I love using itunes in my classroom. I am impressed with the amount of educational content available for purchase through the itunes store. I no longer buy physical dvds for my classroom from sites like history.com, National geographic or PBS. I can purchase these same programs from the itunes store for a lot less money and they often times come in hd. It is easy to find programs in the itunes store. You can view a list of networks that have programs in the store and go directly to the network page to see what is available.
I have used itunes for music for a few years now. I really like incorporating music in my classroom. It is interesting to link music with themes and cultures in social studies. Not only do I use my own purchased music but I like using the radio stations that are available. There is a good selection.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Accessible Websites
In my three years of teaching I have not really dealt with disable students. I had a deaf student in my class in 7th grade and in 9th grade and I had a student who had limited use of his hands but he had an assistant to help him out. For the deaf student subtitles was an easy fix for media.
I have, however, had a multitude of students with learning disabilities. As I have come to use computers and the internet more and more in my classroom I have found that design considerations for my classroom website and choices I make concerning educational websites should be made with these students in mind.
I think as a general rule, reading or gathering information from the web is different from more traditional text based sources. Many students are used to multitasking while on the internet and so sitting down to look at one source at a time for 20 minutes may be a different computer experience for them. For this reason it is important to design learning activities on the computer with student's prior knowledge and habits in mind.
Navigation and brevity are key. Students may give up easily if they get lost in a website. As a teacher it is important to offer the link as a clickable hypertext so that students don't have to type the link themselves. It is also important to offer instructions for navigation that are short and simple. With reading on the web it is important to keep it brief. If it is a long passage then break it up into chunks so that students don't get lost. Questions to go along with the reading can help quite a bit in guiding students.
The internet is a blessing to education. As teachers we should sell this outlook to our students and not make things too complicated and overwhelming.
I have, however, had a multitude of students with learning disabilities. As I have come to use computers and the internet more and more in my classroom I have found that design considerations for my classroom website and choices I make concerning educational websites should be made with these students in mind.
I think as a general rule, reading or gathering information from the web is different from more traditional text based sources. Many students are used to multitasking while on the internet and so sitting down to look at one source at a time for 20 minutes may be a different computer experience for them. For this reason it is important to design learning activities on the computer with student's prior knowledge and habits in mind.
Navigation and brevity are key. Students may give up easily if they get lost in a website. As a teacher it is important to offer the link as a clickable hypertext so that students don't have to type the link themselves. It is also important to offer instructions for navigation that are short and simple. With reading on the web it is important to keep it brief. If it is a long passage then break it up into chunks so that students don't get lost. Questions to go along with the reading can help quite a bit in guiding students.
The internet is a blessing to education. As teachers we should sell this outlook to our students and not make things too complicated and overwhelming.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Costs of Distance Education
I am a big supporter of online distance education. That is not to say that distance education is without flaws. I support distance education because to me it seems like a vehicle to meet students individual needs and offer students a way to learn on an individual basis. I see this as a good thing because different students learn in different ways and many students fail in our current educational system because their needs are not met by a classroom teacher who has to teach in a uniform manner to a classroom of 40 students.
Distance education can be a costly venture, from the investment in current technology to the training provided for online instructors and pay to online technicians. Maybe this needed money can be allocated from traditional educational funds used to by things such as textbooks. Textbooks are becoming, or maybe already have become outdated. Our current generation is used to having information at the touch of their fingertips with the internet, and with so many credible sources and primary sources available electronically, do we still need the traditional, expensive textbook. This is just one example. I am sure there are other outdated, archaic educational practices and resources that are absorbing money that can be used to support distance education.
Distance education can be a costly venture, from the investment in current technology to the training provided for online instructors and pay to online technicians. Maybe this needed money can be allocated from traditional educational funds used to by things such as textbooks. Textbooks are becoming, or maybe already have become outdated. Our current generation is used to having information at the touch of their fingertips with the internet, and with so many credible sources and primary sources available electronically, do we still need the traditional, expensive textbook. This is just one example. I am sure there are other outdated, archaic educational practices and resources that are absorbing money that can be used to support distance education.
What is best for the student
I read an article this week called "Distance Learning Pros and Cons" by Dr. Randall S. Hansen. The article listed, in my opinion, some very accurate pros, such as accessibility, availability, and convenience. However, if the author's intent was to equally weigh the pros with the cons, I don't think he succeeded. I specifically took note to two cons he listed, both about the lack of social interaction. He specifically states that there is no social interaction and that the college atmosphere is omitted.
Young people spend a lot of time with technology, including computers, video-gaming systems, phones, and ipods. A lot of their social interaction takes place on these devices as well. The x-box gaming system has a community of millions of people who play games and communicate over the internet. World of Warcraft, a subscription based computer game has over 11 million subscribers who play the game online with other people from around the world. I see students consistently communicating through text messaging and updating Facebook pages.
It seems that methods for social interaction have changed with technology. Maybe educators should go with the flow.
Young people spend a lot of time with technology, including computers, video-gaming systems, phones, and ipods. A lot of their social interaction takes place on these devices as well. The x-box gaming system has a community of millions of people who play games and communicate over the internet. World of Warcraft, a subscription based computer game has over 11 million subscribers who play the game online with other people from around the world. I see students consistently communicating through text messaging and updating Facebook pages.
It seems that methods for social interaction have changed with technology. Maybe educators should go with the flow.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Are parent-teacher conferences outdated?
I was a good student growing up and the only reason I didn't outright refuse to go to parent-teacher conferences with my mother was that I knew I would get some serious props from my elders on that night! It was also a chance for my mom to see my classrooms, meet my teachers, and embarrass me in front of my peers.
At Mountain Ridge Junior High we don't do parent-teacher conferences, we do "student-led conferences". Like the change of name is really going to change the frame of mind of parents coming to this thing, right? Anyway, once each semester students put together a portfolio to show their parents when they come to this special night. Students gather a grade printout from each of their 8 teachers, an assignment from each of their teachers, and fill out some paper work which deals with their goals and gratitude to their parents. They use class time to do this the week of the conferences, and their parents set up a time to attend the conference between 3:00 and 9:00pm. When students and parents come students are to take their parents to a designated classroom and show them their portfolio. They can then visit all the teachers they want.
Here are my thoughts. Now, with the available technology, parents can and should be checking their students grades online with programs like powerschool, which our school uses. Parents can be in tune with what their students are doing through using teacher websites. Parents can communicate with teachers easily and conveniently through email. And what will ultimately become of the student portfolio...it will go in the trash, of course.
Why do we persist in such an archaic practice? In a way, by holding these conferences, aren't we communicating to parents that it is okay that they only have contact with their child's education only once a semester? Instead of these conferences, why don't we have a night where parents can come to the school to meet the teacher if we need an organized parent-teacher activity. On this night teachers can teach parents about the technology that is available to them to check on their students learning.
Out with the old and in with the new!
At Mountain Ridge Junior High we don't do parent-teacher conferences, we do "student-led conferences". Like the change of name is really going to change the frame of mind of parents coming to this thing, right? Anyway, once each semester students put together a portfolio to show their parents when they come to this special night. Students gather a grade printout from each of their 8 teachers, an assignment from each of their teachers, and fill out some paper work which deals with their goals and gratitude to their parents. They use class time to do this the week of the conferences, and their parents set up a time to attend the conference between 3:00 and 9:00pm. When students and parents come students are to take their parents to a designated classroom and show them their portfolio. They can then visit all the teachers they want.
Here are my thoughts. Now, with the available technology, parents can and should be checking their students grades online with programs like powerschool, which our school uses. Parents can be in tune with what their students are doing through using teacher websites. Parents can communicate with teachers easily and conveniently through email. And what will ultimately become of the student portfolio...it will go in the trash, of course.
Why do we persist in such an archaic practice? In a way, by holding these conferences, aren't we communicating to parents that it is okay that they only have contact with their child's education only once a semester? Instead of these conferences, why don't we have a night where parents can come to the school to meet the teacher if we need an organized parent-teacher activity. On this night teachers can teach parents about the technology that is available to them to check on their students learning.
Out with the old and in with the new!
Customization, not standardization
Public education is very standardized. I know, state the obvious. At my junior high we have state standardized tests and national standardized tests in math, science, and English. In addition to these standardized tests our administration has asked the faculty to create common assessments, so basically standard tests within departments. The administration defends this action by arguing that common assessments within curriculum departments creates "viable, guaranteed curriculum". I can see the value in common assessments. When multiple teachers teach the same subject at the same grade level it creates a type of equality between classes. Students shouldn't fret over which teacher they have because they all have the same policies, the same agenda, and the same tests. If a student needs to change a schedule and switch into another teacher's classroom there won't be much of a change. Basically, these benefits help administration with school policy and organization, counselors with scheduling, and maybe teachers with collaboration, but is this best for students.
I teach history and this current vision of education is not the same as its origins. From what I have studied about early education in the American colonies, schools were a mix of children of all ages, which means students were all at different academic levels. Early teachers did not deliver monolithic lessons and lectures but facilitated individual student learning.
I see technology as being a device that can return classrooms to a place where students can learn at their own pace. I believe the technology is here, but now the problem is the relationship with technology to standardization. Educators can fit technology into the current form of standardized education, or technology can disrupt the current trend and make public education more studentcentric.
I teach history and this current vision of education is not the same as its origins. From what I have studied about early education in the American colonies, schools were a mix of children of all ages, which means students were all at different academic levels. Early teachers did not deliver monolithic lessons and lectures but facilitated individual student learning.
I see technology as being a device that can return classrooms to a place where students can learn at their own pace. I believe the technology is here, but now the problem is the relationship with technology to standardization. Educators can fit technology into the current form of standardized education, or technology can disrupt the current trend and make public education more studentcentric.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Education for Everybody
I read this week about MIT's open course ware. Basically, professors at MIT have made their educational materials available to everyone through their open course ware website for free. This is awesome! I went to the open course ware website, http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm, and clicked on the high-school link. A professor from MIT had posted a series of videos specifically to help students with the basics of calculus. What a great resource for high-school students. There was also a link on the high-school page for teachers. Available on this page were resources tailored to help high-school teachers in their classrooms.
If one of our goals as a nation is to be a leader in education shouldn't we follow the example of professors at MIT and make educational resources available to everyone at no cost? Is it therefore ethical to make money off of education?
If one of our goals as a nation is to be a leader in education shouldn't we follow the example of professors at MIT and make educational resources available to everyone at no cost? Is it therefore ethical to make money off of education?
Cloud Computing
I am really warming up to this relatively new "cloud computing" trend. This week in my Distance Learning Tools class we learned about ustream and sliderocket. Sliderocket is a web based program that allows users to create and store slide show presentations on the internet and ustream is also a web based program that allows users to create and store videos on the internet.
I currently use the iwork software to create all my documents (pages) and my slideshows (keynote). Pages and keynote are great programs, but when I make something I have to save it to the computer on which I am working. If I want to share I need to save the file on a flash drive or email it. Just recently I have started using google docs, and although not as eloquent as iwork, it is easy to use and I can access my work anywhere over the internet. Plus, it is free!
What other cloud computing programs are out there that I don't know about?
I currently use the iwork software to create all my documents (pages) and my slideshows (keynote). Pages and keynote are great programs, but when I make something I have to save it to the computer on which I am working. If I want to share I need to save the file on a flash drive or email it. Just recently I have started using google docs, and although not as eloquent as iwork, it is easy to use and I can access my work anywhere over the internet. Plus, it is free!
What other cloud computing programs are out there that I don't know about?
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Emotionally Committing to Learning
There are so many positive things I want to happen in my classroom. If I can help my students to be emotionally connected to learning than I think a lot of the goals I have as a teacher will naturally follow. I think that if a student is emotionally committed to learning than this will be the students primary motivation to learn. This might be the best example of intrinsic motivation which is a higher and more enduring motivation than any type of extrinsic motivation that students may have due to rewards or grades.
The important question is how to emotionally commit students to learning. I teach middle school social studies and to me it is all about relevance. It is about connecting history and geography to the student through issues that the student can see and understand and feel. I am a big proponent of using the computer lab across the hallway from my classroom. I think that the computer and the internet can maybe be the most powerful tool to connect history and geography to individual students emotionally. If students can be immersed in history and geography using academic sites on the internet and then use current event and news sites to learn about world issues today this can happen. I have included a section of a great article below addressing this concept of emotionally committing to learning written by
"We must engage learners from the very beginning. What we do currently under the guise of "course introductions" is, at best, woefully inappropriate. At worst, it's downright learner abuse! Good introductions engage learners' hearts as well as their brains.
One of the worst sins we commit is the pre-test. Why should learners have to take questions on material we've already determined they likely shouldn't know? There's no valid reason other than to allow learners to skip some sections of a course's content.
We know that learning is more effective when learners are emotionally committed. So in addition to addressing individual learning styles, we must address motivation. We should make learners see how new skills will help them actually do things, beyond whatever value others may place on these skills.
As an additional element of emotional maintenance, set expectations about what's to come. Let learners know how much time they'll be spending, and what their expectations should be about the overall experience. This helps learners maintain focus throughout the experience. If they know ahead of time there's a tough stretch ahead, for example, they're much more likely to persevere."
To read the rest of this excellent article follow the link below:
http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=best_practices&article=35-1
The important question is how to emotionally commit students to learning. I teach middle school social studies and to me it is all about relevance. It is about connecting history and geography to the student through issues that the student can see and understand and feel. I am a big proponent of using the computer lab across the hallway from my classroom. I think that the computer and the internet can maybe be the most powerful tool to connect history and geography to individual students emotionally. If students can be immersed in history and geography using academic sites on the internet and then use current event and news sites to learn about world issues today this can happen. I have included a section of a great article below addressing this concept of emotionally committing to learning written by
"We must engage learners from the very beginning. What we do currently under the guise of "course introductions" is, at best, woefully inappropriate. At worst, it's downright learner abuse! Good introductions engage learners' hearts as well as their brains.
One of the worst sins we commit is the pre-test. Why should learners have to take questions on material we've already determined they likely shouldn't know? There's no valid reason other than to allow learners to skip some sections of a course's content.
We know that learning is more effective when learners are emotionally committed. So in addition to addressing individual learning styles, we must address motivation. We should make learners see how new skills will help them actually do things, beyond whatever value others may place on these skills.
As an additional element of emotional maintenance, set expectations about what's to come. Let learners know how much time they'll be spending, and what their expectations should be about the overall experience. This helps learners maintain focus throughout the experience. If they know ahead of time there's a tough stretch ahead, for example, they're much more likely to persevere."
To read the rest of this excellent article follow the link below:
http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=best_practices&article=35-1
Keeping Things Lean and Light
"Do I have to read all of this Mr. Myers?" This is a very common phrase I hear when I take my students to the computer lab to do online social studies activities. Even if the reading is only a few paragraphs long students complain. This is because of the lack of good instructional design with many online educational resources that makes academic reading appear boring to students. As I look for online resources to help my students learn about people and places around the world I now consciously try to find sites that are appealing to look at. If a resource has color, short and friendly reading segments, and photos or other media my students are much more likely to be interested in the content and not complain about the assignment. Here is a link to a national PBS site about India that I think "keeps things lean and light" for the learner. http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/. What do you think?
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Web 2.0 and Collaboration
Recently our social studies department at Mountain Ridge Junior High designed a website. We used google sites for the template and so far we have created a google calendar, created a blog, a file cabinet, and different pages for the different social studies classes we teach. On the calendar we mark the dates and times of our collaboration meetings and create an agenda in the details of the event. On the blog we keep minutes of what we are doing in our collaboration meetings. In the file cabinet we upload lesson plans and other materials we want to share within our department. With the class specific pages we are working on posting our learning targets, goals, objectives, policies, and interventions.
During the week we know we can easily go to our department website to access what we need, whether that is a reminder about the upcoming meeting or a file we had uploaded previously. We have invited the administration at our school to view our website so they can see what we are up to. It is also a way for us to be accountable to both the administration and to the parents of the kids we teach.
I think this is a great use of web 2.0. We love it in our department and it has helped with our collaboration and brought us together more as a team. If you want to visit our website the link is http://sites.google.com/site/mrjhsocialstudies. What do you think? Any ideas on what would make the website better?
During the week we know we can easily go to our department website to access what we need, whether that is a reminder about the upcoming meeting or a file we had uploaded previously. We have invited the administration at our school to view our website so they can see what we are up to. It is also a way for us to be accountable to both the administration and to the parents of the kids we teach.
I think this is a great use of web 2.0. We love it in our department and it has helped with our collaboration and brought us together more as a team. If you want to visit our website the link is http://sites.google.com/site/mrjhsocialstudies. What do you think? Any ideas on what would make the website better?
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Web 2.0 and the classroom
A few days ago Michael Pratt, an LDS seminary principal at Lone Peak High School in Highland, Utah, pleaded guilty to two counts of object rape and one count of forcible sodomy, first-degree felonies, and one count of forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony. He will be sentenced on August 31, 2010. It is unfortunate that for the many good and moral teachers in the community one scumbag like Pratt can not only steal the spotlight but can also warrant the creation of stricter and more invasive policy within school districts. Thanks Pratt. Did it really take you all this time to realize that you were guilty, or were you still convinced that god was okay with your sexual rendezvous with a minor under the guise of a religious example.
I teach at Mountain Ridge Junior High, which is one of the middle schools that feeds into Lone Peak High School. Just recently in a faculty meeting our principal addressed the teachers of Mountain Ridge about Facebook. Paula, our principal, stated that teachers should not be Facebook friends with any student currently attending a school in the Alpine School District. I can definitely see the merit in this policy and the protection this policy can offer teachers against allegations of inappropriate relationships with students, but the timing of this policy seems to coincide conveniently with the pervert actions of Pratt.
I have a Facebook page and for awhile I would accept friend invites from former students who were now attending the high school. I saw this as a way to keep in touch with these former students whom I cared about. These are the same kids that I had spent so much quality time in the classroom teaching, mentoring, and advising. I had devoted time to planning lessons that could help these kids learn not only history and geography but to be better individuals, classier citizens, and empathetic young people to different people around the world. Some of these kids looked up to me and depended on me to remain constant in their lives over the duration of the school year.
Before I started accepting friend invites from former students I thought about what would be the best thing to do with this situation. I decided that I would not accept a friend invite from any student currently enrolled at Mountain Ridge Junior High. There would be no need to do this because these students had access to me before, during, and after school in my classroom, through my school email, or by calling to my classroom phone. But to my former students they did not have this accessibility, nor did they need it. In fact, it would be inappropriate to have former students calling my classroom, coming regularly to visit my classroom (although once in a while to catch up I think is okay) or emailing me. I think these types of communications should be academic. Facebook, on the other hand, would be a way to keep in touch with former basketball players whom I coached. They could tell me about upcoming games. Maybe that student who's father committed suicide just wants to check in like they did the school year when the tragedy happened.
I am starting to ramble so I will try and finish. Is Facebook outside of the scope of a public educator? I am conflicted with this, although I accept the current Alpine School District policy and see the merit and judgement for the policy. What is next? There are some really neat web 2.0 tools out there that are already great for college students and professors (youtube, blogs, wikis, etc.). Are these doomed at the secondary level? I know that the Facebook account I maintained was strictly blocked as to what my former students could see, hear, or watch with regards to my personal life. This ensured my privacy and the appropriateness of what my former students knew about me. It maintained a level of integrity which is vital in the educational profession. Will the present trends in school district policy hamper more appropriate classroom web 2.0 tools like wikispaces or classroom blogs?
I teach at Mountain Ridge Junior High, which is one of the middle schools that feeds into Lone Peak High School. Just recently in a faculty meeting our principal addressed the teachers of Mountain Ridge about Facebook. Paula, our principal, stated that teachers should not be Facebook friends with any student currently attending a school in the Alpine School District. I can definitely see the merit in this policy and the protection this policy can offer teachers against allegations of inappropriate relationships with students, but the timing of this policy seems to coincide conveniently with the pervert actions of Pratt.
I have a Facebook page and for awhile I would accept friend invites from former students who were now attending the high school. I saw this as a way to keep in touch with these former students whom I cared about. These are the same kids that I had spent so much quality time in the classroom teaching, mentoring, and advising. I had devoted time to planning lessons that could help these kids learn not only history and geography but to be better individuals, classier citizens, and empathetic young people to different people around the world. Some of these kids looked up to me and depended on me to remain constant in their lives over the duration of the school year.
Before I started accepting friend invites from former students I thought about what would be the best thing to do with this situation. I decided that I would not accept a friend invite from any student currently enrolled at Mountain Ridge Junior High. There would be no need to do this because these students had access to me before, during, and after school in my classroom, through my school email, or by calling to my classroom phone. But to my former students they did not have this accessibility, nor did they need it. In fact, it would be inappropriate to have former students calling my classroom, coming regularly to visit my classroom (although once in a while to catch up I think is okay) or emailing me. I think these types of communications should be academic. Facebook, on the other hand, would be a way to keep in touch with former basketball players whom I coached. They could tell me about upcoming games. Maybe that student who's father committed suicide just wants to check in like they did the school year when the tragedy happened.
I am starting to ramble so I will try and finish. Is Facebook outside of the scope of a public educator? I am conflicted with this, although I accept the current Alpine School District policy and see the merit and judgement for the policy. What is next? There are some really neat web 2.0 tools out there that are already great for college students and professors (youtube, blogs, wikis, etc.). Are these doomed at the secondary level? I know that the Facebook account I maintained was strictly blocked as to what my former students could see, hear, or watch with regards to my personal life. This ensured my privacy and the appropriateness of what my former students knew about me. It maintained a level of integrity which is vital in the educational profession. Will the present trends in school district policy hamper more appropriate classroom web 2.0 tools like wikispaces or classroom blogs?
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