Thursday, May 3, 2007
FactCheck Education
I wanted to share this information with everyone from FACTCHECK.com which is an organization that checks facts for accuracy especially if it is information passed around by the media or the current administration. This organization checks the information and then expands on the information if it is accurate or tells why the information is not accurate. They have now just begun a FactCheckEd which I think is very interesting. At this moment I am not remembering how to create a link. Which is disappointing but I am putting the link here. www.FactCheckED.org
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Paticipatory Culture - Media Education
This is a facinating article. This paper would work great for a professional learning community group to read and discuss over several months. There is so much to talk about in just the first 36 pages. Overall, I agree with the reports central goal that we have to move from thinking of technolgocal access as the main discussion and move to opportunities to participate in all forms of media technology and the cultural competencies and social skills needed to fully participate in the 21st century. The report makes me realize how the gap continues to grow between affluent families and higher poverty families in the areas of access, but also the complexity of technological skills that students will be expected to have. I know many of our ELL families do not have computers at home, so the only opportunities for these children may be at school or at a friend's house. Usually these two types of experiences do not allow for playing with technology and exploring in a leasurely fashion. I think powerful learning can take place when children have a chance to just explore and enjoy teaching themselves through discovery.
For all students a major goal of media education will have to be to teach children to make ethical choices as they create media, communicate with others and explore commericial sites.
For all students a major goal of media education will have to be to teach children to make ethical choices as they create media, communicate with others and explore commericial sites.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Blogs by Teachers
This was interesting checking out these blogs. I am at home so am using dreaded dial-up so I did not explore them in the depth I would have if I had been in town. I reviewed Have Fun with English 2. The author of the blog is a teacher in Portugal who teaches EFL. She has created English web based activities for her students. I tried one of the activities and it would be just right for the ELL I am tutoring. I also listened to one of the podcasts that her students created. Her blog seemed to be multifunctional. The blog provides students an active place to show what they know, practice their writing and stay in contact with their teacher even during holidays. This blog gave me several ideas on the use of podcasts.
The next blog I reviewed was Blue Skunk Blog and I read the article regarding Smart Boards plus the teacher's Biases and why he decided to create a blog. I responded to the Smart Board article. I could see checking Blue Skunk Blog to keep up with technology that teachers are using.
The last blog I checked out was Bud the Teacher. Bud's blog moved me into the Digital Immigrant mode. I checked out a few things on this site but did not understand some of the technology terms. I clicked on Drupal and explored this a bit but was not clear how to use it. This blog could provide resources for Language Arts teachers.
These blogs seem to provide a forum for discussion and sharing instructional ideas for teachers. For students they can interact with other students all over the world. Blogs create a purpose for writing for students. I think the podcasts are great also for students.
The next blog I reviewed was Blue Skunk Blog and I read the article regarding Smart Boards plus the teacher's Biases and why he decided to create a blog. I responded to the Smart Board article. I could see checking Blue Skunk Blog to keep up with technology that teachers are using.
The last blog I checked out was Bud the Teacher. Bud's blog moved me into the Digital Immigrant mode. I checked out a few things on this site but did not understand some of the technology terms. I clicked on Drupal and explored this a bit but was not clear how to use it. This blog could provide resources for Language Arts teachers.
These blogs seem to provide a forum for discussion and sharing instructional ideas for teachers. For students they can interact with other students all over the world. Blogs create a purpose for writing for students. I think the podcasts are great also for students.
ISTE Standards
I do believe being digitally literate is very important for our students and in my current job as the ELL Coordinator I see that many of our ELL students do not have the exposure to computers, digital cameras and video cameras in their homes that many of their peers have. Their opportunity to learn to use technology is more likely to be provided at school. Our district tries to provide each teacher with a computer and the technology classes provided for staff are considered very useful by staff. In most of the ELL classrooms I see very little use of technology at this time. One factor I believe is that in many buildings the ELL teacher may not be provided any computers for student use and in some cases the teacher's computer is extremely old. I have started using some of the ELL budget to help support some improved technology such as laptops, and CPU's I am also looking into a digital video camera that can be used for student presentations. For English Language learners this will also provide a way to measure their growth in their language skills.
I think what I can do is to make sure our English Language Learners have equal access to the classes that use technology and that other opportunities are provided specifically for them.
I think what I can do is to make sure our English Language Learners have equal access to the classes that use technology and that other opportunities are provided specifically for them.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants
First, learning how to create a new window so that I can toggle between two items is great and will save me a huge amount of time in my job and also on this assignment.
I think Prensky identified the differences between the two groups and explained the differences in a very understandable way. It was interesting for me as the English Language Learner Coordinator for our district to see Prensky use this analogy of native and immigrants.
I thought back on my sons growing up in the semi-digital age and how technologically sauve they are now. They were boys when the first video games came out and we went to video arcades to play the games for a quarter, we didn't have a home computer and we rented the video machine as well as the video to watch a movie on Friday night. But then watching my niece grow up completely in the digital age I see a difference even between her and our sons. My niece as many people in their 20's have it seems an innate ability to figure out how digital items work. I do think peoples brains are wired in someways differently and now with the ability to study the brain processing information as it is doing a task I think we will have more and more proof of that.
The fear that people would become too isolated because of technology now seems to be swinging a bit too far the other way. With e-mail, instant messaging, cell phones it seems it can be difficult to have time without interacting. With all tools though it is how we each choose to use them that makes the difference.
I liked what Prensky had to say regarding why can't learning be fun and why does it have to be in a sequential order, we do have to change some of our teaching styles and that is not all bad. He stated that college graduates have spent less then 5,000 hours reading but have spent 20,000 hours watching TV. I think this is pointing out that there are many ways to gain information and once again it is the quality of the reading and the quality of what is watched on TV that makes the ultimate difference.
I think reading is an extremely important skill but I know that this generation will get much of their information from other electronic sources. I belong to two Book Groups but in actuality I hardly ever read the books, I listen to them on audio because it is easier and it works better for my schedule since I commute. I have had conversations with others who actually thought listening to a book did not "count" as reading the book. That was when I realized how using different types of technology are perceived and not always positively perceived.
This author does come from the premise that all students kindergarten through college are growing up in the digital age. There still is a difference between the immersion into technology that he describes for the middle and upper middle class as to the experiences with technology that families in poverty may have. In working with English Language learners, especially those who have immigrated for work many families have little experience with computers, digital cameras and mp3 players. I do think it is important for all students in schools to be computer literate and these opportunities will have to take place in our schools if all students will have the opportunity. So we will actually have children who have immigrated to the U.S. who will also be digital immigrants and so could have different ways of learning than their Digital Native peers.
It is interesting to watch how our district is doing so much on-line with the presumption that all families have Internet access. Our school transfer process can only be done on-line, as well as our job application process and we just had an on-line parent survey. It seems like the digital divide is widening.
This article I am going to send to our Technology director as I think it makes some very good points to consider.
I
I think Prensky identified the differences between the two groups and explained the differences in a very understandable way. It was interesting for me as the English Language Learner Coordinator for our district to see Prensky use this analogy of native and immigrants.
I thought back on my sons growing up in the semi-digital age and how technologically sauve they are now. They were boys when the first video games came out and we went to video arcades to play the games for a quarter, we didn't have a home computer and we rented the video machine as well as the video to watch a movie on Friday night. But then watching my niece grow up completely in the digital age I see a difference even between her and our sons. My niece as many people in their 20's have it seems an innate ability to figure out how digital items work. I do think peoples brains are wired in someways differently and now with the ability to study the brain processing information as it is doing a task I think we will have more and more proof of that.
The fear that people would become too isolated because of technology now seems to be swinging a bit too far the other way. With e-mail, instant messaging, cell phones it seems it can be difficult to have time without interacting. With all tools though it is how we each choose to use them that makes the difference.
I liked what Prensky had to say regarding why can't learning be fun and why does it have to be in a sequential order, we do have to change some of our teaching styles and that is not all bad. He stated that college graduates have spent less then 5,000 hours reading but have spent 20,000 hours watching TV. I think this is pointing out that there are many ways to gain information and once again it is the quality of the reading and the quality of what is watched on TV that makes the ultimate difference.
I think reading is an extremely important skill but I know that this generation will get much of their information from other electronic sources. I belong to two Book Groups but in actuality I hardly ever read the books, I listen to them on audio because it is easier and it works better for my schedule since I commute. I have had conversations with others who actually thought listening to a book did not "count" as reading the book. That was when I realized how using different types of technology are perceived and not always positively perceived.
This author does come from the premise that all students kindergarten through college are growing up in the digital age. There still is a difference between the immersion into technology that he describes for the middle and upper middle class as to the experiences with technology that families in poverty may have. In working with English Language learners, especially those who have immigrated for work many families have little experience with computers, digital cameras and mp3 players. I do think it is important for all students in schools to be computer literate and these opportunities will have to take place in our schools if all students will have the opportunity. So we will actually have children who have immigrated to the U.S. who will also be digital immigrants and so could have different ways of learning than their Digital Native peers.
It is interesting to watch how our district is doing so much on-line with the presumption that all families have Internet access. Our school transfer process can only be done on-line, as well as our job application process and we just had an on-line parent survey. It seems like the digital divide is widening.
This article I am going to send to our Technology director as I think it makes some very good points to consider.
I
The Computer Delusion
This article was thought provoking and since it is 10 years old it also provided a historical perspective of how computer technology was thought of. Ten years in digital technology is a very long time, I've discovered. This article reflects the "computers will save the world" mis-perception as well as "computers will destroy education" misperception.
I agreed with several points that Oppenheimer made. First, no tool (computer), software program or any other type of technology will ever replace an excellent teacher. Children need excellent teachers and human interaction to learn any subject to their full ability. A computer doesn't make a poor teacher better, it is how these tools are used in the classroom.
Second,we have to balance how much funding is spent on technology in comparison to other elements of a strong educational program, such as music, physical education, shop classes and the arts. This is not only the cost of the CPU's, monitors and software but also the cost of technicians, computer lab staff, retrofitting buildings and rooms with wiring, ventilation systems, wifi, furniture. Now a days, the computers are probably the least expensive item. The last computer system I purchased for one of our ELL teachers cost $400 for the CPU and $179 for the flat screen monitor.
Thirdly, instructional time can be wasted if students are only using computers to do "worksheet" drills. A new way of wasting students time is to have them try to take TESA and ELPA high stakes tests and have the systems not work. Oppenheimer had not identified this one issue in this article but I am sure he has identified this in more current articles.
Lastly, children, as well as adults, can spend too much time using all forms of technology and end up limiting their time interacting with others which could limit their social development and definitely impact their health from basicly not spending much time being physically active.
There is a great deal that I disagreed with Oppenheimer on regarding computers but some of my disagreements are from having hindsight from the last 10 years. By the time I reached the 8th page of the article I was becoming irritated with all the loaded language that he was using and the oversimplification of his logic. I was beginning to wonder if Todd Oppenheimer was working with our current government administration in writing the weekly "talking points."
As an example, he described a study about a reading software program, Reader Rabbit "caused students to suffer (now there is a loaded word) a 50 percent drop in creativity". He explains that "49 students using the program for 7 months were no longer able to answer open-ended questions and showed a markedly diminished ability to brainstorm with fluency and originality." Reading Rabbit is not designed to be a complete reading instructional program and I would also make the case if a teacher had children work through a workbook for 7 months they too would no longer be able to answer open-ended questions.
I think at times Oppenheimer makes a case against computers but his logic is not sound. He describes on page 7 that some specialists in childhood development have great concerns for the very young-preschoolers through 3rd graders being "introduced to something as technical and one-dimensional as a computer." In my thinking, the use of computers is not mutually exclusive of having hands-on learning activities, playing and interacting with the physical world. Oppenheimer then goes on to provide an example that is from the book Endangered Minds of an English teacher who could readily tell which of the students' essays were conceived on a computer. "They don't link ideas," the teacher says." This would be a common problem of student writing whether they did the work on a computer or on paper. This may be an instructional issue more than what tool the student was using?
This was a great article for creating thought provoking responses and in juxtaposition with the article Digital Native, Digital Immigrant which I read first I probably looked at Oppenheimer's article more critically. The quote that really caught my attention from the article was: "Kris Meisling, a senior geological-research adviser for Mobil Oil, told me that 'people who use computers a lot slowly grow rusty in their ability to think.' " I have to say I might disagree with this statement.
I agreed with several points that Oppenheimer made. First, no tool (computer), software program or any other type of technology will ever replace an excellent teacher. Children need excellent teachers and human interaction to learn any subject to their full ability. A computer doesn't make a poor teacher better, it is how these tools are used in the classroom.
Second,we have to balance how much funding is spent on technology in comparison to other elements of a strong educational program, such as music, physical education, shop classes and the arts. This is not only the cost of the CPU's, monitors and software but also the cost of technicians, computer lab staff, retrofitting buildings and rooms with wiring, ventilation systems, wifi, furniture. Now a days, the computers are probably the least expensive item. The last computer system I purchased for one of our ELL teachers cost $400 for the CPU and $179 for the flat screen monitor.
Thirdly, instructional time can be wasted if students are only using computers to do "worksheet" drills. A new way of wasting students time is to have them try to take TESA and ELPA high stakes tests and have the systems not work. Oppenheimer had not identified this one issue in this article but I am sure he has identified this in more current articles.
Lastly, children, as well as adults, can spend too much time using all forms of technology and end up limiting their time interacting with others which could limit their social development and definitely impact their health from basicly not spending much time being physically active.
There is a great deal that I disagreed with Oppenheimer on regarding computers but some of my disagreements are from having hindsight from the last 10 years. By the time I reached the 8th page of the article I was becoming irritated with all the loaded language that he was using and the oversimplification of his logic. I was beginning to wonder if Todd Oppenheimer was working with our current government administration in writing the weekly "talking points."
As an example, he described a study about a reading software program, Reader Rabbit "caused students to suffer (now there is a loaded word) a 50 percent drop in creativity". He explains that "49 students using the program for 7 months were no longer able to answer open-ended questions and showed a markedly diminished ability to brainstorm with fluency and originality." Reading Rabbit is not designed to be a complete reading instructional program and I would also make the case if a teacher had children work through a workbook for 7 months they too would no longer be able to answer open-ended questions.
I think at times Oppenheimer makes a case against computers but his logic is not sound. He describes on page 7 that some specialists in childhood development have great concerns for the very young-preschoolers through 3rd graders being "introduced to something as technical and one-dimensional as a computer." In my thinking, the use of computers is not mutually exclusive of having hands-on learning activities, playing and interacting with the physical world. Oppenheimer then goes on to provide an example that is from the book Endangered Minds of an English teacher who could readily tell which of the students' essays were conceived on a computer. "They don't link ideas," the teacher says." This would be a common problem of student writing whether they did the work on a computer or on paper. This may be an instructional issue more than what tool the student was using?
This was a great article for creating thought provoking responses and in juxtaposition with the article Digital Native, Digital Immigrant which I read first I probably looked at Oppenheimer's article more critically. The quote that really caught my attention from the article was: "Kris Meisling, a senior geological-research adviser for Mobil Oil, told me that 'people who use computers a lot slowly grow rusty in their ability to think.' " I have to say I might disagree with this statement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)