Sunday, April 29, 2012
Blog post 13
I was afraid to start this assignment. Mainly because I knew what it meant for me. I rely so much on my cell phone for so many things in my every day life that I really didn't think I could do it. How would I get in touch with my family? My boyfriend? My friends? How would I let them know something in case of an emergency? As I attempted this assignment, I started to feel secluded and lonely and left out of the loop. I felt like I was missing something, like something was taken away from me that I valued so much for no reason. It felt like I almost didn't know what to do with myself. How did people that lived before me get by with their every day life without this machine? How can something that seems so small and insignificant be such a huge part of my life? This is the reality. Our generation has grown to NEED these things and we feel that we CONSTANTLY have to be in immediate contact with our loved ones because it has not only become a habit but we have never known it to be any other way. The technology is indeed amazing. Now that I was faced with the problem of NOT having my precious phone, I can't imagine what it would be like to not have it all the time.
Our students will be faced with the same problem when they come to school. It is our job, as educators, to teach them how to use the technology in the right way and to use it to our advantage to better their learning experience. This is what our generation understands, what they are accustomed to. We must know how to use the technology in order for us to be successful educators. The beauty of this assignment is that it shows just how important technology is in our every day lives and how we MUST be familiar with the changes if we are going to teach young students in the future. I say this in almost every blog post but it's TRUE: That is the point of this class. To allow us to use the technology and become familiar with it so that we may give our students the best learning experience possible. This assignment really shows how truly important technology is in the modern day world.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Creativity and Curiosity: My Thoughts - Special Post #12A
I think that schools in the United States do kill creativity but I think that recently they have been getting better. The reason for this is because technology has become more and more popular and available among schools worldwide. With the new technological advances, teachers have the opportunity to promote creativity because of what the children can create with these tools. If the tools are there, then it's up to the teacher to use them correctly and show the student how to use them by teaching with them and creating a better learning experience for the student. A curriculum can be developed to require these teachers to teach certain things by using certain tools. This way, the students will be able to use blogs, podcasts, videos, and other tools such as skype and youtube to receive the best learning experience possible. If we show a student a video or post that got commented on by someone across the world, this may excite them to write another blog post and be more creative while writing it. We need to stimulate the student by what they are interested in so they can excel in that area in the future. Technology offers so many different options for any subject or field a student may want to learn about. This way, creativity isn't killed but rather encouraged.
Blog Post #12
Watch this video Why We Need To Teach Technology In School. Think about how quickly technology changes and why it's important to teach our children about these advances so they can use them in the right way. Write a blog post about your thoughts on this and how you are going to incorporate technology into your future classroom in order to prepare your students for the rest of their lives.
This video was about how quickly technology changes. It starts with changes that are very old and leads up to computers, laptops, cell phones, and even smart boards. If we do not teach our students about these technological advances when they are young, they could possibly get left behind in the future because they weren't aware of the tools they had to use to better their learning experience. Technology allows students to have endless amounts of creativity because they can create worlds on a computer that were not possible before. If we do not let our students have access to these tools and use them effectively, they will not be ready for the world and the future advances that will be made. One must know how to use something effectively in order for them to succeed.
In my classroom, I hope to allow my students to skype with other students so that they can relate and collaborate with them and perhaps understand the material we are learning better by talking with other students learning the same thing. I also hope to let them create blogs so they can learn how to write essays and short stories about certain things I would assign. This way, they can learn how to manipulate around the technologic world. I also hope to help them create videos and podcasts they can post to show the world how much they are learning and to motivate creativity. I would like to create videos of me explaining certain material and show step by step instructions so I could take a step back and observe my classroom from a different perspective. I believe this helps the teacher assess which students are struggling and which ones are excelling. It may be a difficult process at first, but I think that all of these tools will be worth it for my students at the end because they will have a better understanding of what they are learning and be more prepared for the future.
This video was about how quickly technology changes. It starts with changes that are very old and leads up to computers, laptops, cell phones, and even smart boards. If we do not teach our students about these technological advances when they are young, they could possibly get left behind in the future because they weren't aware of the tools they had to use to better their learning experience. Technology allows students to have endless amounts of creativity because they can create worlds on a computer that were not possible before. If we do not let our students have access to these tools and use them effectively, they will not be ready for the world and the future advances that will be made. One must know how to use something effectively in order for them to succeed.
In my classroom, I hope to allow my students to skype with other students so that they can relate and collaborate with them and perhaps understand the material we are learning better by talking with other students learning the same thing. I also hope to let them create blogs so they can learn how to write essays and short stories about certain things I would assign. This way, they can learn how to manipulate around the technologic world. I also hope to help them create videos and podcasts they can post to show the world how much they are learning and to motivate creativity. I would like to create videos of me explaining certain material and show step by step instructions so I could take a step back and observe my classroom from a different perspective. I believe this helps the teacher assess which students are struggling and which ones are excelling. It may be a difficult process at first, but I think that all of these tools will be worth it for my students at the end because they will have a better understanding of what they are learning and be more prepared for the future.
Progress Report on Final Project
For our final project we are going to show a step by step detailed demonstration of how to create a website. Our reason for creating the website is for our students to use it for projects or other information reasons. We thought this would be a fun and creative way to help our students learn about the information and retain it better. They could create it themselves and show their family and friends what wonderful work they've done. It would stimulate their creativity while they are learning the material. I am very excited to see how it turns out.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Blog Post 11
First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class & Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy
This video was about teaching first graders with the use of technology. They learned how to read and write using blogs and they liked this method because other people that they cared about could see their progress. They used the smart board to have collaborative and interactive lessons and understand more about what they were learning by having hands on access. Their writing improves because of their blogs and they can keep online portfolios of their work. They also use web pages to help them find other sites that may help them with their current work or their work in the future. There are interactive games online for them to learn the alphabet and numbers in a fun, easy way. They also use a wiki to collaborate with other students to learn about traditions, rituals, and other things. They use skype to talk to other classrooms and other professionals to help them understand the material.
I think this is such an amazing way to learn. It makes collaborating and teaching children fun. It shows them that they are making progress and allows other students around the world as well as their loved ones to see the amazing things they are learning about. It allows others around the world to help them understand what they are learning and show them in ways that were never possible before. Not only can they learn from other students and classrooms, but if they are learning about a certain subject, they can also learn from other professionals that work in that subject field every single day. The part that I liked the best is that the comment the child made about the people from Alabama could have been me or any other student in this very class I am taking. What an amazing way to help a child know that what they are learning about and doing is important!
In my classroom, I hope to have the opportunity to use the blogging to show the students their progress and allow them to keep an online portfolio of their work. I love the fact that their mothers, siblings, and other relatives can keep up with their progress and show them that what they are doing is excellent and important. I also hope to use skype to collaborate with other classrooms and teachers so that my students can help learn from them as well. I think that using blogging and skype will help them understand the material better and give them positive reinforcement to keep up their excellent work. I think that it will change the way they learn and they will be able to excel faster later in life with the tools I will give them.
This video was about teaching first graders with the use of technology. They learned how to read and write using blogs and they liked this method because other people that they cared about could see their progress. They used the smart board to have collaborative and interactive lessons and understand more about what they were learning by having hands on access. Their writing improves because of their blogs and they can keep online portfolios of their work. They also use web pages to help them find other sites that may help them with their current work or their work in the future. There are interactive games online for them to learn the alphabet and numbers in a fun, easy way. They also use a wiki to collaborate with other students to learn about traditions, rituals, and other things. They use skype to talk to other classrooms and other professionals to help them understand the material.
I think this is such an amazing way to learn. It makes collaborating and teaching children fun. It shows them that they are making progress and allows other students around the world as well as their loved ones to see the amazing things they are learning about. It allows others around the world to help them understand what they are learning and show them in ways that were never possible before. Not only can they learn from other students and classrooms, but if they are learning about a certain subject, they can also learn from other professionals that work in that subject field every single day. The part that I liked the best is that the comment the child made about the people from Alabama could have been me or any other student in this very class I am taking. What an amazing way to help a child know that what they are learning about and doing is important!
In my classroom, I hope to have the opportunity to use the blogging to show the students their progress and allow them to keep an online portfolio of their work. I love the fact that their mothers, siblings, and other relatives can keep up with their progress and show them that what they are doing is excellent and important. I also hope to use skype to collaborate with other classrooms and teachers so that my students can help learn from them as well. I think that using blogging and skype will help them understand the material better and give them positive reinforcement to keep up their excellent work. I think that it will change the way they learn and they will be able to excel faster later in life with the tools I will give them.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Blog Post 10
Do you teach or do you educate?
In this video, it says that to teach is to show or explain how to do something, to encourage someone to accept as a fact or principle, to give information about or instruction in, to cause someone to learn or understand something, and to induce by example or punishment to not do something. But an educator illuminates; enlightens; inspires; empowers; gives intellectual, moral, and social instructions; and acts as a mentor/guide to the student to show them the way.
Teaching shouldn't just be about jumping through the hoops and giving students a robotic lesson. In order to be successful in creating young adults who are capable and understand the world around them, we must set the example and be passionate about our work. We must be up to date with the technology so we can prepare our students for what may come in the future. We must show them that "education is the kindling of a flame not the filling of a vessel" by taking that extra step and providing the most up to date and detailed lessons possible so each student can understand and comprehend the material. Like Rafe Esquith said, we should be so involved with our students and the lesson that we don't even realize that our hair is on fire.
This is exactly what I intend to do. I like things to be a certain way in my life, and I'm sure I will in my classroom as well. I cannot settle for just a mediocre lesson, I will want my students to be able to grasp the material and trust me and respect me. This may take time and be a struggle in the beginning, but because I am passionate about what I do, my students will succeed and it will be worth it in the long run. I believe every teacher should strive for this, and I wish I had more teachers like this as I grew up.
Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home
After reading and exploring this blog, I really appreciated what he had to say. Instead of focusing on the problems at hand, he searched for solutions. He offers several situations that could be fictional or nonfictional about modern day teaching. He shows the speed bumps teachers may run into with their principal or other teachers with real-life situations. He uses stories to show criticism and to get his point across which is a very creative way to show his points. He has characters that could apply to any teacher and uses them in situations any teacher could relate to. He uses history as a lens to discuss his own story and the current context of the twenty-first century. One of my favorite things he says is: "The larger, external conflict initially feels like it's about getting pencils into the hands of students. But it's more than that. It's fighting against a new, emerging factory system of education and yet going forward into the twenty-first century. It's teaching immigrant kids and not falling into the Assimilation School mentality. It's technology criticism and technology use." This is the ultimate conflict we face as teachers. This is what we must overcome in order to be successful in the modern day world. We must show our students how important it is to understand the material and be up to date with technology. Not only does he pinpoint specific things we must grasp and take a hold of as teachers, but he offers solutions and shows that being a successful teacher in the modern day world with technology IS possible. I really enjoyed exploring and reading his stories and I hope that teachers everywhere have the opportunity to read his work as well.
In this video, it says that to teach is to show or explain how to do something, to encourage someone to accept as a fact or principle, to give information about or instruction in, to cause someone to learn or understand something, and to induce by example or punishment to not do something. But an educator illuminates; enlightens; inspires; empowers; gives intellectual, moral, and social instructions; and acts as a mentor/guide to the student to show them the way.
Teaching shouldn't just be about jumping through the hoops and giving students a robotic lesson. In order to be successful in creating young adults who are capable and understand the world around them, we must set the example and be passionate about our work. We must be up to date with the technology so we can prepare our students for what may come in the future. We must show them that "education is the kindling of a flame not the filling of a vessel" by taking that extra step and providing the most up to date and detailed lessons possible so each student can understand and comprehend the material. Like Rafe Esquith said, we should be so involved with our students and the lesson that we don't even realize that our hair is on fire.
This is exactly what I intend to do. I like things to be a certain way in my life, and I'm sure I will in my classroom as well. I cannot settle for just a mediocre lesson, I will want my students to be able to grasp the material and trust me and respect me. This may take time and be a struggle in the beginning, but because I am passionate about what I do, my students will succeed and it will be worth it in the long run. I believe every teacher should strive for this, and I wish I had more teachers like this as I grew up.
Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home
After reading and exploring this blog, I really appreciated what he had to say. Instead of focusing on the problems at hand, he searched for solutions. He offers several situations that could be fictional or nonfictional about modern day teaching. He shows the speed bumps teachers may run into with their principal or other teachers with real-life situations. He uses stories to show criticism and to get his point across which is a very creative way to show his points. He has characters that could apply to any teacher and uses them in situations any teacher could relate to. He uses history as a lens to discuss his own story and the current context of the twenty-first century. One of my favorite things he says is: "The larger, external conflict initially feels like it's about getting pencils into the hands of students. But it's more than that. It's fighting against a new, emerging factory system of education and yet going forward into the twenty-first century. It's teaching immigrant kids and not falling into the Assimilation School mentality. It's technology criticism and technology use." This is the ultimate conflict we face as teachers. This is what we must overcome in order to be successful in the modern day world. We must show our students how important it is to understand the material and be up to date with technology. Not only does he pinpoint specific things we must grasp and take a hold of as teachers, but he offers solutions and shows that being a successful teacher in the modern day world with technology IS possible. I really enjoyed exploring and reading his stories and I hope that teachers everywhere have the opportunity to read his work as well.
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