How to know what are good resources?
When we got together we decide to find topics that might be controversial and those that are not. The ones that are not controversial are usually more factually based and are less debatable. While hot topics will allow for less accuracy in a larger population of sites.
So in hopes of controversy we looked up Barack Obama. No figure can stir more controversy than American Presidents.
Here are our findings:
The Good:
This was a very reliable source that allows us to clearly see factual information about our current president. It eliminates much bias and garbage that we would normally have to sift through. Although, we did not see anything that viewed him in an analytic lens.
www.whitehouse.gov
The Ugly:
Although this illustrates many of the 5 W's we have discussed, it is extremely biased and potentially a harmful source for young readers.
http://evidencevault.blogspot.com/
Closing...
I enjoyed learning about the movie makers and all of the potential for our trailers. I cant wait to delve further into my project and to see all that my fellow classmates come up with!
Have a great break!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Learning in a Digital World: Is It Learning at All?
Being a history person myself, I find the internet an amazing place. It allows me to journey into ages that I had never seen before: looking at artifacts, first hand accounts and finding new resources. However, as mentioned in Chapter 5, the notable historian David McCullough argues, " Learning is not to be found on a printout. It is not on call at the touch of the finger. Learning is acquired mainly from books, and mostly from great books."
Now I can see his point in that the internet is an extremely vast place, where there is a lot of virtual garbage to sift through. Sites such as wikipedia, although informative, at times can have great inaccuracies and blatant bias. (This is also true of many books that are in print - even some of the great books!) This can lead readers to believe false information and thus making misinformed or naive decisions. However, the answer to this problem is to become your own librarian - fact checking, thinking analytically and searching as an expert.
While McCullough chooses to devalue one of the greatest technological accomplishments human kind has ever seen, it is our responsibility as teachers to utilize it. (The internet is also unprecedented in the number of people that have worked together to accomplish one common goal - knowledge.) I have said it before and I will say it again - technology is not going away. It is just becoming more expansive and involved. And our students will be the first to be engaging in each new advance. We need to be speaking to our students and our communities in the language they speak - the language of technology. This is how our world functions. We are always connected and learning most of our news through it. We need to be technologically literate and be able to become archeologists digging for accurate information.
As a final note I feel that it is important to point out that knowledge is not always, in fact many times it has nothing to do with, reading something out of a book. In fact, that is why there are teachers in the first place. Knowledge is many times what can't be just put in a book, but discussed and questioned. Most of the valuable knowledge that we contain has not been placed there by the books we have read, but the conversations we have had. Teachers question students with provocative questions and push them into new areas that open doors.
Questions:
1. Does the internet enhance or devalue knowledge?
2. As a teacher, how can we pre-sort data so that our students are reaching the valuable knowledge?
3. Is McCullough right that knowledge is best found in books?
Now I can see his point in that the internet is an extremely vast place, where there is a lot of virtual garbage to sift through. Sites such as wikipedia, although informative, at times can have great inaccuracies and blatant bias. (This is also true of many books that are in print - even some of the great books!) This can lead readers to believe false information and thus making misinformed or naive decisions. However, the answer to this problem is to become your own librarian - fact checking, thinking analytically and searching as an expert.
While McCullough chooses to devalue one of the greatest technological accomplishments human kind has ever seen, it is our responsibility as teachers to utilize it. (The internet is also unprecedented in the number of people that have worked together to accomplish one common goal - knowledge.) I have said it before and I will say it again - technology is not going away. It is just becoming more expansive and involved. And our students will be the first to be engaging in each new advance. We need to be speaking to our students and our communities in the language they speak - the language of technology. This is how our world functions. We are always connected and learning most of our news through it. We need to be technologically literate and be able to become archeologists digging for accurate information.
As a final note I feel that it is important to point out that knowledge is not always, in fact many times it has nothing to do with, reading something out of a book. In fact, that is why there are teachers in the first place. Knowledge is many times what can't be just put in a book, but discussed and questioned. Most of the valuable knowledge that we contain has not been placed there by the books we have read, but the conversations we have had. Teachers question students with provocative questions and push them into new areas that open doors.
Questions:
1. Does the internet enhance or devalue knowledge?
2. As a teacher, how can we pre-sort data so that our students are reaching the valuable knowledge?
3. Is McCullough right that knowledge is best found in books?
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Valentine's Day Lessons Learned
As we delve further into the role that technology plays in our lives and in the classroom, we learn about the ways in which psychology theory can be utilized while creating out lessons in technology. Through the recognition of cognitive, behavioral and constructivist theories we can create a classroom that produces successful learners. Keeping in mind how unique each one of our students are (or not if you employ behaviorist theories), it is even more important to utilize what we have learned here today.
Now onto my project...
I was hoping that I could create a lesson that allows students to understand important points in history through the art that remains in our world today. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. More importantly paintings/drawings/etc. tell stories from a time without photographs. We can go all the way back into prehistoric times.
Now onto my project...
I was hoping that I could create a lesson that allows students to understand important points in history through the art that remains in our world today. It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. More importantly paintings/drawings/etc. tell stories from a time without photographs. We can go all the way back into prehistoric times.
The Age of the Education Revolution
In the age of post- No Child Left Behind - and in anticipation of the Common Core State Standards, us grad students are left with a lot to think about. While our excitement builds for becoming teachers, there is also a feeling of impending doom. For myself, I can directly attribute this to the Educational Revolution that we are experiencing.
Many of us grew up, specifically during our teen years, under the guise of No Child Left Behind. This means that we are used to testing,evaluations, assessments and quantitative analysis - most of which were good old fashioned fill in the blanks on a scan-tron and short essays. However, as we move into the age of CCSS and Race to the Top, we must learn as both teachers and students that our idea of testing, assessments and grading surely has change. We are already grading our students in a technological world - posting all grades on-line so that students and parents can get up to the minute reads on student progress. If we are already utilizing online grading, how far away is online assessment for K-12 on a national level?
As future teachers, how can we adequately prepare our students to succeed in a technological world? Well, if we create a technologically friendly environment for students to function in, our students will then be able to be comfortable in technological assessment. That is not to say that I think the shift that we are being forced to make is what I would choose for my students. However, technology in our classrooms is not a fleeting thought or passing idea. It is not going away!
The Common Core State Standards encourage our students to work in a technological world and to compete on an international level. However, just as No Child Left Behind and every other educationally revolutionary government crusade before, it will succumb to a new and improved version. So, as a teacher, what is the best way to adhere to the standards that we are given, while not allowing it to overhaul our practices? My plan for my classroom is to use technology inclusive and academically driven lessons (not assessment based) which encourage curiosity, discussion and success, regardless of the educational trend.
Questions:
As a teacher, whatis your plan for assessing your students in a technological world?
What can we as teachers do to make students more comforatble with technological assessmesments?
Do you think that the Common Core State Standards will exist for an extended period of time? Why or why not?
Many of us grew up, specifically during our teen years, under the guise of No Child Left Behind. This means that we are used to testing,evaluations, assessments and quantitative analysis - most of which were good old fashioned fill in the blanks on a scan-tron and short essays. However, as we move into the age of CCSS and Race to the Top, we must learn as both teachers and students that our idea of testing, assessments and grading surely has change. We are already grading our students in a technological world - posting all grades on-line so that students and parents can get up to the minute reads on student progress. If we are already utilizing online grading, how far away is online assessment for K-12 on a national level?
As future teachers, how can we adequately prepare our students to succeed in a technological world? Well, if we create a technologically friendly environment for students to function in, our students will then be able to be comfortable in technological assessment. That is not to say that I think the shift that we are being forced to make is what I would choose for my students. However, technology in our classrooms is not a fleeting thought or passing idea. It is not going away!
The Common Core State Standards encourage our students to work in a technological world and to compete on an international level. However, just as No Child Left Behind and every other educationally revolutionary government crusade before, it will succumb to a new and improved version. So, as a teacher, what is the best way to adhere to the standards that we are given, while not allowing it to overhaul our practices? My plan for my classroom is to use technology inclusive and academically driven lessons (not assessment based) which encourage curiosity, discussion and success, regardless of the educational trend.
Questions:
As a teacher, whatis your plan for assessing your students in a technological world?
What can we as teachers do to make students more comforatble with technological assessmesments?
Do you think that the Common Core State Standards will exist for an extended period of time? Why or why not?
Are We All Foreigners?
Techonology is an ever changing world. It is always growing, expanding and evolving. There is always a new addition, faster speeds and enhanced graphics. So aren't we all immigrants?
As is discussed in Chapter 1, technology is explained through the lens of digital natives and digital immigrants. While many of us have grown up in the age of technological/computer advances, there are always new advances being made. We are constantly receiving, processing, synthesizing and learning new programs. So, whether you are a tech geek or just a social networker you can always make new and exciting advances in a different realm of technology.
As I have thought more about this topic I begin to realize that it is easy for any one person to become outdated/lose touch with technology. However, our society does not allow its' citizens to function without a basic understanding of modern technology. We are all working within a native friendly world and that has led others outside of the native age parameters to function as natives.
At the end of the day we want to be able to teach our students in a way that is understandable and memorable to them. Through the use of computers, the internet and web-based lessons we have the unique opportunity to teach our students with enhancements that were never available before. I like to think of it like this. When I was a student, I vividly remember asking questions about how something worked, what the purpose was and how we would use it; to which the response was, "Well, how do you think it does...?" At times this may have been a way to evoke cognitive thinking and ultimately expository writing, but at other times I felt that it was a way for the teacher to buy time. Now, with the inclusion of technology (not reliance on technology) we can take a more wholistic approach to topics and allow for visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile learners to equaly enjoy and engage in a lesson.
The possibilities with the employment of technological integration in the classroom, partnered with the growing population of technologically savvy users, further solidifies the argument for technological involvement in our classrooms. What do you think?
Follow Up Questions:
1. Is technology the answer?
2. By implying that age determines one's technological/computer literacy, does that mean that we can go from existing as a native and become an immigrant?
3. In which ways can we maintain our status as a digital native?
As is discussed in Chapter 1, technology is explained through the lens of digital natives and digital immigrants. While many of us have grown up in the age of technological/computer advances, there are always new advances being made. We are constantly receiving, processing, synthesizing and learning new programs. So, whether you are a tech geek or just a social networker you can always make new and exciting advances in a different realm of technology.
As I have thought more about this topic I begin to realize that it is easy for any one person to become outdated/lose touch with technology. However, our society does not allow its' citizens to function without a basic understanding of modern technology. We are all working within a native friendly world and that has led others outside of the native age parameters to function as natives.
At the end of the day we want to be able to teach our students in a way that is understandable and memorable to them. Through the use of computers, the internet and web-based lessons we have the unique opportunity to teach our students with enhancements that were never available before. I like to think of it like this. When I was a student, I vividly remember asking questions about how something worked, what the purpose was and how we would use it; to which the response was, "Well, how do you think it does...?" At times this may have been a way to evoke cognitive thinking and ultimately expository writing, but at other times I felt that it was a way for the teacher to buy time. Now, with the inclusion of technology (not reliance on technology) we can take a more wholistic approach to topics and allow for visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile learners to equaly enjoy and engage in a lesson.
The possibilities with the employment of technological integration in the classroom, partnered with the growing population of technologically savvy users, further solidifies the argument for technological involvement in our classrooms. What do you think?
Follow Up Questions:
1. Is technology the answer?
2. By implying that age determines one's technological/computer literacy, does that mean that we can go from existing as a native and become an immigrant?
3. In which ways can we maintain our status as a digital native?
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Today's Final Thought
who are you designing for?
Designing for the future, our students.
what are you designing?
How the lessons will be taught, your classroom, the way ideas will be approached, the general attitude in the classroom and the plans for how the information will be transmitted and understood.
what is the final product of what you are doing?
engaged learner
Final thought...
Throughout the discussions today I had episodes of excitement and fear alternating in my mind. While I prepare myself to become an educator of adolescent students, I am becoming more aware of the responsibility involved, but also the amazing things that we will be able to accomplish together. Usually that is how things are that you are passionate about. You feel empowered by the potential for success, but fearful of failure. However, through discussions like the one we have shared tonight we are able to become more empowered and let go of our fears.
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