This video that I recently found on You Tube is about students who put on their own skits to show their opinions of the use of technology in the classroom.Their teacher is the one who is videotaping the student productions. These students are very creative and I think that you will enjoy watching this video as much as I did. I think that it is good to hear the students take on the use of technology in their classrooms.
Archive for September, 2009
Evidence!
This past Friday night I was contemplating on how to teach the Creation lesson for my kindergarten Sunday school class. I wanted them to be engaged because last week I felt as though they were not into my lesson. So I thought about it and suddenly the idea came to me!-a PowerPoint presentation!
Now it is not like PowerPoint is some new amazing technology. It has been around for quite some time. I am sure some of the children have it in their classrooms at school, but this is the first time that I know of that it was used for Sunday school at my church. I immediately started googling pictures of birds, fish, stars, and other various items. I pasted them in my presentation and added some text. It was not that fancy, but it definitely was dimensional with the bright colors and pictures I included. After searching a couple of websites, I found a free moving animation of stars to include (http://bit.ly/a9pD9 ). 
It was a simple visual that added a lot of texture to the show.
When I set the presentation up in the room, the children were so excited! I darkened the room so it was like a movie theater and brought them together in a semicircle in front of my laptop. As I went through the show, I asked them questions to make sure they were not distracted by the pictures. To my surprise, they all knew the answers! Some of the children had heard the story before, but even the ones who never heard it knew the answers. It was so rewarding. After I was done telling the story, I called each of them up to tell the story themselves. They loved teaching their peers and pressing the buttons on the computer to change each slide.
This was definitive evidence that technology is effective when used correctly in the classroom. By the end of the 15 minute story time, each of my children knew the main points of the lesson. I will surely be using this method again in my Sunday school class and when I have my own elementary class in the future.
Above blog referenced and used http://www.animationlibrary.com/sc/36/Stars//?page=4 for animations.
This is a great, free website for teachers to use!
“Who Am We”- response
“Who Am We?” is an interesting article that talks about online gaming. This idea was never really clear to me. Video games and computer/online games sometimes seem to take over a person’s life. Dungeons and Dragons, World of War Craft, Second Life, MUDs, etc are all games in which an online community can be established. Players become interactive with each other and almost create a story each time they play. While it is nice to have a hobby which can include these online games, I do not believe it is healthy for it to take over a person’s life. Some people can even become emotionally attached to the people in the games and form love relationships with them after talking with them and getting to know them over a period of time. If the person is in a relationship in their real life, this could definitely cause a problem.
In response to snyder47, I feel the same way about young children on the internet and playing these games. A young boy or girl could easily play Second Life and pretend to be a 25 year old. There are also many online games that can expose a child to explicit content if the parents do not block these types of sites and games. Teachers also need to be aware that these types of games and new technologies ARE out there. Talking to parents and other teachers in the school can definitely help prevent problems like that. Part of being a teacher is being a team with the parents of the children in your classroom. Working together to build a community inside and outside of the classroom is one of the most important aspects of the teaching field.
“The Rattler Pit”
It is amazing to me with how fast technology is growing everyday that many students do not see a computer till the third grade or have a weekly computer class in their schools. Many times teachers have to integrate technology education into their curriculum on their own and with everything else they must accomplish (preparation for standardized testing) they cannot fit it into their already crammed lesson plans. That is no way to prepare students for a future filled with fast-paced growing technology.
Here is a great YouTube video about a school in Grass Valley, California that has invested money and created a technology lab in their school called “The Rattler Pit.” A former teacher and technology specialist named Jeff Peach had the idea to create a Mac lab in Magnolia Intermediate School that would not only encourage students to interact with technology but also help teachers to integrate technology and multi-media into their curriculum. Peach helps teachers to collaborate, share ideas, and figure out how to make technology work with their curriculum. He believes that “a computer lab that’s based around the way teachers think when they work” is most successful and beneficial for both students and teachers.
Peach created a working model of teaching with technology that teachers are excited about and comfortable working with where they do things they wouldn’t normally be able to do. Teachers with no knowledge of the Apple System are able to easily work in “The Rattler Pit” and adapt to a curriculum filled with technology education. Peach was able to take things that teachers already do in their curriculum and add technology to make the lessons better and more engaging. Teachers believe that the workplace of tomorrow requires more than just skills but also the ability to use technology and create team relationships. They believe they are helping their students to achieve just that.
IMac laboratory similar to "The Rattler Pit"
The most crucial part of this working model is hiring a technology specialist/teacher, which requires extra funding. The teachers at Magnolia agree that the lab is worth the money and greatly benefits students and teachers. They are currently trying to integrate a “Rattler Pit” into every school in their district. Teachers with years of experience are seeing the biggest improvement in their student’s education in years. Computers can be used to enrich the curriculum and engage students rather than sit in the corner of classrooms gathering dust.
Just think about it…Technology is the future.
Why we need to teach technology in school – YouTube video
This is a great video describing why technology is such an important part of our lives. It stresses the importance of introducing these technologies and “tools” to children and monitoring how they learn them, so that they do not go about it in the wrong ways. Engaging students is how they learn best and technology is the best way to engage them.
This video also talks about how technology changes (faster as time goes on), how we as humans have developed new forms over time and how technology can improve our lives. If students do not learn these technologies and keep up with the time, they will be left behind and lost in the future. Technology must be taught in schools so that this does not happen.
This video will open your eyes and mind to the importance of technology.
Enjoy!
“Whom Are We”
As I was reading “Whom Am We” I found myself thinking about my nephews who are young and just starting to use the computer. To be perfectly honest with you it was a little scary. No one in my circle of friends was ever really involved with any of the cyber games so I wasn’t as aware of what was available to young people today.
Reading about the couple who found it quite acceptable to have virtual affairs and cybersex made we wonder what their real life was missing and the even scary part was reading about young kids playing virtual games where they take on different personalities and become slayers and killers. These are dangerous games who children who have difficulty separating fantasy from reality.
Children today face enormous pressures. Usually both parents work are busy trying to get dinner, take care of the house, take care of other siblings, get homework done and get ready for the next day. The internet has helped replace the television as a suto-babysitter for occupying a child’s time. A child who is shy or feels lonely could easily get sucked into a cyber world where he can create the kind of life he is control. The scary part comes when that world stops being a fantasy and starts becoming his reality.
We Are The Web
Who would have imaged twenty years ago that today the largest global flea market in the world “Ebay” handles over 1.4 billion auctions every year, many from people’s bedrooms. I’m sure this was certainly not what Ted Nelson had in mind back in 1965 when he first tried to build out his concept of hyper linking pages which was the core idea behind the web as outline by computing pioneer Vannevar Bush.
Back in the early days, many were concerned about expensive it would be to put information on the web. After all it would require hours and hours of labor to document. Enter, and download all the information that was already in libraries, references books and manuals. In the mid 1980’s the internet was established and funded for research not commerce and policy of the National Science Foundation who ran the Internet backbone was that it stay that way.
Fast forward to the 21st century and today you can find almost anything on the internet. It has become the go to place you anything you need from buying a car to finding a doctor. Bossiness run off the internet, doctors communicate with their patients as well as other doctors through the internet, parents stay in touch with their children through the internet. The use of the internet has exploded into ways that were never dreamed of.
There are those that will argue that this has helped to distance us from each other. We no longer visit friends in person we socialize on “Facebook” or “Twitter”. We e-mail each other now instead of picking up a phone and talking to each other and for the most part they would be right. I like to think though that the internet is a tool and is it all in how you use. For some the internet is place to hide from the world and communicate through a computer without having to have any face to face relationships which is a shame but certainly their choice. For others the internet has become a way of sharing ideas, thoughts and information with millions of people around the world that you would otherwise never have a chance to get to know.
Classroom Performance Systems
This video is on Classroom Performance Systems. I first heard about them while doing one of my observations at Chews Elementary School. I was most interested in them because every student was participating and having fun with this hands-on learning experience. At the same time, the teacher was giving them a quiz and they were excited about it. Assignments done using this CPS are instantly graded and can be put in to the teacher’s grade book. This new technology engages students and also allows them to answer questions on their own and respond quickly getting them to think fast and react.
Technology in Osage Elementary
I am currently observing at Osage Elementary school in Voorhees NJ. Osage works very hard to make sure that their students are using technology in the classroom every chance possible. The students often take what is called virtual fieldtrips. The students are able to take a field trip without ever having to leave their classroom. Another way that Osage uses technology in the class room is that they do a lot with distance learning as well. This allows for video conferencing between their school and other schools as well as any other place that has access to the distance learning equipment.
The technology is not just reserved for the students either. Each of the teachers at Osage have their own website’s where they post information about themselves as well as home work and information for parents. This helps the parents know what is going on in their students’ classrooms. Also it helps the parents to know what homework needs to be done and a chance to get a feel of what their children’s teachers are like.
Also Osage is starting to implement a new math program which is all technology oriented. Everything is interactive and done through some sort of technology. When we visited on this past Thursday we were informed that be the end of this school year every classroom throughout the school would be equipped with their own smart board.
I look forward to my next ten weeks at Osage and hope that I will leave this school with some new knowledge and skills using these varied technologies in the classroom. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate these technologies in my future classroom.
My feelings regarding “Who Am We?”
After reading “Who Am We” I was a little taken back by the idea of married people engaging in virtual affairs by means of online, role-playing games. Often these games are referred to as MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) ( http://bit.ly/ifV3h). The worst part was that some of the partners were fine with the idea of their significant other carrying on a virtual relationship. Yes, technically they were not meeting up and sneaking into a hotel room to get physical, but they were still fanaticizing about it and becoming emotionally attached to the player behind the character. Is that not sometimes worse?-emotionally cheating on someone? Take the following excerpt as example:
“Martin and Beth, both 41, have been married for 19 years and have four children. Early in their marriage, Martin regretted not having had more time for sexual experimentation and had an extramarital affair. The affair hurt Beth deeply, and Martin decided he never wanted to do it again. When Martin discovered MUDs he was thrilled. “I really am monogamous. I’m really not interested in something outside my marriage. But being able to have, you know, a Tiny romance is kind of cool.” Martin decided to tell Beth about his MUD sex life and she decided to tell him that she does not mind. Beth has made a conscious decision to consider Martin’s sexual relationships on MUDs as more like his reading an erotic novel than like his having a rendezvous in a motel room. For Martin, his online affairs are a way to fill the gaps of his youth, to broaden his sexual experience without endangering his marriage” (http://bit.ly/ifV3h ).
If I were ever in this woman’s situation, I would definitely not act in the same manner. To me, cheating can be emotional or physical. A marriage is not just physical commitment; it is emotional commitment. Intimate feelings, thoughts, and actions should remain between the two committed individuals in the marriage.
You may have thought that these opinions did not fit into our elementary education classroom. But as the author of this article pointed out, what if one of our 5th grade boys portrayed himself as a 32 year old man in the virtual world (http://bit.ly/ifV3h)? What if he was carrying on a virtual affair with a person who was, in reality, 20 years his senior? Can we as teachers prevent this?
It is a tough answer. We can monitor what happens in our classrooms by walking around the room, installing internet blocks, and explaining safety on the internet. Unfortunately, we can not manage what happens on home computers. The best way to combat the situation would be to prevent it. Perhaps at open houses or parent-teacher conferences, teachers could explain their worries and suggest limited internet use, parental monitoring, and internet blockers to download for safe, home computer time. Teachers and parents need to work together in order to successfully guide and protect their students.
Above blog used “Who Am We?” by Sherry Turkle ( found on http://bit.ly/ifV3h) for facts, quotes, and reference.
Picture from http://bit.ly/4msz7T
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