Silence can say more then a thousand words.
On April 30th 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in honor towards the victims of Virginia. 33 died at the US college massacre.
Check this out and see if it is something of interest to you. Using technology as a way of expressing our sorrow over loss and of mourning the students killed at Virginia Tech.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Week of April 15th Blog Quiz
Task #1:
The most amazing part of the Baltimore County Public School article for me was the fact they were able to put servers and set up logins for teachers in 169 schools in only 2.5 weeks. I think so many times we hesitate to incorporate the latest technology into our schools because we think it would be just too difficult and time-consuming. If anything, this article should show us we need not be afraid and use such time constraints as issues in fighting the latest technology.
As for abolishing high schools - I would love to see more useof competency-based courses/schools. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all of my life experiences helped me "test out" of certain classes because I already know enough about them from my own experience and my own learning outside of the classroom. I also agree we should allow younger students the opportunity to work if they so desire. Why not? We have laws which protect them from long work days and tiny salaries. If they are capable, willing, and motivated to try their hand at work why not let them? Farmers don't tell their children they are too young to work on the farm. We don't tell our children they are too young to help around the house - in fact we encourage it. Why should this be any different? And most importantly, I agree we sometimes teach our children nothing in a 13-year compulsory education does is make our students hate school.
My favorite line in the article is the one that says: "learning that benefits all students--is necessarily individualized ans self-paced. This is the elephone in the classroom from which no teacher can hide".
Task #2:
I am not surprised by Will's comments about this latest degree on "social computing". He encourages us to do our learning on-line so why would he be encouraged and excited by a university degree that does the same things we can do for ourself without the constraints of a university. Think about it - he says why know the presidents of the United States when you can use your cell phone to access the information on the internet. All of the things he feels we can do for ourselves are a waste of time for us to try and teach students. We need to teach them how to access the information - that is all they need to know. So, I can understand he would feel the best place to learn about social computing is on any one of the websites which deal with this subject. I have to say I agree with him. We already spend too much of our time teaching students what they already know - or what they already know how to access.
Task #3:
Barb and I are going to do an iMovie and we are going to use still photographs with voice overs to accomplish this movie. I am going to keep the subject matter a secret at this moment. It will be something of interest and significance to all of us who are soon-to-be ELA teachers. We will be working on it on Wednesday and I am excited about the project.
We will be learning from this project since neither of us has a clue how to put together an iMovie with stills and voice overs. We will need lots of help from Ray.
The most amazing part of the Baltimore County Public School article for me was the fact they were able to put servers and set up logins for teachers in 169 schools in only 2.5 weeks. I think so many times we hesitate to incorporate the latest technology into our schools because we think it would be just too difficult and time-consuming. If anything, this article should show us we need not be afraid and use such time constraints as issues in fighting the latest technology.
As for abolishing high schools - I would love to see more useof competency-based courses/schools. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all of my life experiences helped me "test out" of certain classes because I already know enough about them from my own experience and my own learning outside of the classroom. I also agree we should allow younger students the opportunity to work if they so desire. Why not? We have laws which protect them from long work days and tiny salaries. If they are capable, willing, and motivated to try their hand at work why not let them? Farmers don't tell their children they are too young to work on the farm. We don't tell our children they are too young to help around the house - in fact we encourage it. Why should this be any different? And most importantly, I agree we sometimes teach our children nothing in a 13-year compulsory education does is make our students hate school.
My favorite line in the article is the one that says: "learning that benefits all students--is necessarily individualized ans self-paced. This is the elephone in the classroom from which no teacher can hide".
Task #2:
I am not surprised by Will's comments about this latest degree on "social computing". He encourages us to do our learning on-line so why would he be encouraged and excited by a university degree that does the same things we can do for ourself without the constraints of a university. Think about it - he says why know the presidents of the United States when you can use your cell phone to access the information on the internet. All of the things he feels we can do for ourselves are a waste of time for us to try and teach students. We need to teach them how to access the information - that is all they need to know. So, I can understand he would feel the best place to learn about social computing is on any one of the websites which deal with this subject. I have to say I agree with him. We already spend too much of our time teaching students what they already know - or what they already know how to access.
Task #3:
Barb and I are going to do an iMovie and we are going to use still photographs with voice overs to accomplish this movie. I am going to keep the subject matter a secret at this moment. It will be something of interest and significance to all of us who are soon-to-be ELA teachers. We will be working on it on Wednesday and I am excited about the project.
We will be learning from this project since neither of us has a clue how to put together an iMovie with stills and voice overs. We will need lots of help from Ray.
The Ron Clark Story
For anyone who tried to access the live video about Ron Clark from my blog (oops!) I have corrected it, and tested it myself. You should be able to view his website now. Sorry for the error and thanks to Professor Stearns for letting me know what I had done wrong.
CHECK THIS OUT
First, I cannot believe that a middle school teacher in Florida responded to my blog -- Second, check out the uses of technology in her classroom and check out her husband's classroom (completely paperless). I am so excited! Below is a copy of her blog to me on my Digital Musings blog:
April 11, 2007 12:28 PM
Jess said...
I teach middle school in Sarasota, Florida and we have what is called NeXt Generation. Our county school district is dedicated to utilizing as much technology as possible within the classroom. On our team, we each have an ActivBoard (similar but more user friendly than a Smart Board), each teacher has his/her own laptop, a class set of computers (mixture of laptops and desktops), and wireless internet connections.We teach our kids how to use Movie Maker, they create web pages using Front Page, they create pamphlets, conduct research, complete online labs for science and even take online assessments. My husband's 8th grade social studies class is complete paperless - he has all of his assignments and assessments online.In order to propel this country's future citizens into the 21st century, we need to invest the money into not only the most up to day and advanced teaching equipment, but also in the training of our teachers to use these machines to their fullest extent. I know that when I move from Florida sometime in the near future, I will not be in the same position, technologically speaking, as I am here. Unfortunately, there are many school districts who are unable to sufficiently fund these sort of programs.
April 11, 2007 6:23 PM
All of this points to our need to be sure and edit our blogs (you never know who is reading them) and our need to communicate with each other on our blogs. If someone who is not a part of our class is checking out our blogs then we owe it to ourselves and each other to check out the blogs of our classmates.
April 11, 2007 12:28 PM
Jess said...
I teach middle school in Sarasota, Florida and we have what is called NeXt Generation. Our county school district is dedicated to utilizing as much technology as possible within the classroom. On our team, we each have an ActivBoard (similar but more user friendly than a Smart Board), each teacher has his/her own laptop, a class set of computers (mixture of laptops and desktops), and wireless internet connections.We teach our kids how to use Movie Maker, they create web pages using Front Page, they create pamphlets, conduct research, complete online labs for science and even take online assessments. My husband's 8th grade social studies class is complete paperless - he has all of his assignments and assessments online.In order to propel this country's future citizens into the 21st century, we need to invest the money into not only the most up to day and advanced teaching equipment, but also in the training of our teachers to use these machines to their fullest extent. I know that when I move from Florida sometime in the near future, I will not be in the same position, technologically speaking, as I am here. Unfortunately, there are many school districts who are unable to sufficiently fund these sort of programs.
April 11, 2007 6:23 PM
All of this points to our need to be sure and edit our blogs (you never know who is reading them) and our need to communicate with each other on our blogs. If someone who is not a part of our class is checking out our blogs then we owe it to ourselves and each other to check out the blogs of our classmates.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Next Project
Barb and I are still working on what we are going to do exactly. It will be some sort of iMovie, and we are thinking of doing something along the lines of something like the one in the NY Times iMovie. I think it would be neat to use still photographs and turn them into an iMovie with music and voice-over.
More to follow.
More to follow.
Blog Quiz for Week of April 8th
When I read the O'Brien chapter I couldn't help think about a movie I just happened catch over the weekend - it was called "The Ron Clark Story" - and it was about a teacher in Inner Harlem Elementary School. This teacher walked into a classroom that tested way below all other classes in the school and the students simply did not care. As I read the O'Brien chapter and looked at learned helplessness, I thought about the kids in this Harlem school. They, too, had learned helplessness. They had been through 6 teachers in 6 months and no one thought they were capable of learning. Through different methods and an honest and genuine caring on the part of their new teacher -- he stayed with the class even when he wanted to quit -- he motivated them and when the state testing came at the end of the year, the kids in his class scored higher than any other students in the school - even the honors class.
Check out his website, and you will get some ideas for your own classrooms when you start teaching. He used rap music to teach them the presidents of the United States (and he taught them the presidents so they could remember other events in history in a chronological manner). Even though we are learning to question teaching to the test and the validity of high stakes testing at all, we can see a truly remarkable teacher here who pulled out all the stops and used every medium and every means to get his students to succeed in school.
This man is truly someone who engages his students. He has opened his own school this year and his students will visit every continent before graduating. An amazing story, and I thought of it over and over again when I read O'Brien.
Check out his website, and you will get some ideas for your own classrooms when you start teaching. He used rap music to teach them the presidents of the United States (and he taught them the presidents so they could remember other events in history in a chronological manner). Even though we are learning to question teaching to the test and the validity of high stakes testing at all, we can see a truly remarkable teacher here who pulled out all the stops and used every medium and every means to get his students to succeed in school.
This man is truly someone who engages his students. He has opened his own school this year and his students will visit every continent before graduating. An amazing story, and I thought of it over and over again when I read O'Brien.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Laptops for School
Here is a video clip that tells about an entire state - Pennsylvania - that is getting laptops for all students. They believe that we are not preparing our students for jobs in a technology driven future. Pennsylvan's gets it!!! This video talks about how you can tailor your instruction with each student in mind - not the same lesson for everyone. Check it out.
What does everyone think? Why is New York not doing this in our schools? If the governor of Pennsylvania understands we are now in competition globally in regard to our students, why doesn't the rest of this country "get it"???
What does everyone think? Why is New York not doing this in our schools? If the governor of Pennsylvania understands we are now in competition globally in regard to our students, why doesn't the rest of this country "get it"???
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