Investigating social/educational networking

I've been checking out several social/educational netwoking sites this week for my technology class.  It's been quite interesting.  I think it's important for educators to be aware that there's a whole new world for resources out there.  Today I was able to read two relevent articles about the Common Core Standards on Twitter.  Something I wouldn't have done a week ago.  However I'm still not too sure how I'll use most of these sites.  So, I'll continue to check them out and evaluate their usefulness in my classroom. 

Highlights of my learning about curriculum:

I truly think I’ve learned a lot about curriculum through this course.  I’ve learned that students are no longer consumers of content and that technology prepares them to take more active roles in their learning. Today's students need to learn by doing rather than just watching and listening.  I’ve also learned that a good place to start curriculum change is by asking teachers to make 1 upgrade.  In addition, I’ve found out how technology can be useful to keep students authentically engaged and give them more ownership of their work.  I’ve decided that the change that I’m going to start with this fall is to use technology to broaden my students’ awareness and understanding of the world around them.  I know the tools that I’ll use to do this will be the internet, and an LCD projector or Smart Board.  I have other things in mind that I would also like to try such as using a digital camera and making a class webpage to showcase student work.  I have to say that this class has really opened my eyes to both the ramifications and possibilities of technology in the classroom.  I now think of myself as a digital immigrant and my students as digital natives.  I know that there is still a great deal about technology that I still don’t understand, but after using moodle and  learning how to create a blog, I’m less nervous about using new technology than I was before taking this class.  Will I continue to post to this blog past this course?  The answer honest is:  I don’t know.  Will I continue to read professional blogs past this course?  The answer to that is YES!  I can also see myself sharing things I’ve read from these professional blogs with my colleagues.  I would also be able and willing to show other people within my school or RSU how to set up a blog and follow professional blogs.  I feel that I’ve really learned a lot about technology and some of the tools that we can use to better teach our students, and I will definitely be sharing things with my colleagues throughout the coming school year.

Drive

Reading this book has helped me to see that schools today are too Type X.  At my own school, we rely heavily on extrinsic rewards for students.  At the Elementary level we have recently given rewards to students for showing growth on their standardized tests.  There are several students that I can think of right off the top of my head that have behavior plans that include students getting things for having good behavior.  I myself have been extremely guilty of providing rewards to a student with a behavior problem.  He came to me with that type of plan in place and I did resist doing it at the beginning of the year.  However a few months into the year his behavior was so disruptive and difficult that I felt that I needed to resort to using that plan of incentives.  His behavior did improve and I tried to gradually extend the time between rewards with the intention to wean him off them.  The number of incentives and the length of time between them was reduced by the end of the year, but he was still receiving some.  After reading this book I now realize that this is not a good solution to the problem, but I still don’t know what is.  It bothers me now to think that I might have contributed to him having addictive behaviors later in life.  I do think that we should stop offering rewards for standardized testing scores but I don’t know how schools and classrooms could be reconfigured to stop emphasizing extrinsic rewards for problematic students. 

The technology-learning connection

What does all of this suggest for your classroom (or school)? Where do you start now...with the resources you have?

I now have a better understanding of how technology has changed how students learn, and as a result I am more aware that teachers need to keep up with the changes and adjust both how and what we teach.  So, what does this mean for my third grade classroom at Limestone Community School?  What can I do with the limited resources that I have?  Well, I have been thinking a lot about these questions and I’m still trying to figure out how I can use the one computer that I have in the room for student use, but I have come up with a few ideas that I can do to incorporate more technology into my classroom.  The first thing I can do is to start investigating websites that offer virtual field trips.  Since the area where I teach is made up of mostly low-income families my students don’t have a lot of opportunities to go to places outside the local area.  So, I think that by doing virtual field trips I can really widen their understanding of the world and enhance my curriculum in Social Studies and Science.  I would like to do things such as broaden their awareness of other cultures around the world, show them some historical sites, take them to museums, visit space centers, and check out some labs.  In connection with these virtual field trips I would also use the LCD projector or Smart Board so that the whole class can share the experience at the same time.  We do have at least one of each of those items in our school, and I need to start signing up for them and using them in my classroom.  Another tool that I will start using is the digital camera.  I can take pictures of the students when they are doing science experiments, projects, Readers’ Theater, etc.  I’m also thinking about using something like moodIe, googledocs, or a class website to showcase student work to their parents.  I think that using the digital camera will give them ownership of their work, making their work available to the public will encourage them to put forth more effort because someone will see their work.  Again, it would take some effort on my part to sign up for the camera, but I think it would be worth it.  I’m also going to try to connect/communicate with the parents in an electronic forum as well because many of them are younger than I am and they are probably quite comfortable using technology to communicate with others.  There aren’t a lot of technology resources at my school, but I think that if I can begin to use the ones that are available I will at least be heading in the right direction to prepare my students for the future.

Charter Schools

Charter Schools

Finally- an article that doesn’t sugar coat charter schools!  I don’t think it’s fair to compare public schools to charter schools because we don’t have the same resources.    All too often public school teachers are expected to perform miracles with children and then we’re basically drug through the mud when we don’t succeed.  However the reality is (as pointed out in this article) that teachers actually have a very small amount of influence on their students and that non-school factors have more influence on student achievement.  It seems to me that this movie really demeans public education while pumping up charter schools, and that really saddens me.  Maybe there are some good charter schools out there, but there are also good public schools too, and I’m sick and tired of all the public school bashing.

Chapters 6 & 7

Chapter 6

I thought this chapter was quite interesting and it made a lot of sense.  Our world is expanding beyond our local communities thanks to technology, and we need to prepare our students for this.  The section on p. 106 that talks about how disadvantaged kids are disconnected really struck home with me.  I teach in a small rural community with a low income base and most of my students never travel very far away from home.  So they are lacking in experiences that would expand their knowledge of the world beyond our small town.  I’ve often worried about this problem and wondered how I could give them more opportunities to learn about our state, country and the world.  Now I know the answer-  use technology!  DUH!  This book has really “opened my eyes” about the possibilities of technology and I’m getting excited about trying some new things in my classroom.   

Chapter 7

A great example of how technology has really changed the curriculum of this school.  I can see how technology can be useful to keep students authentically engaged and give them more ownership of their work.  Again, this chapter show just how important the role of technology is in educating today’s students.  Although I can’t quite yet see myself recording my lessons so third graders can watch them at home (p. 131), I do feel that I will be using more tech tools in the upcoming school year.

Thoughts on chapters 10 & 13.

Chapter 10

I’m sad to say that I don’t think I’ve put forth a lot of effort in purposefully educating my students for a sustainable future.  There was a lot of helpful information in this chapter.  I think the question “How can we all live well within the means of nature?” will stick in my head and guide me in planning activities and lessons for my students.  I would say that this chapter has definitely helped me to be more aware of this topic. 

Chapter 13

I don’t know about anyone else, but I found this chapter hard to get through.  I couldn’t help but think of my third grade students and wondering how this process of changing the habit of mind would work with them.  I can’t quite see it happening.  I also had a hard time envisioning the whole school changing and following this model.  I think this is a chapter that I’ll need to read again at a later date.  Maybe it’ll make more sense the second time around.