I feel this is one of projects I have enjoyed most in this course. I feel like I was very interested in finding the answer to my inquiry question (how can weblogs promote student learning in the elementary classroom setting?) and that is what made this assignment so interesting.
Before my research I was very interested in coming up with a question that would benefit me and give me ideas for my future elementary classroom. Because I felt blogging was one of the greatest tools I have been shown in this course, I felt that asking a question incorporating blogs would be great for my inquiry.
Next came the research for my question. I spent a lot of time researching for my sources. It seemed many of the sites I visited pertaining to blogging gave the same information. I wanted to make sure I had a broad range of ideas, so it took me a while to find multiple sources that I was happy with it.
When I created my annotated bibliography I really felt the better it is earlier the easier time I will have creating my best practices later. I put a lot of effort into creating paragraphs that gave a great summary of the site or articles I used as a source in this project. I had to redo my APA citations a few times before they were correct.
I also put a lot of time in creating the look of my wiki page. I wanted it to appear professional, yet inviting and intriguing at the same time. It took me a while to figure out the font because I learned that wikispaces can be very touchy.
It was hard picking out the best practices I wanted to use in my wiki. I found so many great practices that a blog can bring to an elementary classroom. This part of the wiki is what really taught me what I had learned though.
Additional resources was not very hard for me to create. I knew what sources were the best and would benefit the people who visit my wiki most. It did however take me a long time to figure out how to link something. I had to google how to do it, and then it was simple.
Lastly, was my screencast. I feel because this was the second assignment that I was much more comfortable and smart creating my screencast. I made a script first and practiced it a few times. I timed it also making sure before I start jing I was under 5 minutes. I only had to redo my screencast 3 times, which was a huge improvement from the 75842894758 times I had to redo it in my first screencast assignment :)
I felt I learned a lot from this assignment. Fist, I learned how to better research and document my findings. I see how being organized in the beginning creates for a better experience later on. And of course I learned how blogging can be very beneficial in my future classroom. There are so many great benefits that a blog can bring to the classroom. It can engage, it can strengthen literacy skills, it can provide communication, it can promote collaboration, and much more! Knowing all this great information is very valuable because it involves my future! I now know how to correctly use a blog in the classroom setting in a very affective way. By completing this task I also feel I am very comfortable working with Jing and creating screencasts in general. I know the secrets now :) I intend on using screencasts when applicable in my future classroom, so I feel this task has impacted me greatly.
Here's my screencast :) if anyone wants to take a look!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Exit Slip 12.9.10
Professor Boyer started class by stating that we, as students, should be proud of all we've accomplished during this course. I am proud of myself! This class was a lot of work and took a lot of time, but I believe it was worth it. I feel I am much better prepared to teach my future class effectively after completing all the projects in this course.
Next, Professor Boyer talked about his Twitter account and shared some articles he has posted on his account. The articles sounded very interesting and I will check them out more sometime soon.
CELEBRATION TIME!
Professor Boyer had us think about how we would teach his little daughter, Ella.
3 Different Ways I would Integrate Technology in Ella's Class (My Class):
1. In my fourth grade classroom I would create a classroom blog that allows for Ella's parents to see pictures from daily activities, field trips, and so on. I want her parents to feel connected to her learning environment and always feel up to date on Ella's time spent in my classroom. My blog would also post current events that allow the parents to always be aware of what their child is doing throughout the school day. This is a site where all the assignments and rubrics are posted for their convenience.
2. I want to provide my students with class laptops (maybe they could even each have their own!). They will use their laptops often when doing research for projects, playing educational games, connecting with people from different countries/areas/cultures, and so on.
3. I want to provide my students with a class wiki also. This is a place where they can post questions to other students or me and get better and more diverse feedback. This is also a place for discussion and reflection on projects/assignments/activities. This also a place where they can post their assignments/projects.
Other peer's ideas:
1. Have a huge interactive whiteboard to increase class participation.
2. Using "streaming" video (what's going on in class.. parents can see what's going on)
3. Scratch (creating games for certain class topics)
4. E-pals (LIKE THIS ONE!): connecting with people from around the world, country, state, county..
5. Simulations
6. Online collaborative whiteboarding (example: Scribble)
7. Course website (kind of like my blog idea)
8. Podcasting (visit iTunes U..? many podcasts available here)
9. Online multi media (so many out there!)
10. Screencasting
11. Audio (important in early grades)
12. Delicious (save resources for a project, interactive games at home)
13. Video editing
PROFESSOR BOYER'S TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
-constructionist pedagogy
FINAL THOUGHTS ON HOW MY THINKING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY'S ROLE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING HAS CHANGED OVER THE SEMESTER:
I think it is evident by the list I made above on how I really intend and want to incorporate technology tools in my future classroom. At first I think I was a sceptic when I entered this classroom, but I now believe I support technology and believe strongly that it needs to be in our schools now and in the future! We need to teach for the future or else we will not be fulfilling our jobs. I now know this and feel much more knowledgeable in the world of technology.
Next, Professor Boyer talked about his Twitter account and shared some articles he has posted on his account. The articles sounded very interesting and I will check them out more sometime soon.
CELEBRATION TIME!
Professor Boyer had us think about how we would teach his little daughter, Ella.
3 Different Ways I would Integrate Technology in Ella's Class (My Class):
1. In my fourth grade classroom I would create a classroom blog that allows for Ella's parents to see pictures from daily activities, field trips, and so on. I want her parents to feel connected to her learning environment and always feel up to date on Ella's time spent in my classroom. My blog would also post current events that allow the parents to always be aware of what their child is doing throughout the school day. This is a site where all the assignments and rubrics are posted for their convenience.
2. I want to provide my students with class laptops (maybe they could even each have their own!). They will use their laptops often when doing research for projects, playing educational games, connecting with people from different countries/areas/cultures, and so on.
3. I want to provide my students with a class wiki also. This is a place where they can post questions to other students or me and get better and more diverse feedback. This is also a place for discussion and reflection on projects/assignments/activities. This also a place where they can post their assignments/projects.
Other peer's ideas:
1. Have a huge interactive whiteboard to increase class participation.
2. Using "streaming" video (what's going on in class.. parents can see what's going on)
3. Scratch (creating games for certain class topics)
4. E-pals (LIKE THIS ONE!): connecting with people from around the world, country, state, county..
5. Simulations
6. Online collaborative whiteboarding (example: Scribble)
7. Course website (kind of like my blog idea)
8. Podcasting (visit iTunes U..? many podcasts available here)
9. Online multi media (so many out there!)
10. Screencasting
11. Audio (important in early grades)
12. Delicious (save resources for a project, interactive games at home)
13. Video editing
PROFESSOR BOYER'S TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
-constructionist pedagogy
FINAL THOUGHTS ON HOW MY THINKING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY'S ROLE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING HAS CHANGED OVER THE SEMESTER:
I think it is evident by the list I made above on how I really intend and want to incorporate technology tools in my future classroom. At first I think I was a sceptic when I entered this classroom, but I now believe I support technology and believe strongly that it needs to be in our schools now and in the future! We need to teach for the future or else we will not be fulfilling our jobs. I now know this and feel much more knowledgeable in the world of technology.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Exit Slip 12.2.10
Today Professor Boyer started class with sharing a video with us about how one teacher integrates technology into her classroom. These are the notes I took during the video:
+ technology has revolutionized how she teaches and how she teaches students based on their learning
+ students are active in their learning
+ old lessons went along with unengaged learners and a stressed teacher
+ her lessons now engage students
+ her smart board allows active participation and engages them in cooperative learning opportunities
+ uses online collaborative projects which allows for her students to connect with one another and the rest of the world
+ open classroom approach online that allows parents to see what is going on and celebrate their child's learning knowing current events. This allows students to always be updated if they miss a day on assignments
+ uses blogs in classroom
+ students get to share what they learn with the world and become involved in our community
+ many laptops shown throughout video
Next we discussed our findings as a whole class. As a group we sorted our finding into 3 categories: could do before, couldn't do before, could do before but better now.
COULD DO BEFORE: collaborative projects (example: collaborate with different grade levels)lab, engage, participation present, still inform parents (classroom newsletter), journaling (besides blogging), share perspectives
COULDN'T DO BEFORE: world wide collaboration, blogging, online concept, recognition (besides teacher)
COULD DO BEFORE BUT BETTER NOW: collaboration, engagement level, participation, connect with parents, create well designed lessons, connecting with more diverse people around the world, open classroom
He shared these three categories with us to make us think about when it is appropriate to integrate technology. If technology will make something better than use it!
...
*JIGSAW Activity*
My assigned reading talked about how as a teacher you need to feel comfortable with not knowing everything. Also you need to accept the fact that your students may know more than you and may teach you a thing or two at times. We need to remember this especially when dealing with technology in our classrooms! We should look at this as an advantage because we have the oppourtunity to learn too! In conclusion we need to remember that the world is always changing and we are "stupid" if we do not realize this. Embrace technology with a positive attitude and learn all you can!
The point of this activity was to collaborate our findings with each other so we could find out what each reading was about. There was a good and a negative for each reading. I really like this jigsaw method because it creates smooth transitions and you get to collaborate with many different people.
I didn't write down what each reading was about because I was too interested in listening to what our volunteer speakers shared. I bookmarked these articles into delicious so I can reference them at a later time.
...
+ technology has revolutionized how she teaches and how she teaches students based on their learning
+ students are active in their learning
+ old lessons went along with unengaged learners and a stressed teacher
+ her lessons now engage students
+ her smart board allows active participation and engages them in cooperative learning opportunities
+ uses online collaborative projects which allows for her students to connect with one another and the rest of the world
+ open classroom approach online that allows parents to see what is going on and celebrate their child's learning knowing current events. This allows students to always be updated if they miss a day on assignments
+ uses blogs in classroom
+ students get to share what they learn with the world and become involved in our community
+ many laptops shown throughout video
Next we discussed our findings as a whole class. As a group we sorted our finding into 3 categories: could do before, couldn't do before, could do before but better now.
COULD DO BEFORE: collaborative projects (example: collaborate with different grade levels)lab, engage, participation present, still inform parents (classroom newsletter), journaling (besides blogging), share perspectives
COULDN'T DO BEFORE: world wide collaboration, blogging, online concept, recognition (besides teacher)
COULD DO BEFORE BUT BETTER NOW: collaboration, engagement level, participation, connect with parents, create well designed lessons, connecting with more diverse people around the world, open classroom
He shared these three categories with us to make us think about when it is appropriate to integrate technology. If technology will make something better than use it!
...
*JIGSAW Activity*
My assigned reading talked about how as a teacher you need to feel comfortable with not knowing everything. Also you need to accept the fact that your students may know more than you and may teach you a thing or two at times. We need to remember this especially when dealing with technology in our classrooms! We should look at this as an advantage because we have the oppourtunity to learn too! In conclusion we need to remember that the world is always changing and we are "stupid" if we do not realize this. Embrace technology with a positive attitude and learn all you can!
The point of this activity was to collaborate our findings with each other so we could find out what each reading was about. There was a good and a negative for each reading. I really like this jigsaw method because it creates smooth transitions and you get to collaborate with many different people.
I didn't write down what each reading was about because I was too interested in listening to what our volunteer speakers shared. I bookmarked these articles into delicious so I can reference them at a later time.
...
Final Reflection of iRLO project
I thought after my fist submission that I was not going to have to change too much on my iRLO project, but after reading my peers comments I knew there was going to be more work done. I put a lot of effort when I first created my iRLO (earlier blog post goes into more detail) and I also put a lot of work and time into the second submission. Professor Boyer talked about really making your "game" interactive and useful for the students who will be playing it. I thought that if I kept score that that would allow for much better feedback. It took me a while to figure out how to apply the scores in Scratch though. At first I played around with the program on my own and then I looked at peers Scratch projects to see if anyone had used scores, but was unsuccessful in understanding how they programed them into their projects. My next source was Professor Boyer. It only took him a few minutes to figure out the situation. It was actually a very easy process. He also was able to help me with including my player's name into the feedback they'd receive on each answer. I've learned through creating my Scratch project that yes, technology can indeed be scary and seem overwhelming, but technology is all about practice, practice, practice! The more you practice a tool the better you will understand it (evident by Professor Boyer's quick skills). Also you need to make time to just play around and explore technology tools also. For example, I wanted to make my numbers random for my players so they are always receiving different problems each time they play and I figured that process out by just looking over other peer's Scratch projects. It took me at least an hour to figure out just this one step, but it was worth it! This project, like many more in this course, is something you can not really be taught much about. It is a project where you teach yourself and I find these types of projects to be the most beneficial.
I thought this project was very beneficial to my future as an educator because it taught me that technology is about practice (like I just stated above). It also taught me how many different areas you have to consider before sharing a project or activity with you class. You have to make sure that it is going to be an activity where your students are getting immediate feedback (if possible) and it also needs to be very interactive to keep your students engaged! Also you need to consider what specific are of content you are covering, because you want each and every activity to be appropriate and meaningful in you classroom! Because all my peers have also created projects, I can look through theirs and possibly use them in my future classroom! Therefore, this project can be looked at as a great resource! I'm glad we were introduced to Scratch because it taught me a lot and I had never heard of such a tool! It was challenging at time (very challenging!) but in the end I believe it was worth it. :)
I thought this project was very beneficial to my future as an educator because it taught me that technology is about practice (like I just stated above). It also taught me how many different areas you have to consider before sharing a project or activity with you class. You have to make sure that it is going to be an activity where your students are getting immediate feedback (if possible) and it also needs to be very interactive to keep your students engaged! Also you need to consider what specific are of content you are covering, because you want each and every activity to be appropriate and meaningful in you classroom! Because all my peers have also created projects, I can look through theirs and possibly use them in my future classroom! Therefore, this project can be looked at as a great resource! I'm glad we were introduced to Scratch because it taught me a lot and I had never heard of such a tool! It was challenging at time (very challenging!) but in the end I believe it was worth it. :)
Monday, November 22, 2010
PSA Reflection
Our public service announcement shared the reality of how much time can be wasted when we are distracted by sites on the internet (YouTube, Facebook, and so on). It took us a while to figure out our topic because we wanted to think of something unique, so Professor Boyer would not have to watch a topic that has been overused. After a few different short meetings of brainstorming we thought this topic would be perfect for a PSA. Next, we talked about where we would be getting together and what props we would need to bring. We were very organized because we wanted to manage our time well since the end of the semester is so hectic. We spent a couple of hours creating our PSA and giving it some unique touches that we thought really made it catchy and rememberable. We used my Mac and used the program iMovie, which I would highly recommend. We had to redo our video a couple times because of acting mistakes, positions, and other common misshapes when creating a video. When we were finally satisfied we took some time to pick out lead out music that would grab our audience's attention. I felt we spent a good amount of time making sure our PSA was unique and touched on all the aspects Boyer would be looking for. We feel that our ending statements really make our audience think and reflect on the time we spend online.
After creating this PSA I feel I am much more acquainted with the program iMovie. I feel that I would be able to now successfully make many more videos with/for my future students. I now feel confident about creating a video that can have creative effects and a professional look. There are many different ways you could use a video to teach. There is also many ways on how your student's could use a video in the classroom. I especially have a long list after today's block lecture. By sharing our PSAs with our peers we will be able to see what creative touches they included and maybe get some great ideas. I'm excited to look at each groups once they are all posted!
After creating this PSA I feel I am much more acquainted with the program iMovie. I feel that I would be able to now successfully make many more videos with/for my future students. I now feel confident about creating a video that can have creative effects and a professional look. There are many different ways you could use a video to teach. There is also many ways on how your student's could use a video in the classroom. I especially have a long list after today's block lecture. By sharing our PSAs with our peers we will be able to see what creative touches they included and maybe get some great ideas. I'm excited to look at each groups once they are all posted!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Exit Slip 11.18.10
Our discussion today was on Chapter 10: Rethinking Education in a Technological World. I thought the group was very creative because of the way they grouped is (jigsaw grouping). I thought they could have managed their time a little better, but overall I thought this group did a great job! At the end we collaborated in our color groups and were able to create our visions for the school. It was interesting to hear every one's ideas and thoughts on this topic. This was the last chapter in the book, so it'll be interesting to see what Boyer does with the extra time in the beginning of our discussion period. Especially since we are pretty much done with most of our projects for this class.
The next part of class was focused on a media search. We had to find an online video, a podcast, a SMART Notebook lesson, a Scratch project, and an online game or simulation. This made us realized how easy it is to find something very easily if you know what you are looking for. Look how many sources I found in just 10 minutes. It also taught us how we will have to relate material and determine if it worthy or not. It also showed us that we can get sources from the larger community. We can look through our classmate's findings by going to class organization wiki and clicking on our peer's Delicious accounts. We need to remember that we don't need to teach alone! We can learn from others. I saw this as an opportunity to benefit from others!
The next part of class was focused on a media search. We had to find an online video, a podcast, a SMART Notebook lesson, a Scratch project, and an online game or simulation. This made us realized how easy it is to find something very easily if you know what you are looking for. Look how many sources I found in just 10 minutes. It also taught us how we will have to relate material and determine if it worthy or not. It also showed us that we can get sources from the larger community. We can look through our classmate's findings by going to class organization wiki and clicking on our peer's Delicious accounts. We need to remember that we don't need to teach alone! We can learn from others. I saw this as an opportunity to benefit from others!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Final Interactive Whiteboard Lesson Submission: Reflection
I put a lot of effort into my interactive whiteboard lesson. I've been working on it here and there over the last month. I definitely took the time to review what my peers thought and suggested when they evaluated my lesson. I took many of their ideas into consideration and I feel by their suggestions and my changes I had a much more effective and presentable lesson. I 'm really glad we did the peer review because I feel my first submission would have not been strong enough to use in the classroom. It was also nice to hear their ideas because I do not know much about this software yet and they had some very creative ideas.
At times I would get frustrated because I would spend minutes to hours working on just one little detail. Eventually I would figure it out and then I felt much better :) I learned you have to be patient when working with technology and that to really learn the little secrets and steps YOU need to practice. There is only so much someone can educate you on when you work with this software. It's something you need to explore and experiment with on your own.
By designing and sharing my IWB lesson I feel I am much more prepared to teach in a future classroom. I know feel like I can create engaging and motivating lessons that my future students will love. I am much more confident and feel great knowing I can successfully use the Smartbook Notebook program. This project also gave me the experience in creating a lesson. I was able to observe the NCTM standards, which is always something positive to learn and know more about. Be sharing our lessons I felt it was a great way to see what lessons my peers could provide and create. Their lessons gave me many more ideas! It also going to be helpful in the future to use all these lessons as options in my future classroom. I've looked through many already and look forward to looking through the rest!
This was one of my favorite projects so far in Education 331, because I feel like it is a program I will use daily.
At times I would get frustrated because I would spend minutes to hours working on just one little detail. Eventually I would figure it out and then I felt much better :) I learned you have to be patient when working with technology and that to really learn the little secrets and steps YOU need to practice. There is only so much someone can educate you on when you work with this software. It's something you need to explore and experiment with on your own.
By designing and sharing my IWB lesson I feel I am much more prepared to teach in a future classroom. I know feel like I can create engaging and motivating lessons that my future students will love. I am much more confident and feel great knowing I can successfully use the Smartbook Notebook program. This project also gave me the experience in creating a lesson. I was able to observe the NCTM standards, which is always something positive to learn and know more about. Be sharing our lessons I felt it was a great way to see what lessons my peers could provide and create. Their lessons gave me many more ideas! It also going to be helpful in the future to use all these lessons as options in my future classroom. I've looked through many already and look forward to looking through the rest!
This was one of my favorite projects so far in Education 331, because I feel like it is a program I will use daily.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Reflection on Book Chapter Project
Overall I thought our presentation went fairly good. I feel we put a lot of effort into creating our discussion. We felt it was very important to be creative and take a new approach that no one had yet. We got together a few times as a group and brainstormed our ideas and put together a discussion we felt we be fun and new to our class. We took the time to each create our own Scribble Links which actually took more time than you would think. That site can be tricky at first and we learned it is also very touchy. I think we were most creative because we used Scribble Link (wanted to). No one else had used this yet and it was a big change to how everyone usually groups the classroom. We were gonna have the class stay at their computers and work on the scribble link they were assigned to. This would have been such a time saver! It also would have made it harder for them to get off task since their group was scattered across the room. Now you are probable wondering why I'm saying "would of" or we "were gonna." Well our Scribble links did not work when we got to class, so we had to move to Plan B and have them work in groups face to face like they usually do. The discussion still went good, but I felt they didn't get to see how organized and creative we really were gonna be!
The value of facilitating course content in this classroom is very important. It gave me a chance to practice my teaching skills and prepare for what it will be like leading a classroom. I am someone who tends to get a bit over nervous when speaking in front of a crowd, so I think anytime I have to get up in front of an audience it is great practice for me! I also feel I get the most nervous in front of my peers, so it was even a greater experience for me. By discussing course content with my peers I get different opinions and insight on their ideas. I always really enjoy this because hearing different perspectives is always refreshing and insightful. I think you learn more on a topic when you discuss it with others. By doing this assignment I feel I really see the potential and positives that come from discussions and really want them to be incorporated into my future classroom!
The value of facilitating course content in this classroom is very important. It gave me a chance to practice my teaching skills and prepare for what it will be like leading a classroom. I am someone who tends to get a bit over nervous when speaking in front of a crowd, so I think anytime I have to get up in front of an audience it is great practice for me! I also feel I get the most nervous in front of my peers, so it was even a greater experience for me. By discussing course content with my peers I get different opinions and insight on their ideas. I always really enjoy this because hearing different perspectives is always refreshing and insightful. I think you learn more on a topic when you discuss it with others. By doing this assignment I feel I really see the potential and positives that come from discussions and really want them to be incorporated into my future classroom!
Exit Slip 11.11.10
Today was my groups turn to be in charge of the chapter discussion. Our chapter in Rethink was chapter 9 entitled What does it all Mean? We had planned on using the tool Scribble Link, but at the last minute it did not work the way we wished it would have. We had no choice but to use Plan B, which wasn't as creative as our original idea. Yet, the discussion still went well and we were able to get our message across. I was actually very surprised to hear all the positive comments our classmates had on our discussion. Next time I present in a class I plan on getting to that class at least a half hour early to make sure the tools I will be using are ready to go. Be more prepared!
Professor Boyer shared some articles with us today (found under our 331 D2L site) that relate to a technologic teacher, which seem very interesting. I will have to read them more thoroughly sometime soon.
I loved the second part of class today. Professor Boyer gave us time to work on our iRLOs and IWB lessons! I really needed this time because there were a couple of questions I have had for a while on both projects. It was nice to see my peers help me out and I could help them out too. I was very appreciative to Boyer for giving us this time in class to finalize our projects!
Professor Boyer shared some articles with us today (found under our 331 D2L site) that relate to a technologic teacher, which seem very interesting. I will have to read them more thoroughly sometime soon.
I loved the second part of class today. Professor Boyer gave us time to work on our iRLOs and IWB lessons! I really needed this time because there were a couple of questions I have had for a while on both projects. It was nice to see my peers help me out and I could help them out too. I was very appreciative to Boyer for giving us this time in class to finalize our projects!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: Chapter 10
RETHINKING EDUCATION IN A TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD
This chapter starts out by stating that the future prosperity in countries will depend on their education systems are set up. Not just the future but NOW! If the United States wants to compete successfully than we need to make sure we are rethinking our education in the U.S. The first section starts by explaining how in this world we grow up with the idea that learning means taking courses in school, but what if that changed? What if the we went back to when individuals negotiated their own learning? Would learning be better and more successful? We will see :) The whole vision of this book is structured around "lifelong learning." Lifelong learning requires moving away from highly structured schooling institutions to instead act as consumers of a wide variety of learning experiences. So even though I felt throughout much of this book they were saying universal schooling will someday soon be gone, I feel that they more importantly want us as future educators to know the difference we can make by supporting and integrating technology tools into our future schools. So what happens though if the U.S. cannot keep up and our thinking on learning does not ever change? This chapter talks about how we already see this outside of the U.S. Many young people in Thailand and Brazil have access to these technologic resources and skills and they are indeed becoming "21st-century immigrants."
The second section of this chapter focuses on rethinking motivation. "The current school system does not help students develop intrinsic motivation to learn. As a future teacher I want to make it possible for each of my students to really explore the topics and areas that interest them. This can help them to love learning, which should be every teacher's goal. I really liked this statement, "by understanding how new technologies can encourage kids to take responsibility for their own learning, society may help produce a generation of people who seek out ways to learn." If students are learning on their own they are most likely developing a much deeper appreciation and understanding for learning.
The new technology resources that really impact what it is that is important to learn are communication and mathematics. I found this interesting. We really need to allow our students to take their own paths and encourage them to follow the career path that most thrills them, not us, or their parents. This is very important.
Also this book is not just to educate young people on a new way of learning, but it is to educate everyone! With these types of tools and resources education can touch a much broader range of ages. We need to stretch our traditional practices like the book suggests. I know after reading this book that I am very willing to transform the classroom so it is the best it can be for my students. Their futures are very important to me and it is my job to make sure they fulfill their dreams! The book is done. And I have learned a lot. :)
This chapter starts out by stating that the future prosperity in countries will depend on their education systems are set up. Not just the future but NOW! If the United States wants to compete successfully than we need to make sure we are rethinking our education in the U.S. The first section starts by explaining how in this world we grow up with the idea that learning means taking courses in school, but what if that changed? What if the we went back to when individuals negotiated their own learning? Would learning be better and more successful? We will see :) The whole vision of this book is structured around "lifelong learning." Lifelong learning requires moving away from highly structured schooling institutions to instead act as consumers of a wide variety of learning experiences. So even though I felt throughout much of this book they were saying universal schooling will someday soon be gone, I feel that they more importantly want us as future educators to know the difference we can make by supporting and integrating technology tools into our future schools. So what happens though if the U.S. cannot keep up and our thinking on learning does not ever change? This chapter talks about how we already see this outside of the U.S. Many young people in Thailand and Brazil have access to these technologic resources and skills and they are indeed becoming "21st-century immigrants."
The second section of this chapter focuses on rethinking motivation. "The current school system does not help students develop intrinsic motivation to learn. As a future teacher I want to make it possible for each of my students to really explore the topics and areas that interest them. This can help them to love learning, which should be every teacher's goal. I really liked this statement, "by understanding how new technologies can encourage kids to take responsibility for their own learning, society may help produce a generation of people who seek out ways to learn." If students are learning on their own they are most likely developing a much deeper appreciation and understanding for learning.
The new technology resources that really impact what it is that is important to learn are communication and mathematics. I found this interesting. We really need to allow our students to take their own paths and encourage them to follow the career path that most thrills them, not us, or their parents. This is very important.
Also this book is not just to educate young people on a new way of learning, but it is to educate everyone! With these types of tools and resources education can touch a much broader range of ages. We need to stretch our traditional practices like the book suggests. I know after reading this book that I am very willing to transform the classroom so it is the best it can be for my students. Their futures are very important to me and it is my job to make sure they fulfill their dreams! The book is done. And I have learned a lot. :)
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