New Thinking 10.28.10

In going over our podcast assignment, we discussed the importance of having a script and not winging it. This keeps coming up in my classes and as much as I detest scripts (I'm an outline kind of person), I think I have gained some new thinking in that scripting is an essential step in the teaching process. Dr. Barske insists it is critical, especially for language teachers, so that the class stays on track and so that you ensure you have covered the content and other aspects of a lesson that relate to the standards and your curriculum. Dr. Boyer emphasized the efficiency that scripting provides. By scripting, you know what you're going to say and when you're going to say it; this helps to eliminate the nuances and redundancies of spoken language.

Therefore, as a teacher, I realize that scripting isn't just an annoyance of preparation for a class, it's a valuable tool that I will use in my class for efficiency and clarity.

Ch. 8 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

Podcasting, Video and Screencasting, and Live Streaming

Great, besides websites, photos, tweets, status updates, news, and data, one can also have podcasts, screencasts, and live streams delivered to their RSS. I’m not overwhelmed at all.

Let’s begin by discussing podcasts. I have a really hard time listening to podcasts. I get “Motivational Mondays” from The National Society of Leadership delivered to my inbox every week, and I listen to part of one every once in a really blue moon. It’s difficult for me to pay attention to talk radio, unless I’m trapped in my “car” without any music. I do plan on using podcasts in my classroom though for the sheer purpose of documenting language progression.

Video is just a sweet form of media. When I was in junior high and high school, we loved messing around with video projects, although we by no means did any editing. I would say it was definitely the most time consuming projects we ever did, but they were usually really fun, and I can still remember the content I had to learn and recite for them.
Screencasting on the other hand is not my favorite to produce. It has its purpose and place; and if my students want to use it, I’ll allow them the option, but I don’t think I’m going to require that from them. I think when you begin to require excessive amounts of “fun” activities, all the fun is drained from them and they begin to hate what they once loved. So I believe in options.
Live Streaming-no. When I think of live streaming, I think of music artists doing Q&A sessions with fans. Maybe if you weren’t able to make it into the class one day for whatever reason, you could have the sub do a majority of the lesson plan, but connect to a live stream if you needed to correspond with the class. I’m not really sure though, how else it would be ideal for the classroom. Richardson stated that one teacher used live stream for every class so that people could see what he was doing, which is a comforting idea, but also a little nerve-racking I guess. I just see Big Brother taking over.

It’s become rather apparent, that there are many, many forms of media and production services available for free on the infinite and glorious web. It would be a shame if I’d labored over this book learning about them and didn’t implement them into my wonderful little language classrooms. I plan to dabble in all of these methods of communication for fun, and for work, so that my students can be knowledgeable as well and have options to share what they have learned.

Ch. 8--Rethinking Education

How Schools Can Cope with the New Technologies
Collins and Halverson identify the “imperatives” that seem to be perpetuating the Knowledge revolution as “customization, interaction, and learner control” (p. 112). However, with our current education system, which desires equality and has thus implemented standards to achieve such goals, we find that the three imperatives are lost in the school setting. Thankfully this chapter is labeled as coping mechanisms for schools rather than issues and problems with the current education system, like the previous chapters. The authors focus on three areas of the education system that are to be addressed, which are “performance-based assessment, new curriculum designs, and new approaches to equity in a digital world” (p. 113).

To start with, Collins and Halverson address performance-based assessment, and they have this weird notion that we should change the school system from the general education requirements to a certification program where parents and students can choose what the student studies and is certified in based off of interests and career goals. I was worried that they wouldn’t address the issue of being young and confused, but thankfully they do realize that this system may be flawed because high school students typically change their minds a lot. I don’t agree with them at all. If I was allowed to choose all of my classes, I would never choose to be certified in anything related to math, science, history, or really anything other than languages. My education would be narrowly focused on languages NOW. During high school, for my electives I took all business classes, I really thought I wanted to be a CEO of a major marketing corporation and I geared myself for the business programs available at the universities, little did I know that shortly after I graduated I would have a huge identity freak out and decide that business wasn’t for me. What if I was only certified in business practices and then changed my mind, thankfully I received a well-rounded education so I could compare and contrast my courses and still get into college with many options available to me. Now, I agree with the idea of using computers for assessment and getting immediate feedback and assistance, but I don’t see how changing our education system has anything to do with the price of tea in china.

Secondly, Collins and Halverson address new curriculum designs. Are these guys smoking something?! I thought the point of this chapter was to mingle the old with new and not to change the entire system. The idea of placing students in curricula based on their goals and interests is ridiculous. How are small school populations suppose to accommodate the individual interests and goals of each student if they’re all different? What about the ever-changing interests of students? The problems they present with their own ideas are critical and crucial points of conflict. I guess in a utopia these ideas are fantastic, but brought to the light of reality, they just seem far-fetched and impractical. On a more realistic note they discuss the idea of introducing video games, simulations, and other technologies in the current curriculums that are difficult areas of instruction and comprehension. By using computer-based visualizations and analysis tools, students are able to relate what they are learning to something with purpose and direction.

Lastly, they briefly address the new approaches to equity in a digital world. Although Collins and Halverson have pointed out again and again that technology has created more inequity amongst the classes in education due to expenses, they insist this can be turned around. By brining technology into impoverished schools, the students can achieve higher levels of education simply by the resources available to them such as tutoring and distance education. This I agree with and I am interested to see what more they have to say in chapter 10 on the problems of equity in education.

I can't change the problem of equity in schools, but I can give my studets a fighting chance by working hard for them and requesting grants/fundraising and even getting the students involved in pursuit of technology for their own benefit.

Ch. 7 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

Fun with Flickr

Following the usual format, Richardson introduces image publishing online through his favorite site Flickr. He runs you through the basics, brushes over some of the risks and safety issues and then tells you to consider that more on your own. I’m assuming this is because image publishing in the educational world requires signatures and precautions with information release. So of course, he runs through different possibilities of image editing and ways to work with the program so that it’s teacher and student friendly. I think I’m going to join Flickr, although I know I’m going to have some issues with the 90 day no sign in, lose your account aspect. I really like that you can annotate particular points of interest on your photo to promote discussion and give blurbs of information.

Another powerful part about Flickr is that you can use it in conjunction with Google Maps and find where the pictures were taken as well as other pictures that were taken in the same area. This is great for discussing other regions and cultures in the language classroom, when it would be really nice to take a virtual field trip.
I love the fact that he links everything back together. I would never think to add my Flickr account to my RSS feed. I know that seems obvious to some, but I think I’ve become very frightened by my RSS feed now. It collects so much information that I can’t keep up with it, which is horrible for my “have to keep up with everything” mentality.

As always, Richardson supplies you with an endless amount of resources for your resources. After this, I’m going to add all of the suggested Flickr “accessory” sites to my Delicious so that I have even more ideas for Flickr use.

In conclusion, what I’ve learned from this chapter is that there is more to the read/write web than just text. Photo and video are powerful modes of communication and have a purpose in the classroom and should be shared on the web. As always, it’s very important to take precautions and follow school policies when dealing with images. But I could see my class using it in the language classroom to label various photos and for presentations. I want to incorporate unique possibilities and options for my students to use, and I think that Flickr will be a great place to start.

New Class Thinking

To discuss chapter 6, the discussion guides broke us up into groups based on Dum-Dum flavors and my group fell into the category of "government in education". We discussed the role of government in education and our personal opinions about government control and its efforts to promote and improve education, as well as where we thought it was lacking. We realized that a lot of power in education is given to the people through referendums, voting, and administrators. Beyond national and state standards, I really hadn't given much thought about the role of government and how we as educators, parents, and community members can and should advocate on behalf of our students to the government for needs, suggestions, improvements, etc. The governments at national and local levels have a lot on their plates and expect administrators, teachers, and parents to look out for the education of our society.

Bam! Application time, as a teacher I will not whine and complain to my fellow colleagues wasting my breath, when I can put my words to use by appealing to the public, the government, and my own students.

Chapter 7--Rethinking Education

What May Be Lost and What May Be Gained
Finally, I say, the chapter that I have been waiting for from Collins and Halverson’s Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology. Chapter 7 should have been a few chapters earlier if you ask me; it would have sweetened the bitterness that this work secretes as one peruses the chapters in reflection. This chapter is short, sweet, and to the point. It addresses what may be lost in the age of technology and what may be gained, and although it jumps around a bit and self-contradicts, it is mostly understandable. The reason I like this chapter, compared to the others, is that it finally admits not only the wonders but also the difficulties of technology integration, and may I point out that there are more “losses” than “gains” in the chapter. Now, I do consider myself to be a technology enthusiast, but since this book has been a radical agent of all things technology beating on the school system, it’s a breath of relief to finally see some admittance of obstacles. Without further a due, with these I present thee along with my personal opinions.

Beginning with the biggest list, the losses, I find it funny that in previous chapters we discussed the endless possibilities with global connections and our ability to communicate beyond our own small communities, but now it’s brought up that we will actually lose social cohesion due to our natural instinct to group ourselves based on cultures, interests, etc. This is dumb. My interests coincide with people of other cultures, races, religions, whatever. While some of them group with people like me, no one is exactly me, and their interests lie elsewhere lapping with others, which is social cohesion. But the best part is when they say “…modern media, such as television, have had a very strong homogenizing effect on the population, which ensures a common culture without depending on the schools to produce one” (p. 106) It’s not the education system’s job to create a common culture, a common curriculum yes, but really?! Then the authors go on to say that with so many channels and the streaming of media it may have a reverse effect. Way to wobble back and forth on the subject there. I don’t see this as a concern of loss.

Another concern is that with privatized education, public schools will be left with disinterested students. I can’t see this happening unless teachers stop doing their jobs. Even fancy private schools have disinterested students. Technology doesn’t necessarily excite and motivate students; it can help, but if their only interest is in using social networking sites and downloading music, an educational –based software program won’t keep ‘em begging for more. Furthermore, the students that are on the privatized route may be under the influence and suggestion of their parents’ desire for their future career paths. Since parents are the ones shelling out the cash for all the amenities they can create narrow paths of education based on their own interests for their students, opposed to the public education’s goal of delivering a well-rounded education. This is a rational concern in my opinion.

Halverson and Collins address the digital divide of inequality. As technology increases, inequality follows suit. Those that can’t afford these technologies continue to fall further and further behind. They also address the loss of social skills that is prevalent amongst computer users who isolate themselves from friends and family. Most people have poor social skills nowadays anyways, so we’re really not losing much here (joke). I find it entertaining that with social networking being larger than life that society is losing their social skills; the internet is a whole other world with different social etiquette, it’s really unbelievable.

With all these losses, it’s a wonder that Collins and Halverson are such enthusiasts. But there is something to be said about the gains they have listed:
Learning becomes more engaging.
Commercial education market continues to grow.
Competition between students in school will diminish.
This I highly doubt. Competition is a natural instinct and there always ways to compete, especially with the use of technology. Plus, there’s no harm in a little competition, it can be quite motivating.
People take responsibility for their own education.

As an educator, I plan to foresee the obstacles of technology implementation and tailor my use of such tools to allow a powerful learning environment that will only enhance my students learning and societal functioning rather than hinder it. I plan to evaluate the technological tools and resources I use and how I use them, often in light of students and their needs.

New Thinking 10.14.2010

Dr. Boyer got a new iPad, and it got me thinking that I want an iPad. But that's irrelevant to my being an educator, so in other thinking, today we discussed Chapter 5 and the various pros and cons of:

-home schooling
-workplace learning
-distance education
-adult education
-learning centers
-educational television and videos
-computer-based learning software
-technical certifications.

It was fairly obvious that for almost every pro there's a con to these alternative types of learning. We did a lot of listening to opinions and not very much time building on and off of these ideas. As an educator, I think it's important to instigate deeper thinking, I guess I'm more of a processor and internal thinker academically, but my new thinking is that I/we need to become verbal processors and thinkers so that we can teach our students how to probe into the depths of their minds and really learn.

Ch. 6 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts

The Social Web

This topic is frightening to think of in a school setting. All these books about technology and our professor, Dr. Boyer, keep suggesting that we stay relevant with the youth and the technology they like to use, but day after day we see various cases of teachers getting into trouble for friending students on social networks and posting things about their jobs. Cellphones and texting have become a huge issue in classrooms across the country and although they want us to find ways to incorporate them, I have yet to see how that would work when they are banned from usage even in most college classrooms.

Richardson begins discussing his love for twitter. He teaches you how to set one up and the basic concept of the social site. He gives links to classes that use twitter with various ideas for using the social site, but I think it’s funny that one of his prime examples comes from Texas and apparently Texas has now placed a ban on teachers using social sites (see: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/12/05/2681445/state-sets-social-media-ethics.html).

Social bookmarking seems more practical for use in the classroom, as we as a class have already practiced this. We all have Delicious accounts where we are required to add at least 5 resources a week. Richardson gets a little complex with it all. I know it’s not as difficult as it sounds, but it’s definitely overwhelming for me to think of setting up a social bookmarking site, bookmarking all of my pages, and then linking it to my RSS feed, as well as other tags to my RSS feed (oh great, more things to block up my feed) and then sharing it with my students. I feel like I need a personal assistant to do all this for me. However, I see the benefits of sharing resources and links through a bookmarking site such as Diigo or Delicious.

As a future educator, I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to use social websites such as twitter or facebook in my classroom. I’m pretty sure that the cell phone idea will be a definite no, but it’s always good to consider such options and the possibilities of using technology that so many are equipped with. I’m now an avid user of Delicious, and find it extremely beneficial for organizing the many sites and resources I have accumulated. I’m sure it will be a great asset for my students as well as me, to gain more and more resources.

Ch.5--Rethinking Education

The Seeds of a New System of Education

This chapter in Rethinking Education in The Age of Technology looks at the ways society has adapted to the current education system, which can't provide all the needs of everyone. The authors, Collins and Halverson, focus on: home schooling, workplace learning, distance education, adult education, learning centers, educational television and videos, computer-based learning software, technical certifications, internet cafes, and of course the theme of life-long learning.

I found it extremely interesting that students that are home-schooled "score significantly better on standardized tests in every subject area" and that the book attributed it to the fact that parents care about their children (p. 67). I wonder if it has more to do with the fact that it's more one-on-one and the students/parents have the freedom to choose what and when the students engage in learning through instruction, homework, or play, and when they simply need a rest from the days activities.

New Thinking 10.7

Today I learned computers are really distracting. Honestly, I was so overwhelmed by my group presentation and then having to blog a reflection about it that I didn't pay any attention in class. I just typed up my reflection and semi-listened to something about an educational video game a previous student had made for the class. So, new thinking for today is that instruction should come before computer time, due to uncontrollable distraction. As a future teacher, I will give all directions and instruction in the classroom before anyone is even allowed to log on to a computer, that way I know they'll be listening, well, at least a better percentage will be.

Post Ch.4 Presentation Reflection

My group consisted of Trefor Jones, Emma Smits, and myself. We randomly formed our group, which made me extremely nervous. 1.) I hate group work; it usually ends up being more sour than sweet and 2.) While I feel I can work well in a group, I know I am more efficient working on my own with a lot less stress. However, the group came together nicely and was really efficient in the planning process, granted we invested a lot of trust to each other to come up with our parts and be ready, since we didn't do more than an outline. I picked chapter 4 for our group, and it wasn't as delightful as a read as I thought it would be, but that's irrelevant seeing as I have distaste for the book anyways. The chapter was somewhat thought-provoking though.

I felt that the group chemistry worked really well throughout the presentation, until I had my toes stepped on and my fellow classmate started taking over my part of the presentation. This caused me to flare up, which makes it hard to focus, but of course this is something one has to learn to deal with when cooperating with others, so I tried to brush it off and reclaim my part without being too noticeable. I really hope as a future teacher that I don't have to do team-teaching in my classroom. Not to say that I can't, but simply I don't care to.

I'm embarrassed that none of us caught the fact that graded schools were addressed wrong. Durrrrrr. It would have been helpful if we divided up our review beforehand and made sure that we were responsible for that part of the review, however we did it right beforehand and I expected to be responsible for only my two. As with group work, you can never just be responsible for your part, because usually another part is deficient in some way and you have to pick up slack. Slap to my own hand.

The critique was bearable. We had a lot of positives and many things I would have considered negative weren't listed, true to self, I (in general) am my harshest critic. As far as volume was concerned, I'm not surprised that we weren't loud enough, with the exception of me. My voice tends to carry and I've always been known as a loudmouth, whether it be the room or whatever, I thought that generally my voice was loud enough, but I guess that's something to check for, although generally someone in your class will say "Speak up! We can't hear you." I hate how critical we are when it comes to interactivity. I mean come on, you want something engaging, and different from the last groups, and yeah it's a large class, and we have limited resources and space, so accommodate the criticism. I'm really anti-criticism, even though I know it can be a valuable tool.

So, what did I get from this exercise? I don't want to teach technology specific classes and I don't want to teach college kids. Yes, I want to incorporate technology and review my teaching so that I can keep refining my methods and plans to better my students' education.

Ch.4--Rethinking Education

The Development of American Schooling

This chapter looks at the evolution of the education system in America, of course with a negative tone towards our present-day education which is apparently unsuitable and pressed for change. The chapter shows how we’ve moved from apprenticeship to universal schooling and are presently facing a need for change.

I guess new thinking I’ve gained from this chapter is: as life changes, our methods of education change, but apparently our current system is broken according to the book, so this is news to me. I however, don’t consider our current system broken, so I’m trying to examine what the authors of Rethinking Education in The Age of Technology are precisely speaking of. As a future educator, I will not get stuck in one way of teaching; I hope to diversify my teaching style and methods to fit the needs of my students.

So basically the spread of knowledge fostered by the invention of the printing press, the Reformation, the American Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution lead to America’s current education system. The invention of the printing press helped to spread information and knowledge to a larger population than before. With the Reformation, religious leaders insisted that the Bible be translated for the public to read and understand on their own. The American Revolution demanded an educated population to make sounds political decisions since the government became a Republic ran by the people. Ultimately, the formal system of education is to blame at the cause of the Industrial Revolution which brought people out of the fields and into cities to work which left children to work (which child labor laws reduced), to cause substantial trouble, or to be educated. Education seems like the good choice to me as well.

So as education became mandatory, the schools evolved in different ways to resolve various issues of the rapidly urbanizing country. Attendance was made mandatory; schools were divided into grades; tests were given to track progress and sort students into grades; textbooks were implemented to help with uniformity in learning and content for teachers to instruct; Carnegie units helped to keep the uniformity in a national aspect; and comprehensive high schools offered a variety of courses for students to choose from. “But as the system became more rigid, it ceased to evolve as the society around it continued to evolve, and so in recent years, it has become more and more out of sync with the demands of a continually evolving society” (p. 56). Now, the authors suggest that our education system has failed us and that we are stuck teaching for the last century. With technology replacing people in jobs, the authors insist we must learn to use technology rather rely on the memorization of facts and figures. It seems that these authors have no hope unless there is a drastic and radical reform in education where we all get feeds implanted in our brains and strictly work from computers 24/7. The fact that I’m taking a required technology in education course can attest to the fact that the education system isn’t against technology and is working to incorporate such things to aid in the realm of learning.

“Three demographic changes have also led to the changing in pressures on schools: 1) the increase in the life span, 2) the decline in the birthrate, and 3) the increasing diversity of the American population” (p. 63). So, 1) since there are more people out of school without children in school, they don’t want to pay the taxes to support public education, which is bogus because the taxes of other people went to them for their education, so it’s only fair they pay their dues; and my favorite, 2) “…the opening of other occupations to women has meant that schools have had increasing difficulty in attracting the best and brightest women to a traditionally female-dominated profession” (p. 63). I’m not quite sure what they’re trying to say here. Is that statement flattery or blame? I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, but I bet a large part of budget cuts in schools has a lot to do with intelligent women with degrees seeking other higher paying vocations.