Core Knowledge Foundation (2010). Core Knowledge Lesson Plans. Retrieved from http://www.coreknowledge.org/lesson-plans
This is a website that I heard about from a teacher who used to teach in Florida. This website is full of different websites for all subjects and grades. The lesson plans are very detailed and easy to follow. The lesson plans are done with a group of teachers. The lesson plans are connected with a program called Core Knowledge. I was told that this was a program adopted by some schools in Florida, but we don’t do it here in my school district.
I love it when I find a detailed lesson plan on the internet and these are very detailed and easy to follow. The lesson plans that I’m really interested in using are the third grade poetry unit. I personally struggle with teaching poetry in my classroom so these lessons are very helpful. The only thing I wish they would have included was a copy of the poems they suggested to use.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Annotated Bibliography #5
Shearing, Lenva (2010). Web 2.0: Cool Tools for School. Retrieved from http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/
This is a website with a list and links of other fun websites that teachers can use. The links are organized on the left side based on what kind of tools. Some of the tools are free or have a couple of free day trials. Others unfortunately come with a yearly price. The good thing is that the creator keeps the website up to date. There is also an easy way to contact this person with questions or concerns.
I really find this website to be useful. I am finding many different websites that I would like to connect to my teacher page for my students to try. Some of the story writing tools are fun ways to publish our writings in class. These websites are a great way for my students to not only build upon their technology experience but to also create something of their own.
This is a website with a list and links of other fun websites that teachers can use. The links are organized on the left side based on what kind of tools. Some of the tools are free or have a couple of free day trials. Others unfortunately come with a yearly price. The good thing is that the creator keeps the website up to date. There is also an easy way to contact this person with questions or concerns.
I really find this website to be useful. I am finding many different websites that I would like to connect to my teacher page for my students to try. Some of the story writing tools are fun ways to publish our writings in class. These websites are a great way for my students to not only build upon their technology experience but to also create something of their own.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
2 Million Minute Debate
1) What is the message sent by Yong Zhao and what is his purpose?
His message was that the United States education system is not slacking or behind in comparison to other countries (India and China). His purpose was to show to people that the countries’ economies are diverse and so there is a different job market. He feels that the United States education system is good because it is supported by student choice. The United States might have lower test scores but they have a lot of different talents. He doesn’t believe the purpose of human life is to make the most money possible, but to find happiness.
2) What techniques are used by Yong Zhao to attract and hold attention?
Zhao used different techniques. He used humor with how he talked. He also used intensity. He discussed the affects of test taking to teen suicide. He also used association. He connected well with the audience by talking about his home life and his daughter’s experience in an American school.
3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in Yong's message?
He believes that the purpose of human life is to be happy and that making a lot of money doesn’t always make someone happy. He likes how the United States supports all the students and whatever talent he/she might have. Test taking is very stressful and can be psychologically damaging to some students. He believes choice is very important.
4) How might different people interpret Yong's message differently?
I believe that people who are competing for big paying jobs might view his message differently. They might agree with the other gentleman that we need to put more stress on American students to study more and play less. Some parents might feel the same way because they want their children to be successful and success might equal making a lot of money to them. I believe anyone who views money as happiness might see more benefit in raising the bar for harder classes for the American students.
5) What is omitted from Yong's message?
I’m not sure what is omitted in his message. After he spoke I didn’t have any real questions. I wondered if he believes that there should be no standard test taking. Some competition can generate more motivation.
6) Now you have heard two sides of the story. Which side would you vote for?
Both sides had really valid points. Overall I agree with Yong’s values. I don’t believe that making a lot of money is going to make someone happy. I know that money wouldn’t make me happy. I originally started college as a business management pursuit, but then realized that I didn’t want to sit at a desk all day for a job that didn’t make a significant different to anyone or anything. I then chose education not for the money but for the challenge and for the enjoyment I get from being around young children. If I was pushed to work a high paying job just to make a lot of money then I think I would be unhappy and I would not enjoy the little time I have here on Earth. As a parent I want my son to be able to choose what career he will do and at the same time have enough talent to work different careers. Since I know that jobs are changing rapidly, I will choose my son’s schooling carefully. I want to make sure that he attends a school with a lot of technology and science avenues.
His message was that the United States education system is not slacking or behind in comparison to other countries (India and China). His purpose was to show to people that the countries’ economies are diverse and so there is a different job market. He feels that the United States education system is good because it is supported by student choice. The United States might have lower test scores but they have a lot of different talents. He doesn’t believe the purpose of human life is to make the most money possible, but to find happiness.
2) What techniques are used by Yong Zhao to attract and hold attention?
Zhao used different techniques. He used humor with how he talked. He also used intensity. He discussed the affects of test taking to teen suicide. He also used association. He connected well with the audience by talking about his home life and his daughter’s experience in an American school.
3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in Yong's message?
He believes that the purpose of human life is to be happy and that making a lot of money doesn’t always make someone happy. He likes how the United States supports all the students and whatever talent he/she might have. Test taking is very stressful and can be psychologically damaging to some students. He believes choice is very important.
4) How might different people interpret Yong's message differently?
I believe that people who are competing for big paying jobs might view his message differently. They might agree with the other gentleman that we need to put more stress on American students to study more and play less. Some parents might feel the same way because they want their children to be successful and success might equal making a lot of money to them. I believe anyone who views money as happiness might see more benefit in raising the bar for harder classes for the American students.
5) What is omitted from Yong's message?
I’m not sure what is omitted in his message. After he spoke I didn’t have any real questions. I wondered if he believes that there should be no standard test taking. Some competition can generate more motivation.
6) Now you have heard two sides of the story. Which side would you vote for?
Both sides had really valid points. Overall I agree with Yong’s values. I don’t believe that making a lot of money is going to make someone happy. I know that money wouldn’t make me happy. I originally started college as a business management pursuit, but then realized that I didn’t want to sit at a desk all day for a job that didn’t make a significant different to anyone or anything. I then chose education not for the money but for the challenge and for the enjoyment I get from being around young children. If I was pushed to work a high paying job just to make a lot of money then I think I would be unhappy and I would not enjoy the little time I have here on Earth. As a parent I want my son to be able to choose what career he will do and at the same time have enough talent to work different careers. Since I know that jobs are changing rapidly, I will choose my son’s schooling carefully. I want to make sure that he attends a school with a lot of technology and science avenues.
Friday, October 22, 2010
2 Million Minutes
1) Who is sending this message and what is the author’s purpose?
This video was created by Bob Compton. I believe the purpose of this video was to inform people of the differences of high school students in different countries. They followed two students from the U.S. and two students from India, and two students from China. The students discussed their academic ambitions and their studying.
2) What techniques are used to attract and hold attention?
The techniques I saw used were experts, fear, and plain people. The video showed many experts talking about the different countries studies. The video also used fear in a sense for parents and maybe students in the United States. The video definitely showed how much more dedicated the Indian and Chinese students were towards their schooling. This might spark some fear in parents to get their sons and daughters to study more. It might also spark fear in other high school students. The video also used the technique of plain people. These were everyday students that the camera was following around.
3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in this message?
There are three different lifestyles and points of view in this video. India and China were very similar in my option. Those students seemed more pressured to succeed and get ahead in their study. They put their studies and education before other things like sports. Though the Indian students didn’t seem to have a choice in their future career. The Chinese students enjoyed their studies and seemed to have more of a choice of a future career.
The United States students were very different. They valued other things more like sports and spending time with their friends. The boy said that he didn’t even really study for class. The parents also didn’t seem to put too much pressure on them.
4) How might different people interpret this message differently?
I think that different people will interpret this message differently. I think that American students would relate to the two students on the video and also not see a huge need to study more. I also think that high school parents will also view this and think that their children already do a lot. They might agree with the one mom on the video and just be happy that their sons and daughters aren’t getting into trouble.
I think that other people who have very young kids or don’t have kids at all might view this video and think that American students are lazy and need to study more in order to compete better with other countries.
5) What is omitted from this message?
This video is only showing two students as a representative as a whole country. It’s not fair to say that all or even most of the students in that country feel the same way that these students do.
This video was created by Bob Compton. I believe the purpose of this video was to inform people of the differences of high school students in different countries. They followed two students from the U.S. and two students from India, and two students from China. The students discussed their academic ambitions and their studying.
2) What techniques are used to attract and hold attention?
The techniques I saw used were experts, fear, and plain people. The video showed many experts talking about the different countries studies. The video also used fear in a sense for parents and maybe students in the United States. The video definitely showed how much more dedicated the Indian and Chinese students were towards their schooling. This might spark some fear in parents to get their sons and daughters to study more. It might also spark fear in other high school students. The video also used the technique of plain people. These were everyday students that the camera was following around.
3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in this message?
There are three different lifestyles and points of view in this video. India and China were very similar in my option. Those students seemed more pressured to succeed and get ahead in their study. They put their studies and education before other things like sports. Though the Indian students didn’t seem to have a choice in their future career. The Chinese students enjoyed their studies and seemed to have more of a choice of a future career.
The United States students were very different. They valued other things more like sports and spending time with their friends. The boy said that he didn’t even really study for class. The parents also didn’t seem to put too much pressure on them.
4) How might different people interpret this message differently?
I think that different people will interpret this message differently. I think that American students would relate to the two students on the video and also not see a huge need to study more. I also think that high school parents will also view this and think that their children already do a lot. They might agree with the one mom on the video and just be happy that their sons and daughters aren’t getting into trouble.
I think that other people who have very young kids or don’t have kids at all might view this video and think that American students are lazy and need to study more in order to compete better with other countries.
5) What is omitted from this message?
This video is only showing two students as a representative as a whole country. It’s not fair to say that all or even most of the students in that country feel the same way that these students do.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Evaluating Two Websites
Amphitheater Public Schools (2010). Applying technology Standards, Third Grade Lesson Plans. Retrieved from http://www.amphi.com/departments/technology/standards/third.html
Harris, Angela (2010). Third Grade Lesson Plans 85. Retrieved from http://hubpages.com/hub/Third-Grade-Lesson-Plans
I used the UC Berkeley Internet Guide to evaluate two websites. I wasn’t looking for one thing in particular. I was just wanted to see some other third grade lesson plans to spark some ideas for my own classroom. I found two websites by using Google.
The first site I found was entitled Third Grade Lesson Plans 85. This is a personal webpage. This is also a company website because it has com in the address. The author must be a member of the HubPages. It is very clear who the author is because her name is on top. I have never heard of HubPages. It doesn’t sound like an educational server. It’s confusing to see when she posted these things. Not all the links are going through. There were two links that didn’t work. Author’s credentials on the subject is that she is a homeschool teacher though a few of the science and math links were from more creditable sources. There are comments at the bottom of the page but they are old comments. They are mostly from 2 years ago. I believe this page has two purposes. One is to sell teacher items and the other is to collect some 3rd grade lesson plans. This website gave me a good timed math game that I would like to use. Other than that I don’t see anything else that I will use.
The second webpage I searched was from the Amphitheater Public School site. This is not a personal webpage. This comes from a public school district in Arizona. The authors of the lesson plans are listed at the bottom. They are school teachers in the district. The links are very easy to read and navigate. The lesson plans that I’ve browsed even have links to rubrics and other materials to use in the class. The lessons (links) that I explored seem current. They are posting the date when submitted at the bottom of the lesson. There are no comments on this page. This is a very helpful website. It is easy to read and I plan on bookmarking this page.
When comparing these two websites I definitely find the Amphitheater School site to be more useful and more creditable of a source. It is easier to navigate and it has more teacher authors. The teachers collaborated together to create these lesson plans. The links are also more up to date. The first site is confusing and a lot of the links did not work. I also didn’t like how half of the website was devoted to selling teacher items. Though Angela Harris’ page did have room for comments the Amphitheater site was more professional.
Harris, Angela (2010). Third Grade Lesson Plans 85. Retrieved from http://hubpages.com/hub/Third-Grade-Lesson-Plans
I used the UC Berkeley Internet Guide to evaluate two websites. I wasn’t looking for one thing in particular. I was just wanted to see some other third grade lesson plans to spark some ideas for my own classroom. I found two websites by using Google.
The first site I found was entitled Third Grade Lesson Plans 85. This is a personal webpage. This is also a company website because it has com in the address. The author must be a member of the HubPages. It is very clear who the author is because her name is on top. I have never heard of HubPages. It doesn’t sound like an educational server. It’s confusing to see when she posted these things. Not all the links are going through. There were two links that didn’t work. Author’s credentials on the subject is that she is a homeschool teacher though a few of the science and math links were from more creditable sources. There are comments at the bottom of the page but they are old comments. They are mostly from 2 years ago. I believe this page has two purposes. One is to sell teacher items and the other is to collect some 3rd grade lesson plans. This website gave me a good timed math game that I would like to use. Other than that I don’t see anything else that I will use.
The second webpage I searched was from the Amphitheater Public School site. This is not a personal webpage. This comes from a public school district in Arizona. The authors of the lesson plans are listed at the bottom. They are school teachers in the district. The links are very easy to read and navigate. The lesson plans that I’ve browsed even have links to rubrics and other materials to use in the class. The lessons (links) that I explored seem current. They are posting the date when submitted at the bottom of the lesson. There are no comments on this page. This is a very helpful website. It is easy to read and I plan on bookmarking this page.
When comparing these two websites I definitely find the Amphitheater School site to be more useful and more creditable of a source. It is easier to navigate and it has more teacher authors. The teachers collaborated together to create these lesson plans. The links are also more up to date. The first site is confusing and a lot of the links did not work. I also didn’t like how half of the website was devoted to selling teacher items. Though Angela Harris’ page did have room for comments the Amphitheater site was more professional.
Information Literacy Quiz
I received a 4. Though I did get most of number seven. I learned that I don't know very much about finding information on the web. I have never heard of some of those websites (altavista.com). I'm going to copy the quiz results and create a cheat sheet for next time I need to do research.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Annotated Bibliography #4
Jackson, Lorrie (2007). Podcasts for free on a PC. Education World. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech238.shtml
In this article the writer is discussing what is a podcast and how one can use it in a classroom. They describe that a podcast is a recording of sound, usually someone’s voice. She gives background/history of the podcast. The name comes for iPod and the work broadcast. Podcasts at first were put on mp3 players but now 80% are listened on the computer. She then explains some free software programs that teachers can use to upload some podcasts for their students. There is Odeo, Gabcast, and Audacity.
This website is very useful and encouraging for me because I was thinking about doing something like this. In my classroom I have five special education students who need things to be read to them. I have one boy in particular who is reading on a kindergarten level. I could prerecord some of our work or tests and let them listen to the podcast while I help out other students. This would be like creating two of me. My school already has the program audacity so I would just need a microphone. Another idea I have using podcasts would be for their writing. We are creating poetry anthologies. I would like to take a digital picture of everyone’s poem and record them reading their poem. I would then like to combine all of their poems into one link. This would be a great thing for all the parents to see on my teacher webpage. The students would also benefit from hearing themselves read. They would be able to tell me if they are fluent readers.
In this article the writer is discussing what is a podcast and how one can use it in a classroom. They describe that a podcast is a recording of sound, usually someone’s voice. She gives background/history of the podcast. The name comes for iPod and the work broadcast. Podcasts at first were put on mp3 players but now 80% are listened on the computer. She then explains some free software programs that teachers can use to upload some podcasts for their students. There is Odeo, Gabcast, and Audacity.
This website is very useful and encouraging for me because I was thinking about doing something like this. In my classroom I have five special education students who need things to be read to them. I have one boy in particular who is reading on a kindergarten level. I could prerecord some of our work or tests and let them listen to the podcast while I help out other students. This would be like creating two of me. My school already has the program audacity so I would just need a microphone. Another idea I have using podcasts would be for their writing. We are creating poetry anthologies. I would like to take a digital picture of everyone’s poem and record them reading their poem. I would then like to combine all of their poems into one link. This would be a great thing for all the parents to see on my teacher webpage. The students would also benefit from hearing themselves read. They would be able to tell me if they are fluent readers.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Annotated Bibliography #3
Newingham, Beth(2010). Rockin’ Room 13. Retrieved September 18, 2010, from http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/
This is a teacher’s website full of useful downloads and ideas. She is a 3rd grade teacher in Troy School District in Michigan. She has many resources for reading and writing workshop. She is also a recognized Scholastic teacher. She has some great videos modeling how to do their reading framework. She also shows pictures and describes how a teacher should set up a classroom library.
This website has been very useful to me. I am planning on using some of her free downloads in my reading workshop. I am going to use her different genre posters to help my students during our reading workshop. She has wonderful ideas for giving assessments in reading. I really like her teacher conferencing sheet! This website really inspires me to also try new things, like making movies. This is a great website.
This is a teacher’s website full of useful downloads and ideas. She is a 3rd grade teacher in Troy School District in Michigan. She has many resources for reading and writing workshop. She is also a recognized Scholastic teacher. She has some great videos modeling how to do their reading framework. She also shows pictures and describes how a teacher should set up a classroom library.
This website has been very useful to me. I am planning on using some of her free downloads in my reading workshop. I am going to use her different genre posters to help my students during our reading workshop. She has wonderful ideas for giving assessments in reading. I really like her teacher conferencing sheet! This website really inspires me to also try new things, like making movies. This is a great website.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Annotated Bibliography #2
Becker, A., McLaughlin, T., Weber, K.,P., Gower, J. (2009) The Effects of Copy, Cover and Compare with and without Additional Error Drill on Multiplication Fact Fluency and Accuracy. Education & Psychology Retrieved:http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uindy.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=111&sid=dcdced47-eb18-40c8-a1a3-bd6630c099f6%40sessionmgr111
This is an article of research on math fluency. The subject was a fourth grade student with learning disabilities. The researcher wanted to see if Copy, Cover, and Compare method would help her with her math facts compared to the Taped Method. Both methods improved her math fluency. They also showed the same amount of improvement. In the end they said that the Taped Method was better because it took less time for the intervention than the Copy, Cover, and Compare by one minute.
I chose to read this article because I’m wondering how to improve my students’ math fluency. We have a district goal that by the end of third grade, students will pass 30 addition and 30 subtraction facts in one minute. Last year not all of my students passed this goal. I have never heard of these two approaches to teaching facts. I am very interested in trying the copy, cover, and compare method. I don’t see myself using the taped method because I don’t have a tape recorder and I feel like that would be a one-on-one intervention. Whereas I can teach the copy, cover, and compare to the whole class and have them all doing it at the same time. This could also be a great homework tool for parents.
This is an article of research on math fluency. The subject was a fourth grade student with learning disabilities. The researcher wanted to see if Copy, Cover, and Compare method would help her with her math facts compared to the Taped Method. Both methods improved her math fluency. They also showed the same amount of improvement. In the end they said that the Taped Method was better because it took less time for the intervention than the Copy, Cover, and Compare by one minute.
I chose to read this article because I’m wondering how to improve my students’ math fluency. We have a district goal that by the end of third grade, students will pass 30 addition and 30 subtraction facts in one minute. Last year not all of my students passed this goal. I have never heard of these two approaches to teaching facts. I am very interested in trying the copy, cover, and compare method. I don’t see myself using the taped method because I don’t have a tape recorder and I feel like that would be a one-on-one intervention. Whereas I can teach the copy, cover, and compare to the whole class and have them all doing it at the same time. This could also be a great homework tool for parents.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Personal Reflective Paper #1
My definition of literacy is reading, writing, and speaking between two people or more. My definition of technology is anything that is created to make our lives easier. Someone once told me that technology is always changing. A long time ago a pencil could have been considered technology. So today I think some forms of technology are i-pads, i-phones, computer software programs, and interactive computer games. In the classroom some new technologies are Flip cameras, Elmo machines, and lap tops with wireless connection throughout the building.
I believe that technology has made a huge impact on communication. Today we can talk to each other so much faster than ten years ago and through so many outlets. I can communicate with colleagues and friends in seconds through my texting, Facebook page, and email. I can see how fast technology is moving in my own life. When I was in middle school we passed notes between periods. In college we emailed each other and used Instant Messenger. Now we text and update our Facebook page from our phones. This technology has impacted my communication because I’m talking to many people in different social groups in one day without using my telephone, or leaving my home. I can keep up with friends and still have time to grade papers and take care of my son.
Technology will continue to change our reading and writing practices. I believe in the next ten years schools can be paperless. I see Indiana taking away the standard 3.6.1- Write Legibly in Cursive. College students now don’t turn in anything hand written. I can see this trickling down to grade school students emailing homework assignments. I should be teaching typing skills in class. I also think that students are skimming through text instead of reading every word. There is so much to read now due to the Internet. There is so much information and not enough time to read it all. Someone I believe has to skim in order to find the information they are looking for. I believe text will have more titles and subtitles and pictures to fast forward the reading. I also believe that since anyone can publish something on the web that English grammar will suffer. The other day in class my students thought that the sentence, He and I are going to recess, sounded funny. They are reading books with poor grammar and more slang words. So this means that vocabularies will be changing even faster in my opinion. The art of language will barely exist because people will shorten their speech (for example: lol, jk, idk) and write more to the point. A teacher told me yesterday that a student wrote idk (I don’t know) on their test.
I think teachers are going to have to stay up on current technology in order to better our children’s education. If a student doesn’t know how to operate a computer or search on the web they will fall behind especially in college. So I believe that it’s vital to let students play with new technologies. Unfortunately schools don’t have to the budget to keep up and neither do some of the families. At the school I was teaching at last year we had old VHS camcorders, 30 old laptops that had to be used next to a push cart for internet access, overheads, four computers in the classroom. We are very much behind due to money. In the past teachers would purchase anything extra they needed. I cannot afford to go out and buy flips and laptops and an Elmo for my class. So I and other teachers do the best with what we have. I try to get the students to do research projects in teams to share the computer. I try to schedule my class into the computer lab when we can in order to get on the computers to type for writing. I will use my personal digital camera for students to use. Our school has a program called Odyssey which is software to help reinforce skills taught in the classroom. I try to let students use this whenever they get done with their work early. I wanted to start blogging with my students this year on my teacher webpage, but unfortunately I have three students who don’t own a computer and two more students who don’t have internet access. My student families also don’t visit the library regularly. I didn’t want to start this blogging because these students would be left out.
If the world was perfect and I had all the new technologies and all my students had permission and access to use them then they would be light years ahead. My students would be doing more projects and creating. I would like my students to be interacting with other classrooms. I would organize a classroom webpage and have the students run the webpage adding links of their projects. Instead of reading their science books for their homework, they could find videos on the internet or find a site with information. The students could come back and teach each other. They would each have a digital profile. In reading they would have all an ipad with millions of books to choose from. They would record themselves reading and hear if they are fluent readers instead of me telling them. They could also watch each other read, see book lists of other students, and discuss their books through the computer. Their interests in each other would propel them to interchange ideas and enhance their reading and writing abilities. The students would finally have a better stakehold of their education. The possibilities would be endless.
I found some similarities between myself and the teachers in the Karchmer article, The Journey Ahead. The teachers were concerned about reading level. I have run into that problem many times being an elementary teacher. This year I have five students who are reading on a 1st grade level; seven to eight students on a 2nd grade level; and the rest are on a 3rd grade level. I haven’t found tons of kid friendly websites that low readers can navigate independently. I also agree that it takes more time for the teacher. I have to do a lot of searching and navigating for internet sources that students can do on their own. In the article it said that textbooks are a better source of information compared to the internet.(page 455) I also agree to this statement. Time and management is also a struggle. I have only four computers to share between 22 students. This article did inspire me to try to be more creative with integrating technology into my classroom as I hope this class will do the same.
Works Cited
Karchmer, R.A. (2001). The Journey Ahead: Thirteen Teachers Report How the Internet Influences Literacy and Literacy Instruction in their K-12 classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly. 36(4), 422-466.
I believe that technology has made a huge impact on communication. Today we can talk to each other so much faster than ten years ago and through so many outlets. I can communicate with colleagues and friends in seconds through my texting, Facebook page, and email. I can see how fast technology is moving in my own life. When I was in middle school we passed notes between periods. In college we emailed each other and used Instant Messenger. Now we text and update our Facebook page from our phones. This technology has impacted my communication because I’m talking to many people in different social groups in one day without using my telephone, or leaving my home. I can keep up with friends and still have time to grade papers and take care of my son.
Technology will continue to change our reading and writing practices. I believe in the next ten years schools can be paperless. I see Indiana taking away the standard 3.6.1- Write Legibly in Cursive. College students now don’t turn in anything hand written. I can see this trickling down to grade school students emailing homework assignments. I should be teaching typing skills in class. I also think that students are skimming through text instead of reading every word. There is so much to read now due to the Internet. There is so much information and not enough time to read it all. Someone I believe has to skim in order to find the information they are looking for. I believe text will have more titles and subtitles and pictures to fast forward the reading. I also believe that since anyone can publish something on the web that English grammar will suffer. The other day in class my students thought that the sentence, He and I are going to recess, sounded funny. They are reading books with poor grammar and more slang words. So this means that vocabularies will be changing even faster in my opinion. The art of language will barely exist because people will shorten their speech (for example: lol, jk, idk) and write more to the point. A teacher told me yesterday that a student wrote idk (I don’t know) on their test.
I think teachers are going to have to stay up on current technology in order to better our children’s education. If a student doesn’t know how to operate a computer or search on the web they will fall behind especially in college. So I believe that it’s vital to let students play with new technologies. Unfortunately schools don’t have to the budget to keep up and neither do some of the families. At the school I was teaching at last year we had old VHS camcorders, 30 old laptops that had to be used next to a push cart for internet access, overheads, four computers in the classroom. We are very much behind due to money. In the past teachers would purchase anything extra they needed. I cannot afford to go out and buy flips and laptops and an Elmo for my class. So I and other teachers do the best with what we have. I try to get the students to do research projects in teams to share the computer. I try to schedule my class into the computer lab when we can in order to get on the computers to type for writing. I will use my personal digital camera for students to use. Our school has a program called Odyssey which is software to help reinforce skills taught in the classroom. I try to let students use this whenever they get done with their work early. I wanted to start blogging with my students this year on my teacher webpage, but unfortunately I have three students who don’t own a computer and two more students who don’t have internet access. My student families also don’t visit the library regularly. I didn’t want to start this blogging because these students would be left out.
If the world was perfect and I had all the new technologies and all my students had permission and access to use them then they would be light years ahead. My students would be doing more projects and creating. I would like my students to be interacting with other classrooms. I would organize a classroom webpage and have the students run the webpage adding links of their projects. Instead of reading their science books for their homework, they could find videos on the internet or find a site with information. The students could come back and teach each other. They would each have a digital profile. In reading they would have all an ipad with millions of books to choose from. They would record themselves reading and hear if they are fluent readers instead of me telling them. They could also watch each other read, see book lists of other students, and discuss their books through the computer. Their interests in each other would propel them to interchange ideas and enhance their reading and writing abilities. The students would finally have a better stakehold of their education. The possibilities would be endless.
I found some similarities between myself and the teachers in the Karchmer article, The Journey Ahead. The teachers were concerned about reading level. I have run into that problem many times being an elementary teacher. This year I have five students who are reading on a 1st grade level; seven to eight students on a 2nd grade level; and the rest are on a 3rd grade level. I haven’t found tons of kid friendly websites that low readers can navigate independently. I also agree that it takes more time for the teacher. I have to do a lot of searching and navigating for internet sources that students can do on their own. In the article it said that textbooks are a better source of information compared to the internet.(page 455) I also agree to this statement. Time and management is also a struggle. I have only four computers to share between 22 students. This article did inspire me to try to be more creative with integrating technology into my classroom as I hope this class will do the same.
Works Cited
Karchmer, R.A. (2001). The Journey Ahead: Thirteen Teachers Report How the Internet Influences Literacy and Literacy Instruction in their K-12 classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly. 36(4), 422-466.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Annotated Bibliography #1
Annotated Bibliography #1
Buck Institute for Education (2010). Buck Institute For Education Project based Learning for the 21stCentury. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from http://www.bie.org/index.php/site/PBL/overview.pbl/
I was given this website to explore from my Academic Coach at Stephen Decatur. This website gives an overview of what is Project Based Learning. This is a new authentic way of teaching to students to enhance 21st century skills. This site gives a nice description of what is PBL and some videos showing PBL in action.
I was interested in this website because I was on the Decatur Central Design Team last year, and Problem Based Learning is something we want to use. One of our elementary schools is now gearing up to become a PBL school. When I looked at this website I watched the 5th grade video and read about the description of PBL. I am very interested in trying this type of teaching in my own classroom. I want to make teaching more authentic and have the students involved with their education. My biggest concerns/questions are, what project can I do in 3rd grade; time; how to grade; and covering the standards. I would like to find a website that would show how to use PBL in a primary setting. I would also like to see more video examples.
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