Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
15. 5 Digital Learning Recommendations
http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2013/06/14/lead-issues-five-digital-learning-recommendations/2/
This article is about the concerns that go along with the use of technology. The first is the the solving of the wiring infrastructure in schools. Most technology requires high-speed internet but there are a lot of schools who do not have adequate bandwidth to support all of their students. The second one is to build a national effort to deploy devices in schools. Basically this means that there needs to be some companies that can just donate some technology to schools because not every school can afford computers, smart boards or tablets. The third one is accelerate the adoption of digital curriculum which basically means they want to have a safe way for educational staff to be able to purchase items to use in their class or school. The fourth one is to embrace and encourage model schools. Some schools already have incorporated technology heavily into their school system and other schools need to look up at them and see how they are doing it and with what kind of budget that is being used. The fifth and last one is invest in human capital. It talks about how learning is not between a student and a device but between a student, device and teacher.
Personally I think that schools should use technology as much as they can but alas not all schools can afford to rewire or buy new things. Some schools rely solely on donations from other people because the district is so poor. Although some schools in surban areas flourish because they have plenty of money at their disposal. But these are some major concerns that need to be helped by hopefully some governing agency but only time will tell how schools can handle all of the new upgrades in the digital age.
This article is about the concerns that go along with the use of technology. The first is the the solving of the wiring infrastructure in schools. Most technology requires high-speed internet but there are a lot of schools who do not have adequate bandwidth to support all of their students. The second one is to build a national effort to deploy devices in schools. Basically this means that there needs to be some companies that can just donate some technology to schools because not every school can afford computers, smart boards or tablets. The third one is accelerate the adoption of digital curriculum which basically means they want to have a safe way for educational staff to be able to purchase items to use in their class or school. The fourth one is to embrace and encourage model schools. Some schools already have incorporated technology heavily into their school system and other schools need to look up at them and see how they are doing it and with what kind of budget that is being used. The fifth and last one is invest in human capital. It talks about how learning is not between a student and a device but between a student, device and teacher.
Personally I think that schools should use technology as much as they can but alas not all schools can afford to rewire or buy new things. Some schools rely solely on donations from other people because the district is so poor. Although some schools in surban areas flourish because they have plenty of money at their disposal. But these are some major concerns that need to be helped by hopefully some governing agency but only time will tell how schools can handle all of the new upgrades in the digital age.
14. Schools Killing Creativity
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
This is a wonderful video,from 2006, about a speaker named Ken Robinson. He talks about how the school system in every country has Art the bottom subject. Mr. Robinson discusses that schools kill creativity such as dancing, drawing and music. He goes to to say that teachers are killing the creativity at a young age by telling students they will never become a dancer, artist or musician so they should just focus on academics because they will not be able to get a job any other way. Then he goes on to talk about a women, who met who later became a famous choreographer, that told him her teacher said something was wrong with her and she needed to go see a specialist. So when her mother took her to see a specialist he told her mother that nothing is wrong with her but that she is a dancer and she needs to go to a dancing school. Once her mother put her in a dancing school she was immensely happy and then she later on became a famous multimillionaire who is known for some of the best performances in history.
I really loved this video because I agree that creativity is killed in schools. When I was growing up all I wanted to do, as a profession, was to be a video game tester. But year after year my family, who were teachers, and my teachers said that I would never get a job like that so I needed to focus on my favorite subjects such as math and social studies. To this day I still play video games and wish I could be a game tester, but I would have to move to California and not see my family which is also saddening. Luckily enough though I found another dream of becoming a teacher and I plan to incorporate the arts, technology and games into my classroom for children to learn. I believe children learn best when they are having fun and when they are having fun they never realize that they are learning something new.
This is a wonderful video,from 2006, about a speaker named Ken Robinson. He talks about how the school system in every country has Art the bottom subject. Mr. Robinson discusses that schools kill creativity such as dancing, drawing and music. He goes to to say that teachers are killing the creativity at a young age by telling students they will never become a dancer, artist or musician so they should just focus on academics because they will not be able to get a job any other way. Then he goes on to talk about a women, who met who later became a famous choreographer, that told him her teacher said something was wrong with her and she needed to go see a specialist. So when her mother took her to see a specialist he told her mother that nothing is wrong with her but that she is a dancer and she needs to go to a dancing school. Once her mother put her in a dancing school she was immensely happy and then she later on became a famous multimillionaire who is known for some of the best performances in history.
I really loved this video because I agree that creativity is killed in schools. When I was growing up all I wanted to do, as a profession, was to be a video game tester. But year after year my family, who were teachers, and my teachers said that I would never get a job like that so I needed to focus on my favorite subjects such as math and social studies. To this day I still play video games and wish I could be a game tester, but I would have to move to California and not see my family which is also saddening. Luckily enough though I found another dream of becoming a teacher and I plan to incorporate the arts, technology and games into my classroom for children to learn. I believe children learn best when they are having fun and when they are having fun they never realize that they are learning something new.
13. Gaming to Re-engage Boys in Learning
http://www.ted.com/talks/ali_carr_chellman_gaming_to_re_engage_boys_in_learning.html
This video is about a speaker, named Ali Carr-chellman, who is trying to explain what is happening to boys in the lower grades. She first introduced the 100 girls project where every 100 girls that dropped out of school over 200 boys dropped out. For every 100 girls that were put in a title one program over 300 boys were put into the program. She also mentioned that only 7% of the elementary teachers are male so that means 93% of the teachers are women. That means that the boy students may not have a male role model until middle or even high school. Then she related that boys like to play video games and play with action figures but they cannot bring toys with guns to school or even have a knife locked away in their truck in the parking lot without getting suspended. She discusses that boys need to be able to write what they want to write because if a boy wants to write about a tornado blowing through a house and destroying stuff because that is what boys do and there is nothing wrong with them writing about things like that just because it was violent.
I really enjoyed this short video because she had some interesting points. As she said there are very few male elementary teachers out there and I am glad that I will be able to be one of them because that is the profession that I am going to do because of my love for children. Also as she said boys loved to play video games, such as world of warcraft, and there is nothing wrong with that. I personally have played the game for a number of years and I believe that video games can be a great way to connect to all children and not just boys. Mrs. Ali also stated that companies such as blizzard, who run W.O.W, have a lot of revenue to make their games great but other companies just make basically flash card games. But overall Mrs. Ali made very good points in how boys are not being able to do what they want to do or write what they want to write about because teachers are scared of violence. Just because people watch horror movies, shows or play violent video games does not mean they will act out what they see. If boys and girls are also taught good common sense and good morals then there will no excuse for them turning violent in the future. I have played video games since I was 3 years old and I have yet to cause harm to others. I may have wanted to from time to time but the good common sense and morals in me made me not make my plans come to fruition.
This video is about a speaker, named Ali Carr-chellman, who is trying to explain what is happening to boys in the lower grades. She first introduced the 100 girls project where every 100 girls that dropped out of school over 200 boys dropped out. For every 100 girls that were put in a title one program over 300 boys were put into the program. She also mentioned that only 7% of the elementary teachers are male so that means 93% of the teachers are women. That means that the boy students may not have a male role model until middle or even high school. Then she related that boys like to play video games and play with action figures but they cannot bring toys with guns to school or even have a knife locked away in their truck in the parking lot without getting suspended. She discusses that boys need to be able to write what they want to write because if a boy wants to write about a tornado blowing through a house and destroying stuff because that is what boys do and there is nothing wrong with them writing about things like that just because it was violent.
I really enjoyed this short video because she had some interesting points. As she said there are very few male elementary teachers out there and I am glad that I will be able to be one of them because that is the profession that I am going to do because of my love for children. Also as she said boys loved to play video games, such as world of warcraft, and there is nothing wrong with that. I personally have played the game for a number of years and I believe that video games can be a great way to connect to all children and not just boys. Mrs. Ali also stated that companies such as blizzard, who run W.O.W, have a lot of revenue to make their games great but other companies just make basically flash card games. But overall Mrs. Ali made very good points in how boys are not being able to do what they want to do or write what they want to write about because teachers are scared of violence. Just because people watch horror movies, shows or play violent video games does not mean they will act out what they see. If boys and girls are also taught good common sense and good morals then there will no excuse for them turning violent in the future. I have played video games since I was 3 years old and I have yet to cause harm to others. I may have wanted to from time to time but the good common sense and morals in me made me not make my plans come to fruition.
12. The World Peace Game
http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game.html
This is a video about a 4th grade teacher named Mr. John Hunter who created a wonderful game called The World Peace Game. The game has 50 obstacles to cross and it contains rich and poor countries and the object of the game is to make every country have higher revenue than they had at the start of the game and to complete all 50 of the problems that could occur. The teacher, Mr. Hunter, can not help the students in anyway they have to figure out the problems for themselves and the Mr. Hunter only clarifies information in case they have any questions.
This is a fantastic video to watch how children can still learn history, social skills, math, etc. just by playing a game. The speaker, Mr. Hunter, came from a peaceful background hence him wanting to teach children, or have them figure out, what they can do themselves to solve world problems. It was amazing what the students did during the game because some tried to start wars, some tried to donate money to other countries and others tried to fix global warming and they did successfully many times. It was just amazing to see what children could learn just by playing a game with each other.
This is a video about a 4th grade teacher named Mr. John Hunter who created a wonderful game called The World Peace Game. The game has 50 obstacles to cross and it contains rich and poor countries and the object of the game is to make every country have higher revenue than they had at the start of the game and to complete all 50 of the problems that could occur. The teacher, Mr. Hunter, can not help the students in anyway they have to figure out the problems for themselves and the Mr. Hunter only clarifies information in case they have any questions.
This is a fantastic video to watch how children can still learn history, social skills, math, etc. just by playing a game. The speaker, Mr. Hunter, came from a peaceful background hence him wanting to teach children, or have them figure out, what they can do themselves to solve world problems. It was amazing what the students did during the game because some tried to start wars, some tried to donate money to other countries and others tried to fix global warming and they did successfully many times. It was just amazing to see what children could learn just by playing a game with each other.
11. Cyber Safety
The article I read was called Cyber Savvy: Embracing Digital Safety and Civility, written by Nancy Williard. The first section is called Avoid the Impulse and it discusses how to encourage students to not go to websites that they know are not made for them and what they post online can always be reflected on themselves. The second section is called Read with Your Eyes Open and it discusses the skills that students need to learn about to see if a website is a credible source. For example, information on a .org or .gov website is more likely to be truthful rather than some .com websites such as Wikipedia . It also goes on to discuss other ways to keep children safe by using secure connection channels, monitor how much time they are online and to think before they post.
Personally I really think that this was a very informative article. Almost, if not everyone, should read it and learn what can happen online because there are many people that use social media and post very vulgar/childish things and think nothing of it. Here and now in this digital age some companies are doing research on the potential employee's social media history such as Facebook, twitter etc. to see what the person is like in and out of the work place. Many people will not get jobs because of things that they post are vulgar and inappropriate and that is just sad and for the world to grow intellectually people need to ALWAYS and adult and professional.
Personally I really think that this was a very informative article. Almost, if not everyone, should read it and learn what can happen online because there are many people that use social media and post very vulgar/childish things and think nothing of it. Here and now in this digital age some companies are doing research on the potential employee's social media history such as Facebook, twitter etc. to see what the person is like in and out of the work place. Many people will not get jobs because of things that they post are vulgar and inappropriate and that is just sad and for the world to grow intellectually people need to ALWAYS and adult and professional.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
10. College Hosts Educational Technology Speaker Series
http://stories.illinoisstate.edu/2013/05/colleges/college-of-education/college-hosts-educational-technology-speaker-series/
This is an article about a group of technological expert speakers, called T21 Speaker Series, that held meetings at the college's exploratorium for teachers to show them how to effectively incorporate technology into their classrooms. The room was equipped with interactive whiteboards, a 3-D printer, iMacs, iPads, Chromebooks, advanced recording devices, interactive dry-erase surfaces, and stations for collaboration. It was said that rooms in the schools should not be used just as a computer lab but also for special occasions and events. It also discussed that the people that attended the meetings did not just hear and see about what the technology can do but they were able to use the devices for their selves.
I think it is great when groups such as T21 Speaker Series go around and show teachers and let teachers use the technology that is out there and available for teachers to use in their class. Many teachers are reluctant to use new technology but that is mainly because they do not know how to use it. Heck some teachers, usually the older ones, do not want to even touch tablets because they have to learn something new. But for new teachers, hopefully, they love technology and will incorporate it into their classroom activities and lessons.
This is an article about a group of technological expert speakers, called T21 Speaker Series, that held meetings at the college's exploratorium for teachers to show them how to effectively incorporate technology into their classrooms. The room was equipped with interactive whiteboards, a 3-D printer, iMacs, iPads, Chromebooks, advanced recording devices, interactive dry-erase surfaces, and stations for collaboration. It was said that rooms in the schools should not be used just as a computer lab but also for special occasions and events. It also discussed that the people that attended the meetings did not just hear and see about what the technology can do but they were able to use the devices for their selves.
I think it is great when groups such as T21 Speaker Series go around and show teachers and let teachers use the technology that is out there and available for teachers to use in their class. Many teachers are reluctant to use new technology but that is mainly because they do not know how to use it. Heck some teachers, usually the older ones, do not want to even touch tablets because they have to learn something new. But for new teachers, hopefully, they love technology and will incorporate it into their classroom activities and lessons.
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