creativity flow and the testing of memorized facts with more emphasis on self discipline and strong moral work ethic.



THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY
 http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
School shouldn't be a place to pour facts into children's minds alone. There should be freedom for individual creativity to flourish as well. Sir Robinson believes that the arts should be stressed as strongly as the basics. He points out that each child is born with creative juices flowing free, such as a lack of fear to making mistakes, and through the education process this creativity is extinguished. Many children today are being labeled by the system as learning disabled or ADD/ADHD but the suggestion is to promote that hyperactive mind or uninterested student, which is not appropriate for the classroom, into a more hands on and creative inducing environment that includes all the students and not just the "gifted." Where does talent come into play? How can a creative mind continue to grow without exposure to the embarrassment which leads to giving up due to fear of making mistakes.
I love what he says, "if your not prepared to be wrong then you will never come up with anything original." I wish that idea was taught to me growing up, it is so eye opening! We don't want to appear stupid so we don't try, instead we should advocate that if you don't try how will you know what you are capable of.

 A VISION FOR 21ST CENTURY LEARNING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mirxkzkxuf4&feature=related
 This video discusses the system of education being based on mass standardized testing, cramming students heads with facts while sitting passively in a boring classroom. Emphasis is placed on encouraging the use of video games and computer software that is entertaining enough so that students don't even realize they are learning. This is a good idea, but these tools can be very expensive. Which is why there is little available to public schools today. Perhaps instead of pointing a finger at a weakness in the education system there was more of an effort to create ways of bringing these advantages to the classroom in an affordable way, such as the idea of the $2 white board in place of the $2000 smart board that is posted on a teacher blog by Frank Noschese. Visit his blog at: http://fnoschese.wordpress.com/
  
HARNESS YOUR STUDENTS' DIGITAL SMARTS
 http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-teachers-vicki-davis-video
This video was a nice companion to Mr. Winkle Wakes. It is very overwhelming as a future educator to have the job of preparing the young of today for the future of which we can not see.  Yes, it is our job to introduce information but ultimately it is the students place to apply that knowledge. We as educators can feel a little less overwhelmed by realizing that each person when given the opportunity is capable of creating pleasantly surprising outcomes. Vicky Davis, teacher-preneur, allows her students to "teach" her. By empowering her class she can teach them to be thinkers. This is such a beautiful idea, by having a student teach a lesson she is helping them to use their own thought processes and encourage self reliance. This is the direction that our country should be taking to educate tomorrow's leaders.