Adolescent Psychology

OK, so it is the start of the Fall 2009 semester and I just had my first class of Adolescent Psychology. Actually, I didn't even know that was the course I signed up for. The name in the course description was Theory, Research and Applications in Adolescent Development. Anyway, the teacher basically told us that we did not have to make the course focus on psychology - that we can discuss teaching methods and the underlying theme will be adolescent development. Everyone was on board with this idea because we would be learning material that is directly applicable to real life. I would probably hate the class if all it did was discuss theory. So, this was a plus.

Once the instructor got into his first lecture, I could tell that we had slightly different philosophies. For example: he said that if students were lazy and not doing work in your class that it is almost always the TEACHER'S fault. I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with this. Ok, SOMETIMES it might be the teacher's fault, but I know teachers that do everything they can think of to try and reach all their students (myself included) and sometimes it just doesn't work! There is such a thing as INTRINSIC motivation and you can't really teach that!!! Ugh...so that was a negative.

Then, he also said that, if he was observing and evaluating a teacher and he saw four students that weren't paying attention, he would give them a BAD evaluation! I don't think that is fair at all! As I said before, sometimes you do everything you can to reach out to students and it just doesn't work. Not to mention, no one is 100% all of the time. That is holding them to just too high of a standard. Now, if you've observed this teacher multiple times and it is always the same...then there may be some cause for concern. He just seemed to put a LOT of onus on the teacher and not too much on the student. Students need to be held responsible for their learning!!!

One thing that he said that I liked was that his philosophy is "Teach Less, Better." This means that teachers should be teaching less content but it a better way in order to reach more students. Beautiful concept! I thoroughly agree. But, what about all the pressure on the teachers with these standardized tests? If you can only get through 60% of the material, then they only have a chance of getting a 60% on the test IF they learned everything. Sorry, but the system doesn't work that way.

Basically, the teacher seems to be an idealist. In a perfect world, all the students would care, lessons would be well-received, teachers would have the time to tailor EVERYTHING, and there would be no testing or ranking of any kind. But, sadly, we don't live in a perfect world and it will be a LONG time before the educational system changes enough where these things will become the norm. (Oh, and he seemed to be against all types of competition because it makes the lower students feel stupid. OK, I can see that, but I always thought that a little competition was healthy - as long as the person is competent enough to participate.)

Now, one thing that he lectured about made total sense. He talked about how three things are needed in order to be successful - community, competence, and control. One needs to feel that they are a part of a team - that they belong. They need to know how to do the job (or at least believe that they can achieve at the task at hand). And they need to have control over the situation. This is all very logical. Think about it...when you are the most productive, don't you have all these things?

Anyway, that is how my first class went and I really just needed to vent some of my thoughts. I highly value education, which is why I am taking these classes in the first place, so I am always willing to try something new to reach my students. I just don't want anyone else to make me feel like it is MY fault when students fail. I do enough of that myself, but sometimes you have to BLAME the STUDENT!!! Yes, teaching should be student-centered, but so must LEARNING!!!!

Final Reflection on Nature of Schools

Well, we've come to the end of yet another five week summer course. I can't believe how fast the time flies! Over these past five weeks, we were supposed to achieve the following learning outcomes:
Knowledge of:
theories & philosophies of education
relevant history of American education
current issues impacting public schools
standards of professional conduct

Skills in:
applying theory to solve practical problems
analyzing social and philosophical forces shaping American education through research and grant writing
developing partnerships with colleagues, parents, administration
Independent learning and self-reflection

Professional attitudes related to:
critical self-reflection/examination
appreciating diverse learning styles
establishing a belief that all students can learn
developing a foundation for leadership

I would have to say that I have achieved everything on these three lists, except the grant writing. If this was an outcome of the class, we should have been given an assignment and guidance on how to write a grant. This was not explicitly stated in any of our project descriptions. I think this would have been a very useful outcome had it been taught.

This course has certainly made me think about my own personal teaching philosophy and how much that influences the education students receive. I have also done a lot of thinking about how students need to be taught in order to thrive in the 21st century.

I have always valued education. This is the reason that I became a teacher. I constantly evaluate what works and doesn't work in my classroom and make changes from semester to semester. I truly am an Agent of Change and will continue to advocate for new approaches in teaching our students.

Changing Paradigms

This is a video entitled Changing Paradigms. The "changing paradigms" being referred to are related to education. The first thing I did after watching the video was to find the exact definition of the word "paradigm." According to Dictionary.com, a paradigm is "a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing a reality for the community that shares them." So, in this case, we are talking about how the community views education. Here are some of the main points of the video:

• We need to do much more in education than is currently happening
• Every nation in the world is reforming public education. The major difference from past reforms is that they are doing it consistently and systematically.
• Reforms ae occurring for two main reasons - economic and cultural. How do we get our children to take their place in the 21st century? How do we pass on our cultural genes to the community while joining globalization?
• The problem is that people are operating on the premise that to reform education is to simply make it a better version from what it was - to improve on what is already there.
• What really needs to happen is a major overhaul - going fom an industrial model to an organic one.
• Industrial ---------> Organic

utililty --> vitality

linearity --> creativity

conformity --> diversity

standardization --> customization

I thought that this video was very informative. Most people that speak about educational reform are always suggesting legislations, new curricula, more resources, etc. One really doesn't hear anyone talk about the fact that education itself has to be completely restructured. What students need in the 21st century is very different from what they needed in the 20th century. This is not to say that there aren't some common strands that still need to be taught - of course there are. But, they can be approached in much different ways.

If you are a teacher, I hope this video and my post makes you think about how you run your classroom. Are you preparing your students to succeed in the 21st century?

Sample letter to the community regarding multiculturalism

One of our assignments in my Nature of Schools class was to write a letter to the community about a multicultural initiative taking place at the school. Here is the link to mine on my website. Enjoy!

Educational change...who controls it?

This week's topic in my Nature of Schools class is school change. Some of the things we were told to blog about were:

• The future in terms of the effects on human lives and the shape that schooling and education are likely to take


• The characteristics of a teacher in the new Informational era and the role of the process of professional career development.


• Predict the development of Education and Schooling in the future.


• How much does students’ education and school’s effectiveness depend on teachers?

Well, this is quite a topic! First, I will address these four required elements, but then I will share some of my favorite sites/tasks from the week and my insights on them.

I personally feel that education, at this moment, is not at its peak. Teaching at a community college, I see too many students come in with such apathy and an unwillingness to do any work or put in the necessary effort to succeed. I've taken quite a few education classes up to this point (I only have 4 left until I take my comprehensive exams to graduate) and I have yet to find an answer to why this is occurring. I have heard from high school teachers that they are seeing it also. Where is this coming from? At least, if we can pinpoint it, maybe we can CHANGE it. But, until we can figure out a way to change this, I don't see a very good future. We are telling students to go to college so that they can get a good job, but the truth is that there won't be enough jobs for the amount of students we are graduating. They come out of school in so much debt - because society TOLD them to - and now society can't help them pay it back. It seems like a cruel joke. I think many students are asking themselves "what am I going to school FOR?" and, because they aren't finding the answer, they don't take school seriously.

Probably the biggest change that education is going to see is in technology. To be a teacher in this new "Informational Era" requires innovation, creativity, and a willingness to try new things. Teachers need to seek out professional development if they want to "move with the times" and find new and interesting ways to reach and motivate their students. Unfortunately, funding is a major factor here as it is everywhere else, so many teachers will find themselves doing this on their own time with their own resources. This is why it takes real dedication to be a teacher.

In terms of future development, I think that education and schooling will move (slowly) towards more technology integration. I think that we will continue to see a push towards collaborative learning and learning by discovery (inquiry). As generations change, we need to find new ways to reach them, so education will constantly be in a state of flux (or, at least it should be).

No matter what the future brings, students' education and schools' effectiveness will always depend heavily on the quality of the teachers. No matter what your educational philosophy is, the bottom line has always been to make your students learn. We are the vessels through which learning takes place. Yes, we facilitate learning through our lessons, but we also serve as role models. Students learn from our example and so just our presence DOES make a difference.

So, now I will reflect on some of the things we were required to read/do this week. One of the first things we were asked to do (and again during our class meeting) was to define change, reform, and innovation. Now, I knew innovation had a different meaning from the other two terms, but I had always used reform and change interchangeably. Not so! According to dictionary.com, change is simply to make something different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone while reform is the improvement of what is wrong, corrupt or unsatisfactory. So, really reform is about fixing something. Change doesn't mean that anything was necessarily wrong with the way things were - we just need to adapt to our environments. So, reform and innovation are types of change. Or, as the professor put it, "Change is a result of reform or innovation." I had really never thought of this before, but it makes perfect sense.

The website that I found the most useful this week was http://www.mcrel.org/toolkit/. Here you will find the three domains of the school system - technical, personal, and organizational. You can also find the factors that are related to successful schools. It just takes some exploring on the site. This is a great resource for anyone that is interested in changing various aspects of education. Check it out!

I personally liked the definitions of the three domains. Again, it makes perfect sense, but we just don't think about it. The technical domain is all about what students learn, how they learn it, and how they are assessed. Basically, it is everything related to instruction. The personal domain contains issues related to attitudes, skills, and behaviors of people in the system. Basically, it is everything related to the school climate or culture. The organizational domain houses the resources and structures of the system, shich would include the external environment, government, resources, etc. Now, separating them out like this does allow one to come up with changes to each part, but they are all interconnected with each other. By changing one, we inevitably WILL change elements in the others, and we have to keep that in mind because it may not necessarily change for the better. The breakdown is helpful though because one can then make more focused action plans and really view change from either a top-down approach (organizational to technical), or a bottom-up approach (technical to organizational).

One thing that my instructor added to all of this during our class meeting this week was that reform was basically external and takes a top-down approach while innovation is internal and takes a bottom-up approach. When you link this with the domains, it really becomes clear!

By the way, my group made a really nice presentation on the differences between change, reform, and innovation. Enjoy!

This course has brought up some great, thought-provoking topics, especially this week. I hope you feel the same way!

Technology in the classroom

This week's topic in my Nature of Schools course is technology in schools. If you have read other entries in my blog, you would see that I just finished taking a course called Teaching with Technology, so I have already written quite a bit on this topic. However, some other interesting links were posted for us to explore.

First, we were to watch this video. It is about using the technologies that your students are already using in order to teach. They mention many of the technologies that are out there, but the one that they give an example for is texting. It suggests allowing the students to text someone outside of school and ask them what the weather is like where they are and a couple of other informational questions. I'm sorry, but I do not think that is an appropriate assignment to give in the classroom. If a student doesn't get a response, they may text someone else. Or, they may text a friend in the next classroom. Plus, some students don't have a cell phone, so now you have created a prejudice in your class!!! There is nothing better than pointing out how "uncool" a child is because they don't have the latest technology - what kind of message is that sending?!

It also states that there is a small percentage of students that think their schoolwork is meaningful or interesting. I don't necessarily think that technology is going to be a "cure all" for this. Let's say you decide you are going to make a podcast of your lesson. The student will have to care enough to download it and listen to it! I do think that using technology in the classroom can get more students engaged, but it is ridiculous to think that it is going to make everyone love school if they don't. The real fact is, there is a devaluing of education going on in this country. More and more students do not care about school and apathy is basically an epidemic among the younger generations. Technology will be an aid in tackling this, but it won't be a cure.

Technology certainly does have its place in education, but there is a wide range of beliefs as to how much it should be incorporated. One of the other links we were given was to a report on NPR about an all-technology school in Philadelphia where there is no more use of pencils and paper! I think this is way too much of an extreme. Yes, it is important for children to be accustomed to using various technologies for when they go into the workforce, but what job will use all technology all the time? There is still something to be said about thoughts flowing from your head down to pencil and paper. Penmanship and spelling are basically going to be a thing of the past! This particular school used tablet PCs, which means students were still writing, but I would still like to see how the math lessons were taught solely with technology. Yes, this is a very green alternative, but so are white boards! Also, technology updates every few years. It would be outrageously expensive to keep that school up to date! And, it is certainly not feasible to put this in schools all across the country. There is just no money for that. Talk about the digital divide! If we think there is inequality in education now due to the resources available, imagine if some of the wealthier schools went this route. The gap will just get wider and wider. If you'd like to read more about the digital divide, here is an article which was given to us in class.

I would like to end with a quote that was in one of the many things we were given to look at this week. "It's philosophy, not technology, that is going to make a difference in your classroom" (Dr. Allen Glenn, Dean of COE, University of Washington). This is basically my point. It will be up to YOU as a teacher to get your students involved. If you can create that culture, with or without technology, your classroom will be successful! But, in order to keep your lessons relevant and connected to the real world, it will be necessary to bring in some technology - but YOU be the judge on how integrated you want to make it.

Teaching philosophies and multiple intelligences

This week, the topics that we were to discuss were the various teaching strategies and the multiple intelligences. Basically, it was about professional development. What should we be aware of as teachers in order to allow students to make more connections and truly learn the material?

First of all, it is important to know yourself as a teacher. What are your values? What approaches do you take to education? What theories do you believe in? A really great tool that was posted for us this week was a quiz to determine what educational theory you agree with most. Click here for the link to this quiz. Once you take it, you can click here for how to score it and see what your results are. I took this quiz and I also had my husband, who teaches special education, take it as well. It turns out that I have a tie between reconstructivism and constructivism. I think I agree with the assessment. Here is what was said for each (taken directly from the site):

"Reconstructionism/Critical Theory
Social reconstructionists advocate that schools should take the lead to reconstruct society in order to create a better world. Schools have more than a responsibility to transmit
knowledge, they have the mission to transform society as well. Reconstructionists use critical thinking skills, inquiry, question-asking, and the taking of action as teaching strategies.
Students learn to handle controversy and to recognize multiple perspectives."

"Cognitivism/Constructivism
The learner actively constructs his or her own understandings of reality through acting upon
and reflecting on experiences in the world. When a new object, event, or experience does
not fit the learner's present knowing structures, a conflict is provoked that requires an active quest to restore a balance. Teachers facilitate environmental conditions and mediate
experiences to support student learning."

My closest runner up (only a 1 point difference) was humanism which says:

"Humanism
Humanist educators consider learning from the perspective of the human potential for growth, becoming the best one can be. The shift is to the study of affective as well as cognitive dimensions of learning. Beliefs include: human beings can control their own destiny; people are inherently good and will strive for a better world; people are free to act but must be
responsible; behavior is the consequence of human choice; and people possess unlimited
potential for growth and development. There is a natural tendency for people to learn, which
will flourish if nourishing, encouraging environments are provided."

The only thing I don't agree with here is the part that says "people are inherently good and will strive for a better world." I don't think I necessarily agree with this. I do think that the majority of people are good, but if they were striving for a better world, I think we would have seen more progress being made to fix our environment and our society. I'm also not completely sure on the
"unlimited potential for growth and development." It depends on what aspects of life we are
talking about. I absolutely agree that we are constantly growing as people. Every new
experience affects our lives. When it comes to content, however, I think there is a limit. The reason I say this is because, teaching mathematics, there are some students that do not have
the ability to think abstractly in order to understand algebra. There is nothing wrong with this. If we look at the 9 intelligences theory, mathematics and logic has its own category and so many people may just have other areas of intelligence that are heightened.

When my husband took the quiz, he got a tie as well. He is a constructivist like me, but he is also a behaviorist. A behaviorist believes "...behavior is the result of external forces that cause humans to behave in predictable ways, rather than from free will. Observable behavior rather than internal thought processes is the focus; learning is manifested by a change in behavior. This is known as the stimulus-response theory of learning. The teacher reinforces what [he/she wants] the student to do again and again and ignores undesirable behaviors. The teacher's role is to develop behavioral goals and establish reinforcers to accomplish goals." I think this makes sense since he works in the elementary school and students are learning the basic skills that
they must practice again and again until they reach mastery.

While learning about the educational theories and intelligences this week, we also added to our
group wiki with some material on the content. If you are interested in seeing what we came up
with, click here for the link.

Three heads are better than one!

My online class, Nature of Schools, started this past Monday, June 29. I always like to get a jump on the material because something always seems to happen when I keep things for the last minute, so I wanted to make sure I got a lot of it done. The material was pretty interesting and I commented on most of it in my first blog post for this course. Now that we have had our first group meeting though, I feel even better about it. Our group consists of three women and we have decided to call ourselves the Angels of Change since the course is all about teachers as the "change agents" of society.


One of the first things we did as a group was decide on what we felt were the three most significant changes affecting education that have occurred during the past 50 years. We decided on technology, government involvement, and medicine. Here is a summary of what we came up with:





Our group assignment this week was to create a powerpoint presentation on one of the four factors affecting the nature of schools and we were assigned to look at the social influences. Our group was ready with so much input for the presentation and we all worked really well together! Having a good group in a class makes everything much less stressful. I will try to post the powerpoint when it is completely finished. It will probably go on my website. Take a look!


Once we were done with our powerpoint, we discussed some other issues that affected education. We talked about the issues of religious tolerance and how students should be taught about the various religions in order to reduce stereotypes. We talked about the devaluing of education in terms of parents taking their children out of school for vacations and such which makes children think that school isn't important. We talked about how teachers have so much more responsibilities other than just teaching and yet the salaries have not increased to accommodate this. We also discussed the impact of standardized tests and how teaching to the test has almost become the norm and No Child Left Behind has put so much stock into these tests that teachers jobs and school funding depend on them. I think those were the major topics we discussed.

This course is shaping up to be pretty interesting and it is complementing my other course, Collaboration with Teachers and Parents, very well. I will continue to post updates as these 5 weeks continue!

Education in a Changing World - four factors influencing the nature of schools

I actually wrote this as a discussion post for my Nature of Schools class but, I liked it so much that I want to post it here.

This post is going to include my thoughts on the four factors affecting the nature of schools - political, cultural, social, and economic.

I personally feel that political pressures have the biggest affect on what is going on in schools - the two biggest topics being federal mandates and standardized testing. Through the courses I have taken thus far at the Mount, I have heard that NCLB and standardized testing are the "hot topics" in education and are basically what drive instruction. Although NCLB was designed to help all children succeed, it has basically be used (or misused) to blame teachers for poor performance. This puts added pressure on teachers to make sure that there students do well. This goes hand in hand with standardized testing because that is what is used to determine if the school is "on par" with the established standards and other schools. This causes educators to teach to the test and so students don't get that love for learning because they feel like they are always being prepped for an exam.

Culturally, schools and the nation need to find a way to bring tolerance into the classroom, dissolve any stereotypes, and make students open-minded and accepting to all people. The two factors I find the most disturbing are the fact that textbooks are riddled with stereotypes. Invisibility is a major one. How often are women and minorities highlighted in a textbook? The sad fact is that they are still very underrepresented in many texts, although that has been getting better recently, but that depends on what texts the districts adopt. A hot topic for me specifically is the stereotype of women in mathematics and the sciences, or just the perpetuation of "mathophobia." Starting in elementary school where, unfortunately, the majority of teachers are still women, teachers that do not like math make their feelings known and students pick up on it. This turns them off to math from the beginning and it gives them the perception that women are bad at math. It is also a sad fact that some questions on standardized tests are culturally biased. If there is something about an American nursury rhyme, for example, how are students raised in different cultures supposed to answer that question? There are some things that we just assume everyone will know, but not everyone does.

With regard to social influences on education, I think that the breakdown of the nuclear family is the biggest issue. Now, I realize that there are economic reasons for this - often, both parents have work today in order to make ends meet - but, the value of education has been going downhill. Students are being sent to school not being able to read or even write their full name. Parents don't check their children's homework. Many parents can't even be reached (or don't want to). There of course, is another extreme to this - the parents that are TOO involved in their children's lives. I think our culture has changed and, instead of parents working with and putting onus on their children, they are really only there to bail their children out or make excuses for them. (This is not all inclusive, of course, just a generalization.)

I think the economic issues affecting education are obvious, especially with today's economy. School funds have been cut, teachers are being let go due to these cuts, and, because of the cost of higher education, the quality of educators going into the workforce is often not at a high enough standard. There is also a big discrepancy in the resources available to students depending on how rich or poor the surrounding community and the school districts are. For example, I live and my husband works in the Wappingers school district. They have often talked about splitting the district because it is WAY too large. However, a big reason that they won't do it is because the "rich" part of town would have better resources than the "poor" part of town and so the students will not get the same quality of education.

It is important to note that I have only picked out topics that I find the most important. There are many other issues that fall under these categories which I did not mention. Also, one must realize that ALL of these factors affect each other and there really is no way to pull them apart. In order for change to occur, this block of issues needs to be considered as one and we will have to settle for only chipping off small pieces at a time.

Vote in my poll!

If you read my blog, scroll all the way down. There is a poll about technology in the classroom. Please, cast your vote!!!

Coming to the end of my technology course...

The first summer session is coming to a close, so I am sitting here reflecting on what I have learned. Throughout this class, I struggled with how much is too much when it comes to technology. To be honest, I haven't found an answer. I think it is a personal choice. While I don't think it is a good thing to go completely "techie" with one's students, I also feel that we can't be stuck back in the days when it was simply a teacher and a chalkboard (although most people have whiteboards now). At the beginning of this course, I felt that I was pretty techologically savvy. I was using computers in my classes and everything was going fine. This class showed me that there is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much more out there. The problem that I continue to face, however, is that I don't just teach the "Net" generation; I teach continuing ed students who are not very computer literate. This puts me at a slight disadvantage in regards to incorporating new technologies. This is not to say that I won't try. It's just going to be more difficult. However, here are some of the things that I learned about that I can definitely see incorporating as early as next semester:

Google Docs
Blogs
Screencast-o-matic
Web 2.0 tools that I have mentioned in previous entries

I already use Angel (a course management software) as well as MathXL (an interactive online math software). Angel allows me to post documents, links, and assignments for the students to access 24/7. It basically takes the place of me having a webpage (although I am not opposed to incorporating one of those either - here's the one I created for this class). MathXL is wonderful for assigning homework for students because they can get immediate feedback and it provides time on task. One can also assign quizzes using MathXL that students can take on their own time and the settings are completely at the discretion of the teacher (how many times to allow students to take it, will they have a time limit, etc.). Both of these tools have proven to be extremely useful and beneficial. But, technology evolves so rapidly and students are using it so extensively in their everyday lives, that this just isn't enough anymore.

I would like to say though that no one has to go crazy integrating technology in their classroom. Ease into it, for the sake of your students' sanity and your own. If you don't feel comfortable with it, they may not feel comfortable with it. It is a myth that they will just know how to use it. Yes, they see it all the time, but have they ever seen it in academia? That is a whole different ball game.

There is a learning curve to incorporating technology and it's slope depends on the individual. Know yourself and start small. Here is an article that may help: http://teachingtechnology.suite101.com/article.cfm/7_technology_tips_for_the_classroom

Some Web 2.0 coolness!

After having to do an assignment of finding Web 2.0 tools and exploring online games and simulations, I have to admit that there is some cool stuff out there! A couple of the ones that I found the most useful were Interactivate and the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. They both have some terrific interactive games and simulations dealing with mathematics (which is what I teach). I highly recommend them and suggest you check them out!

Technology on TV

I was watching the TBS show My Boys the other day and they had an entire episode about Facebook. I felt that I had to mention it here because this is a Web 2.0 tool which we are learning about in my Teaching With Technology class. The show's premise was basically that everyone posts these silly, up-to-the-minute, updates on what they are doing. Who cares if you are going to the bathroom?! It also talked about who to be friends with. If you set your account so that "friends of friends" can see you, sometimes you don't know who has access to your information! On the show, one of the boys was "researching" this woman on her facebook page so that he could come on to her in the bar. She was already a friend of one of his friends, so he could view her page. It also focused on being able to talk to people that you normally wouldn't without the technology, like old boyfriends or girlfriends. The basic conclusion of the "gang" on My Boys was that Facebook was really only a way for people to be nosy. Everyone knows each others' business and it's not always good to be that connected. I think it is all in how you use it. I personally do have a Facebook page and I like to see what friends' birthdays are coming up. I joined mostly to find people that I had lost touch with over the years. I am not one of the super fanatics that posts everything that they are doing or feeling at every moment of the day (which is why I will never get a Twitter account). As I entitled my webpage, everything is OK...in moderation!!!

Technology frustrations!

I am just finishing my online class and there were so many technology problems!!! That is one downside to technology that I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet! What happens when it fails?! I think it is extremely dangerous to depend on technology for exactly this reason. Computers freeze, websites go down, people get viruses... There are just so many things that can go wrong! I still keep paper copies of things as well as copies on my computer because it just can't be trusted. It is extremely frustrating when this happens too because technology has made most people want everything at their fingertips in a split second so, when it shuts down or takes forever to load, it just adds more stress to our already stressful lives!!! I don't know about you, but I can do without more stress. Ugh....as you can tell, this entry is really more of a venting process. I am just so full of rage right now! Yes, it can really get me THAT annoyed.

More good uses for technology

I am currently observing a 7th grade special education science class for another course I am taking called Applied Research in Behavior Management. The teacher makes use of the Smart Board, which I have never used. It is pretty neat because when she is showing the students the Power Point, the students have a worksheet that correlates DIRECTLY to what she is presenting. She can also have the same worksheets that the students are doing up on the screen and have members of the class give the answer and then come up and physically "drag and drop" the answer into the appropriate space on the worksheet. This works extremely well for special education students because they do not have to copy the notes of the board themselves. They are guided through it with the aid of technology. That is pretty cool.

If my college ever gets Smart Boards, I would definitely try them out!

I also want to put in a "plug" for visualizers and something called TI-Smartview. Visualizers are basically like live cameras. They allow the user to project whatever is placed on the visualizer's base. This is excellent for a "show and tell" kind of lesson when students would benefit from looking at an object, but it is not feasible to pass it around or hold it up because everyone will need to see it at the same time. Now, TI-Smartview is a program that basically has the TI-34 screen and will allow you to record the key strokes so that students can see EXACTLY what was pressed. You can also see all different screens at the same time (the graph, the table, and the function). I have used both the visualizer and TI-Smartview to show my classes the calculator so that everyone can see exactly what was entered and how we got to the next screen.

I'm sure I have many other praises of technology. Keep on the look out for them!

Web 3.0 and my feelings on Internet safety

Wouldn't you know it? Technology is evolving so fast that, when I am just now learning about Web 2.0 in my Teaching with Technology class, I find a posting on Web 3.0! Here is the link:

http://www.labnol.org/internet/web-3-concepts-explained/8908/

I found it on one of the blogs that I am currently following called Jane's E-learning Pick of the Day. I think there is really only a subtle difference between 2.0 and 3.0, but then again, when the tiniest little change is made to a software package, they change the number also!

In the class I am taking, one of our assignments was to create a lesson plan on Internet use and safety. Mine was created for older students. I would say 10th grade and up would be appropriate. I basically created the entire lesson with different websites that had the exact content I wanted to showcase. As many educators say, why reinvent the wheel? There is such good information out there! I am pretty proud of my lesson plan. I put a lot of thought into it and incorporated about 7 different websites. (If you would like to know what they are, I can share them.) I really liked the assignment because it had us explore the Internet for information and allowed us to think about how to get our students thinking about what "appropriate use" is.

We also had to create personal pages on the class wiki. I had never done anything with wikis before, so this was totally new to me. I consider myself pretty Internet savvy though, so I was able to create a basic page with links to my blog and my website. I also created my group's page which just contains our name, our motto, and our logo. I have to say, I am kind of enjoying this class (although it's a LOT of work). It is really making me think of different ways that I can incorporate technology into my classroom withOUT letting it take over. I know, I know, I still threw that in there. : )

Let's explore the PRO side of things

My blogs thus far have basically highlighted some of the downfalls of technology. I don't want anyone thinking that I am completely anti-technology. It DOES have its place. And, this week especially, I have seen good uses of technology in various places.

The first place that I saw a great use of technology in the classroom was at a workshop given by one of our book reps at the college on Wiley Plus. It is an online software in which teachers can post assignments (homework, quizzes, tests, etc.) and the students can do them on their own time. The features that it had were amazing! Students can now show their work directly on the computer using a "white board" so that they can either submit it with the problem (if required) or they can print it off or email it to their instructor to get feedback. This is, of course, much easier to do if you have a tablet of some kind to write on, but there is a menu on the side of all the mathematical functions. You also don't need to know the keystrokes for certain mathematical functions, like exponents, because you can just use the arrow keys to type where you need to. This software also links the student directly back to the section in the textbook in which the topic was covered so that they have a reference. It also keeps track of what they are getting right and wrong so that the student can see what they need to go back to and practice. If set up by the instructor correctly, this would be a TERRIFIC tool for the classroom.

I also wanted to let everyone reading this know that I am actually very into technology myself. I own a tablet PC where I can write directly on the screen which allows me to highlight text, mark papers that students email to me, etc. It is still new to me, so I haven't used all the features yet, but it is still pretty cool. I am also on the Internet quite a bit between my Teaching With Technology class that I am taking and with checking email, facebook, banking, etc. I would consider myself relatively high tech.

I also just watched a case study for my class (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoCnzVZ1phY) in which they show an elementary class that used technology to create a public service announcement about global warming. It not only taught them about global warming, but it also taught them the correct uses of researching and selecting materials from the web, marketing, collaborating with others, among many other very useful and educational topics. As I said, technology does have its place, we just have to make sure that it doesn't completely take over.

Support for my position on technology

I just read an article on line at http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/sobel.htm.

It is called "Take Back the Afternoon: Preserving the Landscape of Childhood In Spite of Computers" by David Sobel.

I encourage you to read it. It is about the role that technology should play in the classroom. There are some lines that I would like to quote:

"... does the computer really make your preschooler smarter, happier and healthier? Or does it numb her brain and make her just another contributor to the globalization of a consumer-oriented, ecologically destructive culture?
Regrettably, it is not so clearly black and white. Rather, to paraphrase Judy Collins, 'Something's lost and something's gained in computer use everyday.' When children in and out of school are using computers, they are not doing something else. If we understand what they are not doing as well as what they are doing, we will be in a better position to decide what place computers should have in children's lives."

I think this speaks for itself. This is basically my fear that children are just getting too much exposure to it and are losing some valuable EXPERIENCES in the process...experiences that one can NOT recreate virtually! We also spoke about this in our group for my Teaching With Technology class. The point was brought up that technology may be a big contributor to the obesity epidemic. I don't think anyone would disagree that actually going out and playing sports is VASTLY different from playing "fantasy sports." Which one has more benefits? I think the choice is obvious.

The author goes on to discuss things that are being lost in students childhoods (outdoor discoveries, playing "pretend," etc.). He then says, "This erosion of childhood concerns me and computers seem like a river in flood washing away the soil that roots children to the natural world."

"Computer use in school may be something of a different story. ...The message here is that good software is much more dynamic and interactive than most of the rest of the stuff that goes on in school. "

"This does not mean, however, that we should cave in to demands for more and more computers in schools. Instead, we need to focus on creating learning environments and educational challenges that are equally as engaging, interactive and sophisticated as good software."

"Technology enthusiasts want us to believe that all educational problems are nails and that we can solve them by giving everyone a computer hammer. But cooperative learning, apprenticeships, real science, social action projects, and community-based environmental education are equally important tools in creating educational reform."

"The point here is that computers should follow, not lead. Dynamic, real life engagements that build skills, self-confidence and a sense of purpose in life are the motive force of education. The computer has a role to play in this drama, but it should be a supporting cast member, not the star. Right now, the computer is too much of a prima donna, attracting attention away from the rest of the players and the technical crew. And if an increasing percentage of the school budget is spent on computers, then not enough will be spent on pianos, art materials, laboratory equipment, land acquisition for the nature center, bilingual education specialists and a new sound system for the theater."

I guess the bottom line to all of this is that technology is not really the enemy. Everything is good IN MODERATION. Technology needs to be CAREFULLY interwoven into our curricula and should not ever be a substitute for student to student interaction, hands on activities, field trips, and other things that connect our students to the real world.

technology in an administration role

We just had our last department meeting of the year and it got me thinking about this course and the discussions my department has had about technology. There are two different technologies that we are dealing with - instructional technology and administrative technology. Instructional technology would be anything that is used for the classroom. It could vary from the actual technology that we have students use to do assignments to the course management tool in which instructors post documents and grades. Basically, you can consider it anything accessible to the students. Then we have administrative technology. This would include any and all software that is imposed on us by the administration to maintain the school records. We currently use the BANNER system for this. When we switched over to this system, we were told that it could do everything the old system did and MORE. Any information that we wanted would basically be at our fingertips. Once it was instituted, we found out that this was basically not the case and that BANNER was incapable of doing some basic things to which we had been accustomed. Because of this, policies then started being created based on the restrictions of the technology. Basically, the technology was influencing policy. This is driving much of the faculty absolutely crazy! Policy should not be the result of what technology can and cannot do. It should be the result of what makes sense for the college, faculty and students. I guess this would be yet another con for technology in education.

First meeting on Wiziq.com

Tonight was the first meeting of my group using WizIq. It was a completely new experience for me. Of course I have used the Internet before, but I have never created a virtual classroom. I was the facilitator for our first meeting and, I must say, it went very well. I think I can get used to this. I am on the computer so much as it is, so it really isn't much of a hassle to have to have class on it too! This is very different from the way other online courses are run though because it is not really self-paced. You still have designated times that you are meeting with others. The only difference is that you aren't physically meeting. It's all virtual. Now, while I do think this is pretty cool, I still don't think that this is the way all education should go. I can definitely see interpersonal skills going completely extinct. In the younger generations, I already see it...and it scares me. Technology should never be a complete substitute for human interaction. It is simply too precious of a commodity.

During our first meeting, we discussed the LoTi Framework. It is basically different levels of technology use in the classroom. It goes from basically being non-existent to being all that the students do. I find that there is a HUGE jump from level 3 to level 4a and so did my groupmates. Level 3 is where I would consider myself to be. I occasionally use it for my students to explore and evaluate data. They use it to aid in the learning process. Level 4 then jumps right to the students using it extensively to learn material and create projects. Don't get me wrong. They should know how to use technology to their advantage. However, I feel that instruction should drive technology - technology should not drive instruction. We need to use it when it is appropriate and not overdo it. Just because technology exists does necessarily mean that it is the BEST way for our students to learn. Do we want our future generations to just sit in front of a computer screen to get all the answers? Our society may not see the repercussions now, but it will.

Initial opinions on technology in (mathematics) education

One of the things required in my Teaching with Technology class is to choose one of the recommended blogs on the syllabus to read, follow, and reflect on. In other words, it seems that we are to blog about a blog. Don't get me wrong, it is important to read other educators' blogs to get some new ideas and see what is going on around the country, but I found five of the recommended blogs to have very interesting content. I will probably have comments to make about all of them. Also, it is just as important to have some of my own ideas for blogging, so I may only refer to these other blogs in passing while I go on my own rants on various topics. I would like this first blog to address why I named my blog "Technology in Education - Pro or Con?" I teach in a community college which, I admit, has a unique blend of students and so my opinions may be drastically different had I worked in the secondary schools or in a four year university. The students in the community college, especially the level at which I teach (developmental mathematics), vary from high schoolers in the bridge program to adults that are coming back to school after many years. There are students that, I'm sorry to say, are probably not really college material, who have learning/social/mental disabilities who are mixed in classes with students that have the potential but just don't care, who are further mixed with returning students who really do care and are willing to learn, but they have too much other stuff on their plates. I usually only see a few students that put in the effort required for a college course and actually can prioritize and see the value in being there. So, this brings me to my dilemma about technology. First of all, technology in terms of graphing calculators or even just four function calculators are completely OVERUSED in mathematics education today. Almost no one can do a basic mathematic computation without relying on this technology which is one thing on my CON list. Second, being that I have returning students that are not as technologically savvy as the Internet generation, I find it very difficult to institute TOO much technology because that would just be another barrier in the way of them learning the material. This is another CON. I feel that, as a society, there has been TOO MUCH of a push towards technology that students are going to lose the ability to personally interact with others and also lose the ability to think critically. Now, I also realize that technology may be used to facilitate learning and I am for that, but where do we draw the line? This is my standpoint for the beginning of this course. Let's see if it changes my mind.