Welcome to my Wiki!
This wikispace was developed to demonstrate my skills during my Master's journey. I hope to share many examples with all those that follow this page. Please feel free to share and "borrow" any ideas...being a teacher means that we share everything with each other in order to make ourselves the best educators!Follow me....
I am Blogging every week, feeding my Delicious account, and reading RSS Feeds through Feedly. Want to know what I am doing/reading/exploring just connect with me!
As well as the personal development through these accounts, I am also adding to a class wiki page. Following are the classroom discussions I have worked with:
Week 1: Wikipedia - Friend or Foe?
Friend:
Information gained by using Wikipedia allows for students and educators to
unravel the differences amongst related articles and topics. If there isn't that
"tip-off" point for students when beginning their research on topics,
frustration can set in. Wikipedia allows for knowledge to be gained and
explored. Though many have stated that some of the information from this site is
not totally reliable, it does allow for that spark of interest. The ability to
move throughout topics and know how to navigate and search stretches the
boundaries of the learning being done by the students. For those younger
students just starting out with online research Wikipedia is one site educators
know what to expect when it comes to structure. Every topic is set up the same
and so the instruction of how to use Wikipedia can be the same though the topics
are not. Finally, in the real world there are many times that our students need
to practice taking a second look at their work and using Wikipedia as that model
would give students a solid example to base their ideas on. (Amy Klopf)
Week 2 National Web Filtering Guidelines?
No:
School filters have been the topic of many different district discussions. Many
educators and IT administrators disagree with how their labs or classroom
computers should be filtered. There are many sites out there that work well for
educators needs, but cannot be used or seen by students due to district filters.
Christopher Johnson stated that, though we do need to be careful about what our
students find, it really should be the educators who are trained to work with
students on how to behave when they face "questionable" material. In talking
with many other educators, students' home computers are not filtered like those
we have within our districts and so students are still becoming acquainted with
these "questionable" sites and images. The preparation that educators and
administrators can do before students work with the internet could allow for
filters to be less constricting. Johnson's "phased approach" (Johnson, 2008)
seems like a model that may work with many districts. The filtering is tight
within the lower-level students and slowly decreases its grip as students move
up. While this is happening educators, administrators, and even parents are
participating in inservices and discussions about how to work with their
children and help them make good choices while becoming "good digital citizens."
(Johnson, 2008) (Amy Klopf)
Week 3: Schools Required to Offer Online Education?
Yes:
As it was stated above, differentiated learning is key to the success of our
students within our classrooms. We, as educators, are no longer seeing the
"cookie-cutter" classrooms where students are sitting in rows and teachers are
standing in front lecturing. We are becoming more concerned with identifying the
needs all students not just those that are "at-risk" because they are not at
grade-level. Online classrooms are a tool schools can use to help those students
that are "at-risk" because they cannot find a challenge within their everyday
classrooms. Schools benefit from online classrooms within their buildings
because students are raising state test scores and pushing other students to
step up. Many rural schools, like here in Michigan, do not have the student body
to fill many Advance Placement or higher College Prep courses, online classrooms
are allowing for students to have that ability. My brothers, for instance, may
not have entered the field of Chemistry if it wasn't for the push for them to
wanted to know more and use online classrooms within our schools to learn more.
Now one has a Doctorate in Chemistry and the other is becoming a secondary
education Chemistry teacher. Besides the benefits for our high-thinking
students, online classrooms also help those struggling by allowing them to
re-take specific classes needed to graduate from high school and move into the
collegiate or vocational world. Many are concerned with online classrooms taking
from schools, but here in Michigan schools can get "seat-time waviers". Schools
can still register students who also are taking online classes within their
districts. This wavier by-passes the "1,098 hours of (in-seat) instruction" law
so schools are still able to receive state funds. (Michigan House Bill 5392)
Many other states have the same law which is lessening the blow of more and more
students needing that extra challenge to succeed in life. Online classrooms are
definitely the future for classroom tools available now to our students'
educational needs. (Amy Klopf)
Week 4: Schools Regulate Offsite Online Behavior?
Yes:
There is definitely a need for schools to become involved in the misuse and cyber-bullying taking place in our student's households. Though much of the actual bullying is not taking place within the walls of our school, it does tend to start there and lead to students "finding" each other so that the harassment can continue. Students need to be aware of what consequences are out there for those that choose to harass or bully another even without their teachers and principals around. Many parents today are very busy with making sure that their families have their necessary needs to survive that they are not taking the time to see how they are using the internet sites. It is up to us as educators to teach students how to behave and how to stop from being bullied with technology. If we teach the same message to all students, repeat that teaching over and over, as students make their way through the higher grades they should remember what has been taught to them and work out differences without having to get online and hash them out. It is found that much of what is said is a instantaneous thought and not reflected on when typed or said. It is only later, sometimes much later, that one realizes that they made a mistake. If we can just teach our children to think before verbalizing or putting into text what they want to say, many might find that "being mean" or teasing another isn't the right way to go about getting their feelings out. Schools should have some insight of online behaviors, even off-campus. We are with these children 9months+ out of the year and should be able to teach them and help them when they need it no matter the location.
Week 5: Do Students Respect Intellectual Property?
No:
When it comes to respecting intellectual property it becomes a sometimes hard subject for students to understand, especially at the elementary levels. At this level students are still trying to find their voice within themselves that understanding how to paraphrase and summarize information using their own words can be truly difficult for them. The misuse of intellectual property tends to be seen when students are asked to research topics and write about them. Many of our students have not had the right amount of practice or strategies to use the information as a tool versus just copying and pasting their information into their reports. It may not be because they don't want to write in their own words, but do not know how to. Students need to be taught how to use information and practice using that information within their work by rephrasing or quoting the important ideas that support their points of view. Besides learning how to use the information, students do need to know the consequences of using intellectual property inappropriately. As these statements are related to what students need to do in order to respect intellectual property, but many teachers also need to know and practice how to use information so that they may be great models for their students.
Week 6: Are Free Tools Worth The Price?
No:
Free tools actual come with a price, just not one that is of a financial amount. As much as educators and administrators would like for "free" software, apps, and programs to be available for their districts due to budgeting needs, these services are limiting and many times there is a pull to pay for upgrades or extended services that make the program better. Many times the reason programmers can offer their products for "free" is because of the many advertisements that surround the program pay for it. But these distractions can cause some attention difficulties for our students. Also, depending on the type of advertisements or needs of the programs to run school filters are catching and not allowing for anyone to use the product. Another difficulty in trusting in and basing lessons on "free" sites does not mean they will be there in the morning. As Shay stated many of these sites can be considered "one-hit wonders" (Shay, 2008). We, as educators, can completely change our curriculum or even simply a lesson to be used with certain "free" resources and then we cannot find them again the next day because the site wasn't popular enough to stay or it was just in beta-testing. Though there are many complications that come with focusing on "free" tools, that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be tested it just means that people need to do their research and remember that they are tools and resources not our curriculum.
Week 7: Is Chat Speak Destroying English?
Yes:
Chatspeak has become a vital form of communication for this tech-savvy generation. It is always good to have some kind of shorthand when taking notes, especially with a fast speaking professor or teacher, but as a type of writing it is not acceptable. It is very important for our students to be able to communicate face-to-face with complete sentences and thoughts, Chatspeak just allows for those communications to not happen. Employers like having tech-savvy employees, but it is also important to them that they also have strong verbal and written communication skills. Students today want to believe that they know how to write and don't need to be constantly taught over and over again how to write but as long as they believe that Chatspeak is the best way to get there thoughts out there educators will continue to instruct them the other way. Students need to be able to have a complete thought that makes sense and also be able to write it down for others to read and understand. If they continue to work in Chatspeak their ideas may get lost in translation.
Week 8: Is Education Technology Shortening Student Attention Span?
No:
Educational Technology, used the right way, can only expand the interest of our students within their school experience. Students' attention span may have already been shortened by their extra-curricular activities such as video and computer games at home. Technology used in the classroom for educational purposes is a tool that educators use in order to keep up with this tech-savvy generation. Students are being expected to be able to do many of the activities that we as graduate students are just practicing and learning. Colleges are looking for students that have these skills already. Students who have experienced technology throughout their grade-level school years are more apt to be comfortable with working with it or going into a technological occupation. Many educators have found that the reverse could be true about students' attention spans, actually many of the students who many have short attention spans tend to expand them when technology is used because the simple teacher lecture-student listen is too slow for these technology-minded students.
Plagiarism Certificate...Yeah! I can identify plagiarism.
My Calendar...what a busy life.