My Beliefs

I believe in the meaningful use of technology in the classroom. I believe that students these days do learn and create well through the medium of technology. I understand that there can be abuse of this tool. As we plan lessons I sometimes find that we throw in technology because it is required and in those cases, the use is not meaningful (e.g. video or PowerPoint out of place). I validate some of the concerns expressed in some of our readings for this assignment. Students do write differently in texting or blogging or instant messaging than would be appropriate in a more professional document. But, evolution occurs and it seems to follow that it changes based on technological advances. Before the printing press only the "learned" write and read, dispensing knowledge to the unlearned in terms difficult to understand. The letters Jane Austen wrote were elaborate and detailed because her contact with people she cared for and the audience she wrote to was limited to her writings because distance (and she had no blog or writers page). Change is natural. It will be important to teach students "voice" and help them understand in what style of writing is appropriate for what text.

I conclude that the addition of new vocabulary and a new way of expressing is good. It may influence old ways for good. But, the integrity of traditional writings must be preserved. The danger lies in students becoming so caught up in their own way of expressing that they are unable to adjust or that lack of exposure to more traditional conventions of writing make them incapable of reading and understanding classical literature. I'm fairly modern but am still able to understand King James English. I was trained in formal writing but feel more comfortable and have more fun expressing myself in the informal outlet of a blog. Add to and prune till what is used is everthing of the best!

Lessons Learned

There are quite a few of the different types of technologies shown in the articles and videos that I didn't even know existed. I was also surprised/worried by the technologies that seem to be used in place of a actual classroom. I worry about a) my job and b) the child's ability to interact with other people face to face. I know it is in preparation for the working world they'll be in...but I'm not even sure how healthy that world is. I had a boss that could IM from the next room but couldn't look at me in the eye when we spoke. Go figure!

Strengths and Weaknesses

I think the best thing to say, as far as my strengths in technology go, is that I am open-minded. I do use technology in creating activities for students and in my own research for what I want to present or show. I recognized though that I can see myself in the future, as a teacher, using all of these great tools myself to help be more organized or informed but failing to teach the students to do so themselves. This is the difference between teaching using a PowerPoint presentation and letting the students teach a topic using the PowerPoint themselves. Or, I could create a great photo story myself and be excited to show it to them because of how greatly it will impact their lives, but not give them the opportunity to work on one themselves.

I think this problems I have just goes along with the same shift that is happening for a lot of us in the program as we learn that the teacher role is much different now than it was when we were being taught in elementary. It is the shift from teacher-directed to student-directed. We are not the dispensers of all knowledge, or in this discussion , the all-powerful wielders of the technology sword but are here to give to students the opportunities to use the same tools we use in teaching, in their learning.

I think that in order to impove I just need to see more concrete examples of ways to use technology in the classroom. In our social studies class we were shown a website that had examples of teachers actually teaching...not just the lesson plans but a recording of it. I would probably need exposure to things like that for technology. And that was something else pointed out in our reading...technology is not an outside class for just technology but should be incorporated. The website was www.teachinghistory.org . I would also go onto the UEN website and search within a topic and find technology rich lessons (with technology already integrated into the lesson).

Photo Stories: Finito!

So that was a pretty good experience. Creating photo stories is pretty fun. We picked an emotional topic, which is what photo stories are best for, and had a good time with it. I find, after doing the voice over for our story, that I felt pretty cheesy. I think that, while working to evoke emotion, a photo story needs to somehow avoid being to didactic. There is something about some photo stories I've seen that, in depicting something as important and almost sacred as an individual's or group's story, a music and pictures version sometimes makes it almost trite, or flippant. I see that as an important balance to maintain. Putting a story to music and photos can also take away some of it's reality. Pictures and music from the civil war or pioneer heritage, or ancient Egypt shed the desired light on the most positive aspects and failt to see the dirty reality that is there on good sides and bad sides. I've seen depictions of the civil rights movement in photo story form and, with music in the background and the profound pictures of the sit ins and food being dumped on white students protesting for their black peers, I know what side I would have been on and how hard I would have fought. The details of how hard standing up for the right, in this case, though are often over looked and ignorance on the part of those oppossing is always painted as evil when in some cases, that is not the whole truth. There is always negative on both sides and this kind of depiction could lend itself to only seeing things one way...glorifying and villianizing in one three and half minute fell swoop. There is so much to consider, and be delicate about. It's exciting and fun to be a part of this creative process and, in honor of the Academy Awards, be a part of making an idea come to life in the big screen or small YouTube screen.

Photo Stories Continued...

Whoever believed that if you're having fun, you must not be learning, didn't live during the information era. There is so much that students enjoy learning, when they are not in the classroom...but as soon as you step foot in a class, not fun! That's why we need to learn in the way that is just natural for us and the internet is how I look for information and technology (blogs, videos) is how I express what I learn. That is how we need to work with our children in our classrooms as well as offer information to our collegues.

Children required to sit still for hours more than is natural for them...than is natural for adults; being taught to be like everyone else by being required to take every subject and like it for twelve years of education...then being asked to be different and interesting and know what they want to do with their life by age 18...these are my experiences with school. These are reasons why change in the classroom is necessary, especially today. The videos for this week were great; I had seen the Did you know? facts in a different video presentation. I was good at school and was okay with learning the way I was taught until I realized that I didn't remember very much of what I learned and that, because my education prepared me very little for anything in the real world, I was suddenly up the creek without a paddle when I left high school. I think this is because everything about school tends to go against everything important and real in a human's (child's) world. Children are rarely studying what is important to them and so very little interest is taken in what they do and school just becomes a right of passage, whether or not the actual tools it provides even matter. Even now that I am studying to be a teacher, I can't seem to shake the stigma that, "School is boring." I find I procrastinate my work just because that is what you do with school and other things in the category of things you don't like. But I do like what I am doing now and am very excited about my future in education but because the term "school" is applied to my studies, they come after I've "studied" everything else interesting I can get my hands on...interesting facts on the Internet, a good book, emails, Facebook, world news, etc. But the change urged in the videos is that school can be a real place of learning...a place that gives direction to unique minds with limitless access to information. The difference is that, in order to help students succeed, they must be able to seek information they care about from means they feel comfortable with. They use technology every day in their recreation, why not in their education as well?

Technology Article #3: Photo Stories

Technology is wonderful! The potential for photo stories seems so great! The biggest "pro" I can see is using a photo story to help students connect personally to history in a way text cannot claim. Real photos and music combine to really create an emotional connection to what is taught.

Some of the cons, or at least things to be cautious of, when using photo stories is the tendency to become didactic and how easy it is to forget the objective. Because of this emotional targeted use of technology, with theme music and great pictures, I can see influencing children to not only think for themselves, but to think they way I want them to think. Real life doesn't have theme music (though I've contemplated the possibility of incorporating some into my own life) and even those really good things in history or politics will have their darker sides, just as the bad will have it's reasoning. For example, watching a photo montage of a couple at their wedding reception is wonderful, but hardly an accurate depiction of their relationship. I've seen myself in slide shows and known that, behind that smile I was frustrated at the time and that the memory may not actually be completely positive. I'm getting of track so, moving on (and actually applicable to getting off track) I can see myself showing a beautiful photo story that is moving and wonderful, but may not actually depict what I'm trying to say. The NASA photo story confused me just a little bit. I thought the motive behind it was to see what NASA had contributed to our lives but then, in the middle, a lot of time was given in memorial of those who lost their lives for the furtherance of space travel. If the story was meant to be a memorial then that amount of time would have been appropriate, but if it was meant to teach me more about NASA, then it missed the mark. It tried to do to many things. I think this one of the issues of wikis and blogs and the ability for everyone to put up anything they want is that it will take some weeding through to find really high quality stuff. This is exciting!

Tubeular!

Gone are the days of checking out a Bill Nye the Science Guy tape from the school library. The resources available on the Internet for finding videos for any subject are wonderful! I find that I'm pretty uncomfortable with copyright laws and would error on the side of not using things at all than using them wrongfully so I know I need to become informed so I feel comfortable with what I can use.

I can see the use of videos online as a great tool for not only viewing but for contributing. Places like Teacher-Tube or other wikis would be a great place to post what our class has done or discovered. Students making posters of what they learn turns into students making PowerPoints turns into students creating a video to post. Wow!

Techolgoy Article #2: Smithsonian

As a kid I don't think I realized how great museums were. Now I realize that museums make learning fun. Here is site from The Smithsonian that is especially for kids. I expected the site to only have different types of art to learn about but it really has a lot of things to discover.

The cons of this site are that quite a few of the links on the site actually have to do with things to do at the actual museum. Those of course can't be done but may inspire kids to want to take advantage of a time when they can visit a museum. The children's site also has really easy links back to the regular museum site and so then becomes a little much for the kids. This also means that art that is not for children is easily accessible and that includes some are that may be hard to explain (I stumbled across a naked fat man...hmmm...not wanting my fourth graders to go there).

The pros of this site, and any museum site, the opportunity given to use primary sources to teach. To actually see the picture of a pyramid, or a mummy, depictions of Greek gods, etc...that makes learning come alive. In our social studies class we are really working on using primary source documents or artifacts to teach and the supply of pictures of those things on a museum website are such a great resource.

Technology Article #1: Popsci

A friend told me about Popsci. com. She is a mother of 7 kids and her teenage boys spend hours on the site. Sure, she has great kids but really, there has got to be something to this. Science was the subject I wasn't good at (well, math too). In fourth grade you learn about fossils, in fifth grade about electricity and genetics...but when does kid just learn to like science...when do you just learn what you want to learn. This site links kids to what they want to learn about. The topics of discovery are have a wide range and, as per the "Pop" or popular, are things that people may just be interested in anyway. In one of our classes (maybe this one even, I can't remember) we were told not to work against kids natures, but with them. Children are curious and they like "cool" stuff. What they don't often know about cool stuff, is that it science! It's not tricking them to learn, it's just showing them that life long learning is about becoming experts in what interests them. (I spent time in a fourth grade class in which the children fought over the Guinness Book of World Records are reading time...would you have told them it's all science...what they don't know, can't hurt them!)

The cons of a site like this is that no, it may not actually address a particular core standard. As a teacher it may take some digging to find the right article or video to go with the core, but that is doable. As far as just the exploring of it by the kids themselves though, they might not tumble accross something having to do with fossils but...

The pro's are that children will enjoy what they are doing. They will learn to engage in technology not only by playing games on line but by finding cool new stuff to share with their friends..."Hey did you know...?" Thought the core may not be addressed, the learning outcomes for science include, "Manifest Scientific Attitudes and Interests."