Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Frontline Video: Growing Up Online- due Feb 7th
I stumbled across this great TV show highlighting how kids are growing up ONLINE. I thought part of the program was effective at highlighting some of the challenges teachers have with how different kids are in this new digital age. Please click on the link and watch the ONE section, "A Revolution in Classrooms and Social Life" and share with the class your thoughts. Please focus your answers on the following prompts: "How are YOU as a teacher going to deal with the fact that kids are different these days and even at a very young age are used to being online? Do you think teachers have a responsibility to add technologies to support learning in the classroom? Do teachers have an obligation to help students understand appropriate uses of the Internet?"
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As a teacher, I know I'm going to HAVE to accept that my students will be much more technologically advanced than I was at their age. It really will be like a whole new world. But I need to try as much as possible to stay decently up to par with them, so I know how to reach them. That's what teaching is about- reaching your students and communicating knowledge to them. Yes, I think it's a teacher's responsibility to incorporate technology into lessons because that's the way to reach the students! Get their attention and make them at least somewhat interested in what you're trying to say! There's more than one way to teach the same lesson; I think it's important to acknowledge that and consider the technologies that can be used effectively. I do also think it's important that teachers help students understand the appropriate way to use technology. For example, with Spark Notes, I think a teacher should be willing to say "Hey, if you're struggling with what we're reading and you need some clarification, go ahead and use Spark Notes ALONG WITH your reading." And you could make sure that Spark Notes' not the only way the students are reading the text by specifying a certain amount of time for reading the actual book in class.
This video definitely opened my eyes to just how technologically advanced school are getting and it makes me excited and a little nervous at the same time. When I was in high school spark notes was just coming out but wasn't viewed as a very reliable source so I never used it, now 2 years later it is apparently very reliable. A teacher they interviewed, Mrs. Porpora, said that this wasn't the "educational arena" she originally got into so she said that it was time for her to go. How ignorant. The whole purpose of being a teacher is to be a life-long learner. So what if your student's know more then you do, you're not perfect. Overall though, I did like the video.
Wow. This lends itself to so many discussions. I'll try not to get too lengthy. First off, I liked what the social studies teacher said about entertaining them, sure feels that way. Everything is instant and quick and I,too, loose interest if it's not immediate. However, isn't that sad. Look at everything students miss. A quality dialog with fellow students. Real books to read. I suppose it could take place online, but we also need to prepare our students for face to face relations. Manners are important and should not stop just because there are no visible tears when you are online. We support the life skills and need to insist that they continue on the computer. We also need to teach our students to walk away, or log off and tell an adult. Educate parents, too. I think that we get intimidated by how much our students know and I am sure the parents are too.
Oh, and I totally want a smartboard! How cool was that!
As a teacher you should be willing to bridge any gap ( that is possible) between you and your students. I definitly would use technology in the classroom because it is a way to relate to your students. As an educator you should put your pride aside and do anything possible to reach your students. We must not forget that everyone does not have technology and lump all students together. We must find ways to reach all students the tech savy and the tech illiterate.
Ok...what to say about what I saw...Personally, I was a little frightened about what the teacher was saying about spark notes and cheating. Is this a "If you can't beat them, join them" philosophy for education? If they are going to cheat, just accept and go on with it? Is that really helping your students to excel? To allow them to leave your classroom as clueless about the information you are trying to present--just as clueless as they entered it? I don't think teachers mean to use technology to promote cheating. I think they want to use it to promote MORE learning. But if you just assume students will do something immoral as cheating, you are just having negative expectations for your students--and watching as they fulfill them.
Even worse--you are passing up a perfect opportunity to actually TEACH them about important life skills (like honesty, for example)and even good study habits! Is that really what a teacher is supposed to do?
Well, I think i have to back track again and focus more on your prompts, Dr. Pratt. I think I went a little off topic :)
Teachers have a responsibility to teach students where they are at. I dont refer to their physical location, such as at their desk or in the classroom. I speak of emotionally, intellectually--their integral selves. To meet them at what they do know, and help them to construct and make use of what they are learning.
If technology is what they know, it only makes sense to use technology to further enhance their knowledge. If its what they use and can help them make better sense of their world, so be it! Bring it in, teachers!
But as I said in my last post, teachers have a responsibility to their students. And that is to teach them not only facts and theories, but essential life skills, to form their lives as adults. Real teachers, meaningful ones see you not only what you are, but what you can become.
Including teaching them how to use technology in an appropriate way.
I believe as a teacher you learn from your students as well as teach your students. They might teach me something but i can go and explore more on the subject andteach them something they might not know. Yes, Teaching with technology is our responsibility exspecially considering our students are going to be up to speed with computers and technology in general. I believe teahcer should allow strudents to search the web exspecially if you can minitor what sites there looking at. I thought that was neat in the video how teacher could view all the websites there students were viewing. Technology is not as scary as it seems, we have so much out there to monitor what are students are looking at on the web. This make me feel a lot better with incorporating more technology in my class room.
Well, I will be 33 tomorrow and try SO hard to look and act young--so why not be technologically young? That is my goal--and I really need to create a MySpace. As a teacher, I want to embrace the learning styles of my students and I can't complain about high-tech kids when my son has been playing online since he turned 3.
But, I do sympathize a bit with Ms. Porpora. It can be tough to adjust to change and I agree with her stand in not condoning cheating, but if she doesn't want to adjust her ways of educating--she may be doing the right thing by stepping down. As far as "do teachers have a responsibility to add technology to the classroom," YES, they do. Many families can't afford a computer or a monthly internet bill. Adding technology to the classroom will expose students who may never have the opportunity otherwise. I also think it is important to teach proper internet usage because children need to know how to avoid dangerous situations. As a future educator, I already know that I will be expected to continue my education. I have learned that if you do it little by little, changes aren't as drastic as if you wait until you are too far behind. So, I want to try to stay current.
How I would deal with the fact that kids are used to being online is to have a blanaced approach of online and classroom time. I think that there is a time and place for using media to aid in your teaching and the student's learning. I do not feel that we as teachers need to be "entertainers" as stated in the video. There is so much more to teaching and if that is what it has come to then how are they ever going to really learn if they are always trying to find a short cut in getting their assignments finished. They will be doing the work to get a grade instead of truly learning the material being covered. They will miss so much if all they rely on is the Internet. You can gain so much from classroom discussion and by actually reading the assigned book. I think it is important for teachers to add technologies to support learning in the classroom because you are using something that the students are familiar with and enjoy. It is always important to make this connection so that you can reach every child in your classroom so they too can become excited about what they are learning. I do not think that teachers have an obligation to teach appropriate uses of the Internet but that it should be addressed by the parents. However, I do think that it should be brought up and discussed at the beginning of every year what is to be expected of them while they are using the computers. Students need to know that they are responsible for what they do.
Well when it comes right down to it as a teacher I pretty much want to make learning fun cause' i've been there where students just seem to be and are so bored out of their skulls with the constant talk unless you keep it interresting.I want to be able to mix both entertainment and learning as to which my students will pay attention to anything that i say no matter how boring it may be. Teachers really don't have an obligation for use of technology but they do have to know some technology in my personnal opinion such as entering grades and all that jazz. I know that when i become a teacher my students might know more about computers than i do (and might take over the world ;) ) but still i will be sure they enjoy school no matter if i use technology or not. Yes i will use some technology but they also have to understand the entire world is not just pure technology. I do know about sparknotes and that some kids really don't have the time but i personally will make sure every kid will have time to know the book better or so. Sure if i struggle which could most likely happen i will be fine when it comes to keeping everything in order cause' sure there is a limit i will have in my class room.They never know if i might say something from the book that may not be in sparknotes at all.:) That should help a little if you ask me.
-the one the only lovable loser,:)
-shaun
As a teacher I think you learn from what you are teaching in the classroom. Using technology, as a teacher, to teach worries me a bit, at the same time it also excites me because it is something I know a lot about and willing to learn more to expand on my past experiences with technology. It will soon be my responsibly to teach using technology, instead of taking notes off a projector, and to help the students get up to date with the usage of technology and make sure they learn what is expected. Children, at a young age, are starting off on computers to become more intelligent as a child, so it only makes sense to help them and make use of the new learning system. I think using the web is a great way for children to learn and have fun with it at the same time. I think being able to monitor and review the websites the children are going to is a great thing. That will help the problem of children going to unnecessary websites that should not be explored. Technology is nothing to be scared of, it seems to worry a lot of people, but it is a great learning technique. Teachers have a responsibility, that is to make sure their students are learning what is expected and as long as the teachers learn for themselves what is needed, children will continue to enjoy going to school and gaining more knowledge.
This video was enlightening to me personally not only as a future educator but as a parent of a 16 yr old! I do not think that we should stop being life learners on a variety of levels of technology or teaching life skills in our classrooms! Use of the internet in the classroom can be considered a learning tool if used in the proper manner with supervision to enhance the learning process of the students. YES! We have a responsibility to use as much technology as possible to engage students in learning> that I am in total agreement with as some students do not have access to computers elsewhere, such as in the home where it is unaffordable. The local library is a great place to use the internet yet some kids may not be able to get transportation there or the computers are all in use. The other downside to the above is the supervision issues, the librians are not responsible for what the students view on some sites. So proper supervision is a must! Use of smart Boards in the classroom is a cool idea and is a great tool to gain, keep the students attention, and promote oral communication.
Danger or predators on the internet are prevelant> we have to monitor what students are doing on the net as educators we are the responsible party in the classroom. Home-Parents are so busy working that when they get home, some of them not all of them, pay less attention to what their children are doing. This is scarey as "it is a big wide wonderful world out there> Big & Wide and sometimes NOT so Wonderful," my Dad would tell us when we lived at home. He also told us when we started to become teenagers "part of being a parent is being a detective!"
Now it is ions later, society has grown in population, economic status, and in immigration of people from all over the world so lifestyles and cultures have an enormous impact on todays children as well as on the educators in the classrooms.
I thought the video taught me so much as I was not aware of the usages of Smart Boards or the Sparknotes-- geez we are all going to end up being life learners as well as detectives! Another career we can put on our resumes!!
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