Both of the videos are tragic but watching them raises some questions. How can we really stop teenagers, who have cell phones that now have real time face chat, from doing whatever they want on their phones? Yes, discretionary parents will try to limit phone use and monitor internet activity, but clearly that can't be enough. Why is a 13 year old girl feeling compelled to take pictures of herself topless? How can this situation be prevented in the first place? It is easy to just blame the media I suppose but we all know it is not that simple.
I didn't get my first cell phone until I graduated high school but all throughout those four years I saw my peers constantly texting in class, or trying to find ways to circumnavigate the teacher's line of sight. At the moment cell phones are mostly a distraction and a convenience. Smart phones are bridging the gab between cell phones and computers so maybe in the future schools will be able to implement something that will allow to students to utilize the technology without it being a distraction. But until then, schools should impose bans on having cell phones on during the school day. Emergencies do happen so at least a student would have a cell phone on them. As for the circulation of a "sexting" image, if the school finds out they should be just as involved as the students in that situation.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Copyrights
My score for the quiz was:
30% (6/20)
Fair Use applies to copyrighted works that are being used for educational purposes under fairly specific and somewhat confusing conditions. It applies to education because many teachers hope to use various media sources to enrich course work or give students ways to create worthwhile projects. Based on the quiz, there seem to be a lot of different rules regarding Fair Use in schools. As technology is becoming ever more important in education, Fair Use will be coming up more and more. Fair Use will be VERY important for the coming generation of educators to understand. This will take some time since there seems to be a lot of gray areas involved with copyright laws
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Technology Matrix
For this blog post I choose the 1-1 activity for Collaborative/Adaptation.
What needs to be done by the students for the activity:
The standards for the teacher for this activity would be:
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
I would be meeting all four points because the students would be working creatively to maneuver through a digital tool in order to complete the assignment. If students are unfamiliar with iMovie either I or another student could guide the class along.
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Students would be able to explore which ever poet interests them and they can create the short movie in any manner as long as it explains the point.
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
As a teacher I would be responsible for all four of these as well. Keeping up to date with technology and having hands on experience with it would allow any teacher to easily meet these four standards.
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
Students may need to interact with other people on a blog or forum, so explaining proper internet etiquette will be important. Communication would need to be done without slang or acronyms.
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Continued inquiry and involvement with technology inside and outside the classroom will allow a teacher to be able to fully communicate technology to their students and colleagues alike.
As far as my level of technology is concerned, I would have to say I am at the adaptation stage. The software we used for podcasting and recording is not new to me, but creating slidecasts and a blog is still rather new to me. This class so far has helped me learn a few new ways to communicate online as well as reinforce what I was already experienced in.
What needs to be done by the students for the activity:
- Students use individual laptops with internet access to research poets and their poems.
- Students are encouraged to correspond with the authors to get a better understanding of the poem.
- Once the research is complete, students are to compile all of their information into an iMovie illustrating the meaning of the poem.
- Finally, students present their products to the class.
The standards for the teacher for this activity would be:
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
| a. | promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. |
| b. | engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. |
| c. | promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. |
| d. | model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments. |
I would be meeting all four points because the students would be working creatively to maneuver through a digital tool in order to complete the assignment. If students are unfamiliar with iMovie either I or another student could guide the class along.
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
| a. | design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. |
| b. | develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress. |
| c. | customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. |
| d. | provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. |
Students would be able to explore which ever poet interests them and they can create the short movie in any manner as long as it explains the point.
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
| a. | demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations. |
| b. | collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. |
| c. | communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats. |
| d. | model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning. |
As a teacher I would be responsible for all four of these as well. Keeping up to date with technology and having hands on experience with it would allow any teacher to easily meet these four standards.
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
| a. | advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources. |
| b. | address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources. |
| c. | promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information. |
| d. | develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools. |
Students may need to interact with other people on a blog or forum, so explaining proper internet etiquette will be important. Communication would need to be done without slang or acronyms.
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
| a. | participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning. |
| b. | exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others. |
| c. | evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning. |
| d. | contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community. |
Continued inquiry and involvement with technology inside and outside the classroom will allow a teacher to be able to fully communicate technology to their students and colleagues alike.
As far as my level of technology is concerned, I would have to say I am at the adaptation stage. The software we used for podcasting and recording is not new to me, but creating slidecasts and a blog is still rather new to me. This class so far has helped me learn a few new ways to communicate online as well as reinforce what I was already experienced in.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Podcast
The point of this podcast is to have students listen to a selection of reading and identify the main points of selection. This is to help students focus on important main ideas instead of superfluous details.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
First, I must say that I'm glad we watched a TED talk, everyone should take a look through the catalog of videos and I'm sure you will find something that will interest you.
In some ways schools are killing creativity. As budgets are constrained the school systems are made to make difficult decisions and a lot of these decisions affect the arts departments of schools. I agree with the video, something needs to be done to our education system in order to secure the future for our children.
Ken Robinson says that we intellectually as well as physically diverse. We make distinctions between each other based on physical appearance, nationality, age, and gender. If we live in a heterogeneous physical world, why must we subject ourselves to a homogeneous intellectual world?
In some ways schools are killing creativity. As budgets are constrained the school systems are made to make difficult decisions and a lot of these decisions affect the arts departments of schools. I agree with the video, something needs to be done to our education system in order to secure the future for our children.
Ken Robinson says that we intellectually as well as physically diverse. We make distinctions between each other based on physical appearance, nationality, age, and gender. If we live in a heterogeneous physical world, why must we subject ourselves to a homogeneous intellectual world?
Fad or Key?
The issue with 21st Century skills seems apparent; will we forgo traditional teaching methods to adopt these new methods that promote critical thinking and problem solving?
I'm on the fence about this, I can understand both points of the argument. Proponents of 21st Century Skills are saying that the traditional education system is ill-preparing our students for the real world. The opponents of 21st Century Skills say that without content knowledge students will not be adequately prepared for being able to successfully solve problems.
Both sides take the extreme point of view: proponents think this must be implemented immediately to ensure that students will be prepared for an increasingly globalized world and opponents feel it is just a fad.
I feel that 21st Century Skills are neither. Content is just as important as critical thinking skills and a balance will be found between the two as we continue to question the state of our education system.
I'm on the fence about this, I can understand both points of the argument. Proponents of 21st Century Skills are saying that the traditional education system is ill-preparing our students for the real world. The opponents of 21st Century Skills say that without content knowledge students will not be adequately prepared for being able to successfully solve problems.
Both sides take the extreme point of view: proponents think this must be implemented immediately to ensure that students will be prepared for an increasingly globalized world and opponents feel it is just a fad.
I feel that 21st Century Skills are neither. Content is just as important as critical thinking skills and a balance will be found between the two as we continue to question the state of our education system.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Slidecast
The benifits from using this technology is an amazing resource for students. If students are allowed to retrieve lectures and slides online, they can always return to the parts they do not understand. Students involved in discussions always present new ideas for their peers, so having class discussions available to listen to again will give other students an opportunity to absorb those discussions better rather than trying to scribble notes down during it.
I also think this presents the students with a great chance to act as a teacher. They can make their own slide casts for homework instead of just outlining a reading on paper.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Technology Standards 8.1
D. Digital Citizenship
Grade 12
Content Statement: Technological advancements create societal concerns regarding the practice of safe, legal, and ethical behaviors.
CPI: 8.1.12.D.1
Evaluate policies on unauthorized electronic access (e.g., hacking) and disclosure and on dissemination of personal information.
For this CPI students are expected to understand the laws concerning unauthorized electronic access and how personal information can viewed by the public if you are not careful about your online privacy.
As a future History teacher, it is my responsibility to have the students be civic minded and to understand the laws surrounding unauthorized electronic access. Another goal is to make smart and active citizens. A smart citizen would be aware of the information about them that could be accessed on the internet.
An activity that I thought of to meet this requirement would involve students doing a simple internet search for their name or of friends and family. This activity would be used as an eye opener to the students who do not understand the implications of having personal information, like your address, being posted online. A continuation of this activity would have students research the best ways to keep your information private on various social networking outlets.
Grade 12
Content Statement: Technological advancements create societal concerns regarding the practice of safe, legal, and ethical behaviors.
CPI: 8.1.12.D.1
Evaluate policies on unauthorized electronic access (e.g., hacking) and disclosure and on dissemination of personal information.
For this CPI students are expected to understand the laws concerning unauthorized electronic access and how personal information can viewed by the public if you are not careful about your online privacy.
As a future History teacher, it is my responsibility to have the students be civic minded and to understand the laws surrounding unauthorized electronic access. Another goal is to make smart and active citizens. A smart citizen would be aware of the information about them that could be accessed on the internet.
An activity that I thought of to meet this requirement would involve students doing a simple internet search for their name or of friends and family. This activity would be used as an eye opener to the students who do not understand the implications of having personal information, like your address, being posted online. A continuation of this activity would have students research the best ways to keep your information private on various social networking outlets.
Technology
The standards put forth is a great step towards modern technological immersion into the classrooms. While it is great for educators and students to utilize the technology, I feel for some schools and districts, acquiring the technology in the first place can be a difficult task especially with budget constraints. As a future educator, I cannot successfully pass along the standards to the students unless I first full understand them myself. This technology is to help the teacher, not take the burden of teaching away from them.
When it comes to going beyond the information presented in this course, I believe that the students themselves will play an important role in guiding teachers towards new technology or new applications.
When I'm job hunting, it will be more appealing to work in a school/district that makes the most out of the technology. In the first video about Chatham High School, the history teacher is teaching in a computer lab. Every student has a computer and the room is equipped with a smart board. A majority of classrooms at MSU still don't have digital projectors in every room. I would much rather work in a school like Chatham High School since they willingly promote technology and have a staff that is willing to help other teachers. If the classroom had the correct equipment, the students would be able to work with students from around the world, which in my opinion is important for Americas youth to be exposed to the world in this increasingly globalized society.
When it comes to going beyond the information presented in this course, I believe that the students themselves will play an important role in guiding teachers towards new technology or new applications.
When I'm job hunting, it will be more appealing to work in a school/district that makes the most out of the technology. In the first video about Chatham High School, the history teacher is teaching in a computer lab. Every student has a computer and the room is equipped with a smart board. A majority of classrooms at MSU still don't have digital projectors in every room. I would much rather work in a school like Chatham High School since they willingly promote technology and have a staff that is willing to help other teachers. If the classroom had the correct equipment, the students would be able to work with students from around the world, which in my opinion is important for Americas youth to be exposed to the world in this increasingly globalized society.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Website
For this blog post I chose to examine the district in which I have had the most contact with, that being the Clifton Public Schools. As a former student of Clifton High School I can honestly say I only ever used the website to check for school closings, and now they seem to have a news feed right on the main page, colored bright yellow, for everyone to see.
At first glance, the webpage seems simplistic but the more complicated the page is, the more likely it is to drive away students and parents because of cumbersome navigation. Under the district subsection, I can find information about the administration and who they are, information about adult evening classes, Board of Education, employment opportunities, an events calendar, and even individual "report cards" for each of the publics schools. The next subsection breaks apart the different schools into: high school, middle schools, and elementary schools with links to each individual school. The high school's web page also links to an online database services that students can use (EBSCO for example), online databases are important for students who are preparing for college.
For parents this seems like a great way to find out information about the individual schools are there resources. There is also a link to a technology page that gives information about the Clifton District Technology Plan. There is also a convenient "contact" link that allows parents to email there questions to the district. The district is looking to answer questions rather than hide from them.
Overall the Clifton Public Schools website gets the job done. While it may not be as lively as MSU's welcome page, it still conveys that the district cares about what is going on in the schools and that they have a duty to present it publicly as well as online.
At first glance, the webpage seems simplistic but the more complicated the page is, the more likely it is to drive away students and parents because of cumbersome navigation. Under the district subsection, I can find information about the administration and who they are, information about adult evening classes, Board of Education, employment opportunities, an events calendar, and even individual "report cards" for each of the publics schools. The next subsection breaks apart the different schools into: high school, middle schools, and elementary schools with links to each individual school. The high school's web page also links to an online database services that students can use (EBSCO for example), online databases are important for students who are preparing for college.
For parents this seems like a great way to find out information about the individual schools are there resources. There is also a link to a technology page that gives information about the Clifton District Technology Plan. There is also a convenient "contact" link that allows parents to email there questions to the district. The district is looking to answer questions rather than hide from them.
Overall the Clifton Public Schools website gets the job done. While it may not be as lively as MSU's welcome page, it still conveys that the district cares about what is going on in the schools and that they have a duty to present it publicly as well as online.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Technology
I've had access to technology since an early age. I remember using the family computer around the age of 7. Since then I've mostly used technology as a leisurely activity or for doing schoolwork. I've never seriously considered working with technology or even computers but I did end up with a job at the Office of Information Technology, right here at Montclair State as a student worker. Based on my experiences assisting my peers as well as faculty and staff, I can honestly say the upcoming generations will have a major advantage over us when it comes to using technology efficiently.
Technology is the future and it cannot be avoided, especially if it presents opportunities for students to be educated in new ways. But I'd still rather have an actual book and not an ebook; I have the feeling that is going to change rather quickly.
As for this course, I hope to find out how technology is being integrated into Primary and Secondary school. Most schools don't receive the most up to date or top of the line technologies but I would like to see how the schools that do make the most use of it.
Technology is the future and it cannot be avoided, especially if it presents opportunities for students to be educated in new ways. But I'd still rather have an actual book and not an ebook; I have the feeling that is going to change rather quickly.
As for this course, I hope to find out how technology is being integrated into Primary and Secondary school. Most schools don't receive the most up to date or top of the line technologies but I would like to see how the schools that do make the most use of it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)