When choosing websites and online resources for classes, a certain amount of preparation and personal judgement is required.
Under no circumstances should resources be presented to a class without the teacher having visited and screened the site for content and structure. Kathy Schrock has an ABC's of Website Evaluation on her website that can provide a good basis for website review. Her list is quite comprehensive and would certainly reflect an ideal resource. Practically, the classroom teacher will need to use personal judgement and weigh benefits against detractions.
Generally, the teacher needs to be aware of additional links, videos, and even advertisements that could be inappropriate for their students. Schools do have filters that block a large amount of inappropriate material, however, things always have a way of sneaking through. Obviously, the content needs to be appropriate and relevant for the lesson that is being explored.
Depending on the age and level of the class, students will percieve information very differently, so care needs to be taken to insure an appropriate response to the resources. For example, if you know that students are particularly sensitive to certain topics, that might not be one that you would want to explore in the less controlled environment of the Internet.
Personally, since I teach older and higher level students, I tend to have expectations of them similar to those of responsible adults. They understand the sometimes unpredictable and inaccurate nature of information that is gathered online. Our school does an exploration of website reliability in the Freshman Seminar class that all freshmen take, and all teachers encourage and model corroboration of information from multiple sources. So, website review has become a bit of the culture that the Internet and Web 2.0 has created, and it should be a consideration within the technology in the classroom.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Yet to be
As we near the end of our adventures in EDU 533 (although, I'm not planning on wrapping this blog, for those of you who may be interested in continuing through my educational/instructional journey), there is one aspect of this whole thing that I feel has been kind of lacking.
Call it an enduring theme, call it a lasting skill, call it essential points, call it whatever you'd like to call it. I'm going to call it an educational philosophy, and I'm not entirely sure that it's been as much of a topic as I would have liked it to be in this course.
We are teachers (or we are going to be teachers). We teach kids. What are we going to teach them? "3rd grade" is the wrong answer. So is "english" or "science" or "math." In my classes, I teach my students how to think critically, solve problems, make decisions, and filter large quantities of information into usable pieces. I happen to teach those things through chemistry, but the chemistry is the least of what I teach. You may teach something else, and that's fabulous! Kids need us to teach them a lot of things. Very often, what we model proves to be one of the most influential forms of instruction. So...just think about it. You don't have to decide right away, but, please, think about what you're teaching.
As we work our way through this multitude of technological tools, I wanted to point out a statement that I remind myself and my colleagues of whenever it is appropriate: Long after they forget what you teach them, they remember how you treat them. The technology is cool, but it's not what we do. It is a tool to help us do what we do, and hopefully help us do what we do better.
Call it an enduring theme, call it a lasting skill, call it essential points, call it whatever you'd like to call it. I'm going to call it an educational philosophy, and I'm not entirely sure that it's been as much of a topic as I would have liked it to be in this course.
We are teachers (or we are going to be teachers). We teach kids. What are we going to teach them? "3rd grade" is the wrong answer. So is "english" or "science" or "math." In my classes, I teach my students how to think critically, solve problems, make decisions, and filter large quantities of information into usable pieces. I happen to teach those things through chemistry, but the chemistry is the least of what I teach. You may teach something else, and that's fabulous! Kids need us to teach them a lot of things. Very often, what we model proves to be one of the most influential forms of instruction. So...just think about it. You don't have to decide right away, but, please, think about what you're teaching.
As we work our way through this multitude of technological tools, I wanted to point out a statement that I remind myself and my colleagues of whenever it is appropriate: Long after they forget what you teach them, they remember how you treat them. The technology is cool, but it's not what we do. It is a tool to help us do what we do, and hopefully help us do what we do better.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Frontline: Digital Nation
After watching Frontline's Digital Nation, I had a few thoughts. For starters, I should confess that I was multitasking at the beginning of this video: texting, knitting, eating, and talking. However, the program quickly earned my complete attention, and there were a few points that I wanted to address. I'm choosing the topics that relate most immediately to children, as opposed to those that addressed the changing workplace for adults.
The bit that they did on multitasking I thought was particularly interesting. It didn't surprise me at all to see that people who tried to do many things at once were less than effective at those tasks. That old phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" has existed for a reason! It seems to be much more effective to do one thing, and do it well. Chances are that those things would get done faster, also. However, it also seems that this personal discipline and control to restrict oneself to one task is something that is difficult for today's emerging professionals to grasp. So really, the question for me, as a parent and educator, is how to appropriately integrate focus into this culture of distractedness, multitasking, and immediate gratification. As an aside, now I'm drinking coffee, watching the news, blogging, and wrangling a two-year-old.
I'm not sure if the natural progression of this multitasking culture led to the extensive gaming culture in South Korea, but I thought that it was sad and a bit foreboding to see what that situation has done to the youth of South Korea. I have known a number of students who have played online games and spent the majority of their time outside of school immersed in these worlds. I have also known some of those students who had a very difficult time managing themselves when they went off to college, and were unable to perform to their highest abilities. Although, that self-management is a difficult skill for many college students to achieve, regardless of gaming and online habits. Again, how do we help these students to manage themselves and their technology so that they realize that the technology is a tool to success, and not the indication of success itself?
With that thought in mind, I thought that the statements by the New York administrators that we needed to meet students where they were, indicating that the only way to engage students is through technology, is sadly pathetic and short-sighted. My initial reaction to those philosophies is that we are lowering expectations so that teachers and students can find successes, rather than insisting on balance. Please don't misunderstand me: I agree with the appropriate integration of technology into education. However, giving every middle-schooler a laptop and expecting them to focus in class is asinine. Moderation and responsibility has to be the key. I watched (and blogged about) a video earlier for this course that highlighted responsibility as a key topics for success in a Web 2.0 culture.
So, it would seem that modeling moderation and responsibility with technology is one way to help our children learn personal management. Beyond that, schools and parents have a daunting task ahead of them to teach young folks how to appropriately use tools for success and integrate technology effectively into their broadening horizons. I, certainly, don't have all the answers. But, I am eager to work towards a solution!
The bit that they did on multitasking I thought was particularly interesting. It didn't surprise me at all to see that people who tried to do many things at once were less than effective at those tasks. That old phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" has existed for a reason! It seems to be much more effective to do one thing, and do it well. Chances are that those things would get done faster, also. However, it also seems that this personal discipline and control to restrict oneself to one task is something that is difficult for today's emerging professionals to grasp. So really, the question for me, as a parent and educator, is how to appropriately integrate focus into this culture of distractedness, multitasking, and immediate gratification. As an aside, now I'm drinking coffee, watching the news, blogging, and wrangling a two-year-old.
I'm not sure if the natural progression of this multitasking culture led to the extensive gaming culture in South Korea, but I thought that it was sad and a bit foreboding to see what that situation has done to the youth of South Korea. I have known a number of students who have played online games and spent the majority of their time outside of school immersed in these worlds. I have also known some of those students who had a very difficult time managing themselves when they went off to college, and were unable to perform to their highest abilities. Although, that self-management is a difficult skill for many college students to achieve, regardless of gaming and online habits. Again, how do we help these students to manage themselves and their technology so that they realize that the technology is a tool to success, and not the indication of success itself?
With that thought in mind, I thought that the statements by the New York administrators that we needed to meet students where they were, indicating that the only way to engage students is through technology, is sadly pathetic and short-sighted. My initial reaction to those philosophies is that we are lowering expectations so that teachers and students can find successes, rather than insisting on balance. Please don't misunderstand me: I agree with the appropriate integration of technology into education. However, giving every middle-schooler a laptop and expecting them to focus in class is asinine. Moderation and responsibility has to be the key. I watched (and blogged about) a video earlier for this course that highlighted responsibility as a key topics for success in a Web 2.0 culture.
So, it would seem that modeling moderation and responsibility with technology is one way to help our children learn personal management. Beyond that, schools and parents have a daunting task ahead of them to teach young folks how to appropriately use tools for success and integrate technology effectively into their broadening horizons. I, certainly, don't have all the answers. But, I am eager to work towards a solution!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Obama Glog
So, President Obama came to my school on Tuesday afternoon for a Town Hall meeting and to talk about increasing jobs and strengthening small businesses. It was an incredible experience. Personally, I totally lucked out and was able to sit on stage with him and shake his hand as he entered. As part of the experience, we were asked to create a reflective piece for professional development. So, I took the opportunity to learn to use Glogster! I created a glog of images that I took during his visit, a little bit of text, an audio of the National Anthem, and a link to a video of his entire speech. I used the process of learning Glogster as my professional development, as this is a tool that I can use in my classroom for an alternative assessment. It was a hit! You should check it out. I'm pretty proud of it!
And, this is proof that I shared space with him. I'm the one alllll the way on the left with the black shirt and gray pants.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
On Twitter...
A good friend of mine who is no longer in the classroom (but absolutely SHOULD BE!!) sent me this article the other day as she was researching stuff for her new job as an educational consultant.
The article identifies how teachers can use Twitter for professional development and networking, like we've been doing in class. It gives a little bit more instruction as to how to go about finding networks of people with similar interests. And, it offers a degree of validity to the whole tweeting process.
And, if you're interested: I've been posting links to interesting tools in the sidebar over <--, so check those out too, if you'd like!
The article identifies how teachers can use Twitter for professional development and networking, like we've been doing in class. It gives a little bit more instruction as to how to go about finding networks of people with similar interests. And, it offers a degree of validity to the whole tweeting process.
And, if you're interested: I've been posting links to interesting tools in the sidebar over <--, so check those out too, if you'd like!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Educational Technology Tools
While pondering this post, I was concerned with what classified an "educational technology tool." Perhaps it's the scientist in me that wants to make sure that my definitions are clear before I embark upon a response. Regardless, I decided that anything that was available for free use on the Internet and enhanced a learning experience for students constituted an educational technology tool. While this may not be a correct definition, it worked for me, and it allowed me the freedom to investigate some of the things that I've used in the past in a bit more detail.
Since I teach high school chemistry, I try to integrate things into my continued learning that can benefit my students as well, so I set out to find stuff that would be good for my day students. There are countless sites out there that I have used in the past to supplement particular lessons and to offer support for specific challenges. So, here are a few of them:
Since I teach high school chemistry, I try to integrate things into my continued learning that can benefit my students as well, so I set out to find stuff that would be good for my day students. There are countless sites out there that I have used in the past to supplement particular lessons and to offer support for specific challenges. So, here are a few of them:
- eChem has an application that allows you to create and manipulate molecular structures. This particular one is from another teacher's personal class site. Very often these (teacher sites) have some AMAZING tried and true resources.
- Mr. Guch (another teacher in the classroom) has compiled an incredible amount of information, tutorials, and resources for chemistry students and teachers.
- Science Spot has resources for all levels and areas of science for mostly teachers.
- There are like 80 billion Periodic Tables online, and they all have a lot of the same information (how many ways can you describe Calcium, really?), but this one is pretty neat and interactive and all that stuff.
- And, if you've got a couple minutes and want to hug your inner science nerd, this is always fun. Click it, you know you want to. Everyone loves it.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Equal Access
So, I feel like I'm kind of cheating on this one. While I was waiting for the link to follow Monday night's class on ustream, I was poking around profiles on Twitter. I stumbled upon a blog that our Fearless Leader (Dave) kept about a year ago. As I was perusing his writing, I read a post that he had written about equal access, and it really hit home for me. So, I feel like I'm kind of cheating because I really liked one of his phrases, and (although it's similar to one that I use in my classroom) I'm kind of sticking by that philosophy:
Equal access is about teaching them to drive, not buying them a car.
The reality of a classroom situation is that you see a student (along with 20-some others) for a fraction of their day. You can do everything in your power to make that fraction as productive, meaningful, engaging, valuable, and whatever-else-you'd-like-to-make-it as possible. But, when that child goes home, they are faced with a much stronger influence that you will not be able to control. And, equal access has to be about providing the same tools to all of your students, not providing the same goods, services, or situations.
It would be nice if every student had a functional laptop with Internet access and all that jazz, but it's not a reality. I'll hearken Maslow by saying that it'd be even better if every student had a warm bed to sleep in, hot water to shower with, breakfast each morning, and a hug on the way out the door, but that's not a reality either. So, equal access in education has to be about providing the same opportunities, and allowing and encouraging students to make the choices about what to do (if anything) with the opportunities that have been provided for them.
Equal access is about teaching them to drive, not buying them a car.
The reality of a classroom situation is that you see a student (along with 20-some others) for a fraction of their day. You can do everything in your power to make that fraction as productive, meaningful, engaging, valuable, and whatever-else-you'd-like-to-make-it as possible. But, when that child goes home, they are faced with a much stronger influence that you will not be able to control. And, equal access has to be about providing the same tools to all of your students, not providing the same goods, services, or situations.
It would be nice if every student had a functional laptop with Internet access and all that jazz, but it's not a reality. I'll hearken Maslow by saying that it'd be even better if every student had a warm bed to sleep in, hot water to shower with, breakfast each morning, and a hug on the way out the door, but that's not a reality either. So, equal access in education has to be about providing the same opportunities, and allowing and encouraging students to make the choices about what to do (if anything) with the opportunities that have been provided for them.
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