Technology Equality

In today's classroom technology is ever changing. In most schools the advancement and upgrade in technology is on pace but it is a common trend especially in lower economic schools that students do not have access to new technology. In my classroom I will try to teach my students new ways to gain information through technology while keeping in mind that there is a diverse knowledge base and not all students have the same access.

I do think that it would be a disservice to my students to not teach them how to gain information though or how to use technology. In our world today when students get jobs the world requires them to be able to use technology. If our students aren't learning technology skills in school then we are setting them up for failure.

If we as teachers know about the updates in technology and how important it is, then way not use it to teach our kids and teach them how to gain new information. I will have many options for my students to gain technological information. I will allow them to use many different resources such as the internet, podcasts, the county library if they don't have access at home and so on.

Students come from different backgrounds at home and also come from different technological backgrounds. I need to be sensitive to this diversity when I teach but at the same time I must have high expectations for my students in order to teach them the tools needed for advancement in life. Technology is always changing and so is our world, it is going to be my job to prepare our youth for this change.

Chatspeak

In my opinion chatspeak is destroying the english language especially with our youth. In today's technological world students all over the country are texting, or emailing their friends at a high rate. I believe that our countries need for instant results or the idea of getting things done fast is resulting in our students talking or texting fast.
The problem comes when students bring chatspeak into the classroom and use it in their assignments. If a student turns in an english paper and has words LOL, or WTF I am not doing my job as an english teacher. I need to be educating my students on proper english. They are coming into my classroom with their own language so to speak and I need to be one of the people who needs to help them change their mindset.
The quote "Chatspeak is destroying students’ command of written English" is true. If we as teachers don;t prevent students from talking or writing in this language they have created then we are setting up our students for failure. We will all be talking and writing like robots in the future because we will all be programed to talk extremely fast and with a limited vocabulary.

Reference
Copyright © 2007, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)

Cell Phones in the Classroom

I think cell phones should be banned in the classroom. I may be old fashioned but the classroom is for learning and instruction, not texting and updating your myspace. Students today have technology at their fingertips and it is everywhere. The classroom should be a place that utilizes technology but cell phones should not be included.
With my experience working as a campus monitor I have seen the bad side of cell phones that included students setting up drug deals or fights while sitting in class. Not only do cell phones distract students from learning, they are a potential safety concern.
The quote "Bring your cell phones to the first day of class" is surprising to me. I don't think one teacher I know would say this or agree that having cell phones in their classroom is a good thing. Students can call, text or email their friends in their own time at home and out of school, but as long as they are in my class cell phones will not be used or tollerated. Students will always have them but I will structure my class to limit time they can use them, if they do I will use it as a teachable moment.

Reference
Copyright © 2007, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)

Web Quest #2

I just finished looking at Tom's web quest. His topic was on Salmon and I really liked his web page. The color scheme and lay out was the best part of the web quest. All the colors and pictures went well together and it makes it easy for the reader to follow. The process is well thought out and any student who uses this will like it.
This web quest would be an excellent resource to use in a classroom because it is a fun assignment, and creates higher order thinking skills. The assignment is designed for students to create a power point presentation. The pictures and video links tell a story and help teach the content in an easy to follow and descriptive fashion. Overall this was a nice web quest and good work by Tom.

Web Quest #1

I just finished looking at Caitlin's webquest. This was a very good example of a webquest that can be used in a classroom setting. It was easy to follow, has a good design and was very creative with the design and presentation. I think students would really enjoy this webquest because it is so easy to follow and has clear and defined objectives and descriptions of assignments.
Caitlin followed the rubric and I don't think there is much need for change. The color scheme is well thought out and creative. It is easy on the eyes and invites the student into a learning environment. Students will be able to understand the content, follow the lesson and overall gain a further understanding of art throughout this lesson. Good job Caitlin, nice work.

Power Point Presentations

In our last class we presented our five minute power point presentations. Each class member did some great work and I learned a couple of new things that I didn't know before. Each presentation was unique in their own way and really showed the creativity and subject knowledge that each person has in this class.
The major point that I will take away from this lesson is not to have to much text in your power point. I think over my years in college I have worked on my presentation skills and power point construction. I have made many power points over my college career and I continue to improve on my creativity and knowledge of this useful educational tool.
After watching, listening and being apart of each students power point I really appreciated how each student put their personality into their slides, planned effectively and prepared what they were going to talk about prior to class. One thing I can't stand is when a student or person created a power point, puts way too much text and too many pictures on their slides and is not prepared to speak to the class and get their information across.
Some people will read right from their slides, follow their extensive notes word for word and not include the class in their presentation. These types of presenters are boring and get old after a short time. I enjoy watching active presenters that use their power point as a useful tool to engage the audience and keep them active in the learning process.
Overall the presentation were really great and each student seemed to follow the class rubric for grading. I think we all did a wonderful job of presenting our material in only five minutes and each of use will be better power point designers and presenters in the future after completing this lesson.

Educational Technology and Student Attention Spans

I agree with the side that our students are too dependent on technology and the internet. When I first read the article "Is Educational Technology Shortening
Student Attention Spans?" the following quote really got me thinking. "Imagine a school with no library,no books—just computers. All research is done using the Internet. Instead of students typing papers, printing them off, and handing them in to a teacher, they create digital content online using a blog or wiki." This quote scared me. Why am I learning to design lesson plans including different activities such as papers or group projects if all the students know is email.

If I give an assignment I expect the student to turn the paper in to me. I might be thinking in an old school manner but I believe technology is good but only if used in the proper way. Students should be able to do research with the internet because it is faster and has a lot of quick information but they need to write the paper on their own and turn it in to me. I don't like to read papers from email and I would rather read a hard copy, write comments and return it to the student.

Where is our countries education headed? Will technology take over our classroom? I think it all ready has in a sense but without books, and other useful resources found in a library we will be teaching robots. I am not encouraged by the fact that students rely on the internet but I guess it is a fact of the time we live in and i am going to have to adapt my teaching strategies to respect technological diversity and an ever changing technological culture.

Reference:
Is Educational Technology Shortening Student Attention Spans? 2008, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)