My sister and her friend Ed...I love the 1960's color effect!
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| My dog was a cute puppy... |
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Tweets for Professional Success
In a recent post to her blog, Education Tech Specialist Kathy Schrock discusses the advantages of using Twitter for professional development. Through her Twitter account, Kathy learned about the Leadership Day Initiative, which gave educational technologist the opportunity to share different ideas, challenges, resources and needs related to classroom technologies with local administrators. Teachers could, "Write a letter...Post a top ten list. Make a podcast or a video. Highlight a local success or challenge. Recommend some readings. Do an interview of a successful technology leader." The goal of the Leadership Day Initiative was to help educate administrators on the advantages of using educational technology, and how to implement, research and utilize those tools. Shrock became an instant fan of the initiative - and why wouldn't she? I predict only good things can come out of such open communication between educators and administrators.
The point of Shrock's post, however, was not to applaud the Leadership Day Initiative but how she found out about it. She "follows" a personal friend named Patrick not only because he's her friend, but because he's a principal and involved in classroom media. She likes to read his "tweets" so she can learn about events like the Leadership Day Initiative. Shrock realizes she's only touched the tip of the iceberg on how Twitter can expand and enhance her knowledge of her field. Since she learns much from Patrick, she decides to "follow" some of his friends as well and expand her network of resources.
Professionals and students therefore do not need to use Twitter only to catch up on celebrity gossip or mundane, every-day happenings. This form of social media offers kids and teachers the opportunity for educational growth based on who they "follow," and what those people "tweet" about. Doing so has real-world implications. High school and college students should consider the networking possibilities of Twitter when applying for jobs, looking for internships or learning more about a prospective field. Shrock sums it up perfectly at the end of her post:
"This same skillset is what we are trying to help students develop as we prepare then for the digital, global workforce and world-- find the experts, participate in the process, and collaborate. With the information explosion, there is no way anyone can know everything. However, knowing where to turn with a question or when trying to keep up with what is going on in a certain field, is a skill that will lead to our students to become lifelong learners!"
The point of Shrock's post, however, was not to applaud the Leadership Day Initiative but how she found out about it. She "follows" a personal friend named Patrick not only because he's her friend, but because he's a principal and involved in classroom media. She likes to read his "tweets" so she can learn about events like the Leadership Day Initiative. Shrock realizes she's only touched the tip of the iceberg on how Twitter can expand and enhance her knowledge of her field. Since she learns much from Patrick, she decides to "follow" some of his friends as well and expand her network of resources.
Professionals and students therefore do not need to use Twitter only to catch up on celebrity gossip or mundane, every-day happenings. This form of social media offers kids and teachers the opportunity for educational growth based on who they "follow," and what those people "tweet" about. Doing so has real-world implications. High school and college students should consider the networking possibilities of Twitter when applying for jobs, looking for internships or learning more about a prospective field. Shrock sums it up perfectly at the end of her post:
"This same skillset is what we are trying to help students develop as we prepare then for the digital, global workforce and world-- find the experts, participate in the process, and collaborate. With the information explosion, there is no way anyone can know everything. However, knowing where to turn with a question or when trying to keep up with what is going on in a certain field, is a skill that will lead to our students to become lifelong learners!"
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
My Standard for Education Technology
The Standard I've chosen to base my MD 400 projects around comes from the ISTE website and is as follows:
I'm currently studying to become a secondary English teacher. In my methods course, my class and I outlined what we believed the purpose of English education should be. Several of our ideas show up in the above standard, namely that English students should be able to communicate effectively, in oral and written forms, to a variety of audiences, and they should gain global perspective on different issues. I'm therefore hoping to align this standard, technology, and my visions on English learning together.
2. | Communication and Collaboration | ||||||||
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: | |||||||||
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Blogging For Kids
With the right amount of creativity, vision and purpose, blogging can be an excellent way to engage students in writing and make it - if you can believe it - fun.
The article Teddy Bears Go Blogging details an excellent example of a teacher using technology to get her kids excited about writing and sharing their thoughts. The practice of journaling events in our lives, whether its the adventures of a teddy bear or celebrating holidays, has never been uncommon in schools. I remember writing in a class journal as a second-grader. I wrote about family vacations, my favorite foods, and every day activities. The Teddy Bears Go Blogging project is built around the same idea, but the format is different.
Today, children may feel that writing with a pen or pencil is a job or something that you do for homework. The subsequent reaction? "UGH! I don't wanna do it!" Typing, however, feels more natural and fun for kids today, for better or worse. There are many advantages to having kids write manually, but I won't get into those now. Suffice it to say that writing in a blog can get kids over that initial hurdle of feeling like writing is a chore. It's not. It's relevant, fun and an essential part of communicating with those around us.
The blog holds several advantages over manual writing - it allows for mass communication amongst different groups of people, i.e. a class in Canada and Australia. The teachers and students could post their thoughts and stories from anywhere at anytime. It's instant gratification - there's no need to wait for hand-written responses in your mailbox. The result? A constant dialogue through words, pictures, music etc. The kids are learning how to combine writing and visual stimuli in meaningful ways. These are elementary school students practicing how to express themselves in a relevant and modern format. What more could a teacher ask for? Furthermore, posting feedback and comments on a blog is basically peer editing/reviewing dressed in different clothes.
I wish the article gave more details on the academic goals surrounding this blog. Why did the teacher set it up? Was it just to give kids more writing practice, or was it simply a branch-off of a pen-pal project? Elementary, middle and high school students can use blogs for a variety of school projects, but for me, the most important thing is to have a purpose in mind, as with any lesson plan or project.
I'm going to read about Australian teddy bears now...
The article Teddy Bears Go Blogging details an excellent example of a teacher using technology to get her kids excited about writing and sharing their thoughts. The practice of journaling events in our lives, whether its the adventures of a teddy bear or celebrating holidays, has never been uncommon in schools. I remember writing in a class journal as a second-grader. I wrote about family vacations, my favorite foods, and every day activities. The Teddy Bears Go Blogging project is built around the same idea, but the format is different.
Today, children may feel that writing with a pen or pencil is a job or something that you do for homework. The subsequent reaction? "UGH! I don't wanna do it!" Typing, however, feels more natural and fun for kids today, for better or worse. There are many advantages to having kids write manually, but I won't get into those now. Suffice it to say that writing in a blog can get kids over that initial hurdle of feeling like writing is a chore. It's not. It's relevant, fun and an essential part of communicating with those around us.
The blog holds several advantages over manual writing - it allows for mass communication amongst different groups of people, i.e. a class in Canada and Australia. The teachers and students could post their thoughts and stories from anywhere at anytime. It's instant gratification - there's no need to wait for hand-written responses in your mailbox. The result? A constant dialogue through words, pictures, music etc. The kids are learning how to combine writing and visual stimuli in meaningful ways. These are elementary school students practicing how to express themselves in a relevant and modern format. What more could a teacher ask for? Furthermore, posting feedback and comments on a blog is basically peer editing/reviewing dressed in different clothes.
I wish the article gave more details on the academic goals surrounding this blog. Why did the teacher set it up? Was it just to give kids more writing practice, or was it simply a branch-off of a pen-pal project? Elementary, middle and high school students can use blogs for a variety of school projects, but for me, the most important thing is to have a purpose in mind, as with any lesson plan or project.
I'm going to read about Australian teddy bears now...
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Moby Dick: On my iPod?
In response to this article by USAtoday...
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-02-06-mp3-homework_x.htm
The fact that more and more students are listening to MP3 versions of books, learning new languages on iPods while shopping, and listening to lectures online is a testament to how students have become expert multi-taskers.
Students do homework while watching TV, riding on buses and surfing the web. I'm living proof of this - I visited 5 websites and sent two e-mails while reading this article. The ability to multi-task isn't a bad thing; students are asked to do a lot in a 24 hour period, especially when they're in high school, so why not let them catch up on a night's reading while driving home, or doing their chores?
I do have one concern regarding MP3 books. This technology has the potential to make students less capable of staying focused for an extended period of time. There's already research out there that suggests young peoples' ability to stay focused on one task (i.e. reading a book, or in my case reading one article) has diminished, because they are constantly bombarded with technological stimuli. MP3 books would only add to that technological overload.
We all know that kids like to use technology, and use it often, but what interested me the most in this article was the quote from the school librarian. She claims listening to audio books encourages reading, and I wonder if this is actually true. I'm sure as audio books become more popular more studies and surveys will be done to corroborate her claim. If it is true, then I feel teachers have a responsibility to look into audio books. As long as kids are reading and absorbing material, who cares how its done?
Audio books have already been proven to help ESL students. I recorded grade school books on MP3 for a colleague last year; she said it was helpful for her students to hear and read the language at the same time.
Teachers are responsible for finding ways to work with their students. As aforementioned, kids are multi-tasking and using technology everyday. Why not make that work within (and outside) the walls of a classroom? If using MP3 materials (along with regular books of course) makes school feel more accessible and relevant to the students, that's something to be celebrated.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-02-06-mp3-homework_x.htm
The fact that more and more students are listening to MP3 versions of books, learning new languages on iPods while shopping, and listening to lectures online is a testament to how students have become expert multi-taskers.
Students do homework while watching TV, riding on buses and surfing the web. I'm living proof of this - I visited 5 websites and sent two e-mails while reading this article. The ability to multi-task isn't a bad thing; students are asked to do a lot in a 24 hour period, especially when they're in high school, so why not let them catch up on a night's reading while driving home, or doing their chores?
I do have one concern regarding MP3 books. This technology has the potential to make students less capable of staying focused for an extended period of time. There's already research out there that suggests young peoples' ability to stay focused on one task (i.e. reading a book, or in my case reading one article) has diminished, because they are constantly bombarded with technological stimuli. MP3 books would only add to that technological overload.
We all know that kids like to use technology, and use it often, but what interested me the most in this article was the quote from the school librarian. She claims listening to audio books encourages reading, and I wonder if this is actually true. I'm sure as audio books become more popular more studies and surveys will be done to corroborate her claim. If it is true, then I feel teachers have a responsibility to look into audio books. As long as kids are reading and absorbing material, who cares how its done?
Audio books have already been proven to help ESL students. I recorded grade school books on MP3 for a colleague last year; she said it was helpful for her students to hear and read the language at the same time.
Teachers are responsible for finding ways to work with their students. As aforementioned, kids are multi-tasking and using technology everyday. Why not make that work within (and outside) the walls of a classroom? If using MP3 materials (along with regular books of course) makes school feel more accessible and relevant to the students, that's something to be celebrated.
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