Dictionary.com (yes, look at me--accessing my online resources from my laptop out here on my deck! I'm feeling so technologically savvy) gives the first definition of "knowledge" as a noun meaning "acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition: knowledge of many things." The first definition of "belief" is a noun meaning "something believed; an opinion or conviction: a belief that the earth is flat. It can also mean "confidence; faith; trust: a child's belief in his parents." We discussed these two ideas in terms of technology use in the classroom at our last class meeting. Our professor instructed us to reflect on what the words mean to each of us individually. I have done so over the past several days.
What do I know about technology in the classroom? And what do I truly believe about its use in my classroom?
I know that technology has changed dramatically in the past twelve years. I last taught in 1999--when I regarded an email received from a parent or student as something exciting and rare. I communicated with parents of my students primarily through phone calls and notes sent home. I posted my homework information through a complicated phone system that few students and even fewer parents ever accessed (it involved codes that few people ever remembered). The school where I taught in Texas did have a school website; however, I did not have my own "page" on the website, and I certainly would have had no idea how to update it if I had. I considered myself to be technically advanced over most of my colleagues because I had access to a color printer on which I made many beautiful, incredibly expensive, color overheads to use in the classroom. None of my students had cell phones, although many of them had pagers.
Now my own children attend school in classrooms outfitted with interactive white boards, and they have "computer lab" once a week beginning in kindergarten. My third grader showed me how to add sound to a PowerPoint presentation, and my fifth grader did some research for her Colonial America project on the Colonial Williamsburg website. They want to know when they can get "their" cell phones (answer: not for a long, long time), and they text their grandparents from my cell phone. My first grader asked me yesterday if she could log me on to my Facebook account (answer: NO!). In summary, the classroom is a vastly different place today than it was when I taught, and children today have grown up in a different technical environment than I did. So how does this different environment and culture affect my beliefs about technology in the classroom?
One of my basic beliefs about teaching is that children learn well when they are interested in the material. An extension of this idea is my belief that children learn best when they lead the inquiry into a problem; when they explore literature and poetry and make connections to their own lives; and when they take ownership of their learning.
So I need to figure out how to "keep up" with the technical skills of my future students (and my own children) so that I can hold the attention of my students and lead them into student-directed learning. One obvious way I'm doing this is by taking this technology class. Another way is by talking with and learning from my own children--observing how they access and process information.
I believe that I can use technology to help my students learn. And I know that this will be a continuous challenge.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Something Old, Something New
I found our assigned reading for last week's class dry and frankly, boring. It was basically a literature review of many articles written about integrating technology into the K-12 classroom. The title said that it offered recommendations for future research. So, in my cynical view, this paper talked about everyone else's research and then said we need more research. I did not find the authors' suggestions for improving technology integration revolutionary. In fact, anyone who has taught in a classroom already knows most of the authors' points: provide technological resources for teachers and classrooms and in-depth support, provide more time for collaborative planning, change how we assess our kids, provide teachers with practical, subject-specific ways to utilize technology in the classroom, lengthen class periods and lessen the numbers of kids in the classroom. Yes. We know this. Now, let's do those things. How? How is always the question. Evidently we need more research. (sigh)
I was pleasantly surprised to find that this text produced a very engaging class discussion. My cynicism was kept in check by other people pointing out positive things they'd learned from the article. That helped me view the paper in a more generous light. In addition, we brought up some things from the article that could be used in the classroom right now. The authors suggested using student experts to help with technological difficulties in the classroom. This has been going on since I was in high school over 20 years ago. Why is this a new idea? At my high school, the tech kids helped the teachers show filmstrips, slides, and movies. When I taught 12 years ago, my AV kids came in to help me get the VCR to talk to the departmental television we wheeled from class to class. They also brought me tape players and microphones when we used them to play music and record speeches. So in my mind, this is an old idea--kids are always at the forefront on any technology. This has always been true. My teenage cousin had to teach me how to use my IPod and ITunes several years ago. My 7-year-old daughter manages the four remote controls for her grandfather when he comes to visit. So it stands to reason to expect that I would have some techno-savy students who could help me operate my smartboard or upload class podcasts to our class website.
Speaking of podcasts, that's our assignment for this week. I've had fun with this--I've written a modern-script of the first book of Homer's Odyssey. I plan for my husband and kids to read their "parts" (if the kids will stop fighting over who gets to be Athena) into my webcam, add music, and create my first podcast. My brain has been churning with ideas of how to make this into an assignment for my future students. Roughly speaking, I plan to assign a group of them a few books of the reading at a time to make into podcasts. We could upload them to our class website, and then the kids could listen to them to study for the test. Possible. However, it does bring up one of the questions from my class discussion: will the kids actually listen to the podcasts? Many won't. They'll do the assignment in order to get the grade, and then they will forget it. But some of them might use it for further study. Just like some of them used to use my study guides and most did not.
Thinking about old ideas being recycled into new technology reminded me of an interesting experience I had during my teacher training in Texas. As part of our certification program, we had to "pass" a technology/media training course. In order to do so, we were shown different types of technology such as slides, overheads, and VHS players, and we had to explain to the graduate student "grading" us how we would use such advanced technology in our future classrooms. Then, for the culminating activity, we had to design and create a poster using dye cuts, lamination, and cutting machines. This poster was the make or break item of our "grade." I remember worrying so much about my poster (which, by the way, I NEVER used in my actual classroom) and working very hard on it. The graduate student in charge had a sudden, violent dislike to both my poster and myself. She just screamed about how it was the worst use of technology she'd ever seen, and she knew I would be a terrible teacher. This was, of course, a fantastic ego boost for me. There are few times in my life when I have been rendered speechless, but this was one of them. I just stared at her. Stunned. I learned later, after complaining about her wild outburst to her professor, that the girl suffered from a mental condition. Anyway, it's funny now to even consider a poster as "technology." Our world has changed so quickly!
Now off to figure out my podcast. It took me an hour just to work out how to download the free software from the Internet, so this should be interesting.
Jess
I was pleasantly surprised to find that this text produced a very engaging class discussion. My cynicism was kept in check by other people pointing out positive things they'd learned from the article. That helped me view the paper in a more generous light. In addition, we brought up some things from the article that could be used in the classroom right now. The authors suggested using student experts to help with technological difficulties in the classroom. This has been going on since I was in high school over 20 years ago. Why is this a new idea? At my high school, the tech kids helped the teachers show filmstrips, slides, and movies. When I taught 12 years ago, my AV kids came in to help me get the VCR to talk to the departmental television we wheeled from class to class. They also brought me tape players and microphones when we used them to play music and record speeches. So in my mind, this is an old idea--kids are always at the forefront on any technology. This has always been true. My teenage cousin had to teach me how to use my IPod and ITunes several years ago. My 7-year-old daughter manages the four remote controls for her grandfather when he comes to visit. So it stands to reason to expect that I would have some techno-savy students who could help me operate my smartboard or upload class podcasts to our class website.
Speaking of podcasts, that's our assignment for this week. I've had fun with this--I've written a modern-script of the first book of Homer's Odyssey. I plan for my husband and kids to read their "parts" (if the kids will stop fighting over who gets to be Athena) into my webcam, add music, and create my first podcast. My brain has been churning with ideas of how to make this into an assignment for my future students. Roughly speaking, I plan to assign a group of them a few books of the reading at a time to make into podcasts. We could upload them to our class website, and then the kids could listen to them to study for the test. Possible. However, it does bring up one of the questions from my class discussion: will the kids actually listen to the podcasts? Many won't. They'll do the assignment in order to get the grade, and then they will forget it. But some of them might use it for further study. Just like some of them used to use my study guides and most did not.
Thinking about old ideas being recycled into new technology reminded me of an interesting experience I had during my teacher training in Texas. As part of our certification program, we had to "pass" a technology/media training course. In order to do so, we were shown different types of technology such as slides, overheads, and VHS players, and we had to explain to the graduate student "grading" us how we would use such advanced technology in our future classrooms. Then, for the culminating activity, we had to design and create a poster using dye cuts, lamination, and cutting machines. This poster was the make or break item of our "grade." I remember worrying so much about my poster (which, by the way, I NEVER used in my actual classroom) and working very hard on it. The graduate student in charge had a sudden, violent dislike to both my poster and myself. She just screamed about how it was the worst use of technology she'd ever seen, and she knew I would be a terrible teacher. This was, of course, a fantastic ego boost for me. There are few times in my life when I have been rendered speechless, but this was one of them. I just stared at her. Stunned. I learned later, after complaining about her wild outburst to her professor, that the girl suffered from a mental condition. Anyway, it's funny now to even consider a poster as "technology." Our world has changed so quickly!
Now off to figure out my podcast. It took me an hour just to work out how to download the free software from the Internet, so this should be interesting.
Jess
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Does High-Tech = ADHD?
Last night's class generated great discussion about the effects of technology on our lives. We had read the chapter "What Happens When We All Have Dog's Hearing?" from Thomas L. Friedman's book, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. The chapter discusses our society's dependence on technology and how it effectively isolates us from one another. It's an intriguing paradox: technology allows us to communicate much more quickly with each other than ever before, yet it isolates us from communicating with people around us as we text or email. Our world is flattening out--onto our flat screens. That's a disturbing thought.
One classmate asked if we thought it possible that the increase in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses could be contributed to today's kids' daily use of electronic devices. Another classmate reported that his father, a pharmacist for over thirty years, has seen a dramatic increase in ADHD medications for children and antidepressant drugs for adults over the past ten years. He wondered if those increases could be linked to the fact that we're all overwhelmed with the speed of our world. Of course, we have not conducted a scientific study of either of these possibilities. We'd have to research to see if these observed trends in their lives are reflected in the country overall. The increase in numbers of prescribed medications could be driven by the fact that drug companies have aggressively marketed new ADHD and antidepressant drugs to the medical community. Or the increase could be due to the fact that so many children in the United States are the product of divorce or live in homes where both parents work. The stresses of being a single parent or a parent who works full time and raises a family are enormous. I suspect a close study would reveal a combination of many factors contributing to ADHD and depression. However, I do believe that my children are exploring the world differently than I did--their classrooms contain computers and SMART boards, and they research for school projects online.
Several of my classmates worried that today's children are less creative than they were in years past. They think that because children today are inundated with rapid-fire images, they don't have the time or the space to "unplug" and rely solely on their own brains to create stories or games. I've thought a great deal about this, because this is something I have worried about with my own children. My husband and I have always limited our children's computer usage and television time at home. If we don't, the kids will stay on the computer or watch the television forever. They become zombies. But when we turn the electronics off, my kids do not lack for creativity. They write plays, stories, and songs, and they act them out (often begging me to videotape them so that they can view them later--another change in their childhoods over mine). They develop elaborate games with their dolls and Barbies that take over the playroom floor for days (until I wonder if it would be "cleaner" for them to watch some more TV). They build fairy houses out of sticks, pine straw, and acorns in my front yard. They fill Frisbees and buckets with berries and flowers and play "store" and "pioneers" under the deck. They play "wilderness" and "fairgrounds" and "rockets" and "horses" on the swing set in the backyard. My kids are certainly not any less creative than I was at their ages. So I don't agree that children today are less creative. I think they just need to be guided to quiet. When I teach, I will need to remember that my students will have to "unplug" at times in my classroom. We'll have to shut out the noise of technology when we think about writing.
Leaving my class last night, I walked behind two students who were talking animatedly about their classes, roommates, and boyfriends. Their banter made me smile. Neither of them was holding her phone to text or to update her Facebook status. Neither of them wore earbuds or listened to IPods. They were laughing and enjoying each other's company.
They gave me confidence that people do still communicate the "old-fashioned" way.
One classmate asked if we thought it possible that the increase in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses could be contributed to today's kids' daily use of electronic devices. Another classmate reported that his father, a pharmacist for over thirty years, has seen a dramatic increase in ADHD medications for children and antidepressant drugs for adults over the past ten years. He wondered if those increases could be linked to the fact that we're all overwhelmed with the speed of our world. Of course, we have not conducted a scientific study of either of these possibilities. We'd have to research to see if these observed trends in their lives are reflected in the country overall. The increase in numbers of prescribed medications could be driven by the fact that drug companies have aggressively marketed new ADHD and antidepressant drugs to the medical community. Or the increase could be due to the fact that so many children in the United States are the product of divorce or live in homes where both parents work. The stresses of being a single parent or a parent who works full time and raises a family are enormous. I suspect a close study would reveal a combination of many factors contributing to ADHD and depression. However, I do believe that my children are exploring the world differently than I did--their classrooms contain computers and SMART boards, and they research for school projects online.
Several of my classmates worried that today's children are less creative than they were in years past. They think that because children today are inundated with rapid-fire images, they don't have the time or the space to "unplug" and rely solely on their own brains to create stories or games. I've thought a great deal about this, because this is something I have worried about with my own children. My husband and I have always limited our children's computer usage and television time at home. If we don't, the kids will stay on the computer or watch the television forever. They become zombies. But when we turn the electronics off, my kids do not lack for creativity. They write plays, stories, and songs, and they act them out (often begging me to videotape them so that they can view them later--another change in their childhoods over mine). They develop elaborate games with their dolls and Barbies that take over the playroom floor for days (until I wonder if it would be "cleaner" for them to watch some more TV). They build fairy houses out of sticks, pine straw, and acorns in my front yard. They fill Frisbees and buckets with berries and flowers and play "store" and "pioneers" under the deck. They play "wilderness" and "fairgrounds" and "rockets" and "horses" on the swing set in the backyard. My kids are certainly not any less creative than I was at their ages. So I don't agree that children today are less creative. I think they just need to be guided to quiet. When I teach, I will need to remember that my students will have to "unplug" at times in my classroom. We'll have to shut out the noise of technology when we think about writing.
Leaving my class last night, I walked behind two students who were talking animatedly about their classes, roommates, and boyfriends. Their banter made me smile. Neither of them was holding her phone to text or to update her Facebook status. Neither of them wore earbuds or listened to IPods. They were laughing and enjoying each other's company.
They gave me confidence that people do still communicate the "old-fashioned" way.
Monday, February 7, 2011
A Dark and Stormy Night
Last week's class ended right as a powerful rain storm hit our city. Trying to maneuver flooded streets and sidewalks while being pummeled by cold sheets of rain did not offer the ideal situation to reflect upon the class. Therefore I haven't really thought to blog (I think I'm getting this lingo down!) until now.
I had a much more successful class last week when we learned how to use PhotoStory. I've spent many hours over the past eleven years as a stay-at-home mom photographing my children. I began making scrapbooks as a new mom, and I invested in cutting tools, stickers, and special, acid-free papers to preserve my memories forever. My husband, always more technologically-aware than me, asked me why I didn't just create digital books. Initially, I scoffed at the idea of avoiding film and paper. However, by the time my third child arrived, I had begun to see the benefits of digital preservation. Snapfish and Kodak Gallery both made it easier and easier to create photo albums online using their cropping tools and various backgrounds. It still takes a great deal of time to create the albums that I want; however, it takes less time than the paper version would have (and generates much less waste).
Three or four years ago I discovered Microsoft Movie Maker software on my computer, and I tried making movies of my kids using photos, music, and video. Although it took a great deal of time for me to learn how to manipulate the different tools of the software, it was worth the investment of my time.
PhotoStory reminded me of Movie Maker. In fact, I've been trying to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the two over the past several days as I've been working on my assignment for class this week: making an educational PhotoStory. I have determined the following:
PhotoStory is free. This means I can access it anywhere I can access the Internet. This, as far as I can tell, is the biggest advantage over Movie Maker.
The biggest con for using PhotoStory is that it can only import pictures. Therefore, I had to make my title and credits using PowerPoint, save them as jpeg files, and then import them into PhotoStory. Cumbersome. In Movie Maker I could do the same thing, or I could simply use the software to make the title and credits directly.
Another advantage I see of PhotoStory is that you can "make" your own music to play in the background of your story by choosing among a few types (romantic versus serious, for example) and instruments. My version of Movie Maker does not offer that option. However, this is not a pro for me, because I like to import "real" music.
I really enjoyed making the story for class. I chose the Bronte family as my subject--I traveled to Haworth Village in England this summer, and I developed a fascination with the gifted family. I'm sure I spent way too much time on the assignment, but I just kept adding more. I would have liked to be able to chose the rate that the transitions moved between slides, and I could not figure out a way to do that.
I'm going to attempt to post the assignment to this blog when I finish this post.
Jess
I had a much more successful class last week when we learned how to use PhotoStory. I've spent many hours over the past eleven years as a stay-at-home mom photographing my children. I began making scrapbooks as a new mom, and I invested in cutting tools, stickers, and special, acid-free papers to preserve my memories forever. My husband, always more technologically-aware than me, asked me why I didn't just create digital books. Initially, I scoffed at the idea of avoiding film and paper. However, by the time my third child arrived, I had begun to see the benefits of digital preservation. Snapfish and Kodak Gallery both made it easier and easier to create photo albums online using their cropping tools and various backgrounds. It still takes a great deal of time to create the albums that I want; however, it takes less time than the paper version would have (and generates much less waste).
Three or four years ago I discovered Microsoft Movie Maker software on my computer, and I tried making movies of my kids using photos, music, and video. Although it took a great deal of time for me to learn how to manipulate the different tools of the software, it was worth the investment of my time.
PhotoStory reminded me of Movie Maker. In fact, I've been trying to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the two over the past several days as I've been working on my assignment for class this week: making an educational PhotoStory. I have determined the following:
PhotoStory is free. This means I can access it anywhere I can access the Internet. This, as far as I can tell, is the biggest advantage over Movie Maker.
The biggest con for using PhotoStory is that it can only import pictures. Therefore, I had to make my title and credits using PowerPoint, save them as jpeg files, and then import them into PhotoStory. Cumbersome. In Movie Maker I could do the same thing, or I could simply use the software to make the title and credits directly.
Another advantage I see of PhotoStory is that you can "make" your own music to play in the background of your story by choosing among a few types (romantic versus serious, for example) and instruments. My version of Movie Maker does not offer that option. However, this is not a pro for me, because I like to import "real" music.
I really enjoyed making the story for class. I chose the Bronte family as my subject--I traveled to Haworth Village in England this summer, and I developed a fascination with the gifted family. I'm sure I spent way too much time on the assignment, but I just kept adding more. I would have liked to be able to chose the rate that the transitions moved between slides, and I could not figure out a way to do that.
I'm going to attempt to post the assignment to this blog when I finish this post.
Jess
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