I really liked both what we talked about in class last week, and the article that we just read. It's a really interesting concept to look at assessment through the eyes of students rather than those of teachers or government institutions. I can't say I personally can relate to those students on a losing streak; I feel like I've been pretty lucky throughout my life in terms of doing well in school and being confident in my ability to do so. But I've definately seen students in classrooms throughout my practicums who were on losing streaks. I remember one little boy I'd work with almost every day. I believed he was a very intelligent boy; when he did his work and focused on it he grasped it quickly and got it done. But he got antsy quickly in class and lost focus, and so his unfinished work piled higher and higher. Every day the teacher would give him four or five worksheets to complete, and though he could handle them individually when he focused, altogether they just intimidated him and made him want to put less effort in. That was definately a boy on a loosing streak, and one that wasn't being assessed in way that furthered his learning. If the teacher had paid a bit more attention to his successes, and helped him realize that the focus was all he lacked, perhaps he could the whole thing around.
Personally I've always felt drawn to students I've felt are struggling in the classroom, and throughout my education I've been doing my best to pick up ways to help them. And I think the strategies that we discussed in class and read in the article will be a big help. I believe the most important part of teaching young children is getting them excited about learning, and this will carry them through the rest of their education and help establish a great future for them. It will create a winning streak.
I particularly liked the ideas about making students assess their own learning through evaluating where they went wrong in tests or papers; identifying whether careless mistakes were getting their way or whether there was something they just weren't grasping. Sometimes all a student needs is just a minor correction, and things they thought were impossible for them suddenly become clear. I know I've definately had those moments, where I was trying to work a problem and just couldn't grasp it for the life of me, even though I'd felt I'd been trying hard and knew what I'd needed to. All I needed was to talk to a someone more knowledgable to help fill the gaps, and then I fully understood where I'd been going wrong. If a teacher's goal is to help their students learn, really learn, then little efforts like these, rather than efforts to simply quantify the students, will show them what all their students are capable of.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
1 on 1 Computing
I think it's pretty much common sense that a one to one computing program is only as effective as the teacher in charge of it. Obviously there's a lot of things children can learn on computer; an infinite amount of things really, but children, and espeically young children must be guided through the learning by someone more knowledgable than them if we expect them to actually explore things that will use their higher order thinking skills and help them learn. You wouldn't sit a five year old down in front of a math paper and tell him to just teach himself, with no further instruction, so why would any teacher think that they could do that with a computer?
I'd say the biggest thing that struck me with this article is when it talked about one class of seventh graders who'd gotten laptops for every one in class, but by the end of the year didn't even use them anymore. Not only is that sad for financial reasons (laptops are so expensive! how can you spend all that money just to have them gather dust), but mostly because all of those kids are missing out on great learning experiences because their teacher didn't know to integrate the teachnology well enough. I understand that trying to incorporate laptops into the classroom every day would be a challenge, especially if a teacher were used to not having it, but what better excuse to expand your horizons and try new approaches to teaching?
Of course I'm still not sure exactly how I plan to bring technology into my future classroom, especially working with young children like I plan to, but reading this article definately gives me motivation to try and really make my classroom special. I don't want to be a teacher who lets any learning experiences go to waste, especially great opportunities like one on one computers for each of my students.
I'd say the biggest thing that struck me with this article is when it talked about one class of seventh graders who'd gotten laptops for every one in class, but by the end of the year didn't even use them anymore. Not only is that sad for financial reasons (laptops are so expensive! how can you spend all that money just to have them gather dust), but mostly because all of those kids are missing out on great learning experiences because their teacher didn't know to integrate the teachnology well enough. I understand that trying to incorporate laptops into the classroom every day would be a challenge, especially if a teacher were used to not having it, but what better excuse to expand your horizons and try new approaches to teaching?
Of course I'm still not sure exactly how I plan to bring technology into my future classroom, especially working with young children like I plan to, but reading this article definately gives me motivation to try and really make my classroom special. I don't want to be a teacher who lets any learning experiences go to waste, especially great opportunities like one on one computers for each of my students.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Social Networking: The New Watering Hole
For my blog this week I read an article called Social Networking--Why are we so afraid? by Sandy Wagner (http://www.techlearning.com/article/social-networking—why-are-we-afraid/45049). In the article she talks about the role of social networking in the youner generations lives, and how the media tends to overexaggerate the dangers assosiated with it. Older generations seem to fear the power of social networking and what their children have access too on the internet, yet she quotes recent statistics that say only eight out of ten thousand students claim they've met an online contact in real life. I feel most young people in this day and age are aware of internet safety and how to keep themselves protected while they connect with people, and more so any responsible parent or school should moniter their internet usage to a certain extent. But that doesn't mean they should completely control it either. As long as a child is aware of what they're doing on the internet and how to use it to gain knowledge, it should be encouraged. The article points out how many high schoolers say they watch the presidental debates online rather than on television, yet still most schools bans streaming video access from their students. Is this fear getting in the way of students really utilizing the tools they have in front of them?
The main point of the article though is that most students claim to use social networking sites as a way to work on and getting a better grasp on schoolwork. Sure, they also chat about what they're going to do over the weekend, or who's dating who, but social networks life Facebook also give them direct access to people in their classes who are doing the same coursework as them. Think about it, how often have you had someone hit you up on facebook, or through email, asking for assignments or notes, or saying they didn't quite get the homework?
More than that, social networking also gives students access to the news, whether it be political, or about some celebrity, or about some scientific study. How many times have you gone through your newsfeed and found a link to something you never would've known have otherwise?
Perhaps this information that we receive through social networking isn't always the most reliable or ground-breaking: people could argue endlessly how meaningless news is nowdays compared to what it used to be. But this was also happening long before the internet, and the world is moving in this direction whether we like it or not. Social networking sites are definately the new Watering Hole, only now we're gathering with countless more people than every before, and gaining much more information than ever before.
The main point of the article though is that most students claim to use social networking sites as a way to work on and getting a better grasp on schoolwork. Sure, they also chat about what they're going to do over the weekend, or who's dating who, but social networks life Facebook also give them direct access to people in their classes who are doing the same coursework as them. Think about it, how often have you had someone hit you up on facebook, or through email, asking for assignments or notes, or saying they didn't quite get the homework?
More than that, social networking also gives students access to the news, whether it be political, or about some celebrity, or about some scientific study. How many times have you gone through your newsfeed and found a link to something you never would've known have otherwise?
Perhaps this information that we receive through social networking isn't always the most reliable or ground-breaking: people could argue endlessly how meaningless news is nowdays compared to what it used to be. But this was also happening long before the internet, and the world is moving in this direction whether we like it or not. Social networking sites are definately the new Watering Hole, only now we're gathering with countless more people than every before, and gaining much more information than ever before.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Positive Phone Calls
I just got done reading the article The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/power-positive-phone-call-home-elena-aguilar) and I found it really interesting. It actually contains some of the best advice I think I've heard for aspiring teachers, and it's incredibly simple: call your students parents and tell them what they've done good that day. The author says that simply doing that can make the difference between a completely unmanagable school year, and a great one.
I've always been a big believer in positive reinforcement while working with children, and my Behavioral Management class (probably my favorite education class so far) drilled into my head the idea of catching kids being good. The teacher who wrote this article takes it a step furthur though, by bringing the kids parents into it. So many parents are used to only getting phone calls when their child is misbehaving, it must be amazing for them to hear the good things instead. And I can only imagine how much it would boost the self esteem for the children as well, especially the ones who don't get to give their parents good news very often.
Another reason this idea works so well is because, as a teacher, it's extremely important to have good relationships with the family of your students. How are you supposed to connect with a child if their family either doesn't care about their education, or doesn't have faith in you to teach them what they need to learn? By doing this you show the parents that their student isn't just one of many in your mind; you're paying attention to them and noticing the positive things they do and the way that they're growing. If you only approach parents when something is going wrong with their child, they may have trouble trusting that you want that student to succeed or that you're really paying attention to them as an individual.
After reading this article, I know that this is definately something I plan on doing in my future classrooms.
I've always been a big believer in positive reinforcement while working with children, and my Behavioral Management class (probably my favorite education class so far) drilled into my head the idea of catching kids being good. The teacher who wrote this article takes it a step furthur though, by bringing the kids parents into it. So many parents are used to only getting phone calls when their child is misbehaving, it must be amazing for them to hear the good things instead. And I can only imagine how much it would boost the self esteem for the children as well, especially the ones who don't get to give their parents good news very often.
Another reason this idea works so well is because, as a teacher, it's extremely important to have good relationships with the family of your students. How are you supposed to connect with a child if their family either doesn't care about their education, or doesn't have faith in you to teach them what they need to learn? By doing this you show the parents that their student isn't just one of many in your mind; you're paying attention to them and noticing the positive things they do and the way that they're growing. If you only approach parents when something is going wrong with their child, they may have trouble trusting that you want that student to succeed or that you're really paying attention to them as an individual.
After reading this article, I know that this is definately something I plan on doing in my future classrooms.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Educational Trends
Reading this article, I had trouble thinking about how to apply a lot of these new ideas to an early childhood education environment. Once I graduate I plan to work with kids mostly from the pre-school to first grade age range, and though they are more accustomed to technology than any generation before them, I have trouble seeing how things like mobile phones, tablets, Ipads, or Skype might play into that kind of classroom setting.
There were some things in the article though that did give me some ideas, mostly the idea of The Maker Movement. I believe that no matter what age a child is, it's important that they get the majority of their learning through hands on learning, and technology can help this. With upper elementary age children, you get the benefit of programs like powerpoint or photoshop, but even younger children can use the computer and internet to aid their learning. I remember in my practicum last year, my Kindergarten classroom did a huge unit on different forms of transportation. They read books about trains a drew pictures of them sure, but imagine what one could do with a computer on their side. I'm sure on the internet a teacher could find an interactive tour of a train, or a game that let the children conduct the train. Just little things like this could help the children take their knowledge one step further and really feel like they're interacting with their subject matter, and give them opportunities to create and experience things that they couldn't otherwise. I think the ideas of gaming and natural user interfaces go hand and hand with this; games will of course appeal to younger children, and the push of easier to use technology makes it so almost anyone can work with the tech with few problems.
There were some things in the article though that did give me some ideas, mostly the idea of The Maker Movement. I believe that no matter what age a child is, it's important that they get the majority of their learning through hands on learning, and technology can help this. With upper elementary age children, you get the benefit of programs like powerpoint or photoshop, but even younger children can use the computer and internet to aid their learning. I remember in my practicum last year, my Kindergarten classroom did a huge unit on different forms of transportation. They read books about trains a drew pictures of them sure, but imagine what one could do with a computer on their side. I'm sure on the internet a teacher could find an interactive tour of a train, or a game that let the children conduct the train. Just little things like this could help the children take their knowledge one step further and really feel like they're interacting with their subject matter, and give them opportunities to create and experience things that they couldn't otherwise. I think the ideas of gaming and natural user interfaces go hand and hand with this; games will of course appeal to younger children, and the push of easier to use technology makes it so almost anyone can work with the tech with few problems.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Technology & Student-Friendly Objectives
I'll start by saying that I really enjoyed reading The Tempered Radical's view on student objectives. As a student, class objectives aren't really something I've paid much attention to, though I suppose I do find it helpful when teachers put up a daily lesson plan. It help you know where the class is going, without losing track and becoming bored. If you know where the lesson is going, I think it's easier to keep engaged, because you have an idea of how much time you'll spend on each topic and what you're going to learn.
As a teacher, I can see how objectives can be helpful as well. Not only will your students know exactly what they're supposed to learn, and gauge how well they've done that, acknowledging the objectives will keep you focused and on the right track. Without a clear objective or lesson plan, even the best teacher can end up fumbling on what to do next and loosing student interest in the process.
I'm sure technology will make it a lot easier for both students and teachers to understand learning objecters. Teachers can do what The Tempered Radial did, and research different ways to use learning objectives to their benefit and connect with other teachers to see what worked for them. Older students can connect with their teachers on sites like Edmodo, and younger students can use computer game to test their learning once they know exactly what it is they're supposed to learn. All in all, there are plenty of ways for technolgy to contribute to student friendly objectives.
As a teacher, I can see how objectives can be helpful as well. Not only will your students know exactly what they're supposed to learn, and gauge how well they've done that, acknowledging the objectives will keep you focused and on the right track. Without a clear objective or lesson plan, even the best teacher can end up fumbling on what to do next and loosing student interest in the process.
I'm sure technology will make it a lot easier for both students and teachers to understand learning objecters. Teachers can do what The Tempered Radial did, and research different ways to use learning objectives to their benefit and connect with other teachers to see what worked for them. Older students can connect with their teachers on sites like Edmodo, and younger students can use computer game to test their learning once they know exactly what it is they're supposed to learn. All in all, there are plenty of ways for technolgy to contribute to student friendly objectives.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Technology & My Education
"Reflect on the role that technology has played in your education thus far. What role do you see technology playing in your future career as an educator?"
Looking back, I'd say that technology has had a pretty big impact on my education so far. Particularly, on my ability to educate myself. I remember having computers in school when I was very young, but more so I remember the computers I had at home. My dad was always a technology nerd, so we tended to have the latest gadgets at home long before I encountered them in school. More than anything I remeber taking the technology skills I learned at school, such as typing and navigating the internet, and using them at home by writing and researching things that interested me. While my father was in school for Computer Micromanagement, he would always come how and share his knowledge about Adobe Photoshop or the newest operating systems he was working with, which let me get aquainted with those kinds of things very early on.
Even in the classroom throughout my early education though, I can definately see where technology played a large role. I can't remember a time before powerpoints or computer tutorials. I'm sure I take it for granted; I remember up until high school working with other students who could barely type or find their way around a word document. But I think I've always been lucky to have a strong connection with technology, and access to information about it, and it's definately followed me all through my schooling. And the connection between technology and education will only get more prominent.
Even though I considered myself pretty good with technology when I was young, I'm surprised to see how quickly young kids are picking it up today. I know several four and five year olds who can not only find the games on my iPhone without help, but are consistently better at Angry Birds than I am. Technology is everywhere now; before children even start school, most of them know the basics of operating all kinds of different devices. Which makes it all the more important to have technology in the classroom to keep them engaged. Having so much technology at our fingertips gives us some incredible opportunities. We have quick access to endless information and abilities to create.
As a future educator, I plan to integrate technology into my teaching as much as possible. Children are so engrossed in technology in this day and age, and that relationship is only going to continue to grow. Educators need to grow with it. By using technology in teaching lessons, and letting the kids use it as well, you take something that already interests them and integrate learning into it.
As a future educator, I plan to integrate technology into my teaching as much as possible. Children are so engrossed in technology in this day and age, and that relationship is only going to continue to grow. Educators need to grow with it. By using technology in teaching lessons, and letting the kids use it as well, you take something that already interests them and integrate learning into it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)