Blogg 3: Technology in the Classroom

So ths is a fairly sticky topic.  How does one define successful technology use? One thing that makes this so contriversial is that all technology is not equal.  I have been placed in a school where the teachers still have chalk boards and students who attend this school are at poverty level income.  It does not seem to me that every child is getting the same level of education.  Isn't that one of the tenants of public education that all children will recieve an equal education?  From what I have personally witnessed, this is certianly not happening.  Funds are going to "critical needs" areas such as math and science in order to be able to compete in the global community.  Other areas such as the humaities are being left by the wayside.  If we educate our students to solve quantum physics equations but they cant tell you where the Great Lakes are located or they cant read a simple childrens book what does that say about teaching in the United States.  Technology should be spread evenly through out the cirriculum and all monies designated for technology should be used for such (unlike what is happening now).  If we dont provide these kids with a solid working knowledge of technology we are crippling them for life. They will be doomed to always be playing a game of catch up with the rest of society.

Blogg 2

So this post is over the Sir Ken's video.  This is not the first time I have seen this video, nor do i suspect it will be the last.  I guess the most popular quote from the video which I see my other groupmates making is that "creativity is as important as literacy".  I am going to go ahead and jump on the band wagon and say yes it most certianly is.  When you think about it logically, creativity is the core of individuality.  When you stifle the creativity, in my opinion you are stifling the individual.  So often we see that students are becoming nothing more than "future Jeopardy contestants", meaning that we are doing nothing to creatively inspire them to peice together the significance of larger events.  We as educators are just giving them a hand full of facts that mean nothing other than the answer to simple trivia questions.  If we tap into each childs creativity then we ensure maximum retention and maximun learning.  We are educators after all isn't learning the name of the game?  If we just want kids to be mindless clones of one another (in the knowledge since) then we simply change nothing.  However, if  we make the effort and tap into that hidden creativity then we see a much more dramtic result in education.  Suddenly it becomes a bold, new, and dynamic environment that kid want to be and want to succeed in.

Blog Post #3

In my field experience I have noticed how teachers work with technology; I have seen positive integration as well as negative integration. Some teachers have tried to use technology too much and end up taking too much time away from the actual learning. In an attempt to use technology the teachers inadvertently stifle learning in order to make themselves look better to the administration. On the other hand, some teachers are afraid of technology and refuse to use it. Even when teachers have been trained to use their Smartboard or even playing videos they still shy away from it because it is not natural to them. For example, teachers have been teaching for over twenty years and have been teaching the same lessons since they began do not want to change or incorporate that technology. The teacher I am working with this year has a Smartboard in her room and she uses it to its full potential. For example, in math she will pull up a game and let the students come up and do multiplication fact games. Also, we watch United Streaming videos and the screen allows for all students to be able to see. Unlike a small television screen that students have trouble seeing across the room or to the side of it. As future teachers we need to use technology appropriately and smartly, incorporating it to help and not hinder the learning of our students. This also includes using technology as a supplement and not a substitute.

Blog Post #3: The Collaborative Classroom By: Anna Davison

Video from Edutopia, The Collaborative Classroom: An Interview with Linda Darling-Hammond

I am actually in a collaborative classroom two days a week for my student teaching. In the classroom are myself, my supervising teacher and one other teacher who is special ed. certified who is the collaborative teacher as well as 32 students. I have found that thus far in my experience with the collaborative classroom that it is quite difficult to manage. In the video, I noticed that Linda Darling-Hammond discussed the different approaches to collaborative teaching as well as some of the strategies implimented within the classroom. I have found that when using any kind of technology in the classroom that these students who have learning dissabilities or discipline problems are much more inclined to pay attention to a movie or a power point presentation because it is something visual. The students really enjoy and typically respond better on tests or worksheets covering the material shown on the power point or movie. However, one area that I disagree with is that although it is a goal for the collaborative classroom to help students develop group interaction skills it is a very difficult thing to impliment in the classroom. Students who have discipline problems are mixed with students who have learning disabilities and unless you have a teacher supervising each individual group it tends to be incredably hard to manage. Therefore, I believe that there are drawbacks to the collaborative classroom, but that there are also many positive aspects as well. Hopefully over the next few years there will be some incredably innovative ideas as to ways to improve the collaborative classroom.

I found a video on edutopia about integrating studies and it was very informative to say the least. I hope that some day I can take some of the ideas gained from the video and incorporate them into my school. I also saw some very interesting aspects about education that one might think that would see, such as the new things that a diverse Boston suburb school is developing. The teacher admitted that we are no longer living in an industrial society and students have to learn more than just facts and skills to succeed in the world, and for a Bostonian to say this is just baffling to me. That is the North and the industrial capital of the United States, but I think that teachers and many others in the U.S. are starting to realize that people have to be educated to succeed in today’s society. I also saw an amazing integration tool they were using in Landry Middle School in Louisiana with making cars. Science made them, English advertised, and math calculated the cost, I would have loved to have know what Social Studies did to integrate but it never told.

Blog Post 3: By Initia van Tonder
My Topic: Don't Be Scared to Experiment!

I have decided to create my own topic for discussion concerning an intersection between technology and education. Over the course of the semester, I have found myself completely intriqued, amazed, and often confused about many of the technology related assignments that we have conducted. However, I must admitt, that I feel 100 times more confident in my technological abilities now that I did 13 weeks ago. For me the key has been experimenting. I know that I have to get the assignment completed and so, even if it scares me, I have to find a way to do that. I believe that so many teachers, especially those of the older generations, are simply scared of technology. They don't know how to use it, and more importantly, they can't see the link between technology serving as an educational tool rather than a mere distraction. But I am here to vouch for the fact, through my personal experience, that technology can be used in education. Not only have I come to understand how to ensure that the technological element of the lesson serves as a contribution to the scholarly content, but I have also come to understand just how useful and technology can be in drawing in student participation and creativity. In order for teaachers to truly recognize the benifit of using technology in the classroom, I feel a course, much like the one we are taking right now, should be introduced in schools for teachers. The course is so benificial because we as the teachers get to experiment with the tools first. Once we understand how to apply the specific tool to its best potential, we can develop a lesson that will allow students to use the technology and creatively learn at the same time. Another essential element is communication. Things like the tech-tool discussions and blogging serve as great educational tools for teachers and provide them with the feedback that they may be looking for. So in conclusion, I think that in order for educators to truly understand the potential of technology in education for their students, they must know how to apply it themselves. Now, as someone who is working towards broadining her technological knowledge, I highly recomend a course like this to help educators move towards that goal.

blog 2

I thought Sir Ken Robinson’s video was great and I am going to go ahead and jump into the idea of “creativity is as important as literacy” and I believe this whole heartedly, yet at the same time I struggle with it. I think there are great minds, hearts and hands out there that get lost in the shuffle because they are being too creative and they are then written off as ADD or ADHD students. They are then never given the opportunity to excel or even succeed in what they love or what they are good at. Research shows that students learn in different ways then why do we force them to learn in certain areas if they want to dance and get up and move around, or they want to spend their time becoming better singers. Another reason that I tend to agree with Sir Ken is the fact that we put all our heart and soul in to athletes in this country while paying teachers and law enforcement agents nothing while at the same time failing to understand why these athletes so often cannot even speak the English language, turn into criminals, or become bankrupt within five years of time they leave their respective leagues. I also cannot understand why we do not put more effort into musical talents when we also put so love into our musicians and their bands in this country. Their talents are revered as much as athletes, yet in schools music is always pushed aside even if students put music at the forefront. At the same time I tend to disagree a little because unfortunately I do not see our country running successfully if we all try to be creative and do not try to push to be the best in the math and sciences. Our business cannot run without people and if we lose people to creativity then it could hurt our national status as if it is not already wounded enough. In closing, though I do not see enough of our corporations being at a loss of employees because people suddenly wanted to take up music or art.