In this week’s readings we learned all about the “Skeptics Argument.” The chapter started out by talking about how throughout history there have been skeptics complaining about every new technology. For example From the Rural American Teacher: “Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement.” I thought this was funny. At the time people were actually afraid of store bought pens! The chapter goes on to talk about how today’s school system relies on common and well-tested technologies. They say that overall school coordination relies heavily on paper for records and communication. To this argument the book countered by saying with every technology that comes out there are three stages of acceptance. First everyone but a few enthusiasts condemn the new technology, then as time goes by they make using the technology optional, finally after they realize that the technology can really help they marginalize it into the system . After this argument the book talked about some barriers that come when trying to introduce technology. First they must remember the cost to bring it in, how and when the students will be able to access it, and finally how it will affect classroom management. Many believe that a room full of computers makes the teachers job a nightmare because while she is observing one student at a computer she has her back turned to all the other students. The final pages talked about owning knowledge versus Mobilizing Outside Resources. This means that teachers and parents believe that to truly learn something it is critical to do it on your own without any reliance on outside resources. This means that computers are becoming relied upon and without them our students may be lost and feel that they are unable to learn.
This new learning does not have a huge affect on my belief of technologies role. The way that it was written kind of told me that the authors just put it in their book because they had to. With every example of a skeptics argument there seemed to be a more sensible counter example for the technology enthusiasts. However, I liked seeing some of the example of arguments. I do believe that technology is coming. It has been coming for a while, and we cannot stop it because it does help and we need to accept it.
This new thinking will affect how I go about using technology. If I can see that implementing a new piece of technology will be a benefit to my students then I’ll be the first to get it! Technology always is knocking at outdoor, remember the pen used to be technology, so it is our time to welcome it and use it to our advantage.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Book Chapter Project
I am so happy my project is done!
My group members and I did the book chapter 2 for our project. To complete this project we had to read the chapter thoroughly, devise a plan for a presentation, create a digital slide show, and present it to our peers. I believe this took a good amount of effort. I created the Prezi (our digital slide show), and sent the link to my two group members. We then sent emails back and forth discussing different ways to present the information, and which information would be better to use. When the day came to present our Prezi, we were scrambling a little bit. A huge amount of advice that I have for other groups that still need to complete their chapter assignment is to meet in person at least once and go over the whole slide show before presenting the information to the class. We really thought we could communicate with each other and get all the work done by just emailing each other our ideas, and this method caused some headaches. Though I believe out presentation went pretty smoothly I think a little practice would have made it better. Its funny how you prepare yourself for public speaking and when you get in front of a group of people you forget everything you told yourself to remember. I found myself speaking a little too fast and too quietly. I also have to remember to allow students proper wait time to give them some time to think over an answer.
I really liked doing this assignment because I believe there is a huge amount of value when our peers present the information to us instead of our professor. It seems that every college class I’ve had the professor lectures, we take notes, and then we get tested. For this class I really think it’s cool that we get to teach each other the information. This method I believe puts us all on the same level of understanding. The way that a group of three students presents information usually appeals to their fellow classmates. An example of this was when we talked about playing the game the Oregon Trail. Because my classmates all seemed to have played this game in the past my group members and I were able to remind them of a cool way that technology has changed.
Discussing course content with my peers impacts my future teaching in a huge way. As a future teacher I believe it is my responsibility to pay attention to how my professors teach. Following their example of how to engage a class, present the proper information, and deal with a class of students, lays guidelines for me to follow when I receive my own classroom. Now I get to observe other students practice their teaching skills and I get to practice my own. The assessment from my peers and professor impacts greatly how I will present myself in the future, so I believe discussing course content with my peers is an awesome activity.
My group members and I did the book chapter 2 for our project. To complete this project we had to read the chapter thoroughly, devise a plan for a presentation, create a digital slide show, and present it to our peers. I believe this took a good amount of effort. I created the Prezi (our digital slide show), and sent the link to my two group members. We then sent emails back and forth discussing different ways to present the information, and which information would be better to use. When the day came to present our Prezi, we were scrambling a little bit. A huge amount of advice that I have for other groups that still need to complete their chapter assignment is to meet in person at least once and go over the whole slide show before presenting the information to the class. We really thought we could communicate with each other and get all the work done by just emailing each other our ideas, and this method caused some headaches. Though I believe out presentation went pretty smoothly I think a little practice would have made it better. Its funny how you prepare yourself for public speaking and when you get in front of a group of people you forget everything you told yourself to remember. I found myself speaking a little too fast and too quietly. I also have to remember to allow students proper wait time to give them some time to think over an answer.
I really liked doing this assignment because I believe there is a huge amount of value when our peers present the information to us instead of our professor. It seems that every college class I’ve had the professor lectures, we take notes, and then we get tested. For this class I really think it’s cool that we get to teach each other the information. This method I believe puts us all on the same level of understanding. The way that a group of three students presents information usually appeals to their fellow classmates. An example of this was when we talked about playing the game the Oregon Trail. Because my classmates all seemed to have played this game in the past my group members and I were able to remind them of a cool way that technology has changed.
Discussing course content with my peers impacts my future teaching in a huge way. As a future teacher I believe it is my responsibility to pay attention to how my professors teach. Following their example of how to engage a class, present the proper information, and deal with a class of students, lays guidelines for me to follow when I receive my own classroom. Now I get to observe other students practice their teaching skills and I get to practice my own. The assessment from my peers and professor impacts greatly how I will present myself in the future, so I believe discussing course content with my peers is an awesome activity.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
September, 23 Exit Interview.
What a quick day!
Today my group members and I completed our chapter assignment for the class. We stood up infront of everyone and gave a 15 minute presentation about the benefits of technology. I took away that I need to rememer to use waite time and to speak louder and slower.
I also took away from today that there are lots of tools out there that can help us use technology. We looked at a site that showed us some different ways to use the smart board and I believe that this site will really help me in the future if there is a smart board in my classroom. We got out a little early today :)
Today my group members and I completed our chapter assignment for the class. We stood up infront of everyone and gave a 15 minute presentation about the benefits of technology. I took away that I need to rememer to use waite time and to speak louder and slower.
I also took away from today that there are lots of tools out there that can help us use technology. We looked at a site that showed us some different ways to use the smart board and I believe that this site will really help me in the future if there is a smart board in my classroom. We got out a little early today :)
Presentation
The Chapter 2 Presentation Link is below enjoy!
http://prezi.com/lvb7xulnia6g/education-331-chapter-2/
http://prezi.com/lvb7xulnia6g/education-331-chapter-2/
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Chapter. 2
This week is my group member’s week to present our book chapter. We got lucky and chose to do the first presentation on chapter 2. The title of this chapter was “The Changing World” and I believe that was a great name for this chapter. I believe this because the 5 main arguments talked about change in thinking, in how we communicate, in Interaction, in the Multimedia, and in Publication.
The chapter started out by talking about how schools now a day are stuck in the 19th century. They rely on pen and paper to help our students prepare for the future and deal little with computers. Throughout the chapter they talk about how computers are not at the core. They then go on to talk about the change that in occurring in our world right before our eyes.
The chapter talked about how there is change in thinking. What they meant about this is that people need skills to find the information they are looking for. They need to change their thinking to accepting technology and starting to learn about it for a successful future. This is something I believe in very strongly the future is technology and we need to keep up with it. The book also talked about the change in how we communicate. They say to prepare students to communicate in this emerging world requires not simply the traditional reading and writing, but learning how to communicate using different media with people who do not share the same assumptions. Again the book has a valid point in my opinion. In today’s society we are not just communicating with people in America, or people who speak English. We need to be able to implement technology in our lives so it can help us communicate with not only people around the world, but with people who don’t even speak our language! The book chapter touched briefly on interaction. With this they meant not only video games, but cool educational tools such as Math Blaster, and Typing tutors. These fun games can entice children to learn content that they might consider “boring”. I believe that this will help students enjoy schooling more and it will help them keep up with the emerging technology. The second to last point I took away from this chapter was Multi-Media. Multi-Media (they say) brings together print, video, and audio, into Multimedia presentations and it provides new opportunity for communicating information. Growing up in a private catholic school I had never heard of a smart board, or a prezi presentation. All these tools help students learn and provide new ways to teach. The final point that the chapter touched on was publication. They talked about cool things such as the youth radio. When students can use technology to show the world what they can do with just a simple computer and the internet, they are improving their communication skills, and also exposing themselves to future opportunities and people that can help them on their future path.
I really liked this chapter. I believe is does an excellent job of showing examples of why technology is really a good thing. As a result of this new thinking I realize that technology is here to stay and it is our job to” jump on the wagon” and find ways to implement technology in our classrooms. There are so many awesome tools and resources out there, why not use them?
The chapter started out by talking about how schools now a day are stuck in the 19th century. They rely on pen and paper to help our students prepare for the future and deal little with computers. Throughout the chapter they talk about how computers are not at the core. They then go on to talk about the change that in occurring in our world right before our eyes.
The chapter talked about how there is change in thinking. What they meant about this is that people need skills to find the information they are looking for. They need to change their thinking to accepting technology and starting to learn about it for a successful future. This is something I believe in very strongly the future is technology and we need to keep up with it. The book also talked about the change in how we communicate. They say to prepare students to communicate in this emerging world requires not simply the traditional reading and writing, but learning how to communicate using different media with people who do not share the same assumptions. Again the book has a valid point in my opinion. In today’s society we are not just communicating with people in America, or people who speak English. We need to be able to implement technology in our lives so it can help us communicate with not only people around the world, but with people who don’t even speak our language! The book chapter touched briefly on interaction. With this they meant not only video games, but cool educational tools such as Math Blaster, and Typing tutors. These fun games can entice children to learn content that they might consider “boring”. I believe that this will help students enjoy schooling more and it will help them keep up with the emerging technology. The second to last point I took away from this chapter was Multi-Media. Multi-Media (they say) brings together print, video, and audio, into Multimedia presentations and it provides new opportunity for communicating information. Growing up in a private catholic school I had never heard of a smart board, or a prezi presentation. All these tools help students learn and provide new ways to teach. The final point that the chapter touched on was publication. They talked about cool things such as the youth radio. When students can use technology to show the world what they can do with just a simple computer and the internet, they are improving their communication skills, and also exposing themselves to future opportunities and people that can help them on their future path.
I really liked this chapter. I believe is does an excellent job of showing examples of why technology is really a good thing. As a result of this new thinking I realize that technology is here to stay and it is our job to” jump on the wagon” and find ways to implement technology in our classrooms. There are so many awesome tools and resources out there, why not use them?
Monday, September 20, 2010
Ch. 1-3
Wow quite the number of pages.
I'm going to start off this blog with a quick overview of what I all took from the chapters we were assigned to read. We started out with a slight overview of the internet. I finally got to learn the person's names that started the internet way back in 1993 (Berners-Lee). It then switched to the many wonders of the internet, where we learned cool facts such as in 2009 there was over 20 hours of videos uploaded to youtube per minute! The trend today finds people in all professions such as politicians using the internet. Chapter one finished off talking about how to keep our students safe from bad internet cites. It offered hints and tips of how to teach students what is a bad cite and a good one. Chapter 2 and 3 talked all about blogs. It listed many useful blogs such as Dan Sharky's Blog, and talked about how people of all ages, (even the authors 10 year old son) are now sharing their thoughts on blogs. This chapter ended by talking about and teaching some cool tools to use when starting to use Blogs. One of these was adding pictures on pg. 52. I am really excited to try and use this as my Blog is kind of lifeless.
This reading really doesn't have a huge impact on my thinking about technologies role in teaching and learning but it does surprise me that so many people are jumping on the "internet" wagon. When I was ten I rarely used the internet let alone have my own blog like the authors son. It does make me start to realize that this in the common trend and that internet and the tools associated with it will be incorporated into the classroom. If I want to be a successful teacher I will learn to use these tools and be able to pass on my knowledge to my students.
As a teacher I will start paying more attention to the tools at my access. If Blogs and school websites, and other internet tools really make our lives better than I believe it will be my responsibility to become acquainted with them and teach my students about them. I've never been great with computers but as a result of these readings I'm going to have to get better in order to give my students the best opportunity to succeed.
I'm going to start off this blog with a quick overview of what I all took from the chapters we were assigned to read. We started out with a slight overview of the internet. I finally got to learn the person's names that started the internet way back in 1993 (Berners-Lee). It then switched to the many wonders of the internet, where we learned cool facts such as in 2009 there was over 20 hours of videos uploaded to youtube per minute! The trend today finds people in all professions such as politicians using the internet. Chapter one finished off talking about how to keep our students safe from bad internet cites. It offered hints and tips of how to teach students what is a bad cite and a good one. Chapter 2 and 3 talked all about blogs. It listed many useful blogs such as Dan Sharky's Blog, and talked about how people of all ages, (even the authors 10 year old son) are now sharing their thoughts on blogs. This chapter ended by talking about and teaching some cool tools to use when starting to use Blogs. One of these was adding pictures on pg. 52. I am really excited to try and use this as my Blog is kind of lifeless.
This reading really doesn't have a huge impact on my thinking about technologies role in teaching and learning but it does surprise me that so many people are jumping on the "internet" wagon. When I was ten I rarely used the internet let alone have my own blog like the authors son. It does make me start to realize that this in the common trend and that internet and the tools associated with it will be incorporated into the classroom. If I want to be a successful teacher I will learn to use these tools and be able to pass on my knowledge to my students.
As a teacher I will start paying more attention to the tools at my access. If Blogs and school websites, and other internet tools really make our lives better than I believe it will be my responsibility to become acquainted with them and teach my students about them. I've never been great with computers but as a result of these readings I'm going to have to get better in order to give my students the best opportunity to succeed.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Growing Up Online
After watching this video I changed my thinking a little about Facebook and MySpace and the privacy that kids believe they should have especially from their parents when using these sites. This movie is a great example of how huge of an impact technology has on the lives of young learners. There were so many example of how students felt safe and accepted online and how they allowed information about themselves and pictures of themselves to be given out. I personally believe that this is a negative impact. All through the beginning of this semester we have been learning about how awesome technology is and how the tools associated with it will help our students so much, however though it does do a lot of good some bad does come of it. If parents are not able to observe their child's habits online or teach them what is right and wrong with posting information then the safety of the child really comes into play. We heard a horrible story of the boy who took his own life because of bullying. Though websites are cool they create a new world for people to interact in and young people may need guidance to make good decisions in this new world. One of my favorite parts of the movie was when they compared Facebook and Myspace to Rock and Roll. They say that kids will always find a generation gap. I believe in this but it is then up to the parents to make sure their child is making safe decisions. I use Facebook. It's hard to find a college student who doesn't. However, I am not afraid to show my parents, family, or even priest everything on my account. Technology has a huge role on young learners. It is up to the adults to guide the young learners into making good safe decisions.
As a future teacher I plan on trying to teach my students how to be safe online. That what they post can sometimes be accessed by a number of people, people that they may not even know. I am being taught right now about all the awesome things that technology has for us. There are so many tools that make our lives easier and help us learn. I want to not only use and teach these tools with my students but I want them to know the dangers of using the tools the wrong way.
As a future teacher I plan on trying to teach my students how to be safe online. That what they post can sometimes be accessed by a number of people, people that they may not even know. I am being taught right now about all the awesome things that technology has for us. There are so many tools that make our lives easier and help us learn. I want to not only use and teach these tools with my students but I want them to know the dangers of using the tools the wrong way.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Thursday September 16, 2010
In today's class we started off by using the smart board. I was super happy that this time the board was calibrated. I was able to drag my name with ease. We then went over the homework and book chapter assignment which also made me super happy because I am due to give the first presentation.
As the class progressed we did a fun activity that involved us breaking up into groups and discussing the importance of technology. It was cool to hear some other opinions about why technology is important in the classroom, and whether or not it makes the teachers lives difficult.
The last thing I took away from this class was exploring the site Prezi. This presentation website is really cool and fun to watch. Maybe I will use this site in my project.
As the class progressed we did a fun activity that involved us breaking up into groups and discussing the importance of technology. It was cool to hear some other opinions about why technology is important in the classroom, and whether or not it makes the teachers lives difficult.
The last thing I took away from this class was exploring the site Prezi. This presentation website is really cool and fun to watch. Maybe I will use this site in my project.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Evaluating Websites
I hope to teach young learners that when evaluating websites not everything on the internet is reliable. Actually a lot of internet sites may be biased, incorrect, and for some just there for fun. A big example of this is the website that talks about helping to save the pacific northwest tree octopus from extinction. Not only is this website unreliable I'm almost completely sure that there is no such things as a Pacific Northwest Octopus. Even some of the supposed real life pictures looked fake. I want to tell my students that not every web address has to end with ".com" Actually really safe websites come from addresses that include ".edu" or ".org." This does not mean that all ".com" websites are unreliable. There are many out there that has very useful true information. However, when evaluating these websites make sure you look at the sources that they get their information. Credible sources are a must if you want to trust the information. Also look at the websites sponsors. Educational sponsors usually provide money for reliable websites. In the end I want my students to explore but never be afraid to ask their parent or teacher if a website is reliable. With practice and experience the students soon will be able to tell if a website is reliable or not.
Conclusion of Chapter 1
This reading really makes me rethink my mentality on technology’s role in teaching and learning. I really thought that schools were implementing too much technology. Every paper had to include online databases, all had to be word processed and sent through an online plagiarism “checker.” To me I thought the technology was kind of cool but really just a waste of time. However, after reading this article I guess the trends of schools are completely the opposite of what I thought. According to our readings we are under a second revolution. This revolution needs us to teach our students the advantage and abilities that the ever expanding technologies allow us to have. If these readings are true and our world is changing and becoming more and more dependent on technology then it is our responsibility as teachers to help them. I believe it is our job to prepare our students for the future and the future is technology.
As a direct result of this new thinking I will try to adjust my classroom to try and include technology and all its helpful tools. Going into special needs my students may not be very dependent on technology to help them in their future. However, I have the ability to use technology to help them learn. So using my new thinking about technology I will try and learn about the new tools that help the classroom setting. By learning this hopefully I can use technology to help my students.
As a direct result of this new thinking I will try to adjust my classroom to try and include technology and all its helpful tools. Going into special needs my students may not be very dependent on technology to help them in their future. However, I have the ability to use technology to help them learn. So using my new thinking about technology I will try and learn about the new tools that help the classroom setting. By learning this hopefully I can use technology to help my students.
Friday, September 10, 2010
September 9 Exit Slip
What new thinking did I take away from class today?
We did a bunch from lab today! First of all I learned all about what a wiki is. I now understand why it is called “Wikipedia.” I also learned about a cool tool using delicious.com. From this site you can save and organize a bunch of websites that may be helpful to use in the future. I’m sure as a teacher I will use the internet a lot to find activities and opinions and information vital to my classroom. This site will help me find and remember these websites. I guess the biggest new thinking I took away from class today is not to worry so much about using new tools on the internet. I’m not exactly great with technology but some of these sites can really make life easier all we have to do is learn how to use them.
We did a bunch from lab today! First of all I learned all about what a wiki is. I now understand why it is called “Wikipedia.” I also learned about a cool tool using delicious.com. From this site you can save and organize a bunch of websites that may be helpful to use in the future. I’m sure as a teacher I will use the internet a lot to find activities and opinions and information vital to my classroom. This site will help me find and remember these websites. I guess the biggest new thinking I took away from class today is not to worry so much about using new tools on the internet. I’m not exactly great with technology but some of these sites can really make life easier all we have to do is learn how to use them.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Digital Autobiography
http://www.vuvox.com/collage_express/detail/02cb8cda85?showSlide=menu
When completing this assignment I put forth a good amount of effort. I have never been very good at working with computers so I was a little worried when trying to complete this assignment. However, while completing my collage I found it to be a lot of fun. One major frustration I had was getting my pictures to show up. I used the site “Vuvox” and they have a cool feature called a hot-spot which zooms in on a picture and gives a small explanation of why I used this picture. I thought this was a cool feature because it gave narration to my collage as you scroll through the pictures. However, for some reason the zoomed in picture on half of my collage pictures were just a black screen. I had no idea how to fix this and I tried and tried with no avail. Finally, after a long time of fooling around with the editing tools I finally figured it out. This was crazy frustrating but now that my collage is complete I think it was worth it.
When completing this assignment I put forth a good amount of effort. I have never been very good at working with computers so I was a little worried when trying to complete this assignment. However, while completing my collage I found it to be a lot of fun. One major frustration I had was getting my pictures to show up. I used the site “Vuvox” and they have a cool feature called a hot-spot which zooms in on a picture and gives a small explanation of why I used this picture. I thought this was a cool feature because it gave narration to my collage as you scroll through the pictures. However, for some reason the zoomed in picture on half of my collage pictures were just a black screen. I had no idea how to fix this and I tried and tried with no avail. Finally, after a long time of fooling around with the editing tools I finally figured it out. This was crazy frustrating but now that my collage is complete I think it was worth it.
I believe that this assignment has a lot of value. After I figured out the hot-spot problem, it really wasn’t that hard to complete. I believe it gives my professor a great picture of who I am and what I like to do. I had a lot of fun doing this assignment and now that I am done with it I can show my friends and family it as well. Now that I know how to make my own digital collage I can make more and show others such how to make their own collage.
After completing this task I think that it may have a small impact on my future teaching. I plan on going into special education so my students probably will not be able to complete this assignment on their own. However, I believe that making a collage would be an awesome project that I could help my students do. With this collage they can show their classmates all the fun things they like doing, as well as showing their parents the work they can accomplish on the computer.
My reaction to this project is that I really liked it. I’ve always been a little hesitant when it comes to computer projects. I never really like working with computers too much and in some of my computer classes I had trouble completing assignments. As I progress through my school career I now see that I can no longer avoid working with computers. I realize that this important tool not only makes our lives a little easier through all the things it can do but it also can help students learn and succeed in their own schooling careers. I am very happy that I got to make my own digital collage. It was a lot of fun, enabled me to tell my classmates and professor a little more about me and now I have a collage of my own to show my friends and family.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Technology
1. Technology: Any tool that assists us in completing things in our everyday lives. To me anything can be technology as long as it helps get the job done. (If you think about it simple things such as a ball point pen was considered at one time new technology.)
2. Technology Integration. When you integrate technology you apply these tools and allow them to help you complete your tasks. In a classroom technology doesn’t just look like a room full of computers but it could also include laptops, new calculators, or other new tools that assist.
2. Technology Integration. When you integrate technology you apply these tools and allow them to help you complete your tasks. In a classroom technology doesn’t just look like a room full of computers but it could also include laptops, new calculators, or other new tools that assist.
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