Sunday, July 22, 2007
5. Think about this course
This class has opened my eyes to a lot of new things. I had no idea that there was so much out there available. The best things we learned about were the free things. Teachers are always talking about budgets and the fact that they don’t have a lot of room to buy whatever they want, which is why I loved the free things. I have bookmarked almost every site we have visited on my delicious site (which I had no idea about until this course) and I plan to use these things often in my career as a teacher.
4. Edutopia
Harrison Central High School: This was really cool! I hope I can teach at a classroom like this someday. With all the technology they have available it would be hard to be uninterested during class.
Mary Scroggs Elementary School: The news cast was really neat. I would love to be able to do this with my students. The tech at home program was VERY COOL. This way, each child can have a computer at home and we are closer to bringing all students to the same level.
A Product of Learning: First of all, 28 different languages spoken in one school – how do they keep up? They said this school went from the bottom 1/3 to the top 1/3 which just proves how much technology can improve learning.
Leading With Laptops: This is so cool! I know that if we each had laptops when I was in school, we definitely would have liked school a lot better. The Student’s Portal is also a really cool way to give the students meaning for what they are doing. Rather than performing an experiment, writing the results on a worksheet, and throwing it away after it is graded, these kids put their work out there for the world to see.
Pursuing passions after school: After School Matters was a cool program. This is a good way for students who may have trouble in school to feel successful and feel like there is something they are good at.
Around the clock learning: I think the internship for highschoolers was neat, but I don’t know if I would want my child going to school from 11 until 7. I did like the claymation movies idea. This would be a cool thing to do with an art class to integrate technology.
A night in the Global Village: This was a really cool activity. Students hear about world hunger and other problems that underprivileged countries go through, but with this program, they can actually live it and hopefully not forget it.
Mary Scroggs Elementary School: The news cast was really neat. I would love to be able to do this with my students. The tech at home program was VERY COOL. This way, each child can have a computer at home and we are closer to bringing all students to the same level.
A Product of Learning: First of all, 28 different languages spoken in one school – how do they keep up? They said this school went from the bottom 1/3 to the top 1/3 which just proves how much technology can improve learning.
Leading With Laptops: This is so cool! I know that if we each had laptops when I was in school, we definitely would have liked school a lot better. The Student’s Portal is also a really cool way to give the students meaning for what they are doing. Rather than performing an experiment, writing the results on a worksheet, and throwing it away after it is graded, these kids put their work out there for the world to see.
Pursuing passions after school: After School Matters was a cool program. This is a good way for students who may have trouble in school to feel successful and feel like there is something they are good at.
Around the clock learning: I think the internship for highschoolers was neat, but I don’t know if I would want my child going to school from 11 until 7. I did like the claymation movies idea. This would be a cool thing to do with an art class to integrate technology.
A night in the Global Village: This was a really cool activity. Students hear about world hunger and other problems that underprivileged countries go through, but with this program, they can actually live it and hopefully not forget it.
3. ALTEC
Rubistar: This was really cool. I wish I had known about this earlier – I used a ton of rubrics in some of my other classes!
AssignADay: This would be cool as long as you had enough computers for each student. It wouldn’t work very well if there were only 5 computers per classroom and all the students needed to get on to see what their next assignment was.
CasaNotes: The best part about this is the Spanish/English feature. This would be a really great way to send notes home to parents who didn’t speak English, rather than having someone translate the letter for you.
Edlines: Couldn’t find this one.
Kids’Vid: This would be really cool. In one of my internships, the teacher had them do projects and then videotaped them. This would be a great way to have them videotape themselves!
NoteStar: I thought the teacher’s side of this would be helpful. Being able to check sources, send notes to students, and track their progress would be really helpful.
Project Based Learning: This would be useful to science teachers who have checklists that the students must follow in order to perform an experiment.
AssignADay: This would be cool as long as you had enough computers for each student. It wouldn’t work very well if there were only 5 computers per classroom and all the students needed to get on to see what their next assignment was.
CasaNotes: The best part about this is the Spanish/English feature. This would be a really great way to send notes home to parents who didn’t speak English, rather than having someone translate the letter for you.
Edlines: Couldn’t find this one.
Kids’Vid: This would be really cool. In one of my internships, the teacher had them do projects and then videotaped them. This would be a great way to have them videotape themselves!
NoteStar: I thought the teacher’s side of this would be helpful. Being able to check sources, send notes to students, and track their progress would be really helpful.
Project Based Learning: This would be useful to science teachers who have checklists that the students must follow in order to perform an experiment.
2. Apple Learning Interchange Reflection
I thought this was cool. The part of it I liked most was the conversations. It would be a really cool way to meet other teachers and share ideas.
1. Read all the articles
U.S. schools lag behind in use of technology
The thing about this article that surprised me was when it said that “virtually all US schools are connected to the Internet.” If it is virtually all schools, that means there are actually kids going to school without the internet! I can’t imagine what that would be like or what those kids are missing.
National Education Technology Plan
I thought that this was really good. It does seem as though we are moving right along in bringing technology into our schools. Here in Lakin, they have a relatively new TechLab. I have subbed in that class before and it is really pretty cool. The students all love that class too, which proves how much technology can improve students’ interest and participation.
NETS: National Education Technology Standards: for Students, for Teachers and for Administrators
I think this is a good idea. We have standards for math, science, reading, language arts and social studies because these are things kids need to learn in order to have a career and be a productive member of society. In this time period, anyone who wants to move forward in this country and be a productive member of society is also going to need to have a knowledge of technology under their belt.
Don't Just Adapt Technology, Adopt It!!
This part of the article surprised me:
“But new technology still faces a great deal of resistance. Today, even in many schools with computers, Luddite administrators (and even Luddite technology administrators) lock down the machines, refusing to allow students to access email. Many also block instant messaging, cell phones, cell phone cameras, unfiltered Internet access, Wikipedia, and other potentially highly effective educational tools and technologies, to our kids' tremendous frustration.”
If I am understanding this correct, they are saying that we as teachers should embrace the technology and allow students to use all these things (instant messaging, cell phones, cell phone cameras, email, etc..) in the classroom. This is absolutely ridiculous. I agree with embracing technology in the classroom and using things like iPods to our advantage. What I don’t agree with is allowing students to bring in all those extra distractions. Kids today are distracted enough at school without adding to it by allowing them to bring cell phones to class.
High School.com
I have never heard of taking high school courses on –line, but I think it is a great idea. As the article stated, it would offer a number of electives that you can’t get at your high school. If this is the case, however, I think students should have 1 or 2 online hours where the students taking these classes can go to the computer room and complete their coursework. This way they can still be monitored and stay on task. However, I also think these online classes would be very good for kids who can’t go to school. My son has Cystic Fibrosis. Normally, when kids have this disease, they miss a lot of school because of frequent hospitalizations due to lung infections. If Evan has this problem, it would be great for him to be able to take high school courses online rather than missing weeks of class at a time.
The thing about this article that surprised me was when it said that “virtually all US schools are connected to the Internet.” If it is virtually all schools, that means there are actually kids going to school without the internet! I can’t imagine what that would be like or what those kids are missing.
National Education Technology Plan
I thought that this was really good. It does seem as though we are moving right along in bringing technology into our schools. Here in Lakin, they have a relatively new TechLab. I have subbed in that class before and it is really pretty cool. The students all love that class too, which proves how much technology can improve students’ interest and participation.
NETS: National Education Technology Standards: for Students, for Teachers and for Administrators
I think this is a good idea. We have standards for math, science, reading, language arts and social studies because these are things kids need to learn in order to have a career and be a productive member of society. In this time period, anyone who wants to move forward in this country and be a productive member of society is also going to need to have a knowledge of technology under their belt.
Don't Just Adapt Technology, Adopt It!!
This part of the article surprised me:
“But new technology still faces a great deal of resistance. Today, even in many schools with computers, Luddite administrators (and even Luddite technology administrators) lock down the machines, refusing to allow students to access email. Many also block instant messaging, cell phones, cell phone cameras, unfiltered Internet access, Wikipedia, and other potentially highly effective educational tools and technologies, to our kids' tremendous frustration.”
If I am understanding this correct, they are saying that we as teachers should embrace the technology and allow students to use all these things (instant messaging, cell phones, cell phone cameras, email, etc..) in the classroom. This is absolutely ridiculous. I agree with embracing technology in the classroom and using things like iPods to our advantage. What I don’t agree with is allowing students to bring in all those extra distractions. Kids today are distracted enough at school without adding to it by allowing them to bring cell phones to class.
High School.com
I have never heard of taking high school courses on –line, but I think it is a great idea. As the article stated, it would offer a number of electives that you can’t get at your high school. If this is the case, however, I think students should have 1 or 2 online hours where the students taking these classes can go to the computer room and complete their coursework. This way they can still be monitored and stay on task. However, I also think these online classes would be very good for kids who can’t go to school. My son has Cystic Fibrosis. Normally, when kids have this disease, they miss a lot of school because of frequent hospitalizations due to lung infections. If Evan has this problem, it would be great for him to be able to take high school courses online rather than missing weeks of class at a time.
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