My Reaction to an Edublogger

So for this post I read a few posts from a blog titled "The Tempered Radical." It's written by a sixth grade language arts teacher from North Carolina. Well, after getting past the first post in which he says he will be leaving the forum I continued on to a couple topics that have been hot buttons for discussions in a few of our other classes. In these posts he describes the issues of testing under the new "race to the top" initiative, and also whether or not college is the right path for every student.

I'll start by talking about the blog itself first. When I first heard about the assignment I'll be honest, I wasn't exactly enthused. I've never really been a fan of the whole "blogging trend" and just for some reason envision a lonely person pouring their heart out on an online diary. But this edublogging thing is kind of different. I got really excited by the third post and realized that this guy was talking about all the issues that are going on in his class right now, that we're talking about in our graduate classes. I think it was just last week that we had a long class debate about standards and their pros and cons. In his blog this teacher describes how these new tests are having a direct effect on his teaching, the time he has to cover each topic, and what material he is giving his students. It's really interesting to read and theorize about these topics in class and then get online and read about how they are actually impacting teachers in the real world.

Another topic he mention was whether or not college is right for every student, and what the purpose of high school then is for those students. This is something that has been brought up repeatedly in our small discussion groups for another class. I noticed that the blogger didn't really have an answer to the question. He ends his post by asking, "How important is college?" In our groups we've discussed that high school might just be an avenue for preparing students to become active citizens in a democracy. Not everyone will go on to college, and that's O.K. What we need to do as educators is make sure that our students leave school with the problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, and self-confidence to become active citizens and excellent at whatever they choose to do in life (would anyone else add another skill to this? disagree? agree?) In this way I am reassured that we are learning more about the field of teaching and the different questions that are being posed within this realm. It's comforting to know that I'm gaining more and more knowledge about the issues surrounding this profession and also learning how to make educated responses and theories about these questions.

Primary Pad

So working in groups...

The first thing I want to address about group work is how interesting it is to hear and see all of the different perspectives and ideas about a given assignment. Like for this weeks assignment, there were members of our group that were looking at a variety of different aspects of BYOD. I can think of a few off of the top of my head, how technology would change various classic works (by either adding technology to a given passage or taking it away), we also talked about the possible inequity that technology can create in the classroom and how we might find literature that would fit this specific purpose, we also discussed different texts. What kind of literature should we use? Articles on BYOD? Fiction? Nonfiction? Futuristic? Literature with zero technology such as "Hills Like White Elephants" or literature jam packed with technology?

Needless to say the class period went by very quickly and lots of ideas were thrown around. It was difficult to figure out what kind of lesson plan we would create, barely knowing what text we wanted to use and what question to focus on. This is where Primary Pad and technology itself came in handy. We simply decided that we would each write our own lesson plan. We each focused on what we thought the assignment was, BYOD. We were then able to have every single idea down, in writing, visible to see, no longer abstract. That was the most helpful part of Primary Pad, instead of us each talking about our ideas out loud and trying to understand each idea and how they would play out we actually had a tangible representation of how that idea would play out. We were then able to pick and choose parts of each lesson plan, putting aspects together with a chosen text to create one coherent class period. We were each then able to give our approval.

Primary Pad was able to save us a lot of time that we would have spent discussing vague concepts. It gave us a chance to set a deadline for when our ideas were to be in by and a chance to finally comprehend each of the ideas. Class time just seemed a little bit chaotic between trying to understand what exactly the assignment was, how we would tackle it, and what ideas we would use. Through Primary Pad and e-mail we were able to correspond and organize our thoughts. The actual assignment on BYOD aside, this was a helpful exercise and taught me a lot about the benefits of technology for group projects.

Video Games

The controversy over video games is a strong one. Each side has good arguments for their perspective. Personally I've never played video games, my parents didn't but them for us and we were always told to go play outside instead. My cousin on the other hand was practically addicted, he had just about every video game you could imagine. We are very close in age and went to college at the same time. While I made friends quickly my cousin took longer. He spent the majority of his freshman year in his bedroom on his computer. It wasn't until his sophomore year that he got a job, branched out and began interacting with other people.

I think that there are a lot of pros to video games. They help give great problem solving skills and help enhance the imagination. People can get really into them and develop online relationships with others who play the same game, working together and challenging each other. However, I do think that there is something to say for losing personal and face-to-face interaction.

However, I think this can be overcome by regulating the time someone play a video game and at what age they begin to play them. I feel that at a younger game the same problem solving skills and imagination growth can be instilled and created through outdoor play. Plus there is the added bonus of kids getting out their energy and working on face-to face interactions. I know we have been talking a lot about losing face-to face time and those relationships because of technology and I think that video games definitely play into that idea.

While I'm not against video games I do feel like they are something that should be done in moderation, like watching T.V. and eating sugary foods. Video games are a great way to think strategically, problem solve, and think outside the box. They are not however a great way to enhance your ability to work face-to-face.

Teaching About Technological Tools

This past class a few things occurred: first, we discussed in small groups the uses of technology resource we researched and second, we played twenty questions. The beginning discussions and explanations of our resources were extremely interesting. It was fascinating to hear about all of the different tools available for people to “organize their online life.”

           

I had originally gone into class thinking that my website, Gooru, was really cool and useful, (as you can see from my past blog post), but when I heard from M and D about their tools, Diigo and Evernote, I realized Gooru left a little to be desired. To begin with it focused mainly on subjects centered on science and math. I think it would have been much more useful if I were not an ELA teacher. Second, the platform seemed to allow for a one-way transmission of information from teacher to student. Basically what you were able to do was create folders of different resources (videos, lesson plans, etc.) you could then share that information with your students so that they could view it. You could also type up assignments or quizzes (I wasn’t able to figure out how to make a quiz) for students to do.

What you COULDN’T do was upload your own lesson plans or outside videos to your folder, so that all of your information could be in one place. You also couldn’t upload your own assignments for your students to do, and your students also couldn’t upload anything for you to see. Like I said, it seemed very one sided with the teacher just blindly giving information to the students.

The other tech. tools I learned about though happened to be very useful.  I downloaded Evernote and have been using it to take notes all week. I plan to fiddle around with it some more and figure out more things I can do with it when I have some free time. I also downloaded Diigo. I really like this program for reading online texts for class. I can highlight and take notes all on a website and then save all of my websites and pages to one spot so I have them for later (when I need to reference them for an essay or project.) Overall what our group discussed was that all of these tools have very different aspects that are useful but you still have to have three different tools to be able to do these things. It would be even more helpful if this all could be done in one place.

I have to be honest and say I wasn’t a fan of the twenty questions game. I understand its purpose and think it’s a great way for students to think about the kinds of questions they want to ask when solving a problem and how to strategize when solving that problem, but I think our class was a bit large for it. It was kind of frustrating to have to discuss and argue about every single question (especially the first five!) I would implement it in smaller groups so that students still have that time to think aloud but allow for decisions to be made at a faster rate.

A quick how-to on Gooru

Raise your hand if you need instant gratification...

I want to start off this post by responding to a few comments that were made on my last post regarding kids and technology. A lot of good points were made about how kids seem to need instant gratification and questions were raised about the long-term affects of this addiction that we all seem to have.  I suppose what I’m first concerned with is students inability to see long-term and look at the consequences of their actions, how many stories are we seeing of young girls that don’t think twice before sending an inappropriate photo to a guy at school. They don’t think about what kind of impact it will have on them when that boy forwards the photo to all his friends. The same goes for cyber-bullying. Kids can’t see the affects and the hurt that they cause when they say something via text or IM (is that still a thing?) like they can when they’re face-to-face. I can guarantee calling someone weird, ugly, or fat to someone’s face is way less likely to happen than saying it in some sort of chat room (also probably not a thing anymore but you get what I mean.)

Second, I want to address another comment made that asks why our generation is beginning to reject technology and move in the opposite direction. It’s already come up in our class, with the idea of using typewriters instead of computers. Have we begun to see the negative effects of technology and are now attempting to reverse this change, or are we just nostalgic for that slower pace of life in which you don’t care what Joe Shmoe did last night and how awesome the picture of his lunch is? Is there a way that these two extremes can be blended so we understand the value of each? Can this balance be taught to our students or is the balance between a slower pace and technology just knowledge that comes with time and experience (and realizing the next day that maybe you shouldn’t have put that picture of you doing a keg stand up on facebook for all your coworkers to see.) 

OK, now that I’ve been ranting about all the negatives of the tech world I want to talk about how awesome the website I researched for next class is. I know, I know, I’m constantly contradicting myself, but isn’t that part of life? Anyway, the site that I’ve been playing around on and figuring out how to navigate is Gooru, and it’s pretty awesome. I’ll be honest, when I first got this assignment I was not the happiest camper in class, but after going on the site and fiddling around I’m pretty pleased.

So the site basically lets you sign-up up so you can save all of your searches and then lets you search for all different information and lesson plans for whatever topic you plan on teaching. It’s kind of like pinterest in that you can save anything that you see and like into different “folders” for different classes. That way all of the information and different ideas and activities for class are stored in one place for that class. You can have different folders for each different class. It gets better, you can share the folders you’ve created with other teachers or students or whomever. It actually reminded me of the technology that the guest teacher that came to speak to us in Shari’s class was using. You can also set it up so students have access to assignments and material. I’m not going to go into much more detail since we’ll all get a chance to talk about it on Monday.

I’ll end with a quick though on how beneficial technology can be when used for collaboration, organization, and really used for education. These can be helpful tools that allow us to continue to learn and work together, when we’re mature enough to use them that way. 

Technology: Bringing us closer or separating us even more?

Today in class we discussed the positive and negative ways that technology can be used in education. One question that I feel was really interesting and especially relevant to issues that we have been discussing in other classes is the issue of equity and technology.  How does technology affect the achievement gap? I forget which peer pointed it out but someone mentioned how necessary certain technology skills are in the workforce, how knowledge of Microsoft Office is a basic requirement on job application. How is the gap enhanced if some students grow up using this technology in school and become familiar with it when other students in a different school don’t have access to the same tools and apply for the same job? How can this discrepancy be resolved? Is it even possible for this to be resolved in the type of individualistic, capitalistic society that we live in?

            On a completely different note I would like to address the issue of the impact of technology on society and social interactions. We’ve talked about how technology can limit social interactions, i.e. being able to look up on your phone the answer to a topic being debated, but how about how this change in social interaction affects adolescents? I’m talking of course about cyber bullying and how technology and things like facebook, twitter, etc. make it easier for students to say things to one another they wouldn’t say in person. How could this be transferred to the classroom and how can it be combatted? Sure, these new technologies are what kids know, are good at, and maybe even experts with. We want to be able to speak their language but how can we balance having these new technologies available and make sure they are used appropriately? I guess I’m talking about kids being on facebook in the library at school or texting each other throughout the day. There is just so much technology and so much less face-to-face interaction. This has sort of turned into an incoherent ramble; I hope it could be followed. I suppose my main point is that technology as a whole, not just in the classroom, is changing social interaction for the worse and we as educators need to find a way to enhance the face-to-face interactions that occur in our classes so students realize the impact their words (both online and in person) have. 

What's the Deal with Dewey?

In reading the Dewey article a few things struck my as interesting. The first was the format of the piece, everything written in “I” statements, almost like a pledge to himself and to students. The second thing I found interesting was the separation between the five different sections (in the limited pages that we read). I began to wonder about why the definitions of education, the school, the clarification of the subject-matter, the nature of teaching, and the school and social progress were singled out as the most important parts of education to reflect upon. I began to wonder if there were other sections that I might add if I were to create my own creed. Upon reflection I began to think about the role of the student.

            What sort of responsibilities do students have in their own education? We’ve been learning about how to tap into student interests and connect lessons and curriculum with their lives and their roles within the community. However, I’m still pondering the idea of students taking ownership of their own education. And I want to clarify; by education I don’t mean specifically in school, I’m talking about the idea of lifelong learning. How might this concept relate or become integrated into Dewey’s ideas and beliefs?

            To go off on a bit of a different topic, I just wanted to connect the ideas of Dewey (written in 1897) to the ideas that we’ve been discussing in the first few weeks of this program. I see the connection between relating the curriculum to the community, creating active learners in the classroom, and encouraging lifelong learning to Dewey’s statement that, “I believe that education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness; and that the adjustment of individual activity on the basis of this social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction.” It’s fascinating that these ideas (indicated a century ago) are something still being developed, evaluated, improved upon, and implemented in a very slow and painstaking process. 

First Day

The first day of class opened with us thinking about and drawing our ideal classroom, keeping in mind the use of technology in that room. To be perfectly honest I hadn't really ever thought in depth about the role of technology in my future as a teacher and perhaps had even avoided it (due to my lack of know-how) prior to the beginning of this class. When I drew my classroom I focuses more on the layout and functionality of that room. I wanted the tables to be easily moveable so that I could continually rearrange the room. I wanted windows to allow for natural light. And after I though about it I decided I would add computers and a projector to the room to add that aspect of technology should I so want it.
However, my thoughts regarding having that technology in the classroom continued to change as the class and the rest of the day progressed. What are some of the pros and cons to allowing various things like laptops, iPads, smart-boards and other possible tools into the classroom. How much do these tools either benefit or hinder education? My first thought was the distraction aspect. How much would students observe and understand of a carefully crafted assignment if throughout the entire lesson they were surfing the web or playing games on these tools that I couldn't monitor adequately. The other main issue that I've been mulling over is the use of computers for english assignments. As an english teacher I want to make sure that students are able to learn the nuts and bolts of the english language and the ability to construct coherent papers without spell check recognizing all of the mistakes and fixing them before the student has had a chance to recognize what it is they've done incorrect and fix it on their own.
How beneficial can these new technologies actually be anyway? As I continue writing I think back to the article that we read written by Larry Cuban. Are computers and iPods simply the next fad in education? I've been thinking back to the use of technology in my own high school education and find both pros and cons. having a computer lab was extremely useful for completing essays or doing work for research assignments. However, I distinctly remember reading various books online that had nothing to do with class, or playing some game for the duration of class. I also remember my junior year history teacher. He took using technology to the next level, he had our class watch the entire miniseries "Band of Brothers" during  class time. I know that I learned very little that year and had catching up to do the next year.
This brings me to another point, teachers can abuse the use of technology. Instead of actively learning about World War II my junior year I sat in front of a television and watched a show, my teacher definitely abused the use of technology. How will new technology that teachers can abuse plus the added effects of distractions on said technologies allow for room for true education and learning? How can educators and administrators counteract these negatives? There is still much to be debated about this topic but in reflecting upon this new shift in education I find inclined to believe that good old fashion pencil, paper, and books are here to stay.