Marcovitz, D, & Son, J (August 2008). Point/Counterpoint-Is Educational Technology Shortening Student Attention Spans?. Learning and Leading, Retrieved August 4, 2008, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3620082009/AugustNo1/36108m.pdf.
This article was looking at two different viewpoints in answering the question of whether or not technology is shortening the attention spans of students. The first response of “yes” was given by David Marcovitz, who thinks that children have become accustomed to receiving everything, both educational material and tangible things, almost instantaneously. Marcovitz believes that students are no longer capable of being patient and that “deep thought and attention to important matters is what is absent in the fast-paced world of educational technology”. The other counterpoint to this response is made by John David Son who thinks that technology in education is teaching students to multitask easily. He feels as though learning through technology masks the fact that students are in school “doing work” when they feel as though they are actually having fun. Opposed to the traditional pen and pencil method of learning, Son felt that a class taking notes seemed “disengaged and disconnected...they were only on the receiving end of the information”. I think that the two authors brought up two very good arguments. Some children need to learn the lesson of patience an realize that in the “real world” there are lines to wait in, red tape to plow through and other speed bumps that will prevent you from getting to the finish line. On the other hand, I think that incorporating technology is a great way to tackle not so fun areas of the curriculum where teachers are begging for something fun for their students so that they will be engaged in the classroom.
What will my expectations be for technology use in the classroom?
-Even if a student claims that he or she can get their reading done, listen to their iPod and instant message simultaneously, I’m not allowing it. I think that there is something to be said for having the ability to focus on a task without distracting yourself with outside tools.
How will make my classroom environment harmonious while finding a balance between too much technology and not enough?
-I will combine a number of activities a day that challenge both their patience and let them test their creativity. My biggest fear is that I will contribute more to a population of young adults who are constantly “plugged in”. So what if they can download music and text all in one device. I want to make sure that they have the skills to communicate their thoughts effectively to their peers, future teachers, and family without having to “google” it. On the other hand, I don’t want my kids drool to gather on their desks. I think the internet has done wonders for learning and I will use it in my classroom, not abuse it.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Journal 5
Soulé, Helen (August, 2008). Transforming School Communities. Learning and Leading, Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=August_No_1_1&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4077&ContentID=21317&DirectListComboInd=D
In this article, the author, Helen Soulé, stresses the importance of communication throughout a district by teachers and staff. She describes this communication as the “effective glue holding the community together”. The critical components of this communication according to Soulé are: advocacy of the vision, networking to build formal and informal support, and collaboration with diverse external and internal constituencies. A way to implement these strategies with ease is to take advantage of the Web 2.0 tool that can easily give teachers the opportunity to collaborate with other teachers. A suggested way to reach staff within districts is to start a blog or podcast so that communication is accessible. At the State University of Iowa there has already been a tool implemented that gives school principals the opportunity to set up a blog for free. Another point the author made about effective communication was knowing where and when to use certain means of communication. There are certain tools to be used in order to reach certain audiences. In addition to knowing the best vehicle of communication to use, it is important that educators expose the parents to the tools they will be using right off the bat to avoid confusion later on in the year. Although some parents are hesitant about accessing information via the computer or internet, their hesitance may be counteracted by showing them all of the awesome possibilities of learning there are to be had.
What kinds of Web 2.0 tools will be most helpful in my classroom?
-I really like the idea of a class blog, where students will be able to answer their fellow peers’ questions and submit assignments online. I like the idea that it conserves paper and decreases the amount of extra work I would have to do by fixing errors that could have been prevented previously.
How will you be an advocate for effective digital communication?
-After taking this ed422 class I feel confident in posting new lessons and/or sharing my experiences on blogs or Wikis. If I come across a lesson that worked for my class and though that the students enjoyed I would be happy to post a video of this lesson on Teacher Tube or post how to do the directions on my blog.
In this article, the author, Helen Soulé, stresses the importance of communication throughout a district by teachers and staff. She describes this communication as the “effective glue holding the community together”. The critical components of this communication according to Soulé are: advocacy of the vision, networking to build formal and informal support, and collaboration with diverse external and internal constituencies. A way to implement these strategies with ease is to take advantage of the Web 2.0 tool that can easily give teachers the opportunity to collaborate with other teachers. A suggested way to reach staff within districts is to start a blog or podcast so that communication is accessible. At the State University of Iowa there has already been a tool implemented that gives school principals the opportunity to set up a blog for free. Another point the author made about effective communication was knowing where and when to use certain means of communication. There are certain tools to be used in order to reach certain audiences. In addition to knowing the best vehicle of communication to use, it is important that educators expose the parents to the tools they will be using right off the bat to avoid confusion later on in the year. Although some parents are hesitant about accessing information via the computer or internet, their hesitance may be counteracted by showing them all of the awesome possibilities of learning there are to be had.
What kinds of Web 2.0 tools will be most helpful in my classroom?
-I really like the idea of a class blog, where students will be able to answer their fellow peers’ questions and submit assignments online. I like the idea that it conserves paper and decreases the amount of extra work I would have to do by fixing errors that could have been prevented previously.
How will you be an advocate for effective digital communication?
-After taking this ed422 class I feel confident in posting new lessons and/or sharing my experiences on blogs or Wikis. If I come across a lesson that worked for my class and though that the students enjoyed I would be happy to post a video of this lesson on Teacher Tube or post how to do the directions on my blog.
Journal 3
I attended the second seminar of the Summer Institute and was unfortunately not impressed. I think that the speaker, Richard Reid had the ability to speak well in front of a large crowd; however he had difficulty making the purpose of his lecture known to the audience. The title of his presentation was: “RTI-innovations in Prevention and Intervention”, to begin the speaker never really defined what RTI was, or what the letters stood for. From what I understood from his lecture I can assume that RTI is an organization which works towards the goal of every child learning successfully. I would guess that organizations like RTI have come about due to the demands and requirements set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act, (NCLB). The purpose of his lecture, I think, was to encourage the actual implementation of programs into schools. Too often there are good ideas projected by teachers and faculty, while there are no useful tools to implement these ideas in the classrooms. Richard Reid’s PowerPoint was meant to map out the ways in which these ideas are implemented, but the excessive commentary and distracting images steered the audience way from the intended purpose of the lecture. The proposed path in order to see change in schools was: Vison+Skills+Incentives+Resources+Action Plan =Change. The speaker had slides provided for each of the steps on this path, but there were no real contextual examples being exemplified. Another suggested formula of implementation was: Exploration and Adaption, Installation, Initial Implementation, Full Implementation, Innovation, and finally Sustainability. In order for these steps to be taken towards improvement, all members of the educational community: students, parents, principals, superintendants, etc., must be active parts in the process.
How will I get my ideas “off the ground” when I am an actual teacher in the classroom?
-I know that I will develop different ideas and lessons for my classroom and students at my future school that I will want to implement and share with others. I think that an effective way to do this will be through creating a blog and /or wiki to gain knowledge about what other institutions and teachers are doing. I’m sure that the RTI organization or program is effective in doing this, but for some schools do not have the funds to hire people like Richard Reid and will have to find other ways in implementing a successful program.
Are the suggested plans of action presented by Richard Reid applicable to classrooms?
-I think so. I wish that I would have had an example of how his model works in the “real world” but it seems as though rich’s ideas would be effective in maintaining proficiency throughout multiple grade levels.
How will I get my ideas “off the ground” when I am an actual teacher in the classroom?
-I know that I will develop different ideas and lessons for my classroom and students at my future school that I will want to implement and share with others. I think that an effective way to do this will be through creating a blog and /or wiki to gain knowledge about what other institutions and teachers are doing. I’m sure that the RTI organization or program is effective in doing this, but for some schools do not have the funds to hire people like Richard Reid and will have to find other ways in implementing a successful program.
Are the suggested plans of action presented by Richard Reid applicable to classrooms?
-I think so. I wish that I would have had an example of how his model works in the “real world” but it seems as though rich’s ideas would be effective in maintaining proficiency throughout multiple grade levels.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Web 2.0- Photo Sharing/Journal 4
After looking at the discussions about photo sharing I discovered many new ways to share your photos with family members and the public. Before reading these posts I had only been familiar with the Webshots website which is pretty limiting in terms of posting photos and sharing them with people you know. Animoto is a website that allows you to make your own video slideshow and add music to your pictures. Not only can you upload photos, but you can also add effects to them just like the tools in the imovie software. One teacher commented on this software program stating that her students had already been using Photobucket, a program similar to Webshots, and she found the students were not being creative enough. The website is free for small shows, but larger ones cost more. I think that this tool would be great to use in the classroom because my students would be able to add so much more to their presentations and photos in front of the class.
After looking at the discussions about photo sharing I discovered many new ways to share your photos with family members and the public. Before reading these posts I had only been familiar with the Webshots website which is pretty limiting in terms of posting photos and sharing them with people you know. Animoto is a website that allows you to make your own video slideshow and add music to your pictures. Not only can you upload photos, but you can also add effects to them just like the tools in the imovie software. One teacher commented on this software program stating that her students had already been using Photobucket, a program similar to Webshots, and she found the students were not being creative enough. The website is free for small shows, but larger ones cost more. I think that this tool would be great to use in the classroom because my students would be able to add so much more to their presentations and photos in front of the class.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Journal 2
McFarlane, Sarah H. (2008). The laptops are coming! the laptops are coming!. Rethinking School Online, 22 No 4, Retrieved July 17, 2008, from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/22_04/lapt224.shtml
In this article a high school teacher, Sarah McFarlane, talks about her experience with technology in her classroom. When her “exurb” school received a grant for technology her classroom transformed into a media and digital rich environment. Assignments were being done online and students were engaging in online discussions. At first Ms. McFarlane was thrilled to see this advancement in education take place, but with time she also saw her class and her working environment transforming negatively. Her students were not interacting with each other at class parties, her staff development time was allocated primarily for technological discussions, and she saw an overall decrease in student- teacher connections throughout the school year. After looking at the positives’ and negatives of integrating a vast amount of technology into the classroom, Sarah McFarlane realized that there has to be consideration of issues such as social justice when considering the addition of laptops and technology to the classroom. Without realizing it, educators can potentially include or exclude a group based on the use of computers in the classroom. Instead of letting technology take control of them, Ms. McFarlane feels that students must “see themselves as controllers of technology, able to use it to help build the world they want to see”.
How will I incorporate the use of technology with ALL of my students, including those who are learning the English language?
-I am planning on teaching in a bilingual classroom, so this will definitely be a challenging issue for me as a teacher. I can only say that I will make every effort to develop lessons and assignments that involve students on all levels when it comes to computer-use. In order for my ELL students to better grasp the material I will try to provide audio recordings of the presentations I post online or wherever.
Should there be a limit on student- computer use in the classroom?
-Absolutely. When Ms. McFarlane was re-telling the occurrence of her students on their laptops while others were sharing a personal experience I was appalled. In addition to providing an education for children, I think the main purpose of schooling is to promote respectful and healthy social interactions from our students. There are many times when technology seems to be leading us off that course, in the situation stated above for example. In my future classroom I will use computers to enhance student- learning not as a way to escape or disconnect from the classroom.
In this article a high school teacher, Sarah McFarlane, talks about her experience with technology in her classroom. When her “exurb” school received a grant for technology her classroom transformed into a media and digital rich environment. Assignments were being done online and students were engaging in online discussions. At first Ms. McFarlane was thrilled to see this advancement in education take place, but with time she also saw her class and her working environment transforming negatively. Her students were not interacting with each other at class parties, her staff development time was allocated primarily for technological discussions, and she saw an overall decrease in student- teacher connections throughout the school year. After looking at the positives’ and negatives of integrating a vast amount of technology into the classroom, Sarah McFarlane realized that there has to be consideration of issues such as social justice when considering the addition of laptops and technology to the classroom. Without realizing it, educators can potentially include or exclude a group based on the use of computers in the classroom. Instead of letting technology take control of them, Ms. McFarlane feels that students must “see themselves as controllers of technology, able to use it to help build the world they want to see”.
How will I incorporate the use of technology with ALL of my students, including those who are learning the English language?
-I am planning on teaching in a bilingual classroom, so this will definitely be a challenging issue for me as a teacher. I can only say that I will make every effort to develop lessons and assignments that involve students on all levels when it comes to computer-use. In order for my ELL students to better grasp the material I will try to provide audio recordings of the presentations I post online or wherever.
Should there be a limit on student- computer use in the classroom?
-Absolutely. When Ms. McFarlane was re-telling the occurrence of her students on their laptops while others were sharing a personal experience I was appalled. In addition to providing an education for children, I think the main purpose of schooling is to promote respectful and healthy social interactions from our students. There are many times when technology seems to be leading us off that course, in the situation stated above for example. In my future classroom I will use computers to enhance student- learning not as a way to escape or disconnect from the classroom.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Journal 1
Shifflet, R (June-July2008). Extreme Makeover: Updating Class Activities for the 21st Century. Learning & Leading with Technology, Retrieved July 15, 2008, from http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/pdf2html.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fjheil65.googlepages.com%2FJournal1.pdf&images=yes
This journal article was good to start off with because it gave us an intensive overview of web-based tools that we can use in our future classrooms and for future assignments in this class. I think the best thing about teaching lessons and introducing assignments via the Internet is that students and teachers can share information with other classmates, classes, schools, etc. I can already see the benefits from websites like U-tube, Blogger and Delicious because my stepmother, a high school Spanish teacher, is currently using them. In order to plan for her A.P. course next year, she has accessed these various websites in order to collaborate with fellow teachers in the district as well as view other teacher’s lesson plans all over the country. After gathering all of this information she has been able to condense all of the class resources into a webpage that her students can access. While reading this article I could picture all of the tools my Step mom has been using and how accessible they all are. I think that I will use tools like Zoho writer in my classroom because it encourages students to be extra creative and thorough. As incentive I think I would choose two or three essays from my class to post publicly on our class blog or class website. I also like that fact that this application stores and saves all of the student’s writing so that I don’t have to keep so many files in my class that take up space.
How will I cater to my students who do not have Internet access at home?
-I think I can include these students by giving them the option to use the computer lab on campus or the in-class computers in class while the rest of the class is working on an in-class assignment.
How will I incorporate the technology mentioned in the article if I am teaching a lower grade like kindergarten or first grade?
-I think I can use technology to benefit my kindergartners and first graders by incorporating online presentations or videos found on websites like Flickr. Although my younger students may not be able to publish their own writing they will at least be familiar with what online resources look like and be able to access thee presentations with their parents at home.
This journal article was good to start off with because it gave us an intensive overview of web-based tools that we can use in our future classrooms and for future assignments in this class. I think the best thing about teaching lessons and introducing assignments via the Internet is that students and teachers can share information with other classmates, classes, schools, etc. I can already see the benefits from websites like U-tube, Blogger and Delicious because my stepmother, a high school Spanish teacher, is currently using them. In order to plan for her A.P. course next year, she has accessed these various websites in order to collaborate with fellow teachers in the district as well as view other teacher’s lesson plans all over the country. After gathering all of this information she has been able to condense all of the class resources into a webpage that her students can access. While reading this article I could picture all of the tools my Step mom has been using and how accessible they all are. I think that I will use tools like Zoho writer in my classroom because it encourages students to be extra creative and thorough. As incentive I think I would choose two or three essays from my class to post publicly on our class blog or class website. I also like that fact that this application stores and saves all of the student’s writing so that I don’t have to keep so many files in my class that take up space.
How will I cater to my students who do not have Internet access at home?
-I think I can include these students by giving them the option to use the computer lab on campus or the in-class computers in class while the rest of the class is working on an in-class assignment.
How will I incorporate the technology mentioned in the article if I am teaching a lower grade like kindergarten or first grade?
-I think I can use technology to benefit my kindergartners and first graders by incorporating online presentations or videos found on websites like Flickr. Although my younger students may not be able to publish their own writing they will at least be familiar with what online resources look like and be able to access thee presentations with their parents at home.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Introductory Letter of Katy Jones
Hello, My name is Katy Jones and I am 21 years old. I grew up in various parts of the North County area in San Diego and live here currently. I attended Lake Elementary School in Vista, Valley Junior High in Carlsbad, and Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego. I am both a Liberal Studies and Spanish major with a minor in Linguistics at Cal State San Marcos and will be finished this Fall. Afterwards, I will apply to the credential program in the Spring. I wanted to leave my home town of San Diego, so I spent my junior year studying abroad in Madrid, Spain. I fell in love with the Spanish culture and desperately want to move back to Spain again someday.
I wouldn't consider myself technologically savvy, but I am relatively familiar with applications like the Internet, E-mail,PowerPoint, etc. I am much more comfortable when using a PC, but I am becoming more confident navigating with a Mac. I depend on technology quite often, but I actually wish that I had better access through the use of a personal laptop. I'm hoping to get one after graduating. I believe that on my PC at home I am using a 2006 version of Microsoft Office.
The mission statement was not a deciding factor in my decision to attend Cal State San Marcos, but I did attend this University because of the outstanding reputation of the teaching credential program. The portion of the mission statement that most speaks to me is the sentence reading: "Our practices demonstrate a commitment to student-centered education [and] diversity". I am planning on teaching in a bilingual classroom, so diversity and cross cultural exploration will be very important components in my future classroom (s). I think that teachers have done a successful job when their students independently reach out to others who are unlike themselves and make connections with their peers.
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