Carly's Learning Log

inquiry and screencast

2010-04-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

This project was definitely the most time consuming and I had to exert a lot of effort on it. Surprisingly, I found plenty of scholarly articles on this topic and I actually had trouble finding informal sources. Making the screencast was somewhat irritating. My script was way too long and it cut me off after five minutes. I had to go back through and delete things that I really wanted to say and try it again. The second time, I pressed the save button instead of the upload to screencast.com button and so I again had to do it over. Once I figured it out though, it was a pretty easy program to use. I actually really like this tool and I can see myself using it in the classroom. For example, I may want to show the children pictures of something and talk about it and provide information while they view the pictures. I could also see this being useful in communicating with parents or substitutes. It could be a good way to show them how I do something with the students in the classroom as a way to extend that in to the home. The information that I acquired from this assignment is also helpful. Like I said in my screencast, I had previously learned about how to teach reading and writing, but now I know how to use technology to do so. I really liked the article about the interactive whiteboard because I really hope that I will have the opportunity to use one in my classroom. I would like more information about the animation article. I thought it seemed really hard to believe that 3 and 4 year olds could created animated stories with little adult help. But if this is truly possible, I would love to try this in my class one day. In conclusion, I am pretty impressed with Jing and I'm glad you introduced it to us!

scratch

2010-04-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly I enjoyed creating the scratch game. I chose to do mine on the food pyramid. The player must click and drag on the food item and drag it into the correct location on the food pyramid. I thought that the scratch program was difficult, but only because I was new at it. I can definitely see it getting easier as I work with it more often. I would like to use scratch in my teaching career to individualize learning for students. For example, if I know one student is struggling in a certain skill or concept, I can create a game or simulation to help him develop understanding and skills. I can also create games to build upon the student's individual interest. This assignment also helped me to understand how to create developmentally appropriate games. It must be interactive, provide clear directions (in print, verbally, or both), and should scaffold such as giving clues to let the student know if they are correct or not or giving hints.

week 13 exit slip

2010-04-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

Chapter 9 Presentation:

We feel like video games could be useful in some ways, but not in others. Video games such as the ones described in the text could be too complex for early childhood children. The content could also be inappropriate. World of Warcraft is all about war and Melissa said that you could make people have sex on the SIMS games. I think learning communities are a good idea, but parents and teachers should definitely monitor their child's use of the websites. I like the fact that it follows children's interest and let's them go deep with it. It's important that students become familiar with technology while they are young because almost every career requires some use of technology.

Chapter 10 Presentation:

Rethinking Learning- We shouldn't graduate and then be done with learning; we should be life long learners. Also, we shouldn't just memorize information, we should teach students how to research and find information as they need it.

Rethinking Motivation- Children should be intrinsically motivated to learn. Children should be able to research topics that they are truly interested in and could see themselves using in their future personal life and career.

Rethinking what is important to learn- There are some things that we learn in school that are necessary for everyone to know and there are other things that students may never need to know. The schools could still teach the same content but do it in a way that they are teaching other types of functional, relevant skills the students will use such as forming hypothesis, testing ideas, researching, problem solving, collaborating, etc.

Rethinking Careers- Almost every job is utilizing technology. If we want people to be able to pick up these skills as they enter the workforce, we have to teach them how to use them before hand. It becomes very natural when you grow up with it.

Rethinking Transitions- School should help children figure out what they are interested in and guide them towards accomplishing those goals. Perhaps provide career paths.

Rethinking Educational Leadership- it would be really beneficial to have a technology expert on school campuses. A lot of teachers want to use technology in the classroom, but do not know how to carry it out. Just having one workshop on a piece of technology is not always sufficient in terms of helping a teacher to feel comfortable using it.

Rethinking the role of government in education- more money, more standardized

Contemporary Issues

The Sum of All Thrills: a theme park attraction to encourage children to explore careers in math and engineering. I think this is a good way of making students understand the importance of learning math concepts. It gives them a real-life application when they are sitting in class learning things they think they may never use.

The effects the internet has on social interactions: Technology is a good thing, but parents need to monitor their children's use of it. children still need to spend time with family, go outside and get physical exercise, and engage in pretend play with friends. We have learned in our classes that pretend play in the early years is extremely important to pretty much all aspects of child development.

children finding what they need on the internet: Research shows that children try to find information online differently than adults. They need to be taught how to effectively and efficiently search for information.

Instant messaging and text messaging affecting students' writing: children's grammar, punctuation, and spelling is going downhill. They get so used to the shorthand they use when texting or instant messaging. Some research has shown that as long as teachers set expectations for student writing, students don't typically use it in their academic papers.

Cool Tools

Draw anywhere: a free account allows you to construct three diagrams. I may use this for my thematic unit now.

Don't put any personal information on it because anyone can view the diagrams on the website.

Google Lit Trips: Read a book and then follow the characters journey on google maps.

Flickr: used to upload pictures. You could use it to document events during the school year to show parents and other relatives. You must get permission to put photos online and you can't identify any student by name on the web.

Gabbly: Make your own chat room for any website. You can make it private to use in the classroom so that random people can't join your chat. Very interesting, I've never heard of anything like this.

All of the cool tools that we learned this semester I have saved to my delicious. I hope that I can find ways to use them in the classroom.

chapter 10

2010-04-01T21:05:00.001-07:00

Even after reading the last chapter of this book, I still am not sure where I stand. I definitely agree that there needs to be a change, but I’m not sure exactly what I think this change should look like. I definitely agree that students should not have to continue to spend all this time at school learning all this information that they will most likely forget or never use. There are so many courses that I took in middle and high school that I do not remember any of the information. I do believe that a big reason for this is because it was not motivating or meaningful. If children are going to continue to be taught in school, teachers have to find a way to make it meaningful and relevant to the children’s’ lives regardless of whether technology is used or not. I fully support the use of technology in the classroom (more than just center time) and teaching students how to find information as they need it through the internet. I like that the book compared the internet to our memory bank. We don’t have to memorize information, the internet has all the information we need; we just have to find it. I really like the idea of getting students interested in something, having them develop skills, and then teaching it to others like the example in the book of the computer club. I can see children really enjoying school and enjoying learning when it revolves around something they are passionate about. I really liked accreditation system outlined in one of the previous chapters, although I kind of feel like it is irrelevant to us as future early childhood teachers. I don’t feel like much is going to change in the education system for early childhood. At this age, children need school to learn social skills and basic skills and information that everyone needs to know to succeed. They are too young to be choosing a set of specific accreditations to follow for a certain career path. We will still be exposing them to a wide range of experiences, information, and skills to discover their interests and strengths. In the future, even if young children continue to attend classrooms similar to the ones they are in now, I do believe that teachers should teach more than just the basic curriculum. They need to teach the children how to be lifelong learners. Teachers should provide children with opportunities to explore and research topics of interest. Students need to learn how to find information and apply it to create products or solve problems. This is a step towards individualization within school as well as the use of technology. This book has helped me to become aware of how important it is to implement the use of technology into my classroom. While I grew up in a generation where technology is gradually being introduced to me, young children now days are growing up with all types of technology around them. I want to use technology in my classroom to ensure that my students are finding school not only interesting and motivating, but useful for their future lives.

chapter 9

2010-04-01T07:30:00.001-07:00

I’m not sure what to think about this chapter. It made a lot of points that I had never really heard before. I’m not even sure if I agree or disagree with them. I would probably want more information before I could decide if I agreed or disagreed. I would have liked them to include more research evidence to back up what they were saying. One thing that I thought was kind of funny was that it said parents should use the same technology as their children to bridge the gap. I guess I thought this was funny because I think it is really weird when my parent’s friends try to add me as a friend on Facebook. I didn’t even add my dad as a friend when he got a Facebook because I just think it’s weird. I’m not sure how to explain it, but I feel I am different around different people. I have a different relationship with my friends than I do with my parents than I do with my professors or employers. So therefore I wouldn’t want my Facebook account to be opened to all of those people. I guess I can see parents being involved in other ways such as playing video games with their kids or text messaging them; although I could see kids not wanting their parents to play with them on games where they communicate with others through headsets around the nation.

I guess the part that really made me think was the section that talked about all those evenings watching TV or playing Nintendo paying off. It compared watch TV to taking a literary analysis class because twisted plots unfold and people blog about favorite characters and plot twist. I thought this was interesting and I agree that the same skills are addressed in classes in which the student analyzes books, but you’re still just watching the show. Reading is a skill that everyone needs to be successful and therefore students need to read books to practice fluency and comprehension. TV can not replace books. It also talked about gamers acquiring complex cognitive skills. I do agree that games are a good way to practice problem solving skills, but I see some drawbacks too. Life is not a game. You can’t always make a decision, “die,” and then get a new life to try it over again. Children spend hours and hours a day trying to figure out these games. They may use trial and error or different strategies to figure out how to make the right choices or moves to beat the game, but in real life we don’t get these options. I do think video games could be helpful as long as they are followed by discussion. I agree that through video games children are able to “experience making big decisions, coordinate resources, and experiment with complex strategies,” but I think a discussion should be followed about what the best decisions were and why, how to use resources effective, and which strategies worked best. I wouldn’t mind using video games in my own classroom in this way, but I couldn’t picture doing it all the time because these games take up so much time to beat and most children get enough experience with them at home.

week 12 exit slip

2010-03-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today we found out we don't have class for weeks 14, 15, and 16. I think this will be helpful in having more time to get our inquiry questions done.

Chapter 8 presentation:

They brought up the fact that with the certification route the book presented, there might be issues in terms of hiring teachers to teach these certification courses. Right now we hire teachers to teach basic core subjects, but think how many more teachers we would have to hire to teach these very specific skills. I like it when teachers use course management systems. It’s nice to have all of our classes on one rather than multiple sites. I like having a website to look up class news, assignments, post discussions, etc.

Contemporary Issues:

Using Calculators in student learning: I think students need to learn how to do basic math without a calculator. Calculators should be used to check your work. Regardless of whether a calculator is used or not, I think students need to understand how to do math problems and the processes involved in solving them, not just memorizing math equations.

iPad and it’s educational uses: It’s like a big iphone. It has a lot of applications and has internet access. You can buy a keyboard for it and it is touchscreen. Touchscreen is good for young children to use who haven’t fully developed their fine motor skills.

Social Networking Sites Affect Professional Career: I think teachers should be allowed to have profiles on these sites as long as they keep it private and do not add their students, student’s parents, and co-workers as “friends.”

Using Technology for literacy instruction: I liked Caley’s idea of using the ipad to draw and print out the drawing. That way you can have a concrete copy and a digital copy. I think it would be really cool to create online storybooks. I have been creating a homemade storybook this week and it is taking really long. I think making an online one would be more efficient.

Cool Tools:

Poll Everywhere: This would be a good way to take class votes. We learned that allowing the students to make choices in the classroom in such ways teaches them about democracy.

Kadoo: file sharing website that allows you to share photos, videos, music, documents. It’s also similar to facebook because you have a profile and can write a status. It seems very annoying to only be able to upload one photo at a time.

Woome: this is a dating website. I would not use this in my classroom.

ooVoo: Videoconferencing, send recordings to people if they are not online, chat. You could use this for providing extra support to students by posting online tutorials.

chapter 8

2010-03-24T13:22:00.001-07:00

I liked this chapter because I feel like it finally answered the question of what this new technology revolution would look like. It was really hard for me to take the technology enthusiasts’ perspectives while reading previous chapters because they didn’t explain this very well. They made good points such as customization, more engagement in learning, and less competition, but I still had questions about what it would like if education were to be implemented in this way. It sounded like people were just going to decide on a daily basis what they wanted to learn about. The way that booked described it in this chapter allowed me to actually envision it being like that one day. I liked the fact that “most children would continue with the kinds of elementary schools and middle schools they now attend to make sure they had experience with different kinds of students and teachers, and could envision different education paths.” It’s important to me that children encounter people different from themselves on a regular basis so that they will learn appropriate social interaction skills. I also think it’s important for them to learn how to solve problems and find solutions cooperatively. In most career choices, you are required to be able to get along with other co-workers and even complete tasks with one another. I also liked the fact that once students get older they begin to take both required credential programs and preferred credential programs. There is always going to be knowledge that we all need to know to be successful such as reading, writing, and basic math and therefore I see the need for making these required credentials. But there is definitely classes that I took in high school that I know I will never use and did not interest me at all. Pre-calculus was a required math course for me to take to get in the early childhood education major although I’m pretty sure I won’t be using that when teaching kindergarteners. Having the opportunity to get credentials in areas of interest is highly motivating. I also liked the fact that it is not just academic credentials but also skills that will be needed on the job such as generic skills and technical skills. The fact that the government would pay for a certain amount of credentials makes sense; it’s just like how public school is free and then you take on the responsibility of paying yourself if you want further education. One problem I saw was that they suggested high schools stay on a particular path for a certain amount of years. I feel like it would be hard for teens to make such a big decision. I know people in college that still don’t know what they want to do after graduating. So if students are credentialed for a certain career and then decide they don’t like it, they are somewhat stuck. Hopefully that will not be too much of an issue if schools are providing a variety of courses for the students to take to figure out what they are interested in. I like the idea of students learning from someone else, then learning with others, and then teaching others the material. It’s obvious that you really know the information if you can teach it to others. I don’t know how this chapter is going to affect the way that I teach children. I hope I can teach what I am required to teach by embedding it into material that is more interesting to the students. I’m not sure that this change is going to affect early childhood educators since it said that most children would continue to attend the kind of elementary schools they attend now.

week 11 exit slip

2010-03-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

Presentation on Chapter 7:

I was part of the presentation today. I felt like it went really well. We used wait time, monitored the class, facilitated a good discussion, added in our own insights and opinions to other's comments, and documented what the class said. I can't believe that our presentation was over 50 minutes. It definitely didn't feel like it. I realize that what I can learn from this is both realizing the need to monitor time and also explain directions more clearly. I realized that people were confused about the activity even though it seemed easy to me.

Contemporary Issues:

Sexting: A school district wants to ban sexting on campus and school activities. The question is how would this be enforced. I feel like using cell phones in school is already banned in most schools. I'm not sure if I agree with the laws. There are too many cases where 17 and 18 year olds date. Only one year apart, and yet one is considered a kid and the other an adult. While I don't think that people dating should be doing this, at the same time I don't think that a 18 year old guy sexting with his 17 year old girlfriend should be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Bullying online: when children are bullied online it can cause extreme emotional pain to students. Some students have even committed suicide due to incessant online bullying. Something I thought was interesting that Kelly said was that when children are bullied on the playground, it's over once they go home. But when children are bullied online it can continue to occur constantly. How to deal with this is a very good question. How should online bullies be punished? As a parent, how can you monitor what's going on with your child online?

Cool Tools:

Jog the web: It's a way to organize websites and information. You can search any topic easily. There are annotations at the top of each website that includes an activity you can do with your students related to the topic.

Wordle: It generates word clouds. It's free and easy to use. You would definitely need to monitor your students use of this site due to obscene posts on the website.

Livemocha: This site gives you the opportunity to learn another language. It provides lessons in speaking, reading, and writing. People who are native speakers of the language you are learning edit your work.

WiZiQ: This is an online learning system based on your interests. You can either be a learner or teacher on the website. It is easy to navigate and it's free.

Chapter 7

2010-03-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

Chapter 7 discussed what may be lost and what may be gained from the technology revolution that is occurring in society. To be totally honest, I feel that that the cons outweigh the pros. America already tends to be an individualistic society. In other countries that I have visited, I have seen the importance of family and friendship bonds. People live with one another and help one another succeed. They have more of a cooperative attitude than a competitive one. In America, people tend to compete with one another to get to the top. I feel like school is a place where students learn to cooperate and collaborate and solve problems with their peers. If children were to pursue their education individually, I feel like America would become even more individualistic than it already is. School is an institution that provides an equal education to all. Without the public school, I believe the opportunity gap between the rich and poor with increase drastically. Children with wealthy families will have resources such as laptops, educational games and videos, educational services, and specialized tutoring; while children from poor families will have little opportunity to pursue their education to the fullest. I also agree with what the books says about an increase in depression and loneliness. I often notice that when I am home alone working on my computer I often feel lonely. Sometimes I go over to my neighbors to do homework just so that I don't have to be alone. I have also noticed that communicating with someone over the computer is not the same as communicating with them in person. I have had situations in which I have have talked extensively and personally with friends over the internet, but then when I see them in person after several years it is awkward. I believe that humans were designed for interaction.

The books also talks about what may be gained from the technology revolution, but it seems very broad. Since education will be more directed towards what people want to learn, people will be more engaged. It will be easier to customize education to the needs and abilities of the individual. Students will have more opportunities for one-on-one interaction when learning. These are wonderful benefits, but this book seems too radical for me. Maybe it's because it doesn't provide specifics as to what this change would look like or how it would operate. It makes me imagine children waking up in the morning, opening their laptops and thinking "Hmm...I wonder what I'll learn about today." I guess I would like to know more about how students would be held accountable for their learning and what constitutes as necessary or unnecessary information to learn. I feel like it would be a much better balance to find a way to individualize education and incorporate technology within the classroom. Perhaps a portion of the day could be dedicated to learning information that everyone needs to learn and another portion of the day could be focused on individual long-term projects or research assignments.

week 10 exit slip

2010-03-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

Presentation:

When talking about content, I liked the question about how the five competencies (resources, interpersonal, information, systems, and technology) could be integrated into an early childhood program. I think this is a question that as early childhood educators we should all think about. These skills are essential for our children to gain to be successful in life. The change question is a hard one. I think this is why people did not talk a lot during the discussion question. We are all so used to the way that school was for us as young children. I think we all realize that a change needs to occur, but are not sure what the change would look like.

Cool Tools:

FlauntR- Lorin researched FlauntR which is a free online photo editor. I might use this since I lost my photoshop program after my computer crashed last year. Not having an undo button may cause some frustrations.

Dweeber- Beth researched Dweeber. I'm somewhat unsure exactly what it is. It seems like it's some type of website where you study online with friends. I probably would not use this. I would rather study with my friends in person. I guess it's useful if you have a quick question and you have friends who are online.

Sliderocket- Latarra researched sliderocket which is a presentation tool. I don't know if I would use this because it seems like the same thing as Microsoft Powerpoint.

Parentella- Tessa researched parentella which is a communication website for parents and teachers. It seems like a good tool to use if the parents in your class are willing to use a website for keeping up to date with the class. You can use to to send news/announcements, upcoming calendar dates, etc.

Contemporary Issues:

Online tutoring- This could be very useful if it's done correctly. The online tutors need to be good at the subject they are tutoring in. In subjects like math, they should use interactive white boards to do the problem with the student rather than just sending the students the answer and the way they solved it.

Poverty and effects of technology use- Not having access to technology puts you behind others in necessary skills. While this is definitely true for older students, it's becoming more and more true for younger students.

Videogames as a teaching tool- This could be very useful because children today are highly motivated by video games. I'm not so sure about creating an entire curriculum around it. I do think it would be a good way to experience situations and phenomena that might be impossible to experience directly.

chapter 6

2010-03-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

This chapter did a much better job at connecting the way education was viewed and how people learned in the past to the direction we are now heading in. There was a section that I particularly agreed with. We live in a time period that is exploding with new knowledge. Since our nations beginning we have already tried extending schooling to fit in more and more knowledge, but if we continue to do this now it is just going to be ridiculous. Some people already go to school into their late 20’s to get degrees; there is no way that we can add on more and more years of schooling to accommodate for all this extra knowledge. This is why people have to make a choice to be lifelong learners on their own. They have to learn how to use their resources to discover new information as they need it. Children used to need knowledge in certain areas or specific skills, but now students need general skills such as using resources to gain information, interpersonal skills, problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and using technology. This will allow them to take the new information available and apply it to their lives and careers.

I do think that it is interesting how some of the old ways of education are resurfacing but in new and fresh ways. For example, long ago when children were taught by their parents, education was different for every student. Now education is shifting more from the state and back to the individual. But rather than learning a specific set of skills or knowledge from the parents, students are following their individual interests and learning information and skills that will be most useful for them in their life and career.

A quote that I found pretty interesting was, “Distance education, learning centers, and technological certifications all act to expand the choices that people can make for what they will learn. In this light, the standards movement can be seen as a conservative check on rampant customization. As the lifelong-learning era moves gradually toward a situation where people choose for themselves what kind of education they will obtain, standards will serve as a constraint on the range of what counts as legitimate learning.” This was quite an interesting perspective on standards. I always viewed standards as somewhat necessary, but also restricting to teachers. The way this is phrased makes it seem more like we have so much knowledge, choices, and ways for learning that standards just check to make sure that we are learning at least basic and necessary information.

Sometimes the school seems less important now since we can learn just about anywhere due to new technologies, but I still see school as very important place at least for young children. School introduces children to a wide array of topics and information. Perhaps without it, they wouldn't know what they were interested in or what types of information to learn through other venues such as the internet. It’s also a great place for them to learn how to interact with others and build valuable social skills. Students are introduced to people of different ethnicities, social classes, and values and learn how to work cooperatively with them. I do believe that school is more valuable to children if the teachers provide activities in which the children are actively engaged in thought processes rather than practicing skills and memorization. Children who are engaged in active hands-on lessons are not only learning about a specific topic, but are learning more general skills such as predicting, gathering data, experimenting, drawing conclusions, constructing, reading and writing to obtain and convey information, and using science and math to solve real world problems. In my classroom, I hope to take more of a research-based or project-based approach. I want my students to learn important academic skills through projects in which they have to apply their knowledge to solve a real world problem.

week 8 exit slip

2010-03-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

Chapter Presentation:
During the presentation on the book chapter, I benefited from the pro and con discussion. Although I have my own views on these issues, it is always good to hear another's perspective. On some of the issues, I feel somewhere in the middle. For example, I do not think that children should sit in front of a tv to learn all day, but I don't think that educational television is bad or should never be used either. Educational television can be a good way for students to learn, but it cannot replace hands on learning. In terms of distance education, I think hybrid courses are a better choice. I took one hybrid course on developmental psychology and I really liked it. I worked on my assignments at home and then met once a week in a classroom to discuss what we had been learning. I think that homeschooling is a great idea. I like the fact that children who are home schooled only have to spend three hours a day doing school work. I obviously support education, but sometimes it takes up so much of our time. I would have loved to have more time in the day build other talents such as dance. If a child is going to be home schooled, I think it's important to make sure that the child has plenty of social opportunities.
Contemporary Issues discussed in class:
Companies use technology to advertise to children: I'm not sure that I have a strong opinion on this. Companies are always going to advertise. It's up to the parents to monitor their children.
End of the semester exams to replace the FCAT: I think this could be a good idea. Giving students a standardized test will measure whether or not they actually learned the intended curriculum. At the same time, I don't think this score alone should determine whether or not a student graduates or passes the class. I think it should be used more to hold teachers accountable for teaching the intended curriculum. I personally am not very good at taking standardized test. I didn't think I would even get into UF because I did not score very well on the SAT. After being here though, I have proved that I can succeed here at UF regardless my SAT score.
Cochlear implants: Whether or not someone should get a cochlear implant depends on the child's situation. Julia gave an example of a girl who lost her hearing and had it restored through this implant. This is great. But what about children who are born completely deaf? I think it may be more beneficial to teach them sign language from the start and get them involved with other deaf people so that they have a sense of belonging somewhere.
HP touch screen computers to facilitate learning for children with autism: I think I would need to research this tool more before forming an opinion on it.
Students use technology to cheat: People have been cheating for years. Teachers should try and monitor cheating by doing things such as turning papers into turnitin.com, checking calculators, making sure everything is off the student's desk.
Cool Tools discussed in class:
Twiddla: interactive white board; it's free; this could be really good for tutoring or doing homework. Friends can help each other with math homework.
Symbaloo: This is a customized homepage. You can put all of your favorite webpage links on this page. I could see this being more useful for me than delicious because I typically use the same ten or so websites daily. I like being able to see an icon rather than looking a a list of websites.
Go!Animate: This seems difficult, but I can see children really enjoying this. Perhaps it is worth the effort of learning how to use it in order for the students to be able to use it.
TimeRime: This website enables you to create interacive time lines. You can include links to websites, videos, ect. You can print it in a PDF file. There is even an educational version, but it cost money.
Pageflakes: This is also a personalized homepage, but is more text based than symbaloo.

chapter 5

2010-02-27T17:05:00.001-08:00

I am finding it difficult to write about these last couple chapters. I’m just not sure that I am really seeing the connection or the relevance to our major. The only thing that I got from this chapter really is that nowadays people are learning in many different ways including home schooling, workplace learning, distance education, learning centers, televisions, and video/computer games. As more ways to learn become available, the need of a public school system seems less important. I guess in order for public schools to remain necessary, they are going to have to change. For example, they need to incorporate technology and train people in specific skills that are needed for desired careers. So far schools have taught a set of information and have focused more on rote memorization, but now we have the internet and we can search for information as we need it. We now need to learn more about the process of learning; finding information and applying it. I don’t think that this new way of viewing education is going to change early childhood education very much. As early childhood educators, we focus a lot of our time with the students on developing language skills, social skills, and fine and gross motor skills. Obviously the reading, writing, and basic arithmetic skills that we teach to young children is something that they are going to need to know regardless of the way that education is changing. Basically what I am trying to say is that I don’t believe our role as early childhood educators is going to change all that much. I do think it’s important to add more technology into the classroom since our society is heading in the direction of using technology for pretty much everything. I also believe we should be teaching young children problem solving skills and critical thinking skills rather than facts.

Podcast

2010-02-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

Creating the podcast was kind of difficult. I am one of those people that really needs someone to walk with me step by step through something new. Therefore this assignment took me a lot longer than it probably should have. Mary Love and I went to the computer lab on Friday so that we could use Garageband since you seem to highly recommend the program. Once we finally figured it out, it wasn't that hard. We did run into some difficulty because we began to work on it in the classroom and then someone told us that they had to lock up so we went into the computer lab. The classroom had the 09 version and the lab had the 08 version. There were differences in the versions and Mary Love's wouldn't even work. I thought it was strange that the 09 version didn't have a cat sound, it actually only had 13 animal sounds, but the 08 version had about 90 animal sounds. I think the computer lab needs to make all the computers have the same updated version so that other students don't run into this problem. Now that I know how to make a podcast, I can see myself using it as a teacher. It's a good way to record books so that children can listen and follow along. I can also send them to parents so that they will have resources at home to use with their children. I liked the fact that I was able to make connections between two of my classes. In my language arts class, we all wrote our own nonfiction books. We then went through the process of illustrating them and binding them. I was able to then able to make the podcast to go with it. I originally tried to go online and find a cat sound effect since the 09 version didn't have one. I couldn't figure out how to do this. I would love it if you could show us in class again how to do this. I found the cat sounds online, but I couldn't figure out how to insert them into Garageband.

exit slip week 7

2010-02-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

In today's class, I learned about some more cool tools. I know that many people use twitter, but I'm still not sure that I'm seeing the point in it. I did like the idea of using it to keep parents updated throughout the school day, but it seems that would take up alot of time during the day to continuously update it. Tiffany's planning web seemed like a cool tool, but I don't know that I would use it since I use a planner and calendar. I liked hearing people's inquiry questions because it clarified the assignment for me. I thought that it had to be on a specific type of technology, but now many more doors have opened for me.

chapter 4

2010-02-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

To be honest, I don’t believe that this chapter influenced my ideas about technology or how I will use it my classroom. The only thing I really took from the reading was that as society advances and culture changes there tends to also be changes in education. At the very end of the chapter, the author discussed how the demands on schools have changed and I guess he is using this as an argument for supporting technology, although I don’t think he explained it very well. For example, he stated, “The aging population and the declining birthrate have meant that a smaller proportion of the adult population has children in school. This makes it increasingly difficult to tax the general population to pay for schools.” What is he suggesting here? Is he proposing that everyone learn from their home computer rather than going to school? One quote that I did really like was: “There is more and more demand for people to be thinkers and lifelong learners, since technology is rapidly replacing people in the routine jobs of the society. Functioning effectively in society requires people to be able to use a variety of technologies to accomplish sophisticated tasks. This means that there is enormous pressure on education to move away from the traditional goals of memorizing facts and learning to carry out routines.” This is so true. We shouldn't be memorizing facts, we should be learning how to predict, experiment, and problem-solve to gain critical thinking skills. We can use these higher level skills to program and use technology to do lower-level thinking skills for us.

Exit Slip week 6

2010-02-15T13:03:00.001-08:00

Today I learned about some new tools to use during the classroom. The group that presented used glogster. I thought this was an original way to make a presentation rather than using the traditional powerpoint. Caley also taught us that we can create a glog and link it to our students glogs. I also liked Krista's mapping website. I don't remember the name of it, but I did bookmark it. I'm not sure if I would use this in the classroom, but I would possibly use it in my personal life. I love to travel and it seems like a good way to plan out the trip. Katie talked about skype and while I have used it many times to speak with friends that live in Costa Rica, I have never thought of a way to use it for educational purposes. I like the idea of students using it if they need to work on a group project, but can't meet. The only problem is that all students may not have access to a computer to use skype. Although our discussion on the chapter was an argument against technology, I still found myself advocating for technology. While I do see initial costs of implementing technology into the classroom, I don't see the other points as strong arguments (such as classroom management). I think the contemporary issues are probably the most interesting topics we covered today, although they do not all have to do specifically with education. I thought the 3-D projector would be a good tool for a classroom. Children are easily confused by new information and it helps to have visuals that look real to aid in understanding. Today was my favorite class so far!

week 4 exit slip

2010-02-01T13:12:00.000-08:00

From class today I learned that .org .gov and .edu websites are not always credible. That is good to know because even my past professors have told me that they were! I am glad that you explained why some of these false websites are on the web because I was really confused about that. I really thought that the Dog Island website was a scam and that people were trying to steal dogs! I am not sure that I learned alot from today's class other than this, but I did get excited about our future projects. I know that the game/simulation project will be difficult, but I am very excited to start on it. I think it is awesome that I will be able to create games and simulations for my students one day based on what we are learning in our classroom.

Chapter 3

2010-02-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

I really do not think the skeptic’s argument was very strong. Technology does not need to dominate the classroom, but should be integrated. They said that many teachers do not understand new technology and that it makes it difficult to teach with it. This problem could be resolved through teacher training workshops. Also, teachers do not have to use all technology in the classroom. They can use technology that they have learned to use and feel comfortable using. Obviously, it is important that a teacher know what she is doing in order to keep her authority and teach the students. Another point they made was that teachers lose their authority because computers provide access to more information than a teacher does. This is not a bad thing! The teacher should be a model to the students. She should humbly tell them that she doesn’t know everything and that she uses computers and the internet on a regular basis to gain more knowledge. They also said, “But television, radio, and film also provide sources of information for students that make them question what teachers tell them and tend to downgrade the image of teachers.” This argument is weak because even before technology, students had the opportunity to research topics for themselves through the use of books and encyclopedias. Students should be encouraged to research information rather than just accepting what people tell them. The author also noted the individualistic nature of schooling. He explained that students are expected to know information and test on them individually rather than sharing ideas with others and that this is the opposite when using technology. With technology, people can look up information they need rather than knowing it and can share it with others. I think this is a good thing that needs to be incorporated more into school. In most professions, people work together to find solutions to questions and problems. They are trained in the information that they need to know for the job and are not expected to know a huge amount of information that is not useful. The chapter also pointed out that computers can cause classroom management to be difficult. Students who work together at a computer may make noise that disturbs other students. Also, the time it takes to install programs and get students situated on the computer takes up teaching time. I do not think these issues stem from the computers, but from behavior management and being prepared. The teachers can train students to work quietly and can already have the computers ready for the children when it’s time to use them. The part of the argument I did agree with was the cost of computers. In order to use computers in more than just centers time or the computer lab, there would need to be lots of computers, possibly even one for each child. If the teacher doesn’t know how to fix all the little glitches, they would have to hire computer technicians to stay on the premises all day. When they run into problems with the computers, it could take away learning time unless the teacher has a back up plan that can be implemented quickly. It is true that “teachers bring many things to learning that computers can never match,” but that is why teachers and computers should be used together. Both sources can provide more effective learning for children than one alone. As a teacher I am going to use technology in my classroom in conjunction with more traditional forms of learning and real-life experiences. I only want to use technology that I feel I am ready to use. I want to have a good understanding of how to use it effectively.

Digital BookTalk

2010-01-31T17:47:00.001-08:00

Making this Booktalk was both a fun and frustrating experience and took a lot of effort. I really enjoyed working with Melissa in a creative way. I bought a video camera a couple years ago, but I never learned how to use it until this weekend. Because of this, we ran into some problems. I knew how to record and transfer videos onto my computer, but I had never edited videos before. After uploading the different cuts onto my computer, we could not get the videos to work in MovieMaker. We realized that JVC has their own software that you have to use to edit movies. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find that software anywhere in my apartment. We spent hours trying to find a converter, but they all wanted money and would only convert segments of our videos. Luckily, my neighbor came to the rescue. He knew of a free converter and downloaded it for us. He then taught us some basics for using MovieMaker. Although this assignment took a lot of time, I am really glad that I learned how to do this. I can now use my video camera more often for both school and my personal life. I will definitely use this knowledge in my future classroom. I may make more BookTalks or use the video camera and editing software for other purposes. When children act out stories it teaches them about story development and components of a story such as beginning, middle, and end. It also teaches them to summarize and pick out important details. I may use the video camera to have my students act out stories and make movies for the class. Video cameras can also be used as a way to record students completing tasks. I can then use them to show parents during teacher/parent conferences. If students know how to use video cameras they can use them to record one another during lessons or presentations that are important to them. It’s a great way to communicate with parents and show them what we are learning in class. If they are uploaded to the class website, parents and their children can talk about their learning daily. I am really excited about this and I hope that I will have time to work on video editing skills. Through this project I only learned the basics, but I would really like to learn more.

Credibility of a Website

2010-01-29T15:03:00.000-08:00

Recommendations for evaluating the credibility of a website:

Address: Students should look at the websites address. Those ending in .gov, .org, and .edu are typically credible. .gov is usually factual and checked for accuracy. .edu is often sponsored by university and research institutes. .org is run by organizations.

Peer reviewed: Peer reviewed journal articles are good sources of information. Children can access these if the school pays for the database service. They have been reviewed by a panel of experts on the topic before being published.

Works cited: A website should have all of its references and resources listed. There should also be contact information to contact the author of the website with questions.

Date: There should be a date stating when the website was last updated. Although a website may have been credible at one time, it may not be anymore due to new research and knowledge.

Fact/opinion: Is the website presenting factual information or the author’s opinion? Sometimes authors have their own agenda and present biased information.

Organization/formatting: Most credible websites are formatted in way that is both appealing to the eye and easy to navigate the pages. Ex: history of robots website was not centered.

Advertisements: If the website has lots of advertisements they may just be trying to sell you something. (DHMO website)

Spelling/grammar/language: If a website has many spelling and grammar mistakes, I would question its credibility. Also, pay attention to the language of the text. Is it present in a professional manner or conversational manner? Ex: this is a statement the dog island website made: “We apologize to not offer this to poor people but it takes an enormous amount of money to afford this type of beauty.”

Compare to other sources: When researching, you should always look at multiple sources. If one source is saying something entirely different than other sources on the topic, you may need to do more research.

Common sense: sometimes you just have to use your common sense to figure out if something is real. (Don’t you think you would have heard of a tree octopus if it was a real animal? Octopus can only live in water.)

Chapter 2

2010-01-29T13:18:00.000-08:00

This chapter had some really good points supporting the use of technology in school, but I didn’t agree with all of it. As teachers, we are supposed to prepare our students to be successful in their adult lives. In most of their jobs, they will be using different types of advanced technologies. Yet in school, teachers are continuing to use paper and pencil methods and only using computers for centers time or once a week at the computer lab. By pushing technology to the side, I definitely think we are defeating the purpose of school. I do not believe all of students’ work should be done on the computer. To understand a concept fully, students need first-hand experiences. For example, if students in Gainesville are learning about butterflies, they could take a trip to the butterfly museum, watch butterflies outside, and watch butterflies emerge from their chrysalises’ right from the classroom. This would be much more effective than a computer simulation. Other the other hand, I believe computer simulations are wonderful when learning about things and places the students cannot have first-hand experiences with such as the rainforest. The concept of just-in-time learning is interesting to me. I do agree that much of the things we learn in elementary school are easily forgotten because we don’t need to know the information at the time we learn it. I use search engines on a normal basis to look up information and research new topics as I need to. But I still think that school is important as it provides a solid foundation for learning. I don’t think we can give students total control of what they learn. The author of the book said, “People will decide what would be valuable to them and what they want to learn. They can decide how long they want to spend and what help they think they need.” Children need guidance. If we allowed children to choose what they want to learn, when they want to learn it, and how long they want to spend learning it, I don’t think anything would be accomplished. Children will spend most of their time playing. For example, literacy is an extremely important skill to have in today’s society and students need explicit instruction in learning to read although many students don’t enjoy it. I really liked the idea of computers providing scaffolding. I agree that it is hard for one teacher to provide individual instruction and scaffolding for a group of twenty students. Computer programs can work with students where they are at. The students can work at their own pace, receiving the minimal support they need, and the students can move forward as they master each skill. I think this is a better approach than having the teacher teach the same skill to the entire class when some students may need to work on lower level skills and others may need to work on higher level skills. In my classroom I do plan on incorporating technology into my classroom. I always hated being in school and wondering “why we had to learn this stuff.” I want my students to feel like their learning is relevant to their lives. I will not always use technology for every lesson. My main goal is to make sure that with or without technology, the lessons I present to my students are meaningful.

exit slip week 3

2010-01-25T13:25:00.000-08:00

Today I learned the difference between learning from technology and learning with technology. I think both are useful, but learning with technology should be used more often. When a teacher uses the "learning with technology" method, she is still the teacher rather than allowing technology to do her job. Teachers can use their creative minds to embed technology into learning activities. This is helpful because technology is something the students will use their whole lives. It's teaching them both academics and life skills at the same time.

Growing Up Online Reflection

2010-01-17T10:29:00.001-08:00

Children typically use technology everyday of their life, if not almost every hour. Children text message their friends, play games online, listen to music on their Ipod, and use the internet to look up information. The Frontline video implied that using technology is not just something they do, but it is part of who they are. If this is the case, then I believe it is necessary that teachers implement the use of technology into the school day. But I also think it is imperative to set limits in the classroom and teach about internet safety. I find it quite dangerous that the younger generation knows more about technology than the older generation. This makes it very easy for young children to watch inappropriate material, have access to information they should not have, and make “friends” with people who in reality are sexual predators. Children often feel safe behind their computer screen; they say and do things they would not have the courage to say or do in person. They could easily give away too much information and become the next missing child or have inappropriate pictures of themselves posted on the web. If a teacher is going to use technology in her class she needs to be well informed on how to use it and know the safety risks it presents to the children. Before the internet is used in school, the teacher and children need to have a long and in-depth discussion about internet safety. Children need to know when they are allowed to use the internet, for what purposes, and what types of websites are always off-limits. Every classroom is going to be different depending on the trust between the teacher and students. For example, a teacher may allow her students to log onto their social networking accounts to retrieve pictures for a class project where as another teacher may not allow her students to access those sites at all during the school day. Some schools have ways of blocking certain websites. Although this keeps the students safe, it unfortunately and unintentionally blocks other websites that may be necessary for the students to access. For example, one time at my house I tried to go onto the Victoria Secret website to order a dress from their catalogue and the website was blocked. I think the most important thing is teaching the students how they are allowed to use the internet in school and why. If students understand why there are limits in place they will be more likely to follow them. A teacher should always be present to monitor the students use of technology in the classroom. Just as we often use technology out of school for recreational and leisure purposes, I believe that in school technology should be used for educational purposes. Students should learn to use technology as a way of gaining information and expressing ideas.

digital autobiography

2010-01-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

I definitely had to put forth effort into this assignment because I did not know how to use the programs listed. It was actually kind of frustrating. I used Animoto and I liked it, but I had some problems. It would only allow my video to be 30 seconds long. If I wanted it to be longer I would have had to upgrade my membership. I also could not figure out how to make subtitles on my pictures. Whenever I tried to add titles it would open up a whole new slide box. I tried to fix this problem by creating another one on Photoshow, but I did not like the set up of this website very much. I couldn’t get it to stop playing Christmas music. It was also a difficult assignment because I have been sick in bed for four days straight and I have had very little energy to do much of anything. I hope I can learn to use these programs better because I find them to be valuable teaching tools. I think they would be very useful in helping students get to know one another during the first weeks of school. For example, from my slideshow you can see that I like animals, going to football games, going to the beach, and that I used to be a cheerleader. In previous classes we have learned the importance of creating a community of learners. This is a classroom in which all students feel welcome, respected, and trust one another. One way to create this warm climate is by having the students share their lives with one another while encouraging acceptance. I think this is a cool way for students to show us a little about their life in ways other than simply through words. Also, if students are shy at the beginning of the year, it would be easier to show something like this than to have to stand up and talk to the group. I believe I can find other uses for these slide shows too. They do not always have to be in the form of a digital autobiography. For example, if I was doing a lesson on nutrition; I could have a slide show of healthy foods and another of unhealthy foods. It would also be useful during open house to show the parents what the class has been working on throughout the year by including pictures of the students participating in activities, interacting with other students, and work samples. It could also be used to show all the different activities the children participated in while studying a unit theme. Using these slideshows in my lessons would be more intriguing to the students than just showing them photographs.

Preface and Chapter 1 Reaction

2010-01-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

One specific point the book made really hit me hard. It basically stated that in the past we have identified schooling with education, but this connection will soon diminish if we do not integrate new technologies into school. Technology is the new way to learn. I remember in elementary school, I used to look up information using a book encyclopedia. In middle school, my dad bought Encarta encyclopedia to put onto our computer. And then in high school, I basically used nothing but the internet to conduct research for my assignments (despite my teachers’ encouragement to find other sources). The internet has provides us with more information than we could ever want or need and is much more time efficient than trying to search for the perfect book to read. I feel that teachers should embrace it and use it as a magnificent tool which will allow students to examine previously unexplored ideas. As teachers, we are supposed to adapt to the students and meet their needs. What better way to do this than by using resources that are familiar to the students and intriguing to them? In my classroom, I want to be able to teach the students what they need to know in a way that is relevant to them. In order to engage students and make learning a joyful experience, we have to adapt to this new technology era. I want my students to desire to come to school everyday. I also want them to feel like the things they are learning will be useful for them in their everyday life. For example, when teaching reading and writing, I would also like to incorporate typing into the lessons. I think writing is important, but I think typing is a skill more often used these days than writing. Also, children are highly attracted to video games. I think educational video games would be a great way to have students practice newly acquired skills. It could easily be a classroom center. I think that the more technology we use in our classroom, the more it will prepare students not only for their future careers, but also for their everyday life. While I do think technology should be used in the classroom, I also believe we should be careful as to how we expect our students to use it outside of the classroom. Not all students have access to technology. In my classroom, I hope to use technology in many of my lessons, but I do not expect my students to use it on homework or for the parents to have to use it as a way of communicating with me. I think it is wonderful that our government provides a public education, but I think we need to make sure our tax dollars are worth it. If students keep finding ways to gain the knowledge and skills they need for a particular career through other technological sources rather than through the public school, then maybe the government should reevaluate whether they are giving students what they need to succeed in today’s world.

2010-01-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

As teachers we want students to listen to us and learn from us. In order for this to happen, we need to be relevant to students. We should take the initiative to learn how to use technology that students find interesting and engaging and use on a regular basis. In order for learning to stick, it needs to be meaningful. Using technology does not have to take away time during the school day, but can be embedded into daily lessons. This class will hopefully teach me the practicals of how to do this.

Class 1: Role of Technology

2010-01-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

When a teacher has been adequately trained to use a piece of technology it can be very useful in the classroom. All children have different learning styles and many are some combination of visual, auditory, and tactile learners. Different types of technology provide visual, auditory, and tactile experiences. Technology can be very engaging for students and can help to keep them interested in the lesson. It shouldn’t solely be used to teach children, but to aid the teacher in teaching them and in helping them construct their own knowledge.