I agree with many of my classmates that although this course got off to a somewhat rocky start, I came away from it with a plethora of new technological knowledge. This is probably the first technology course I have taken where everything seemed to be at the appropriate level. So often, technology courses will re-teach old programs like Excel and PowerPoint-programs with which I am already quite familiar. During this course, everything we were introduced to was new to me. I was challenged, and sometimes intimidated, by every project-but I became a better teacher because of it.
I am going to take away a great deal from this course. I am now a blogger, which I never was before. I am also able to create digital stories and use Google Docs. I learned about Glogs and Noodle Tools and all sorts of other useful programs that I can bring into my classroom. I really feel motivated to bring more technology into my classroom, and make the most of the programs that are out there. I've already had conversations with our tech. department and media center specialist about trying to help students and staff gain access to some of these terrific programs. Overall, this was a very educational course, and I am happy that I was able to experience it.
P.S. The food at every class was amazing! I eat better on Thursdays than I do any other night of the week!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Reflection on Genre Study Collaborative Project
Although we have yet to present our project, I have really enjoyed putting together this genre study. I found it to be a pleasure working with Kim and Stacy. While, unfortunately, our finished product is not ready to be taken into our classrooms because the literature used is not necessarily completely grade appropriate (we settled on literature that was a compromise between what was appropriate for our students of different grade levels) I still think that I can apply this process to projects within my classroom. I really enjoyed learning more about glogs from Stacy. I found the one she put together for our project really useful as a way to house all sorts of video clips and digital stories to get kids excited about the unit. I also enjoyed the digital quest put together by Kim. I, personally, enjoyed making two more digital stories. I found that, while still time consuming, it was much easier the second time around.
I really do think that I will run my next genre study/lit. circle unit in much the same way as we outlined in our project. It will be a terrific opportunity to get my students blogging while giving them tastes of digital stories and glogs too.
I really do think that I will run my next genre study/lit. circle unit in much the same way as we outlined in our project. It will be a terrific opportunity to get my students blogging while giving them tastes of digital stories and glogs too.
Monday, December 12, 2011
December 15th Questions
1. I believe that, yes, the digital divide does exist in my school. Approximately 20% of my 8th graders say they do not have access to the Internet at home. More than that have access at one parent's home but not at the other. This is clearly a problem when they are trying to work consistently on a project for class. One of the ways we attempt to remedy the problem is to have numerous computers available after school for students. One member of our team stays after every day of the week, and we all have computers in our rooms. Additionally, the library is open with 19 computers for student use. One of the other unfortunate things that has been done to remedy the problem is to never assign projects that must be completed on a computer unless enough time can be spent in the computer lab during class. Trying to get everyone time in the lab is often such a frustrating task that I shy away from assignments that require the use of computers so that I can use my class time teaching instead of monitoring typing.
2. I think it is important to try to help students bridge the digital divide by providing exposure to technologies. I know that I just stated above that I shy away from this, so I am guilty of hypocrisy here, but exposure is the only way to chip away at the divide. I would like our district to give every student in our middle school an e-mail address, so they can have more access to the blogs, etc. on our web-sites. This idea has yet to get approved. Group work is a good way to make use of the computers in my classroom and to get students helping each other become more proficient using certain programs.
3. I think that I have a great deal of responsibility as an educator to bring learning experiences involving technology into my classroom. My students know a lot about some technology, but they are not well-versed in academic technology, and this will hold them back in high school and college. We must prepare them now so they are ready to compete at the same level as their peers. I honestly think that I have been shirking my responsibilities in this area. After taking this course and learning from my peers about how many amazing programs are out there, I realize that I am woefully uninformed about the technology that can help my students. I am going to commit myself to learning at least one of these programs each semester in order to more fully prepare my students for high school.
2. I think it is important to try to help students bridge the digital divide by providing exposure to technologies. I know that I just stated above that I shy away from this, so I am guilty of hypocrisy here, but exposure is the only way to chip away at the divide. I would like our district to give every student in our middle school an e-mail address, so they can have more access to the blogs, etc. on our web-sites. This idea has yet to get approved. Group work is a good way to make use of the computers in my classroom and to get students helping each other become more proficient using certain programs.
3. I think that I have a great deal of responsibility as an educator to bring learning experiences involving technology into my classroom. My students know a lot about some technology, but they are not well-versed in academic technology, and this will hold them back in high school and college. We must prepare them now so they are ready to compete at the same level as their peers. I honestly think that I have been shirking my responsibilities in this area. After taking this course and learning from my peers about how many amazing programs are out there, I realize that I am woefully uninformed about the technology that can help my students. I am going to commit myself to learning at least one of these programs each semester in order to more fully prepare my students for high school.
Monday, December 5, 2011
December 8th Questions
1. I believe that, yes, all teachers in traditional classrooms should be encouraged to create online activities for students. Using online activities is a way of broadening the potential of what can be experienced within the four walls of a classroom. There is an abundance of rich opportunities online, and these should be explored in all classrooms. The advantage that traditional classroom teachers have over those who are facilitating online courses, is that we can marry the online activites with group work and discussions. I know that some may argue that discussions can take place online and- they can- but I think that nothing can take the place of a face-to-face class discussion. By including many different types of activities in the classroom, we are able to meet the needs of students with different learning styles.
2. Students should be taught how to use social networks early on. In fact, it makes me smile to write that we should "teach" them how to use social networking sites at all because I am sure most of them are using social networking sites incredibly early in life. I think it is more reasonable to say that I believe we, as teachers should guide students in the approriate use of social networking sites from early elementary school on. Then, beginning in 6th grade, I think we should begin to utilize these sites in our teaching. Using sites like Ning and Facebook worked quite well in several of the examples listed in Richardson's text. He discussed how Facebook has been successfully used in traditional classrooms and libraries. He also shared how "ning" sites were useful to create "virtual" classrooms. I think all of these examples show that social networking sites can be used and used effectively with students of all ages.
3. Teachers can use social networking sites as teaching and learning tools. I found an example listed in Richardson's text interesting. Here, he described a social studies teacher, Jim, who found ways to utilize facebook with his students. The students in the social studies class responded to discussion topics on a private group facebook page that Jim established. (Richardson, 2010). At first when I read this, I wondered if it mattered at all that Jim used Facebook. He could have used any other blog site afterall. But after thinking about it, I do think that it helped to create "buy in" from the students. By utilizing a networking site that the students already frequented, he was able to take away any trependation they might have felt about using an unfamiliar site. He also expanded their concepts of what Facebook could be. Instead of it simply being a place to share random thoughts and pictures with friends, it became a place to discuss ideas and concepts. It really made me think even more seriously about the web-sites we block and why we block them. Isn't it better to teach students how to use these sites? If they don't learn it in school, they likely aren't going to be learning it at all.
In addition to using sites like facebook as discussion boards, I also think we could use ning sites to connect our current students with past students who may have insight into the topics being taught in the classroom. As in the example given in Richardson, we should keep our alumni connected to current students so that we can share knowledge and continue to build a community or learners rather than starting from scratch each year.
4. In the future, I envision social networking to become more and more acceptable and more welcomed into classrooms. I believe that social networking sites could become a way of easily contacting experts in a variety of fields. It could also become a tool used to find people who experienced certain events in history and are willing to share their stories with others. Like blogs, I also think that social networking sites will allow students to share ideas with one another and communicate with students from different schools, in differents states, and even in different countries.
I think that social networking will evolve to provide its users a place that grows with them. Instead of moving from one site to another as students mature and grow, the site will grow and expand to accomodate the maturing needs of its users.
With all this said, though, it's hard to envision social networking becoming any more pervasive in our world than it already is. Political movements have been facilitated through Facebook, demonstrations coordinated, and news can be shared in almost real time. Maybe the real revolutionary predication about the future of social networking in our classrooms is that the sites will be unblocked and able to be accessed in our schools.
2. Students should be taught how to use social networks early on. In fact, it makes me smile to write that we should "teach" them how to use social networking sites at all because I am sure most of them are using social networking sites incredibly early in life. I think it is more reasonable to say that I believe we, as teachers should guide students in the approriate use of social networking sites from early elementary school on. Then, beginning in 6th grade, I think we should begin to utilize these sites in our teaching. Using sites like Ning and Facebook worked quite well in several of the examples listed in Richardson's text. He discussed how Facebook has been successfully used in traditional classrooms and libraries. He also shared how "ning" sites were useful to create "virtual" classrooms. I think all of these examples show that social networking sites can be used and used effectively with students of all ages.
3. Teachers can use social networking sites as teaching and learning tools. I found an example listed in Richardson's text interesting. Here, he described a social studies teacher, Jim, who found ways to utilize facebook with his students. The students in the social studies class responded to discussion topics on a private group facebook page that Jim established. (Richardson, 2010). At first when I read this, I wondered if it mattered at all that Jim used Facebook. He could have used any other blog site afterall. But after thinking about it, I do think that it helped to create "buy in" from the students. By utilizing a networking site that the students already frequented, he was able to take away any trependation they might have felt about using an unfamiliar site. He also expanded their concepts of what Facebook could be. Instead of it simply being a place to share random thoughts and pictures with friends, it became a place to discuss ideas and concepts. It really made me think even more seriously about the web-sites we block and why we block them. Isn't it better to teach students how to use these sites? If they don't learn it in school, they likely aren't going to be learning it at all.
In addition to using sites like facebook as discussion boards, I also think we could use ning sites to connect our current students with past students who may have insight into the topics being taught in the classroom. As in the example given in Richardson, we should keep our alumni connected to current students so that we can share knowledge and continue to build a community or learners rather than starting from scratch each year.
4. In the future, I envision social networking to become more and more acceptable and more welcomed into classrooms. I believe that social networking sites could become a way of easily contacting experts in a variety of fields. It could also become a tool used to find people who experienced certain events in history and are willing to share their stories with others. Like blogs, I also think that social networking sites will allow students to share ideas with one another and communicate with students from different schools, in differents states, and even in different countries.
I think that social networking will evolve to provide its users a place that grows with them. Instead of moving from one site to another as students mature and grow, the site will grow and expand to accomodate the maturing needs of its users.
With all this said, though, it's hard to envision social networking becoming any more pervasive in our world than it already is. Political movements have been facilitated through Facebook, demonstrations coordinated, and news can be shared in almost real time. Maybe the real revolutionary predication about the future of social networking in our classrooms is that the sites will be unblocked and able to be accessed in our schools.
Reflection on Internet Workshop Activity
After completing the Internet Workshop lesson plan, I was really pleased with how well our product actually fit into my 8th grade, LA curriculum. Assessing artificats for purpose and audience is a skill with which we often begin the year. I was pleased that this activity took something my groupmates and I already did and brought it to the next level technologically.
By incorporating web-site evaluations into this activity, I feel that my students will have many more details to use when evaluating their sites. Before, the students only have a pamphlet or newspaper article in front of them, but, by taking the activity to the web, the students will have advertisements and additional images to use when making their evaluations.
I was also pleased at how easily this activity differentiates itself. Instead of handing a group of students a more obviously simple artifact with larger print or simpler words, students will discretely find themselves directed to simpler and more complicated web-sites depending on their ability levels. I think this is a very nice feature of this assignment.
Overall, I was pleased with what my groupmembers and I accomplished. I feel confident that I will use this activity with my future students. I also enjoyed seeing the work of everyone else in our class. It was fun to see what teachers of different grade levels use with their students, and I never cease to be amazed and impressed by how hard-working early childhood and elementary educators are. They do not get paid nearly enough for all of the careful planning they must do.
By incorporating web-site evaluations into this activity, I feel that my students will have many more details to use when evaluating their sites. Before, the students only have a pamphlet or newspaper article in front of them, but, by taking the activity to the web, the students will have advertisements and additional images to use when making their evaluations.
I was also pleased at how easily this activity differentiates itself. Instead of handing a group of students a more obviously simple artifact with larger print or simpler words, students will discretely find themselves directed to simpler and more complicated web-sites depending on their ability levels. I think this is a very nice feature of this assignment.
Overall, I was pleased with what my groupmembers and I accomplished. I feel confident that I will use this activity with my future students. I also enjoyed seeing the work of everyone else in our class. It was fun to see what teachers of different grade levels use with their students, and I never cease to be amazed and impressed by how hard-working early childhood and elementary educators are. They do not get paid nearly enough for all of the careful planning they must do.
Friday, November 25, 2011
December 1st questions
1. I believe that the teacher has a very important role in helping students to make meaning of primary sources. In this age of information, we now have more access to primary sources than ever before. Instead of having to trek to the National Archives, we can access primary sources electronically. With all this new found access, schools need to prepare students to study sources and use critical thinking skills to piece together meaning from what they find.
I think that teachers need to get students to ask questions and investigate the primary sources they encounter. They need to learn how to search for sources, using keywords that will generate the most "hits" possible. Students also need the skills necessary to look at several primary sources and use what they find to draw some conclusions about the topic being studied. Having access to information is worthless if one does not have skills necessary to access and/or evaluate the information. We as teachers need to be sure our students are prepared to navigate within this society once they are on their own.
2. Blogs, Wiki's and web-based word processors are all programs that allow users to share information and ideas with others, but they do have some important differences. Blogs are basically online, interactive "journals" where one posts information, comments, and reflections online. Others can read and respond to the posts. The information posted is often personal and subjective in nature. Wikis are also interactive sources of information, but they are often utilized for the posting of informative, objective information. Like blogs, others can view and respond to content, but, wiki users can also modify the original posted content if they choose to. Web-based word processors are also interactive sources of information, but they are more intended to allow users to work on documents collaboratively. Those with access to a document can modify the information posted, but those with access are usually part of a small group who is constructing a document from scratch.
One possible classroom activity using blogs would be to post open-ended questions about a novel or topic being discussed on class and allow students to respond to these questions in a conversational format. A class wiki could be used to post information about a course or unit. Students could access handouts, discussion boards and more on a class "wiki". A web-based woprd processing program could be used in several ways as well. Students could work collaborativly on a document for a team project. Students could also use the web-based processor as a way of backing up their work and ensuring that they are never without access to the documents they are working on for class.
I think that teachers need to get students to ask questions and investigate the primary sources they encounter. They need to learn how to search for sources, using keywords that will generate the most "hits" possible. Students also need the skills necessary to look at several primary sources and use what they find to draw some conclusions about the topic being studied. Having access to information is worthless if one does not have skills necessary to access and/or evaluate the information. We as teachers need to be sure our students are prepared to navigate within this society once they are on their own.
2. Blogs, Wiki's and web-based word processors are all programs that allow users to share information and ideas with others, but they do have some important differences. Blogs are basically online, interactive "journals" where one posts information, comments, and reflections online. Others can read and respond to the posts. The information posted is often personal and subjective in nature. Wikis are also interactive sources of information, but they are often utilized for the posting of informative, objective information. Like blogs, others can view and respond to content, but, wiki users can also modify the original posted content if they choose to. Web-based word processors are also interactive sources of information, but they are more intended to allow users to work on documents collaboratively. Those with access to a document can modify the information posted, but those with access are usually part of a small group who is constructing a document from scratch.
One possible classroom activity using blogs would be to post open-ended questions about a novel or topic being discussed on class and allow students to respond to these questions in a conversational format. A class wiki could be used to post information about a course or unit. Students could access handouts, discussion boards and more on a class "wiki". A web-based woprd processing program could be used in several ways as well. Students could work collaborativly on a document for a team project. Students could also use the web-based processor as a way of backing up their work and ensuring that they are never without access to the documents they are working on for class.
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 17th questions
1. Now that there is unlimited potential to celebrate the work of students with their communities, I think the best way to manage this opportunity is to start slowly and to work in the safest environments possible. It is very easy to publish student work online. However, that does create a risk. Anyone could write anything about the work being published. I think the best way to manage this is to select sites that are specific and student-centered on which to publish student work. Some sites, like Teen Ink actually screen comments and remove any vulgarities or inappropriate remarks. Additionally, those who comment on the site tend to be there because they are highly interested in teen writing; they are either teen authors or teachers/supporters of teen writers. This type of site is a safe place where one might start to dabble in publishing and celebrating student work online.
2. There are many tools out there today that can enable students to have authentic work experiences and relationships. Skype can be a terrific tool to bridge geographical gaps between students. Students can Skype with students from other school, in other countries, the possibilities are pretty endless. What better way to discuss other cultures than to talk to someone who lives within that culture? Skype can also be used to bring people into the classroom who might not otherwise be able to get there. Guest speakers could Skype to the class or, as was mentioned by November, grandparents can visit the classroom or students who are suffering from long-term illnesses can participate in the class from time to time through video-conferencing or Skype, (November, 2011).
Additionally, there are numerous primary resources available online that can create wonderful opportunities for students to think critically while researching a topic. By looking at primary resources, students are given a first-hand view of a topic. They are left to analyze and evaluate the resources. Also, as students become more familiar with databases and other tools, they can be given real-world problems to solve through their own research and work.
3. If every teacher had a web-site, I think there are several features these sites could contain that would make it easy for teachers to share their best practices. First of all, I think that teachers could post overviews of units they teach throughout the year. Teachers could also post documents that they use when teaching these units. A list of helpful links could be included on the site. Finally, the site could have a discussion section where other teachers could post ideas, questions, etc. for others to discuss.
2. There are many tools out there today that can enable students to have authentic work experiences and relationships. Skype can be a terrific tool to bridge geographical gaps between students. Students can Skype with students from other school, in other countries, the possibilities are pretty endless. What better way to discuss other cultures than to talk to someone who lives within that culture? Skype can also be used to bring people into the classroom who might not otherwise be able to get there. Guest speakers could Skype to the class or, as was mentioned by November, grandparents can visit the classroom or students who are suffering from long-term illnesses can participate in the class from time to time through video-conferencing or Skype, (November, 2011).
Additionally, there are numerous primary resources available online that can create wonderful opportunities for students to think critically while researching a topic. By looking at primary resources, students are given a first-hand view of a topic. They are left to analyze and evaluate the resources. Also, as students become more familiar with databases and other tools, they can be given real-world problems to solve through their own research and work.
3. If every teacher had a web-site, I think there are several features these sites could contain that would make it easy for teachers to share their best practices. First of all, I think that teachers could post overviews of units they teach throughout the year. Teachers could also post documents that they use when teaching these units. A list of helpful links could be included on the site. Finally, the site could have a discussion section where other teachers could post ideas, questions, etc. for others to discuss.
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