Monday, November 1, 2010
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Last Blog
Some of the technology I discovered in this course I would like to you in my classroom to get students more engaged in the lesson. Depending on what grade I will teach will determine how I would use the new technology that I discovered taking this course. Animoto is a great way to show knowledge on a subject or a brief introduction to who your students are that you will be teaching and even I change for your students to get to know you on a better level. Google Docs is another tool that I will use with any grade I teach. I need to get better at it and by me getting and understanding the most out of it the students will benefit from it while helping them learn all at the same time. Interactive white boards are good tools for primary grades that will keep students interested in the lesson. Learning to embrace all this new technology being a Digital Immigrant is hard but I see all the potential of using technology in the classroom and it helps pushes me to use technology in the classroom daily. In due time I was be more and more comfortable with technology I will introduce technology that I am not comfortable with like Jing for my students to get experience with it.
As I enter the world of teaching some of the issues that could pose a challenge would be the lack of computers a school would have and the ability to use new technology on an everyday basis. Most of the schools I sub at are in low economic levels with just a little library that doubles as a computer lab with very little resources for teachers and students. Trying to be creative enough to use technology can only be done with the help of collaboration among teachers. Social networking is very important among teachers. Why reinvent the wheel with there is another resource to make your life easier . As a teacher in training I see the new things in technology by taking this class and I share what new things that are available for students and for the most part the teachers I interact with also share what they know and share what works well in their classroom that deals with technology. Support is something new teachers and all teachers need to have to make their classroom run like well oiled machines . Collaboration is very important in helping with the development of instruction for our future students. Not having to start from scratch, collaboration is always a good thing.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Wordle/Open Courseware
Going on Wordle.net was fun for me. It was a great to see a new tool of turning learning into something meaningful. What is wordle you ask ? Wordle is a tool for creating “word clouds” that high light the subject you want to focus on. In my case my wordle was on stuff that deal with computers and what we covered in this class. The words come from text that you provide. This type of assignment can turn into a fun activity for your students. They can create reviews, what they know about the subject, test questions. Then at the click of a button the students have created a work of art that the teacher can display around the classroom. The word clouds can be saved, printed, and be used for multiple ways of assessment. I will for sure use this in my classroom for students of all levels of computer knowledge. It can be easily explained and modeled to the students. This is also a great way for students to show off their knowledge of a subject.
MIT Courseware is an online site that allows students to view undergrad and graduate course without having to be registered to the university. The site provides the viewer with full length lectures, exams, and videos all for FREE. This gives the public access to a free college education and the opportunity to be well educated and the price of making time to do the assignments and listen to the lectures and take the exams. The drawback I see to this would be this education that the public getting recognized by the work field as a true degree. Virtual learning is on the raise so I don’t see a problem with it unless the job you are processing does not take this online degree. I also do not like the fact that I spent well over 100k for my education and the next generation can get it for free. However MIT Courseware can be used as prep for High School Juniors and Seniors to how college life is going to be. Courseware is a good online learning tool and their can no longer be the excess I cannot afford an education. I would promote MIT Courseware to my low income students to not let price keep you from going to school. I think MIT is a good thing for the right person. Someone like me would like the traditional way of going to class and listening to the professor in person. MIT will benefit many students who live off I phones and IPODS to listen to lectures as the run or go about their day. In the end each person will decide what is a better fit for them and go with that to pursue their higher level of education.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMNWtUs7KoU
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Digital Natives , Digital Immigrants Which one are YOU
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants is a great article by Marc Prensky. It helps puts me in a frame of mind that I am a Digital Immigrant and one of those reasons is that I do not like change. Prensky states that brain functions between digital natives and immigrants are at different paces. Our current students are first generation natives that are growing up with this new technology computers, video games, digital music players, and cell phones. These students however spent less time reading books and spent a lot more time two times as more playing video games and texting all day. These different experiences lead to different ways of life styles and how we go about using technology. Digital Natives which are our students are very active, fun, does multi-tasking, and full of life and energy.
As for me I have to say I am slow to change and consider myself a Digital Immigrant that is coming around. With all the social networks out there the only one I can keep up with is Face book in the 21st Century. The use of short had texting I am also not a big fan of because the students are so comfortable using slang that they carry it into the classroom for example most student spell because in the short hand abbreviation becuz and put that way of spelling the word in their papers and this can lead to students learning a word wrong and that is a hard habit to break. Being a Digital Immigrant it is a transition for me to become a Digital Native. My kids for sure will be Digital Natives because growing up with everyone in the house having a laptop and a cell phone is common now. Even three year olds are on the computer and it is a part of their lives where I did not grow up with multi computers in the house. There was one stand alone computer in our house that was in the front room that everyone had to share and we had dial up internet. It was not until college when I brought my own home computer and just barely upgraded to a laptop computer.
Technology will be and is a part of any classroom that you walk into today. More and more teachers are turning to technology and other programs to enhance their students learning and keep their students engaged in the lesson better than a boring lesson. Technology does belong in the classroom with our new Digital Native students and will be a part of my class because I know the old way of teaching does not keep our students engaged. I can embrace this new technology to help aid in my students learning and the results of them becoming lifelong learners will be all the reward I need to know that I am doing the right thing with bringing technology into the classroom. All I have to do is get other teachers on board that get it like I do and see the value of technology and get on board to teach these students in their language.
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