Tech experience in the classroom

Breakdown: first placement for an MSU TE course, with around 20 first graders, but almost no sign of technology integration. All I saw was a radio. Nevertheless, I only spent two hours observing out a single day, of a week, of an entire school year. Understandably, I don't have any technology uses to report on thus far. In the mean time...

Last year for my TE 250 course, I decided to volunteer at the Refugee Development Center in Lansing. The kids and adults came for extra help with homework, reading, writing, etc. Also, one of the main reasons they would come was to be able to use the computers. Whether you need a computer to use the Internet to do research or to type a paper, it's vital to have a computer as a student these days. Most of these students just moved to the U.S. and can't afford to buy a computer as well as Internet access. First, they had to finish up any homework or work on a project that didn't require a computer and then they were awarded with computer privileges.

Teachers go on and assign projects, essays, etc., that require research to be done by the students. This generation of youngsters would probably never think to go to a library and manually look through hundreds of books that may have something to do with what they're researching and that's not a horrible thing. The reality is that all the information of the world is online. Most importantly, unlike books, whatever information you may find on the Internet can be updated with a snap of your fingers. Also, it's just more effective to search online. A student could spend hours, days, even weeks, searching for books and tracking them down. Then, it's time to read through the dozens of books only to find that two of them are helpful. One of my teachers had us do research for an essay by using, mostly, books and magazines as sources; she wanted us to experience and find value in the way research was done before the computer was invented.

How do you feel about this? Do you think children of today's world should even bother having to ever do research, solely, by using hard copies of books, magazines, etc.? Is that important in such when technology is constantly developing and getting better, faster, easier to use?

My Tweets

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So Much Out There

It's the third week of classes and it's about time I turn more of my attention toward this internet-updating, surfing the web business; unlike the easily distracted first graders I met, Thursday morning, at my TE301 placement. haha.

I don't know how anyone else feels about the development of their PLN's (Personal Learning Network), but I think I'm still at the beginning stages of Stage 1- Immersion. There's so many blogs on the Internet and I keep thinking that I will find one that's perfectly engaging, knowledgeable, useful, etc. But that's not the case. For example for class this week we have to focus our attention more toward twitter; so, I went and I downloaded tweetdeck, an organizer for your tweets, mentions, and messages. The video my professor showed us in class had a guy on there that follows about 20,000 people right now! That's insane. Anyway, although following 20,000 person's tweets/blogs isn't necessary, just one or two won't cut it either. As our class website shows, "Immerse yourself into networks. Have a feeling of not being able to leave it, afraid you'll miss something. And feel like if you do miss something, you missed an opportunity." Very true and pretty motivating, don't you think?

Everyone is capable of catching your interest with just one blog post/tweet; so, everyone keep reading!

I usually write myself reminders and post them on the wall in my apartment. They're usually not corny, motivational notes like this one, but I was watching "The Waterboy" and I couldn't help myself :)

Other options

Today I read a the blog called Educational Technology Guy, in my newly discovered Google Reader, and found an interesting article that goes along with my previous post: "Should we force students to learn? or How can we change schools to engage students?"

In his posts he was talking about how there are so many students taking classes that don't interest them, therefore, they put their heads down, stare out the window, doodle in their notebooks; they do everything but pay attention. Many classes should be required because everyone needs, at the very least, a basic knowledge of English, math, science, history, etc. However, this blogger asks, if the students need to be left struggling in upper level classes? Schools should offer more vocational classes. Not every student wants to be an English major, mathematician, or historian. If more vocational classes were offered, it might make children actually want to go to school. Students would be learning about subjects they believed would benefit them and wouldn't feel like they were wasting their time.

My high school actually offered these types of classes. If I remember correctly, by junior year we had the choice to go join a CO-OP Program for the second half of the day. They offered cooking and restaurant management classes, car mechanics, flower arrangement, graphic design, etc. I, actually, wasn't a student that was particularly interested in the program's courses, but a lot of my peers jumped at the the chance to join.

It's Simple but it means Everthing

"This obsession our society is developing with test scores and standardization ignores the truth that it takes some kids more time to find out and act on their gifts." -- Jim Burke

Tonight, I stumbled upon a blog that really caught my eye. It's simple, but very creative. One post is called, "Our students are brilliant". Every teacher should believe this and never forget it. We all know how school was... everyone was different. Stereotypically, you had your jocks, nerds, cheerleaders, loners, etc. The diversity in students is apparent just by appearance so why would a teacher expect the same work ethic, motivation, personality, etc, from all of his/her students? This is obvious and I can't imagine any teacher does have the same expectations for every student.

The fact is that we all go through life experiencing different things and develop our personalities and ideas based on those experiences. Every student is not going to become a doctor, lawyer, CEO, etc, just like every student isn't going to be talkative, outgoing, confident, etc. Teachers need to remember that even though a student doesn't get straight A's or never participates, it doesn't mean that something is wrong with them or that they will never amount to anything. That student may be a painter, a singer, may play ten instruments, may be BLOGGING every night, but they just haven't showcased their talents yet. OR the student may not have any clue as to what they may be talented in! Teachers should inspire and encourage each and every student to want to find out.

My Technological Background...

Before coming to class, I read the syllabus online and saw that we would be required to blog this semester. I was not thrilled just because I'm a person that never really was that motivated to blog. I didn't feel I had anything too special to discuss. I'm definitely familiar with it because I had to write blogs for a course I took last year. I also combined forces with two good friends of mine just to write about ridiculous things to make people laugh, but I've strayed away from that. I'm also familiar with twitter.com. One friend, in particular (same one that I share a blog with), tweets about anything and everything that's going on in his life. It's hilarious and I love reading his tweets, but I realized it's not my thing after I set up an account prior to this class. Besides being familiar with blogging and tweeting, my technology background consists of myspace.com, facebook.com, e-mail, Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, simple photo programs, music and video programs. I'm no computer genius, but I was fortunate to grow up in a generation where a computer is the norm; where using a computer is a part of everyday life. I try to stay in tune with technology as much as I can and to the extent that is significant to my present needs.

What I am looking forward to learning about is the new world this class has opened my eyes to. I never thought of using blogging and twitter.com as professional tools, or anything else for that matter, besides e-mail. That's just because I always looked at the internet so casually; it was always just a connection to friends. So, I'm pretty excited to go start exploring the internet in a more professional sense. Here I go...