Sammie's+Blog


 * July 14, 2010**

NETS Comparison wordle:

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2228136/Comparison_of_NETS

NETS Contrast wordle:

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2228177/Contrast_NETS

NETS for Teachers Response:

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2228185/NETS_for_Teachers

The statement below is a summary of the NETS for teachers website that I created by utilizing the biggest words in the wordle created from the website.

21st century //teachers// should //model professional uses// of //technology//-based //tools// to prepare //students// for citizenship in the //global community//.

Dr. Theresa's comment: Your wordles remind me of "union, intersection, and difference"! I hadn't thought about those in a long time. Brought back fond memories. :-) Very interesting way to communicate your reflection. Glad you had a chance to really explore this tool. Your one-sentence summary is powerful and right on target. Congratulations.


 * July 11, 2010**

UNESCO site exploration response:

I must admit that I was quite overwhelmed with the amount of information on this site. I approached this site with the question, "What is the underlying goal of this organization and how will this resource help me in the classroom?" I am afraid that after much searching on this site I have only generated more questions. I initially began investigating by looking at the "about us" information and the regional and country pages. It seemed as though each page I navigated to led to a page that had several more links. I felt very disorganized, like I was chasing a bunch of rabbits and couldn't quite see how they were all connected. So, I narrowed my focus. //Portal// //for Teachers// caught my eye and I thought, this should at least make sense to me. I navigated into the mathematics link and upon reading several descriptions of the embedded links became hopeful that I had at last found something that could help me in the classroom. I checked out several links; Education Planet, ENC, MegaMath and Money Skills among others. They all promised a wide variety of resources for the classroom. Several of the sites promised more than they could deliver. Upon examining them I found that there were either monthly costs associated with the services or irrelevant information. For example, the Lessons Planet site had many lesson plans and activities for teachers, however you needed to have a subscription to view any more than the basic description listed. Also, one link that I clicked on under the algebra section brought me to a webpage advocating for your school to compete in the Puff's Plus contest in order to win a year supply of tissues. There also was a lack of technology in some of the resources, which seemed at odds with the proposed purpose of the website. One link, to ENC (should have written down what that acronym stood for) boasted more lesson plans, activities and curriculum materials and in reality only supplied links to hard copy resources that you could purchase for $250 and up. These books contained printed lesson plans, activities and worksheets that could be reproduced. Interesting. . ..

I did however find a couple of activities that I would be happy to integrate into my classroom. The MegaMath website contained several activities that were framed similarly to webquests and would engage students problem solving skills rather than their ability to recall. The activities looked fun and interesting and would be good jumping off points for our 'Fun Fridays'. There was also an activity called Money Skills: Life Simulation that allowed students to input information about their futures; incomes, spouse incomes, housing costs, travelling expenses, number of children and so on. The simulator would then compare the information about the earnings with the information about the desired expenses and tell the student whether they were compatible or would go bankrupt. If the player goes bankrupt, they have the opportunity to investigate their answers, change them and plug them into the simulator again. This would be a great activity to incorporate into discussions about the exponential properties of interest and loans.

All in all, I was discouraged that I wasn't intuitive enough to gain answers to even my initial questions. My best guess as to the purpose of the site is that it is an international place to house information about ICT and resources for teachers across the globe. I didn't find confirmation for this definition and it feels shaky to me.

Comment by Lindsay: My initial thought of this website was very similar to yours. There is SO much information being shared here, but in a very disorganized way. And a lot of the links that I clicked on we not only un-user friendly, but as you said, didn't exactly promote technology use. Instead, these resources want us to by more textbooks. I did however, find a great resource called "Information and Communication Technologies in Schools: A Handbook for Teachers - How ICT Can Create New, Open Learning Environments". It is essentially another textbook (free of charge, and provided in PDF) that I found very interesting. It talked of the benefits of using technology and HOW to use that technology in our classrooms. Believe it or not, I may do some reading from this source. I was expecting the UNESCO site to be giving my more resources to share with students. I didn't find much, but I'm glad you did. And I'm happy that as math teachers, there were actually some effective sites out there for us to use with your children. Thanks for sharing. I will be checking those out!

Comment by Dr. Theresa: ENC is the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse and it USED to be free and was incredibly wonderful. Then the external funding went away and they had to start charging to keep afloat. Way too bad. So now you know why I structured this assignment the way I did. Yes that site does have a lot of information and yes it is not intuitively organized and there is no way I'm going to pick out what you should look at or focus on. It's a frustrating approach to an assignment but in the end, you obviously figured out why I did it that way. And you're right. . . sadly, there are a lot of weak sites linked and labeled as resources. That part is too bad. And imagine if you are a teacher in a country that is just emerging from being 3rd world (or still is 3rd world) and you don't have any experience with all of this technology. Oy! I couldn't do it. But these are the resources they're provided with. For me, the good new is, that the United Nations is trying to meet that need and is at least providing something. And I do tend to focus on, as I look through the site, that the majority of people utilizing that site are not Americans, and that makes me feel some kind of flat global experience. :-)

The Yin and Yang of Technology in the Classroom (A review of the article, "Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching") This article presents the epic battle in education. In the first corner, we have the reigning heavyweight champion, B. F. Skinner. Known for his powerful theories on stimulus-response and weighing in with his learned behavior, Skinner and his followers maintain the importance of sufficient practice for mastery and scaffolding new learning on top of prerequisite skills. The powerful right hook delivers systemic learning structures. In the opposite corner, the heavy-weight contender, John Dewey. Watch out for the uppercut of inquiry-based learning and the solid belief that knowledge is uniquely created in each students mind according to their own experiences.

Just kidding. . . I love how this article marries the importance of both pedagogical views instead of pitting them against one another and not allowing for the importance of both. I agree with the author when they state on p.43 that "constructivism will eventually dominate overall educational goals and objectives such as learning to apply scientific methods, while systematic approaches will ensure that specific prerequisite skills are learned". This line is in tune with my approach to using technology in the classroom 100%. posted Today at 1:03 pm by [|Mrs. Wilson]

Comment by Linnea: I agree with your agreement with the quote from p. 43. I think most teachers would love to encourage students to learn what is most appropriate for the individual student, and when it is most conducive for them to do so. And then we give the high stakes test at the same date and time to all the juniors in the State of Maine. Classroom teachers act as the interface for students between educational ideals and assessment reality. 1-1 technology makes it easier for me. I can provide a greater menu of learning opportunities (sounds like differentiation!), can encourage greater use of higher-order thinking skills (Mindtoodling!) because technology simplifies access. I also can capture evidence of their learning, both for the purpose of assessment and transfer of learning to novel problems. The evidence serves to remind them of what they have mastered, encouraging them to see a (carefully chosen) novel problem as part of the progression, instead of being an entirely new challenge.

Comment from Dr. Theresa: I love the heavyweight championship analogy!! That is so dead-on! I, too, think of myself as a constructivist. But when I'm teaching swimming lessons, I'm objectivist all the way!

Mindtools in education: What are they and how do we utilize them? (A review and synthesis of Ch's 1&2 of "Computers as Mindtools From the outset, this book takes a constructivist view on using technology in the classroom. Computers and other technological tools are touted as vehicles to facilitate meaningful learning experiences and that enable students to generate their own unique knowledge set. Technology as a constructivist tool has been traditionally underused. As stated on p.3, "Technologies have been used traditionally in schools to "teach" students, much the same as teachers "teach" students." We missed the boat on using technology to radically change the way learning happens the first time it docked. As explained throughout the first chapter, using computers as a platform for tutorials and drill exercises "has replicated one of the oldest and most meaningless forms of learning, rote learning" (p.5).

While education floundered with the early integration of technology in the classroom, focusing on unnecessary concerns and investing in opportunities that did little to expand the reach of the teacher, there is still hope that the classroom revolution awaits. Technology is a revolution that is persistent and evolving. It makes sense that this revolution would be a dominating factor in the revolution of American and global schools. Mindtools, which "are both mental and computational devices that support, guide, and extend the thinking processes of their users" (p.10), are readily available for mainstream use in today's classrooms. The scope and richness that they can bring to the classroom as "intellectual partners" (p.10) has the ability to generate more authentic learning in the classroom.

While I agree that the opportunity for technology to enrich our students learning environments is exciting and dynamic, I am not so quick to denounce the value of rote learning. Certainly this mode of learning is not compatible with a majority of the students in the current population, however it does have a place with some content and some students. I do agree that rote memorization does not lead to deep authentic understanding, but some prior knowledge is necessary to approach more complex problems. Perhaps using rote memorization as a mode of acquiring this underlying knowledge base could be allowed.

The possibility of teaching students to utilize their skills in conjunction with the numerous Mindtools that are available to them is an exciting one. I agree with the assertion on p.16, that word processors have not made us better writers but I wonder, would Webspirations make us better writers with its capacity to organize our thoughts linearly? posted Today at 12:37 pm by [|Mrs. Wilson]

Comment by Myrna As in all new things, time is needed to realize the potential of the learning and then how to incorporate it into the classroom within the standards being set. There has been a remarkable learning curve for teachers as well as students and it has provided possibilities never before imagined. I also agree with you that there is a need for some rote learning and where better to be engaged in that but in the graphic world of the computer? Writing and computers seem to go hand in hand but I have to agree that word processors have not made students better writers. What computers have the potential to do is to set the stage to inspire them to want to write and to provide the tools to help them organize their ideas.

Comment by Dr. Theresa: When you read Linnea's reflection where she reminisces about writing her thesis by literally cutting and pasting highlighted text from one paper onto another in order to organize her thoughts, you can almost believe that word processing does have the potential to make someone a better writer. ;-) It's all in how you use the tool. But even in 1996 when Jonassen wrote this text, we had a generation of students who composed at the keyboard (as opposed to writing it on paper and transcribing it to the computer). Some of our thoughts and philosophies will change as the times change as well as with the changes in technology itself.