Take Away Message 3/31

I am excited to start planning and filming our group project video. We decided to target nutrition in our 'What's In Your Lunchbox: Drinks Edition." With help from the class we have brainstormed a bunch of exciting ideass to base our video off of and I can't wait to see the finished product. We can break different drinks into categories such as caffinated drinks, sports drinks, sodas, juices and juice boxes, water and tea. Through this we hope that children will second think what they put in their lunchboxes to have during lunchtime.

Chapter 7

I completely understand the dynamics of the debate of the beneficial use of video and computer games for children. I do believe that gaming has come a long way. The first sign of educational technology I remember using was watching Muzzy in my Italian classes and watching The Magic School Bus during a science unit. These were the first uses of integrating technology and meshing them with learning that I can remember in my past classrooms. From there I feel educational technology has really come a long way. An example of it is the ever so popular Leap Frog Learning games. These were and still are so popular among the Toddler, Pre-school and early Elementary years. They have created fun ways to learn how to read and do math so children that are Digital Natives are more intrigued to do so. I also remember playing The Oregon Trail in elementary school when we learned about that time period and instead of that being the main learning tool my teacher used it as a motivator. Whether it be we were allowed to play during lunch, when we finished our work early or during indoor recess it got us more excited to learn about the topic when we were simulating living in it. As it states in the text it is important to chose what games you integrate into your classroom very wisely. The text stated that it is important to avoid games that teach minimal or narrowed skills and games that are only about winning or losing. This is important and I agree because if children are only playing and focused on rewards then they are not getting an enriching virtual experience.

1. What was your first learning based technology that was integrated into your classroom when you were younger? Do you think the options of such has improved or widened?

2. If you were teaching in an elementary school today what are some games you think you would incorporate?

3. Do you think the new common core standards limits us with what we can and can not use for this particular topic of technological integration?

Take Away Message 3/24

Minecraft is always a topic of discussion in my house between my youngest sister and cousins. What I always found an annoying or boring topic I now see in a different light. I never gave this gaming sight much thought or credit for educational value and after interviewing my cousin and watching the video I don't entirely know if my opinion has changed. I do see how it can be constructive in skills as following directions and strategies go but to stretch it as far as bringing it into the classroom I do not see that its value is significant enough. I think although not gory, that some aspects of the game are inappropriate for a classroom, learning environment and that each player needs to be closely monitored to make sure they are staying on task. I think overall what I am getting into is, that there are so many learning games out there that serve better learning purposes and are fun that are a better tool than Minecraft.

Chapters 4 & 6

What I took away most from chapter four was the mentioning of the 'participation gap.' What the participation gap is, is when technological resources aren't as accessible to some students whether it be at home or in the school district that students then fall behind on the use, knowledge and exposure of it. It stated in the text that "often economically advantaged kids get to do more intellectually challenging activities" when it comes to the use of technology. This made me think of what can we do as teachers if we happen to work in one of the less fortunate areas or with lower income students to prevent such a 'participation gap.' When schools have such limited funding it becomes a greater challenge because technology is a costly expense for teachers to pay out of pocket. 

I love the idea of implementing WebQuests and virtual field trips into classroom lessons. I feel that these two teaching strategies can be used and progressive in elementary through college years of learning. Technology is always changing so what better way to learn new information while also learning and staying updated with the newest and most current technology. I have never been on the student end of a WebQuest or virtual tour but it certainly seems like an experience.

1. What do you think would be an efficient way to close the 'participation gap?'

2. Have you ever participated in a WebQuest or virtual tour in your younger years in school?

Looking through the free education apps I noticed I had one! The Blackboard app! I find it very useful as a student with online work due. It helps keep me updated and sends me reminders of when assignments are posted, things are graded and when work is due. This saves a lot of time by not having to sign in through the internet or St. John's Central. Also during my student teaching experience, BrainPOP was widely used by a variety of teachers in a variety of grades. The videos they provide are both fun, intriguing and informative. 

Two websites that I love and would definitely implement into my students technology lives are pbskids.org and funbrain.com. They are both fun, bright, welcoming and education sites for kids to explore and have so much fun between videos and games that they wont even realize they are learning. These sites are also great to build lessons off of and can be used for motivations and tasks.

Take Away Message 3/17

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I feel like I really learned a lot today. I always thought about the fact that students need to understand the dangers of the internet but never thought how to go about teaching them. Discovering the Digital Citizenship was amazing! That site has everything you and your students needs to know about how to be a good digital citizen, follow rules and policies and have digital respect, even about cyber bullying! This is definitely something I am going to have my students explore with and even maybe send a note home to their parents so they can be informed on the dos and don'ts of this new digital age.

Take away message 3/10

I clearly was very opinionated on my opposition of the secure use of the website wikipedia. Yet I found I might have judged too quickly before I had done all my research. Through this discussion I found that there are security settings as well as a main office where all editing must be approved when prior to learning this I believed it to be a free for all of a jumble of miss-information. I was very surprised in learning this and it makes me second guess my usage of it in my future classrooms. I do believe that it would serve as a great compare and contrast piece with a highly reliable source but instead of ruling it out I do feel that now it is a good stepping stone to the beginning of the use of research.

Chapter Five Review

            The internet can be both a wonderful and scary place. I feel it is important while introducing the internet and its wonders to young children to also show them what to look out for and be careful of. It is also important to teach children what a creditable site is compared to a made up site that might be baring faulty information. This chapter also touches on the topic of plagiarism and how children can unknowingly commit this act therefore we must educate them on how to rightfully state the sources we use.

            One section of chapter 5 struck my interest in particular, the section called ‘Evaluating Online Information.’ The reason this struck me is because up until college I feel I was not able to properly assess how credible a website and its information was. That I feel is an imperative skill to have to be a sufficient internet user. I also feel that it is important that schools have certain web pages blocked. There are so many negative and inappropriate sites that children can accidently stumble upon it is important to keep them shelters from that possibility and also to teach them safe search skills for when they further their research at home. I also feel it is a good idea to conduct a list of creditable and useful internet sites for students to use and keep them up on a chart in the classroom or in their notebooks so when searching on their own those websites come to mind first therefore they learn how to search properly and efficiently.

            I also had the pleasure of reading the article, “Computers as Mindtools for Engaging Learners in Critical Thinking,” by David H. Jonassen. Mr. Jonassen explained how computers could be used as mindtools and I completely agree. There are a bunch of databases and programs children can use to ‘engage learners in critical thinking.’ This is important, therefore students will not only be using the internet as a tool for research but also for a tool to broaden and challenge their mind.

Questions:

1.     What are a few valid and useful websites you would present to your students to use?

2.     Do you think there are more negative effects on the use of the internet then positive or vise versa? What is your opinion on this?