I Want to "Be a Contributor!"

I want to be a contributor in support of using technology for teaching and learning.

This class has changed my entire view of technology and teaching. I will be rethinking all of my daily rituals of teaching to try and add some type of technology. As I have mentioned since the beginning of the course, I have been planning to implement a Seeing America theme for the upcoming school year. This course could not have come at a better time. I think using a wikki will be especially useful to students. By connecting with people all over America, a wikki will allow for all parties to contribute to the collected information. The most ironic thing is that I did not know what a wikki was before this course and I swore I would never need one.

I would also like to involve the parents to use technology as well by having families do at home projects. I know it is possible that some families may not have access, but it could be good exposure for students and parents alike, and create opportunities for family time together. I was thinking possibly having my students connect with family or friends who are out of town using a specified technological tool. Please feel free to add comments with any other ideas.



Lori,
Thank you for all of the hard work you must have done to create this class for us. I have enjoyed it very much. You have done an outstanding job teaching us about tools that are at our fingertips yet we were not utilizing. Well done!

Technology is More than Just Computers

I was extremely motivated after watching the YouTube clip Some More Food for Thought (Is that actually the title?) It sent a powerful message to me, as a teacher and a parent. It makes perfect sense to utilize the vehicles our students are using daily as educational tools for learning. I have always felt as though I was a cutting edge teacher because I am constantly looking for better ways to teach children using authentic tasks that engage and immerse students. I can't believe it has not occurred to me before this video that computers are not the only technology we can and should be using. A new door has been opened for me.

The interview with Dr. Yong Zhao was interesting as well. I respected his opinions, especially when he talked about children's "need of genuine work" and "being a contributor". He has valuable insight into the change of education as we know it. Maybe the Michigan high schools that he mentioned should have the teachers required to get online learning experiences along with the graduating students. If teachers are not using these technologies personally, it would be impossible for them to use in their teaching.

School 2.0

It was a bit overwhelmed as I read through the School 2.0 sketch. It involves many of the educational roles that are functioning in a educational community that I don't think about on a daily basis. It gave me a good perspective on all of the wheels that are turning to make schools work.

With that said, like the interconnectedness of the sketch. It certainly is powerful to streamline systems and to increase communications between all parties. My concern is taking the "people" out of education, and the world, for that matter. I do not see a social aspect to this sketch. How can one learn a language (identified on the The Horizontal Technology Layers under Language Learning) without personally speaking to real people. By removing real people we lose social skill development which, for many students, is just as important as learning the curriculum.

I would like to see people working with groups of people, in the real world, using technology first hand for real life jobs. I would not promote isolating people from interacting personally from each other. I don't want to enter the Matrix. (Love that movie, by the way!)

Kevin Honeycutt's 21st Century Skills

I connected with Kevin Honeycutt's podcast because it is the same philosophy of teaching children to read and write. I use this quote to explain my beliefs to parents of the students that I teach: "To learn to swim, one must swim. To learn to skate, one must skate. To learn to walk, one must walk. To learn to read, one must read. To learn to write, one must write." In order for students to be prepared for a job force dependent on technology, we must immerse them in using technology. His podcast opened my eyes to this. Even our youngest students should be experiencing a world filled with technology. As the planner and facilitator, I would like some support on what are some current, real-life applications of technology that would be appropriate for young children. Through this course I have learned that blogs, wikis and on-demand videos and are good starting points. I am open to hearing about other technologies as well.

I think my "Seeing America" theme has the potential of connecting groups of people using a wikki. Students in Hilton can work on creating information about a state, and connect with a class from that area. Those local students will be able add their first hand information to Hilton students using pictures, video or text. The wiki could lead to the creation of a travel brochure or other real life application of the information as a culminating activity.

Any other ideas, please submit them to me. I need all the help that I can get!!
Thanks