Is this the end?????

Is this the end?? No, not for me!!! I believe that after taking this class I am not at the beginning of my path to the digital age of teaching. I am so excited to go into the classroom with the wealth of knowledge and resources brought to my eyes by Dr. Luongo. I really appreciate you as a teacher. You a great role model. I have definitely learned some things from interacting with you online. You are always around without being around. You answer my question as quickly as if I were face to face sometimes. I am glad that you demonstrated to us what a "good and effective teacher" can do and enable his/her students to be. I better understand now the functions of a teacher are not only to teach but to engage and enable the student to enhance his/her own knowledge base.

When I first signed up for this class, I had no idea what to expect or that it would be online for that matter. I loved it. I enjoyed the freedom of working at my own pace and to the needs of my schedule but the fact that the work was challenging and exciting helped me to get it done. I had some issues with my blog, and starting a second blog and my webquest but in spite of those few things I feel better prepared to step into the classroom than before. I am excited about the vast abundance of resources we have learned about. I am even more excited about finding places for many of them in my classroom (when I get one). I have seen that our students will not survive if we are not better equipped when we enter the classroom. They are depending on us to show them the path and we are depending on them to follow it. But..... how can we show them the way when we are sometimes too stubborn to veer off our own path. I believe that the way I was taught oohhhh about 10+ years ago was a great advantage to me. I have skills that our young students don't have such as mental math, word-processing, and various other skills that they lack. However, I want to be one of the educators that the students who pass through my class say, "Ms. Davis taught me a lot and I enjoyed her class." Our students need open-minded educators who are willing to take a chance and advance.

There are so many resources out here that I am sure many teachers don't know about. Some are looking for them while others are not. Its those of us who are looking and searching for the next technological advancement to assist, engage and enhance our students that will help to create productive members of society, while those teachers who are set in their ways and don't feel that they need to learn anything else but what the books have taught that will stunt our children. I believe that once we are in the teaching setting we can aid other less open-minded teachers through demonstration and maybe one-on-one instruction because sometimes people are embarrassed to let others know their weaknesses. I have recently suggested to the head of the technology department at the school I am working at that they might want to have some professional development classes on how to use the Smartboard. I found through some research that our school does have one on the premises. I asked the media specialist and she said that it is rarely used. I have seen what it can do and what a waste of technology. Also, I went to a mathematics workshop and she she demonstrated using a CBL or CBR i cannot remember the exact abbreviation but it was used to demonstrate how students could associate distance, time and graphing. It gave students a hands-on approach. I enjoyed the lesson.

Our students will benefit from our instruction more if we can learn to benefit from the instruction of society. It is a digital world and if we don't get with it we will be left behind and so will our kids.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnbBVWDtYm0

Technology Enhancement

I am not a teacher yet but I find myself gaining more and more knowledge with each assignment. I saddened that the semester is almost over because I would not feel as excited about finally entering the classroom if it had not been for the vast wealth of knowledge I attained from this class. I loved doing these lesson plans. I was second guessing myself going into it because I went off of a lesson that some of the students in my school had completed several months ago. I saw some of the completed posters and papers on a bulletin board in the hallway. I asked the teacher for her copy of the lesson plans but she never got them to me but I found something similar on Assignment Discovery. I found this site through the California Learning Resource Network. Amazing ... simply amazing. These sites are unbelievable and I know that they are used but are they being used to the enhancement of our students. I have asked several supposedly technologically advanced teachers in my school about some of the sites I have learned about in this semester and they don't seem to know very much about them. I have noticed in an increase in the power point slide presentations as an inclusion of technology but it doesnt completely help the students with the necessary hands on application of the concepts.

In the article, we read about the techno-constructivist and how our students need this teacher. I believe that after taking this class, I now understand about the necessity of the students trying it for themselves. The memorization, rote and recitation is old and it does not work for our digital age students. I am presently between a stage 2 and stage 3, using the computer to type papers, check my email, research surfing and chatting. But i am acclimating myself so that I will develop into a well-rounded, digital teacher. I understand students need technology because every employment position they will apply for in the future will require them to have computer based skills. I as a teacher understand to compete for the upcoming teacher positions I too will need computer based skills.

I love this class!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l3JbFHXsro

Technology in my Classroom

i am so excited about becoming a teacher. i have learned so much in this class as far as technological websites and resources that i will try to implement into my classroom. i was overwhelmed but excited about the webquests. i know that this could be a helpful addition to the curriculum, leading students on a journey to learn, think critically and analyze information. i am working on my lesson plan and i love this assignment. i'm not finished yet but i'm getting there. our kids are growing up in a time of technology and we as new, upcoming teachers should take off our traditional blindfolds and get with the times. i believe that we need to involve ourselves, not only for the students sakes, but for our own- it will increase our knowledge and give us a heads up over the students and our own kids. i know im older but i am definitely going to try to go digital.

THE NEW CLASSROOM????

I watched the new classroom video with shock and horror in my eyes. The room looked so rigid and drab - gray and black. It simply didn't look like a place I would want to teach in. Don't get me wrong, I definitely believe that technology has a huge place in the classroom but I also believe that the classroom is where these kids live for 8 hours a day. A classroom is a safe-haven or a home away from home and that classroom looked so cold. I did love the wealth of technology placed in there but I definitely believe that they should rethink some things first.

Watching

I thoroughly enjoyed the videos this week especially the video that introduced the book. I found it hilarious. I know in today's society, people should generally know how to understand the workings of a book but they cannot comprehend the abundance of knowledge contained within the pages. I watch students throw books on the floor, step on them, spill things on them - they just don't care about them. Hopefully, later in life they will understand what they've done and will try to help their own children to understand the importance of books and what they can do for us.

Socialites...

Our students today are social butterflies and sometimes they take things alittle to far with their social networking. Yes it can be very beneficial or our lower-achieving and special needs students. Some of today's students use their social networks for negative use. In the past month, at the school I work at we have had over 5 fights based on postings on other students myspace pages and facebook sites. While learning how to use these sites, I feel that students should also learn how to be responsible. I understand freedom of speech but then there is blatant irresponsibility. Should they be accountable they are still teenagers????

I played on the sites for hours!!!

I had such a great time playing on the kids learning websites posted to this weeks module. Starfall is my absolute favorite. My son and I played together last night. He enjoyed the ABC section of the site. It relates to what he is doing in school right now - learning his alphabet. Actually, one of my sixth grade special ed students wanted to go on that site today. She said that her mom only allows her to go on educational sites when she is home and they found that one together last year and love it. I think I had more fun than my son, but I didn't hog the keyboard (that much). I think these sites are excellent learning tools for some. I definitely would not allow my 8th graders to play on Starfall only because I feel that the websites that they use should be more rigorous and also relate to what they are doing in their lessons, sort of reinforcing what they learned for the day or week.

He's on the computer already...???

Hello All!!!! How is everyone doing out there? Great I hope. I am doing fabulously. I especially enjoyed the videos this week. My favorite was the "Do You Know" video because alot of the information given there I did not know. Actually the best part was the data, I love math and numbers are my absolute favorite. Anywho --- I found it very interesting that children who had never read or picked up a book would be given laptops. But then again with the wealth of information on the internet today, I guess they'll just use the computers to learn to read, write and anything else. Also I agree that it is necessary for our youth today to understand and be able to use this continuously growing tool to be able to compete with our neighboring nations in the unknown job markets that have not yet been established. VERY SCARY!!! How is it that our kids are being taught information that the world has not yet categorized so to speak. When will they use this wealth of knowledge, everyday. In what jobs, all of them, so do we really need to know what it is that we don't know for them to learn. I don't think so. (Did I confuse you because I confused myself a little).

I can agree with the video and I can also relate to the videos.... I have a 3 year old son who is computer literate. He is not expert but he's getting there. At this point in his development, he has not yet mastered the initial login, but after I have loaded up his favorite site, "NOGGIN" (for those of you who don't know, Noggin is the pre-school Nickelodeon) he completely takes over and does not need any help (or so he says). I demonstrated the basics to him, how to move his finger over the mouse area so that the arrow lands on what it is he needs to click. After the first couple of times, he no longer needed me. It scares me because at 3 he is becoming self-reliant but it also makes me very proud to know that my 3 year old is making steps to be better than me. From these experiences, I also know that if he continues on he will become a very productive, competitve member of our society. And make his mother very proud.

Inspiration??

I enjoyed the videos on this program. I believe that all this technology in the classroom is great for our digital kids, but unfortunately the students in the lower economic classes are suffering from lack of technology. They have the outside technology and limited in-school technology. The young lady in the video stated that her 3rd grade class used a smartboard and inspiration everyday for instruction, understanding and collaborative learning. I wish my students were exposed to these instructional materials because it might bring our school's classroom up to the classrooms of tomorrow instead of them still being the classrooms of yester-year. My kids have ipods, cell phones, sidekicks, pda's, etc., but in class they have a whiteboard and a chalkboard and six computers which are barely used. They do go on them but only to appease the Board's required time allotment for computer usage per month. Sad isn't it?? I guess i will have to start finding out now how to get these items donated to my classroom because i dont want to leave my school district but i would love to have some of the newer technology to see if i can't make a difference in the lives of my students through creativity, excitement and technology.

CHATTING OR NETWORKING???

Well, well, well.... long time no speak. Is that correct? Probably not. I am incorrect and so are many of our students - in the way they are learning to socialize and communicate over the globe. Our students are using the social networking sites but not to their optimal potential. They use them to talk, for support, and self-esteem building, as stated on one of the assigned sites states. However, what about for the enhancement of their education? Do they even know about the endless possibilities of the sites they use to talk to their friends and put down those who are different and not in their cliques.

I have a student who lives on myspace. He uses at home, he uses a proxy site to get on the space in school and he also uses his sidekick to chat. All day long he is chatting about things that are not going to help him increase his knowledge or advance his career later on. But could this be a starting place for his networking. He is an aspiring model. Can he meet other teen models on the space that could help point him in the right direction? Probably. Is he? No, not to my knowledge and he texts me alot.

Also another site that we as educators should not text our students individually but mass was okay. I'm confused. Is it only for the legal aspect of it or is it because they believe that the adult is chatting inappropriately with the child? At the middle school I work at, the Teenbiz3000 site is where the students complete online assignments and chat a little. They e-mail me all the time, when they are having problems with other students in the class, problems at home or they are simply having a good day. Am i supposed to cut them off? I have excellent relationships with all 30 of the students i work with on a daily basis. i even speak to them over the weekend. i feel that the extra connection helps me to help them. I have earned their respect and they do the work.

Everytime we make a breakthrough here comes someone saying that it needs to be revised or re-thought. I enjoy chatting with my kids but at the same time i would love for my kids to stop chatting on the space and network. Learn to enhance their knowledge. And so the sun sets on this blogging moment. Later.....

The Core Standards

I READ ABOUT THE INFORMATION ON THE NEW JERSEY CORE CURRICILUM STANDARDS. WHAT A BUNCH OF STUFF. IT ALL SOUNDS VERY NICE BUT IN THE URBAN SCHOOL SYSTEM IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY, AT LEAST NOT IN MY DISTRICT. I HAVE BEEN IN THE EAST ORANGE SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR TWO YEARS NOW. IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOMS THERE ARE ABOUT 4-6 COMPUTERS SET UP. THE STUDENTS USE THEM FOR ASSISTANCE WITH UNDERSTANDING THEIR CLASSWORK WITH SITES SUCH AS COMPASS LEARNING. THEIR TECHNOLOGY CLASSES CONSIST OF THEM COMPLETING A PROGRAM THAT IS SUPPOSED TO TEACH THEM TO TYPE AND SOME DOCUMENTING SKILLS. THE 8TH GRADERS ARE ALSO DOING THE SAME PROGRAM. THERE IS NO DIVERSITY BETWEEN LEVELS AND TECHNOLOGY TECHNIQUES. I UNDERSTAND THE STANDARDS ARE PUT IN PLACE TO HELP THE STUDENTS TO EXCEL AND LEARN TO USE THE TECHNOLOGY AT THEIR FINGERTIPS TO THEIR ADVANTAGE. MY QUESTION IS WHO IS TEACHING THEM USING THESE STANDARDS ACCORDING TO THERE RESPECTIVE CLASSROOM LEVELS? MY 8TH GRADERS CAN CHAT ON MY SPACE, SEARCH YOU TUBE AND TEXT BUT THEY CANNOT TYPE A DOCUMENT IN WORD, CREATE A DATABASE, OR SURF FOR IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION. I THINK THAT THE STANDARDS NEED TO BE REWRITTEN OR SOMEHOW ENFORCED.

Why don't the students care about internet safety?

hello again. i recently read some articles about safety and the internet. i felt that the articles were very informative. i have 8th grade special ed students who have showed me how in the schools our young adults get around the blocks that the districts put up. in the east orange school district there are many sites that the students can not get onto, however, they do. i have caught students chatting on my space and other sites that have absolutely nothing to do with school. also they do tell me that they play it safe, so to speak. they do not post their real names but it is safe when they post their pictures and the name of their school. how hard is it for a predator to find them though? they don't really understand or rather care about the reprecussions of their actions. as some other sites said if they are taught the safety measures from their first encounter on the internet maybe the rules will stick.

First Encounter

Hello World!!!

This is my first time blogging ever if you can believe that. Well do you have any choice but to believe it? Of course you do, FREE WILL. Anyway back to what i'm writing. I think that this will be a very challenging but exciting experience this semester. I also would love to incorporate this into my classroom later on in my teaching career.