Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Documentary Blog
Questions for Thought:
1. Compare and Contrast each documentary. What was similar or different from the first one Digital Nation filmed in 2010 to Generation Like filmed in 2014 ?
2. Your thoughts on multitasking. Do you agree? Can you multitask? Do you disagree with the video on the topic of multitasking? What do you think our students think about multitasking today?
3. Is there an addiction happening in society today with technology or is it just a new way of living? Should we be concerned?
4. Do video games serve a purpose in education or are they a waste of time?
5. How did what you watched in the two videos support your feelings about technology or how did it change your views?
6. Are kids and adults today ruining their digital footprints by sharing too much information online without realizing that it may be detrimental to their future? Should they care? Are they focused on too much of what others think?
1. Compare and Contrast each documentary. What was similar or different from the first one Digital Nation filmed in 2010 to Generation Like filmed in 2014 ?
2. Your thoughts on multitasking. Do you agree? Can you multitask? Do you disagree with the video on the topic of multitasking? What do you think our students think about multitasking today?
3. Is there an addiction happening in society today with technology or is it just a new way of living? Should we be concerned?
4. Do video games serve a purpose in education or are they a waste of time?
5. How did what you watched in the two videos support your feelings about technology or how did it change your views?
6. Are kids and adults today ruining their digital footprints by sharing too much information online without realizing that it may be detrimental to their future? Should they care? Are they focused on too much of what others think?
7. What do you feel are the dangers of technology use? Are there any?
1. Those were two great documentaries, if I was going to share one video, I would have to give the edge to Digital Nation. Digital Nation was all encompassing. It touched on technology in education, personal life, and business. It left a lot of information out there for you to think about, pros and cons for each. I thought Generation Like was good, but it was more on the commercial side of technology, and impacts that social media can have on personal life outside of the classroom. It would be a great video to show students, about the affects it can have, both positive and negative.
2. I love when people bring up this topic of multi-tasking, because it is such a varied subject and people have all these weird thoughts and feelings about it. Here are a few of mine in bullet format
- in a work or school environment you can't do two things simultaneously that involve a thought process….you may be able to drink a glass of water and think about what you're going to do next but thats about it!
- among my co-workers I always felt that there were two types of personalities, those who got aggravated when asked to put one thing down and do something else before the other task was completed, and those who had an "easygoing attitude" that could prioritize and move on.
- Whether you are the type that gets aggravated or not, it is definitely not faster to do try and share your time between two things.
- but…….there is something to be said for people who use there time wisely. If there is any down time while doing one task, it is much more productive to work on another task that you can chip away at.
I'm not too involved in the classroom currently, so I don't know if when talking about multitasking students are referring to starting on their homework for one class while still in another class? or are students today talking about multitasking classwork and their personal life via cellphone use?? I used to do the first type all the time, and thought it was beneficial. I don't think student athletes could handle the work load if they didn't. Like one student said in the video "if there were only 27 hours in the day, I could read Hamlet". This type of multitasking doesn't really take any type of technology to do though?? I think the social media part would lead back to digital citizenship and teaching students proper etiquette.
3. Technology can be addictive, the piece on video gaming in South Korea was kind of scary. Now I don't feel so bad when my kids play on the iPad for an hour or so. I feel that those are extreme circumstances though and gaming technology is no more dangerous than any of other vice out there. I don't think we need to be too concerned, technology is just a new way of living. At least in my house current technology has just replaced older technology. Instead of junk t.v., its Facebook, games, and youtube! Instead of coloring on paper all the time its coloring of creating on the iPad. As long as limits are in place, and things are done in moderation everything will remain in balance.
4. Video games can be very educational. Even ones that don't seem educational, i.e. "first person shooters" like the ones in the interactive army recruitment stations, can teach problem solving skills and teamwork lessons. I would rather have my children playing a video game than watching certain cable television shows filled with commercials and pointless story lines.
6. I think that when certain social media sites first became popular, they may have been considered taboo. Companies may have looked at and used them to unfairly discipline their employees. Now those sites are so mainstream and companies realize how beneficial they can be to their bottom lines, I don't think the same stigma occurs. In fact they certain sites have become so important with professional networking, that if you don't have an account you may be frowned upon for not being tech savvy enough. That being said if your posting inappropriate things online its probably not the best choice, lets teach that Digital Citizenship.
7. Technology of course has dangers, but everything in life does. Lets not be the person who stays inside all day because they're too scared to cross the street! We just need to be aware of them, talk about them, and plan for the best prevention possible.
5. There was a couple segments in the documentaries that really intrigued me and made me stop contemplate a little longer.
The first was the comparison between the MIT professors in the beginning of the film who said students were falling behind because of technology. You had one of the professors saying that if the students had been listening to his lecture and reading the assigned readings they should have no problems absorbing the material. Then compare that to when Marc Prensky of "Games2Train" is later describing how in todays educational sentence, the verbs should be staying constant it is the nouns that should be changing. It was once books/papers that were the nouns and now it is moving towards digital tools like video/podcast being the nouns. Are these MIT professors a sign of the "Old Style" just too stubborn to change or are they right??
The second, was how technology has somehow made the students lose the ability to write fluidly. At one point in "Digital Nation" there are students sitting around all agreeing that professors had critiqued their papers for being to chopped up into very specific paragraphs. I myself am sitting here trying to piece back together my notes that I was typing while watching the film, and trying to answer all the questions. Its looking pretty choppy… Is it technology's fault? Is it a bad thing? At one point in the film a professor was saying that way back in world history before written words and books, storytelling was a strength of the people. Then came written words, and the art of storytelling was lost(or maybe just not as good as it once was), people were able to write the stories down in books. Were books a bad thing? Has technology changed the way we write? I have always preferred science, maybe it just isn't a strength.
One of the topics that I did not agree with completely was when the documentary started following the IBM workers and how they telecommuted and video conferenced everything. It seemed like they were completely happy with it and these virtual avatars enabled them to connect socially. They seemed to be complementing clothing choices and making jokes. I just don't think, in a business or educational setting, you can get the same thing from a virtual world as you can from a face to face setting. There are so many little nuances that when you're talking to someone in person you can pick up on. There is too many times to count, where I've been working with a co-worker or even talking to my kids where I've asked if they understand something and they say "yes", when all over their face I can see that it is really a "no".
The last thing I would like to mention, just because it left me in awww, was the part about todays military and drone strikes. First a thank you to our military and the people that serve. The part about the soldier sitting in Arizona using a drone to drop a bomb in Afghanistan, then driving home to have dinner with his family an hour later. I guess I never knew or thought about it long enough, I always assumed that the drones were being controlled at some military base closer to the conflict area, by soldiers who were deployed and "in" a combat mental state all the time. To realize that mentally some soldiers are going from drone strikes to reading bed time stories in the same day…that just kind of made me stop a think.
Reflection on Digital Citizenship
Digital Citizenship. If you work or play in today's online world, you are a digital citizen. It doesn't matter what country or continent you live in, online we are all one large community.
I liked this quote from "The importance of teaching digital citizenship" article
"Often we invoke the word "citizenship" in terms of our rights - our rights to privacy and to free speech, for example. But citizenship is also about responsibilities - responsibilities to maintain, to protect, and to enhance the community in which we live."
Digital citizenship skills need to be taught collectively at home and at our schools as soon as children start using the internet. As time goes by, and this current digital generation will be exposed to "digital etiquette", it will become one and the same as etiquette and we will no longer need the "digital". It is vitally important that our children get reinforcement in both area's of their life, at school at at home. Just like the basics of reading and mathematics. If students are not reading at home or getting reinforcement from they're family, they will probably struggle in school. I think the internet is the same, if students are not being checked on or taught to have appropriate behavior at home, then all the hard work put in at the schools will be mostly negated.
I was surprised by the statistic that 13% of students say they've been bullied online and 31% say they've been bullied face to face (PewResearchInternetProject) That statistic makes me wonder if students are more threatened by one over the other. My instincts would say that online bullying is more detrimental and maybe that 13% means more then just 13%. I know at my daughter's school they teach the kids certain steps on how to handle bullying. (to ignore, ask politely, ask assertively, and then talk to a teacher). I don't think I've seen a step by step guide for cyber-bullying? maybe my kids just aren't old enough yet? We've been teaching/talking about face to face bullying for years, how many years have we been talking about cyber-bullying?
I would break the 9 elements of digital citizenship into these groups.
K-5
- Digital Access
- Digital Literacy
- Digital Communication
- Digital Etiquette
- Digital Health & Wellness
- Digital Security
- Digital Rights & Responsibility
- Digital Commerce
- Digital Law
Check out this website at CommonSenseMedia for teaching Digital Citizenship. It seems to be a very comprehensive curriculum layout.
Teaching or reviewing digital citizenship skills to students should be proportional to the size of the lesson. If it is a quick lesson, there should be a quick reminder about what is and isn't appropriate online. These small, frequent reminders are what builds the strong foundation for good digital citizenship skills later in school and life when they will be doing longer projects and spending more time online.
I was surprised/scared slightly by the video piece on digital footprints. I am totally one of the people that just selects "agree" to the terms and conditions. I feel slightly powerless about the whole thing. Its not like you can get away from Google, or email, or credit reports now a days. So how do you keep it out. I guess you just have to accept it. I have enrolled in a "credit check monitoring" program for the last three years. I couldn't tell you if its a waste of money or not, luckily I haven't had to use it or received any alerts, but in today's world I felt it was kind of like car or life insurance….just one of those things you need to have. That reminds me, the next thing I need to start using is a password management system/software....Any recommendation??
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Blogger Review
Maria Knee blogs with her kindergarten class at http://thekinderkids.edublogs.org/. "A Skype Call to Afghanistan" was one of the last blogs of the year the class did. During this blog there was a video of the class talking to an Australian soldier via Skype, they then read a children's story about how families long ago used to bake these special cookies for their soldiers, and then they tried to bake cookies and send them over to the soldier they spoke with along with some pictures the drew. I thought this was a great way to introduce the class to a current technology that many students probably use or could use at home to connect with loved ones. Whether it be someone they know in the military, a grandparent, or a parent away on a business trip. I had never heard of Anzac biscuits or been exposed to the Google slides application prior to this blog. Pedagogically speaking this was a great example of how a teacher can weave together current technology, classic read aloud story telling, and a hands on activity that the kids could get actively involved in. I liked that this blog was not really the teacher's personal opinion on how she liked to use technology in the classroom but more of a working example. That way many people benefit, the students who have a hand in many of the posts, the parents can actively participate, and other teachers or educational professionals can get ideas and use ideas for their own class. This site is managed or run through http://edublogs.org/. I have no previous experience with this company but feel that the website was very easy to follow. There was lots of links and information on the side bars. I think Maria does a wonderful job at demonstrating technology in action at the kindergarten level.
Jeff Utecht blogs at http://www.jeffutecht.com/. "I'm being pulled to Google+" was the perfect blog to read at this point in the course! Chapter 2 was all about developing a connected learning model, and Jeff introduces us to some great tools in starting your own PLN. I had never heard of Google+, I logged on and browsed some of the post. I linked to an "Artifacts Teach", website that seemed similar to the webquests that we are starting to work on. There was also a free PDF file on using Blogs as web-based portfolios, which I had seen on Maria's class blog at http://thekinderkids.edublogs.org/. I thought Jeff's website was very "infotaining", it definitely grabbed my attention, and had lots of links and information to share not just about education but life in general. I think this type of blog is one that you could pull up and read daily, for fun even if you were not vested in it directly...while the first blog I talked about not so much. Jeff's blog is a great way to show that if you make information entertaining, or put a little creativity behind it, it may just be the best way to get people to learn or stay engaged long enough to get your idea across. Technology makes this happen and it is an idea that you can take into the classroom to better engage students and keep them learning or coming back again wanting to learn on a daily basis.
Richard Byrne blogs at http://www.freetech4teachers.com/. "The Antarctic Food Web Game" was another blog that fit in well with what we were doing in class. The game, which had an "ocean" theme, was create and hosted by PBS and is very similar to the webquest I would like to create for our class project. Students read about food chains and food webs, how they are used in science, and how the are created. They then got the chance to create a food web with previously selected animals that were in the side bar. The one major difference between this "game" and our webquest is that all the information for the game seemed to be on the site itself, it did not have any links to other informational sites. This may be a better format for a younger group of kids then I am targeting.
Richard's website was packed with tabs and links to resources he felt were beneficial. One of my favorites was
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/66326425/The%20Super%20Book%20of%20Web%20Tools%20for%20Educators
He also seemed to have a large portion of his web page taken up by ads, which I did not like. I feel that when you have ads so prominent on your web site you lose a little bit of trust from your audience. They start to feel as if your opinion can be swayed by money and whether or not you truly feel this is beneficial to your readership. I'm not sure what the prerequisites are for advertising on his site but there seemed to be quite a few.
Richard's blog was a great way for educators like myself to search out information that will help us integrate technology into the classroom. The link I provided above was a great tool for me as a teacher with little experience, in helping me focus on what new tools or programs I should learn first. With so much out there it can be a little overwhelming, you get the feeling of "I don't even know where to begin!"
Jeff Utecht blogs at http://www.jeffutecht.com/. "I'm being pulled to Google+" was the perfect blog to read at this point in the course! Chapter 2 was all about developing a connected learning model, and Jeff introduces us to some great tools in starting your own PLN. I had never heard of Google+, I logged on and browsed some of the post. I linked to an "Artifacts Teach", website that seemed similar to the webquests that we are starting to work on. There was also a free PDF file on using Blogs as web-based portfolios, which I had seen on Maria's class blog at http://thekinderkids.edublogs.org/. I thought Jeff's website was very "infotaining", it definitely grabbed my attention, and had lots of links and information to share not just about education but life in general. I think this type of blog is one that you could pull up and read daily, for fun even if you were not vested in it directly...while the first blog I talked about not so much. Jeff's blog is a great way to show that if you make information entertaining, or put a little creativity behind it, it may just be the best way to get people to learn or stay engaged long enough to get your idea across. Technology makes this happen and it is an idea that you can take into the classroom to better engage students and keep them learning or coming back again wanting to learn on a daily basis.
Richard Byrne blogs at http://www.freetech4teachers.com/. "The Antarctic Food Web Game" was another blog that fit in well with what we were doing in class. The game, which had an "ocean" theme, was create and hosted by PBS and is very similar to the webquest I would like to create for our class project. Students read about food chains and food webs, how they are used in science, and how the are created. They then got the chance to create a food web with previously selected animals that were in the side bar. The one major difference between this "game" and our webquest is that all the information for the game seemed to be on the site itself, it did not have any links to other informational sites. This may be a better format for a younger group of kids then I am targeting.
Richard's website was packed with tabs and links to resources he felt were beneficial. One of my favorites was
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/66326425/The%20Super%20Book%20of%20Web%20Tools%20for%20Educators
He also seemed to have a large portion of his web page taken up by ads, which I did not like. I feel that when you have ads so prominent on your web site you lose a little bit of trust from your audience. They start to feel as if your opinion can be swayed by money and whether or not you truly feel this is beneficial to your readership. I'm not sure what the prerequisites are for advertising on his site but there seemed to be quite a few.
Richard's blog was a great way for educators like myself to search out information that will help us integrate technology into the classroom. The link I provided above was a great tool for me as a teacher with little experience, in helping me focus on what new tools or programs I should learn first. With so much out there it can be a little overwhelming, you get the feeling of "I don't even know where to begin!"
WebQuest Idea
Webquest
"Help, Aquatic Scientists Needed!" a local aquarium has had a terrible accident! Their tanks have broken and released all the animals into the local bay. They need all the help they can get with identifying and grouping the species. Then we need to decide what type of environment they live in so we can bring them back to their original ecosystems as soon as possible. You'll break up into small teams and each take a specific subgroup to work on. After you have located each animal in your group, you will have to figure out what type of ecosystem they thrive in so we can return them home.
I am creating a webquest which has 4th grade students classifying different aquatic animals in groups and bringing them to the correct ecosystem so they can survive. (i.e. fresh/salt water, cold/warm water, mammals/fish/crustaceans things they may see at an aquarium that they would visit....)
I am currently seeking my Med. Elementary Education, and I hope to teach in 3rd-5th grade.
I didn't get my idea from any particular webquest already made, I received my undergraduate degree in Marine Science, so this "area of interest" has always been exciting to me. When I was researching curriculum guidelines and lesson plans for 3rd-5th grade, I just decided that these two ideas (Aquarium/ Species Classifications) would work well together because there is such a wide range of animals at an aquarium.
I would like for the students to get an understanding of how to sort/classify different living things, based on identifiable structures and characteristics, and how these characteristics would help them survive in different habitats/ecosystems. This fits into the NH Frameworks for Science Literacy 3-4 grade expectations.
I would like my students to use computers/provided links to aquariums, state fish and game sites, wikipedia, etc... for researching the animals and where they live, and fill out tables/charts provided by me to help them organize all their information they gather.
Life Science
LS 1 - All living organisms have identifiable structures and characteristics that allow
for survival (organisms, populations, & species).
1. CLASSIFICATION
1) Recognize and identify the various ways in which living things can be grouped.
2) Sort/classify different living things using similar and different characteristics. Describe why organisms
belong to each group or cite evidence about how they are alike or not alike. [LS1 (K-4) INQ+POC –1]
2. LIVING THINGS AND ORGANIZATION
1) Recognize that living organisms have certain structures and systems that perform specific functions,
facilitating survival, growth and reproduction.
2) Identify and describe the function of the plant structures responsible for food production, water transport,
support, reproduction, growth and protection.
3) Identify and explain how the physical structures of an organism (plants or animals) allow it to survive in its
habitat/environment (e.g., roots for water; nose to smell fire). [LS1 (K-4) FAF –4]
4) Identify the basic needs of plants and animals in order to stay alive (i.e., water, air, food, space). [LS1 (K-
http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/assessment/necap
"Help, Aquatic Scientists Needed!" a local aquarium has had a terrible accident! Their tanks have broken and released all the animals into the local bay. They need all the help they can get with identifying and grouping the species. Then we need to decide what type of environment they live in so we can bring them back to their original ecosystems as soon as possible. You'll break up into small teams and each take a specific subgroup to work on. After you have located each animal in your group, you will have to figure out what type of ecosystem they thrive in so we can return them home.
I am creating a webquest which has 4th grade students classifying different aquatic animals in groups and bringing them to the correct ecosystem so they can survive. (i.e. fresh/salt water, cold/warm water, mammals/fish/crustaceans things they may see at an aquarium that they would visit....)
I am currently seeking my Med. Elementary Education, and I hope to teach in 3rd-5th grade.
I didn't get my idea from any particular webquest already made, I received my undergraduate degree in Marine Science, so this "area of interest" has always been exciting to me. When I was researching curriculum guidelines and lesson plans for 3rd-5th grade, I just decided that these two ideas (Aquarium/ Species Classifications) would work well together because there is such a wide range of animals at an aquarium.
I would like for the students to get an understanding of how to sort/classify different living things, based on identifiable structures and characteristics, and how these characteristics would help them survive in different habitats/ecosystems. This fits into the NH Frameworks for Science Literacy 3-4 grade expectations.
I would like my students to use computers/provided links to aquariums, state fish and game sites, wikipedia, etc... for researching the animals and where they live, and fill out tables/charts provided by me to help them organize all their information they gather.
Life Science
LS 1 - All living organisms have identifiable structures and characteristics that allow
for survival (organisms, populations, & species).
1. CLASSIFICATION
1) Recognize and identify the various ways in which living things can be grouped.
2) Sort/classify different living things using similar and different characteristics. Describe why organisms
belong to each group or cite evidence about how they are alike or not alike. [LS1 (K-4) INQ+POC –1]
2. LIVING THINGS AND ORGANIZATION
1) Recognize that living organisms have certain structures and systems that perform specific functions,
facilitating survival, growth and reproduction.
2) Identify and describe the function of the plant structures responsible for food production, water transport,
support, reproduction, growth and protection.
3) Identify and explain how the physical structures of an organism (plants or animals) allow it to survive in its
habitat/environment (e.g., roots for water; nose to smell fire). [LS1 (K-4) FAF –4]
4) Identify the basic needs of plants and animals in order to stay alive (i.e., water, air, food, space). [LS1 (K-
http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/assessment/necap
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Using Technology to Personalize Learning in Elementary Schools October 15th, 2013
Matthew Renwick(Principal, Howe Elementary School, Wisconsin Rapids Wisconsin), Ben Wilkoff (Co-Director of Blended Learning in the Denver School District, Denver Colorado), and a representative from Dreambox learning, created this webinar to discuss how the advancements in digital technology have created new ways that classrooms, schools, and districts can improve an individual's educational path, and ultimately a student's/school's performance as a whole. During the webinar they discuss the benefits of a blended learning environment(using traditional methods and new emerging technologies) but also make a point of the key to success is not just about adding more and more technology and then saying that you have a blended classroom, but its more about proper assessment and proper planning so technology can be implemented in its most efficient way and create a person's individual learning path. Every student, every school, every district has their own individual needs, and its imperative that they choose what to bring into the classroom as part of their technology integration. Differentiation is key!
They talk about how teachers can use new technology in simple ways to help with formative assessment, and then take this real-time data to create adaptive learning paths for individual students. One of the example they use is a kindergarten class whose students are working on the life cycle of a butterfly. The teacher was using an ipad to document each student's work in their own e-portfolio by taking a picture and an audio clip of the students own description of their work. The example shows three different student's "work", all three understanding the concept of the life cycle but working in different ways. One student had colored and written words about the cycle, one student had cut out pictures and pasted them in a correct order, and another had used pasta to create the different steps. The purpose of the example, was two fold, that the teacher had given all the students the option to choose how they wanted demonstrate their understanding. If she had asked them all to draw and write about it, some of the students may not have felt like they succeeded or would not have been as "engaged" long enough to learn the outcome. The second purpose was to show that with technology, documenting and archiving a students work for later reflection and lesson planning is much more efficient in today's classroom. That student can then immediately take their work home, when their parents ask what they did at school today, they have something to show and be proud of.(I feel like a lot of the time, projects that my daughter brings home were done weeks before and she's usually lost interest in telling me about them). The parents can be proud, give encouragement, feel good about the education their child is receiving. The teacher still has the ability to look back over all the students work electronically and doesn't need to store 25 students artwork, and have to worry about the logistical side of taking home all the stuff to accurately grade/reflect/and plan the next lesson or the next step in that student's particular path. The logistical step alone saves time, and allows the teacher to more accurately assess their classes' needs and plan lessons that connect with all their students. This positive loop of student engagement, and effective assessment then kind of snowballs and shows how technology can help create positive change in our classrooms.
This example is a great way of showing what technology in the hands of a kindergarten teacher looks like, but also leads us to how every class needs to make their own decisions because technology in kindergarten will be different then technology in the hands of a 5th grade science teacher. In 5th grade it may be more beneficial to have a 1:1 computer ratio and students personalizing their own lessons and the teacher is in more of a advisor/class manager role, making sure outcomes are met but allowing students a little more flexibility with where they're at on their own educational path. This difference is ultimately the schools and teachers choice, and needs to be planned out accordingly so they feel their needs are being met.
I do not currently teach, but my goal is to become an elementary school teacher preferably (4th or 5th grade). I could not imagine, trying to get 25 students to all do the same thing the same way. I have managed people in the retail setting for the past 10 years, these are adults that are getting paid! and that would be impossible, well it may be possible but not a best practice. 80% of the employees would be disgruntled and turnover would be terrible... And then forget about just getting them to do things the same way, everyone enjoys learning a different way, so you have to be flexible and adaptive. We need to remember, as long as the outcome is met it doesn't really matter how we got there, (scratch that it does matter! if the students enjoy getting to the outcome then continual engagement, growth and success of the learner will increase dramatically). To engage everyone you need to realize everyone is different, you need to make a personal connection, find out their strengths and weaknesses, ask them "what they enjoy doing?" "what they feel like they can improve on?" and give them time each day to excel at their strengths and work on their weaknesses. I can see how without the speed and ease of technology, engaging so many different types of students would be extremely difficult. In the retail business it was easy to setup training in (1 to 1) environments, but that's not really possible in school, with the teacher as the center of the classroom model,(1 to 25) if your lucky. I can see why today's classrooms struggle. I would try and use the availability and self-directed aspects of different materials and techniques via the internet to try and have students personalize some of their lessons and maximize engagement. Below is an introduction to Dreambox and how its software can help develop personalized lesson plans. Dreambox is also a sponsor of the webinar.
During the webinar a large emphasis was also put on a connected school community, that only through a system of supportive communication, collaboration and sharing can school systems turn "good practice" into "best" practice.
"Meaningful collaboration and collegiality are forces that can bring about the kind of shift we all are seeking in schools today---a shift that connects and engages us as educators, supports and sustains us, and helps us enrich our students' lives and accelerate their achievement" (The Connected Educator, Beach/Hall 2012)
I feel that webinars are an incredible way to create this important collaboration and sharing system. When you think of "seminars", they are presentations given to large groups of people, usually in a large room or auditorium, in order to share information that you feel is educational or beneficial. Now increase the access to that seminar exponentially and you have webinar...available to a world full of people not just a room, They are a system of sharing of information that is easy tap into, no more marking the calendar, having to attend them on the weekends or evenings. You can start and stop them when you please, and share them easily, within your connected community.
This has been my first class of graduate school, and I have been exposed to a lot of this emerging technology for the first time. Webinars being one of them, but I also researched some webquests in preparation for next week. This webinar on personalized learning and webquests seem to go perfectly together, and would be something I would use in my classroom if currently teaching. The teacher can set up a webquest with a certain outcome or educational goal in mind, students then can personalize it, research/learn on a path that works best for them.
"Course Learner Outcomes" that this webinar was most pertinent too, were #2 Learn ways to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students conceptual understanding and #6 Evaluate and reflect on emerging tools and trends by reviewing current research and professional literature.
The example the Ben Wilkoff gave of the Kindergarten teacher recording and clarifying how the three different students each achieved conceptual understanding of the butterfly life cycle but each in their own personalized way was a great example of outcome #2, and really hit home with me on how technology can and should be used in schools today. It is something I will take with me into the classroom.
Being exposed to a webinar in general was perfect for outcome #6, webinars are an emerging tool for teacher personal development, during the webinar I also put together a small list of books to read for further research and professional growth. The presenters recommended reading "World Class Learners" by Yong Zhao (Corwin, 2012), and "Visible Learning" by John Hattie (Routlege, 2009). This is a small start to creating and joining a connected educational community.
This webinar was very informative, and made you reflect on not only the benefits of personalized learning but also the challenges that schools face. Differentiated instruction or Personalized learning, no matter how you describe it, is important. Technology can and will be the teachers best way to make it happen.
Matthew Renwick blogs at Reading by Example.
Ben Wilkoff blogs at Learning is Change.
Matthew Renwick(Principal, Howe Elementary School, Wisconsin Rapids Wisconsin), Ben Wilkoff (Co-Director of Blended Learning in the Denver School District, Denver Colorado), and a representative from Dreambox learning, created this webinar to discuss how the advancements in digital technology have created new ways that classrooms, schools, and districts can improve an individual's educational path, and ultimately a student's/school's performance as a whole. During the webinar they discuss the benefits of a blended learning environment(using traditional methods and new emerging technologies) but also make a point of the key to success is not just about adding more and more technology and then saying that you have a blended classroom, but its more about proper assessment and proper planning so technology can be implemented in its most efficient way and create a person's individual learning path. Every student, every school, every district has their own individual needs, and its imperative that they choose what to bring into the classroom as part of their technology integration. Differentiation is key!
They talk about how teachers can use new technology in simple ways to help with formative assessment, and then take this real-time data to create adaptive learning paths for individual students. One of the example they use is a kindergarten class whose students are working on the life cycle of a butterfly. The teacher was using an ipad to document each student's work in their own e-portfolio by taking a picture and an audio clip of the students own description of their work. The example shows three different student's "work", all three understanding the concept of the life cycle but working in different ways. One student had colored and written words about the cycle, one student had cut out pictures and pasted them in a correct order, and another had used pasta to create the different steps. The purpose of the example, was two fold, that the teacher had given all the students the option to choose how they wanted demonstrate their understanding. If she had asked them all to draw and write about it, some of the students may not have felt like they succeeded or would not have been as "engaged" long enough to learn the outcome. The second purpose was to show that with technology, documenting and archiving a students work for later reflection and lesson planning is much more efficient in today's classroom. That student can then immediately take their work home, when their parents ask what they did at school today, they have something to show and be proud of.(I feel like a lot of the time, projects that my daughter brings home were done weeks before and she's usually lost interest in telling me about them). The parents can be proud, give encouragement, feel good about the education their child is receiving. The teacher still has the ability to look back over all the students work electronically and doesn't need to store 25 students artwork, and have to worry about the logistical side of taking home all the stuff to accurately grade/reflect/and plan the next lesson or the next step in that student's particular path. The logistical step alone saves time, and allows the teacher to more accurately assess their classes' needs and plan lessons that connect with all their students. This positive loop of student engagement, and effective assessment then kind of snowballs and shows how technology can help create positive change in our classrooms.
This example is a great way of showing what technology in the hands of a kindergarten teacher looks like, but also leads us to how every class needs to make their own decisions because technology in kindergarten will be different then technology in the hands of a 5th grade science teacher. In 5th grade it may be more beneficial to have a 1:1 computer ratio and students personalizing their own lessons and the teacher is in more of a advisor/class manager role, making sure outcomes are met but allowing students a little more flexibility with where they're at on their own educational path. This difference is ultimately the schools and teachers choice, and needs to be planned out accordingly so they feel their needs are being met.
I do not currently teach, but my goal is to become an elementary school teacher preferably (4th or 5th grade). I could not imagine, trying to get 25 students to all do the same thing the same way. I have managed people in the retail setting for the past 10 years, these are adults that are getting paid! and that would be impossible, well it may be possible but not a best practice. 80% of the employees would be disgruntled and turnover would be terrible... And then forget about just getting them to do things the same way, everyone enjoys learning a different way, so you have to be flexible and adaptive. We need to remember, as long as the outcome is met it doesn't really matter how we got there, (scratch that it does matter! if the students enjoy getting to the outcome then continual engagement, growth and success of the learner will increase dramatically). To engage everyone you need to realize everyone is different, you need to make a personal connection, find out their strengths and weaknesses, ask them "what they enjoy doing?" "what they feel like they can improve on?" and give them time each day to excel at their strengths and work on their weaknesses. I can see how without the speed and ease of technology, engaging so many different types of students would be extremely difficult. In the retail business it was easy to setup training in (1 to 1) environments, but that's not really possible in school, with the teacher as the center of the classroom model,(1 to 25) if your lucky. I can see why today's classrooms struggle. I would try and use the availability and self-directed aspects of different materials and techniques via the internet to try and have students personalize some of their lessons and maximize engagement. Below is an introduction to Dreambox and how its software can help develop personalized lesson plans. Dreambox is also a sponsor of the webinar.
During the webinar a large emphasis was also put on a connected school community, that only through a system of supportive communication, collaboration and sharing can school systems turn "good practice" into "best" practice.
"Meaningful collaboration and collegiality are forces that can bring about the kind of shift we all are seeking in schools today---a shift that connects and engages us as educators, supports and sustains us, and helps us enrich our students' lives and accelerate their achievement" (The Connected Educator, Beach/Hall 2012)
I feel that webinars are an incredible way to create this important collaboration and sharing system. When you think of "seminars", they are presentations given to large groups of people, usually in a large room or auditorium, in order to share information that you feel is educational or beneficial. Now increase the access to that seminar exponentially and you have webinar...available to a world full of people not just a room, They are a system of sharing of information that is easy tap into, no more marking the calendar, having to attend them on the weekends or evenings. You can start and stop them when you please, and share them easily, within your connected community.
This has been my first class of graduate school, and I have been exposed to a lot of this emerging technology for the first time. Webinars being one of them, but I also researched some webquests in preparation for next week. This webinar on personalized learning and webquests seem to go perfectly together, and would be something I would use in my classroom if currently teaching. The teacher can set up a webquest with a certain outcome or educational goal in mind, students then can personalize it, research/learn on a path that works best for them.
"Course Learner Outcomes" that this webinar was most pertinent too, were #2 Learn ways to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students conceptual understanding and #6 Evaluate and reflect on emerging tools and trends by reviewing current research and professional literature.
The example the Ben Wilkoff gave of the Kindergarten teacher recording and clarifying how the three different students each achieved conceptual understanding of the butterfly life cycle but each in their own personalized way was a great example of outcome #2, and really hit home with me on how technology can and should be used in schools today. It is something I will take with me into the classroom.
Being exposed to a webinar in general was perfect for outcome #6, webinars are an emerging tool for teacher personal development, during the webinar I also put together a small list of books to read for further research and professional growth. The presenters recommended reading "World Class Learners" by Yong Zhao (Corwin, 2012), and "Visible Learning" by John Hattie (Routlege, 2009). This is a small start to creating and joining a connected educational community.
This webinar was very informative, and made you reflect on not only the benefits of personalized learning but also the challenges that schools face. Differentiated instruction or Personalized learning, no matter how you describe it, is important. Technology can and will be the teachers best way to make it happen.
Matthew Renwick blogs at Reading by Example.
Ben Wilkoff blogs at Learning is Change.
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