2 Articles

Don't Fear the Digital:
Using a computer to type something up is much easier than handwriting something down. It's easier and it saves paper. But when I sit down to type a paper I get distracted by soemthing like facebook. I am sure most college and high school students can agree to this. Today when Trudy came into our classroom we saw that the majority of the class would rather watch a video over readinbg or hear a lecture.

The Multitasking Generation:
This articlle is about technology and how it impacts children and families, and how multitasking impacts as well. using media helps children interact in the classroom. I think as future we need to incorporate multitasking in our lesson plans to help with higher level thinking and fit the characteristics of our students. This article shows do's and don'ts' for parents. For example this article says do take the time to hang out with your kids, and do set limits and monitor content. It alsos tells parents don't let technology steal your kids from you and don't be a screen sucker.

Articles

I read 2 articles this week, "The Multitasking Generation” and “Don’t Fear the Digital.” I enjoyed both articles and found them very interesting. I thought the multitasking generation was incredible. A family was observed for months and most of the time the family was separated even when they were at home. The son was usually in his room, online and IM-ing his friends while listening to music and doing homework. The daughter was on her laptop and talking on her cell phone. The parents could hardly manage to get their children’s attention. I feel like this is something that many families deal with. I know in my family, we try to keep our gadgets off for some family time. It seems to me that this family needs to set up something so they can actually have some time to talk to each other.
The second article I read was about how the digital is rapidly becoming more prominent in our generation. We do not need to fear this transition because everything changes sooner or later. The argument that was proposed in the article was that many people will not be able to do things like write legibly any longer. I think that this could be true, and in many cases it is. My grandmother has beautiful handwriting because she was forced to practice for school. My parents both have decent handwriting but you can tell that it can be a little sloppy. I feel like my generation has horrible handwriting. Typing on a computer may be faster but I think that practicing both typing and good penmanship is important.

Articles for Chapter 10....really this time!

When I was about seven years old I had a computer program called Jumpstart. It incorporated learning with fun games. It worked on spelling, math skills, and second language skills. In an article about children using computers it says that children should start using computer around the ages of 3-4 because it helps reinforce what they are learning. Children younger than three should not be using computers because they need to learn using their senses. Even when young children start to use computers, computers should not be their main way of learning, but more of a levy to keep the information they have already learned. Even though schools should be incorporating technology into the classrooms even more, studies show that only a fraction of teachers have had any training on how to utilize them. I found this to be extremely interesting since I will be in elementary education, this is my freshman year, and I'm taking the technology class now. So what I'm wondering is....are schools sending out unqualified teachers just to have them graduate?

The second article I read about how many teachers aren't creating a classroom environment conducive to critical thinking. A way to rectify this problem is to have media tools in the classroom: televisions, computers, radios, even newspapers or magazines. The standard sit and read from a text box then fill in a A, B,C or D bubble just doesn't work for this generation. This generation have been brought into a world where they are constantly bombarded with media images and are use to having to comprehend at a faster level. This is a lot more from even when I was born. I have a niece that is three years old and knows how to work a cell phone. She knows to press the green phone to call and the red phone to hang up, she doesn't know the numbers that well, but she knows that if she wants to talk to me or mommy or whoever, she has to press them.

The last article talks about how there are several different types of teachers. There is the teach from your gut who believes with absolute certainty that what they're teaching is right, but cannot explain why. The is the teach from the gut with reason...they have the same ability to do the right thing in their classroom and can explain why, but they don't use educator vernacular.
Another type of educator is one who can explain things in educational vocabulary but common language as well; they also have the positive qualities of the first two types of teachers. The last one is the type of teacher who knows all the right words and all the right things to say, but for the life of them cannot tell you why you should learn. From these theories stated above the best one to be would be the educational translator. Or hey, maybe you should try to find your one type of teaching style that works the best for you.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 was titled Designing and Planning Technology Enhanced Instruction. Teachers who want to create effective instructions must consider everything that needs to happen in the classroom and during the lesson. The Dynamic Instructional Design (DID) has six steps to it and they are know the learners, state your objectives, establish the learning environment, identity teaching and learning strategies, identify and select technologies, an perform a summative evaluation. Bloom’s taxonomy was addressed in this chapter which we discussed this in the classroom. To use for out lesson plan.. Support technologies are a great tool to use in the classroom and some examples of them are the radio, videotapes, and computer hardware. These technologies is a way that teachers can enhance teaching and learning strategies.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 dealt with the importance of creating lesson plans that are well organized and thought through. Not much is learned from a teacher who is unprepared and does not know what he or she is going to talk about. This whole section really spoke to me personally, because I tend to be one of those people who will throw something together at the last minute and then stumble as I present it. This is not how a good teacher should act. Being prepared is a very important thing for a teacher.

Articles for chapter...2?

The first article I read was entitled Technology and MI. The article started with a narration of Ramonda Van Winkle and what would happen if she were to wake up in school from a 50 year nap. While inside the school she wouldn't notice much of a difference technology wise, but outside there would be an explosive of new technologies being used. The fact that technology has encroached into all aspects of life, except school systems. Has technology worked a lot in high schools as well as lower grades? There has been uses such as the Internet and Cds, but considering the amount of technology we use in every other part of our life, what students use in school is comparably less. How could technology help accommodate to various types of learning styles?
The second article I read was about IMing and how it effects students academically. Some instructors argue that any reading and writing is good for a student and that text/IM language is just an example of how language is always changing and evolving. I have to disagree. Yes language changes, but some text and IM language is so mentally dumbing that it makes me cringe to read it. For example: "Yo,Waz haps. Nmhjc U L2G 2 movie 2nite well, g2g txt bk s00n!" That was an incredibly mild version of text/IM language and I hate it. I am one of the people that puts punctation and capitlzation and spells things out. Does reading and writing help a student...yes. Does whatever that language is help...no.
Last but not least my third article is called What does Globalization mean for Education? The main sections answer that question: it means increased opportunities to learn with and from global community, it means wonderful collaborative projects for students and teachers and it means wonderful opportunities for students to be involved in global projects of their own. I have to say that I think this is very true. There are so many resources that allow someone in a small town in Indiana ( ok me) to talk to someone in say Ireland or Paraguay. The communication tools that are now available to students kind of allows us to be in more control over how much we learn outside of the classroom. Before we were fairly limitied to what resourced the teacher gave to us, now there are free lectures form IVY League schools available.

Interchapter 8

When a teacher thinks about making a classroom website, they should put the following information on their site: Teacher information, Class/course information, Daily/weekly information and homework, Information for parents and information for the community. They need to make sure their site meeds the basic guidelines. Teachers need to be sure that their site isn't too visually irritating. If a website has too many fonts and bright colors on it, it may take away the message and/or professional feel of the site. Teachers shouls go to the Bubbly online portal to test the usability of their site for students who are disabled. Teachers should make sure that their whole site is working. If the site doesnt work correctly, then it will confuse students and other people who need to read or know the information.

Articles for Chapter 10

The first article I read was how technology is being used at an earlier and earlier age. Children's computer programs are targeting children as early as 4 years old! The article argues that consumer habits can be made at 6 years old that will last their whole life. Even though the programs are suppose to be educational, if a child gets into the habit of needing computer programs early in life, then technology companies are set for 60 more years. The article also states that children are losing more and more active activities in exchange for computer programs. I have to agree with this. My six year old nephew would spend hours playing leap from or games on the computer, but complains about being told to play with his toys! Is the technology advances for younger children more helpful and harmful? I think it has become a very fine line and is not always to stay on the right side.
The second article I read was how technology usage should be started in kindergarten and continued through all grades. Again we walking that tight rope...how much is too much? How soon is too soon? The article says that people in today's society is bombarded with technology more than ever and make decisions everyday having to do with technology, yet they know very little about technology. The article says that since technology is advancing in leaps and bounds then people need to start learning about it earlier and earlier. I honestly can't say which one I would agree with...I don't know what side is the right side.
The next article I think wraps up the other two perfectly. In the words ' Technology, we love to hate it and hate to love it.' How many of us love to get on facebook, but hate having to use the Internet for a paper? How many of us love to go to the movies with friends but quietly groan when we have to watch something boring for class. People and technology share a love/hate relationship.

Chapter 2

This week I read about Chapter 2, which was titled Designing and Learning Technology-Enhanced Instruction. I liked how this chapter discusses before you plan a lesson you need to consider each student in your classroom and their needs. This also included those students in your classroom with a special need. The Design, Plan, and Act chart was neat as a visual in this chapter because it allows you to know how to go about making a lesson plan. Revising your lesson plan is important, and you should try to make it benefit each student as much as possible. This chapter also discussed the Bloom's Taxonomy which I thought was a neat tool to be aware of in making your students think in a variety of ways.

Inter Chapter 8

This is a short section that assists current and future teachers to create a classroom website. One of the first things mentioned is that creating a web site is not that difficult. I have just finished my classroom web site for this class and I didn't think it was difficult but it did take some time to accomplish. The steps that a person must take to create a website is the storyboard, determining the content, and lastly checking the guidelines. To create a storyboard you could use an index card to sketch out each page before using Publisher. Things that are good to put into a classroom website are your information, class information, a calendar including important upcoming dates, information for parents, and information for the community. Some of the guidelines that teachers must meet are site consistency, bias- free content, date notifications, current links, contact information, student privacy, and a few others.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 focuses on Using the Web for Teaching and Learning. Technology is tool that can simply make our lives easier. There are so many different things that teachers can use to help them stay organized. A teacher website is a perfect example. This website keeps student, as well as parents, up to date on the schedule and progress in their schooling. Homework assignments, FAQ's, and tidbits about the teacher are common things found on a teacher website. It is an easy way for parents to see into the classroom without actually being there. If a student is sick, they are able to look on the website to see what they have to make up. Having a link for podcasts is another great tool for student who may have missed class due to illness or a snow day. A teacher can upload the lesson on the website and the students would be able to download and listen to the lesson. With a teacher website comes many responsibilities as well. It is important to update the site regularly. Privacy, content, and navigability are also key elements to a website.

Chapter 8

This week I read Chapter 8, which is titled Using the Web for Teaching and Learning. One of the things this chapter discussed was about the online publications. These can be very useful for teachers to use. Most of the online publications have a search engine where you can type in what you would like to look up on the Web. There are many neat things on the Adobe Reader. Blogging is another great idea for teachers to do throughout their teaching career. It's a great way to share their ideas with other educators, as well as gain knowledge from others. As a teacher you will find sites on the web that you may find useful but aren't ready to quite use yet. A neat tool on the web is the bookmark tool. You can mark this website and save it in a list and keep it for later use. Academic Tools are great for teachers to get worksheets and activities for the children in their classroom to do. A really neat idea this chapter discusses is to have a FAQ page on your webpage as a teacher. I think that's a really great idea.

On your mark, get set, WAIT!

On your mark, get set, wait….
This was the title of the article we read this past week. It focused on assistive technology in the classroom. I found this whole article very interesting. Since I was homeschooled, and it was only me and my siblings, I never had to interact with students who had disabilities. After reading this, I found that there are so many different kinds of disabilities and how teachers need to be able to respond to the needs of each student. Some people may think that it would be easier for students with disabilities to be put in a different room, apart from the “normal” or “average” students, but since new developments in technology and no child left behind have taken place, more and more disabled students spend time with the rest of the classroom. I feel it depends on the situation, depending on the extent of the disability, because it may be better to do some things in a different room where there aren’t as many distractions and the student can get one on one help. Interaction with the other students in also very important though.
Chapter 10 dealt with distance education. I’ve taken a few online classes and let me tell you, it can either be a blessing or a curse. For me, I had to be very self motivated. Also, since I live out in the country, my internet connection did not work all the time (Just like it’s not working now! I’m using the internet at Starbucks :P). Distance education can be great for students who are in correctional facilities, different countries, homeschooled, or in the workforce. Communication is very important for the student to do well in the class. Since there is no face to face contact, everything must be discussed online. It can be very helpful for many people who do not have the time to be in class.