Lesson learned 10/21/2015

What I am taking away from tonight class is a very clear picture of what a webquest is and what goes into it. I have never done a webquest before, let alone create one so going into class today i was very confused and didn't have much background knowledge to it. Now I am excited to start this webquest because anything that allows creativity and you to make something into your own I find fun and exciting. Also, I hope my webquest will make a difference to someone, ignite a spark. That has always been my goal as an educator, to make a difference, and I try to do that with every assignment I do, every task, every lesson I teach.

Chapter 5 & 6

Chapter 5&6

Blog #4

                What grabbed my attention about chapter 5 was the use of e-books or e-readers in today’s society.  In chapter 5 the author stated, “ In a 2008 series on the future of reading, the New York Times reported that the number of 17-year-olds who read books for fun every day declined from about 33% in 1984 to about 20% in 2004. The number of 17-year-olds who say they never read books for fun increased from 9% to 19% during the same time period. Meanwhile, the average time 8- to 18-year-olds spend online every day rose to 1 hour and 46 minutes in 2004, up from 46 minutes in 1999 (Rich, 2008). In every age group from 5 to 17 years old, youngsters spent more time reading online than reading books (Scholastic, 2010).” I found this to be very interesting because into today’s fast paced society not many people have the time to sit and read the paper anymore ot get the up-tp-date news. People get notifications on their phone from CNN or NBC. Being a college student and a young adult who in in tuned with most if not all of these new technologies, I know many people around my age get most of their information through twitter believe it or not. These huge companies like New York Times, Google, CNN, and almost everyone else have twitters accounts and they post updates there. It’s faster and simpler to read then an entire story in the newspaper. A company is getting their point across in 140 characters or less, they get straight to the point.

Another point I came across in chapter 5 was, “There is a growing consensus, however, that the Internet is a powerful and supportive reading and learning environment through which youngsters learn the skills of web navigation, information synthesis, and digital text reading that are essential for living and working in the modern world (Burnett, 2010; Larson, 2009, 2010). Web surfing, social networking, information searching, and digital texts build intellectual frameworks that students can use for both online and print reading. One initial e-reading study found no significant differences between fourth graders’ comprehension when using a Kindle e-reader and print versions of children’s fiction books (Milone, 2011).” I am learning about this in my methods Literacy course EDU 3220 and no matter how these students are reading, via virtual or a hard copy of a book, they are still learning the fundamentals in one way or another. They are learning concepts about print, phonological awareness, phonics, high frequency words, fluency, and even oral language development. More often than not if a student cannot read or pronounce a word they come across there is bound to be a software or app they can show them how to say it by repeating it to them.

A learning point I took away from chapter 6 is the importance of standard connectors are. “A standards connector is a collection of web resources tied to curriculum frameworks and organized in ways that allow easy access for teaching. A history standards connector has multimodal resources cataloged by each history topic and standard. A math standards connector has interactive math resources categorized by math topics and standards at various grade levels. You can build your own standards connector, schools can initiate assembling a standards connector of resources for staff and student use, or a teacher or group of teachers from the same or different schools might collaborate on one. Students can be valuable contributors as well—involving students in standards connector design and development creates a powerful learning experience for everyone.” Being a student and a teacher It is so much easier for everyone to learn and benefits this way because you are not looking all over the place for the information you need or want. It is all in the same place. I believe webquests, virtual field trips, and videoconferencing branches off of this idea of stand connectors because it is another resource that students and teachers need to use. Not everyone has access to what they need at the time they need it so these outside resources help fill in the gap. We live in an era where you can experience and find out anything you want with a simple click of a button. Virtual field trips allow a student from New York to see the Sistine chapel. Webquests allow a boring topic in social studies to because an adventure. Video conferencing allows students and teachers to stay connected even when they are miles and miles apart. These are so many technologies and software’s now that any gaps students and teachers might have can easily be filled.

References:

Maloy, Robert W.; Verock, Ruth-Ellen A; Edwards, Sharon A.; Woolf, Beverly P. (2013-02-25). Transforming Learning with New Technologies (2nd Edition) (Page 101). Pearson HE, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Maloy, Robert W.; Verock, Ruth-Ellen A; Edwards, Sharon A.; Woolf, Beverly P. (2013-02-25). Transforming Learning with New Technologies (2nd Edition) (Page 102). Pearson HE, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Maloy, Robert W.; Verock, Ruth-Ellen A; Edwards, Sharon A.; Woolf, Beverly P. (2013-02-25). Transforming Learning with New Technologies (2nd Edition) (Page 138). Pearson HE, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Class 10/14/15

Today in class we discussed the importance of teaching our students safety over the internet. I think this is something that is being down-sized and looked past because everyone is seeing all these new apps and portals that help students learn but they are forgetting who is on the other side. Student's need to know how to tell the difference between a safe website or app and one that isn't. As well student's have to know how to monitor themselves. With blogging and tweeting it is very easy for student's to be able to express themselves but there comes a point when a person has to reflect and say do I really want the whole world to be able to read this? Am I offending anyone or anything? Is this something that I could get in trouble with down the road? If you are doubting your writing at all then I say don't post it because it is better to be safe than sorry.

Lesson Learned 10/7

What I am taking away from tonight's lesson is that the world needs teachers now more than ever. But unfortunately, even though teachers are needed we have to also prove ourselves more now than teacher had to before. We have to show that we can reach the minds of our students through dozens of different portals. We have to be able to integrate all the new technologies of the classroom but at the same time make sure our students appreciate a hard book, or old school research in the library, or even something as simple as write a letter on hard paper. We have to integrate the old with the new, and keep in mind that now and days the types of learners in the classroom aren't so black and white. No two students in the classroom learn the same way,