Reflecting on media in the classroom

I have never used a power point presentation in the classroom, the main reason for this is that my classroom simply does not have the technological capabilities. Our school until just this year definitely was not working at critical mass. Instead of having technology in classrooms that reached everyone, we have one or two computers. In the case of my classroom these were rarely used for anything other than games after class. This year though projectors were put into all 5th thru 3rd grade classrooms, with connections to the internet!!! So I could not use power points in my classes if I so desired. I really like the idea of having a slide that requires input from the students. I teach 5th grade and if i student up in front of them and talked for really more than 6 minutes with out getting them actively involved I would lose most of them.

I was intruiged by the comparison of the interent to the rivers, roads and sky ways that in the past have been the mode of information distribution. I have to admit I think it is a little sad. I am not a big fan of technology, I know that it has helped in so many ways, opens up so much information to people, but it seems totake away so much as well. People are so often rushing aorund with their nose in a blackberry, text some friends miles a way and not paying a bit of attention to the world right in front of them. I don't want my son to be so obssessd my the newest technology that he doesn't have desire to go out side and hike or play with dog.

2nd week readings

I have to say I am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to believing that computers will soon be as much a part of the classroom as pen and paper. The way I see it the biggest thing holding back this move towards technology is funding. Education for so long has been on the back burner when it came to funding, and with the economy as it is I don't see schools getting the funding they need any time soon. In addition to school funding being an issue there is also the funding of the students, ie the socioeconomic situation of parents and whether they can afford to buy a computer and have Internet. I work in a lower SES, and many of my students do not have computers.

At my school, each classroom does have at least one computer, there may even be a few rooms with two or three computers, but I don't see these being incorporated into the daily lessons of teachers. Instead they are used as places to do research, or play games. In addition, we have a decent computer lab, but we do not have an instructor in there that can get the students engaged in activities that are worth while. All too often they are playing math games, or having free time.

I feel that at my school reading and math, and subsequent test scores are all that matters to anyone, and no one sees how computers and technology can directly help with these two items, and thus no one cares to put the energy or funding into it.

The wheel and fire, two technologies that changed our world in untold ways. However, I can almost gaurentee that if you asked 5th graders to name a technological advancement that changed their life none would say fire or the wheel. When teaching about technology, as is required by the 5th grade Social Studies curriculum, I want to get students thinking about not just the technology they see everyday (cell phones, computers, etc), but the technology from which all things have come.

Reflections on Web Reading

If given a choice I prefer reading from a book. I am not a techno savey person, when I read on a computer it's on a laptop, at a desk, inside, either at home or in a library. I much prefer laying on a couch or propped up in bed. In addition I like to underline text and write notes in themargin, especially if what I am reading is for a class; I am unable to do either of these things when I am reading on a computer.

That being said, the selection on Web reading was interesting, it made me think about things that I had not before. When reading a printed book nothing can be done about the size of the front or the margins. Up til now I thought the saem was true for text off the web, I was not aware that I could change the size of the font. I have to say that definitly made the reading easier. In addition, there is usually no animated messages or advertisments in a book. With a web page not only are there various distracting messages, but there can be pop ups as well. All of these things are huge distractors, so a web reader is not just grappling with comprehending the text they wish to read, but is also being forced to navigate through unwanted text.

This makes me think of a situation going on in EOG testing. There is an abreviated version of the EOG that is given to students who are in EC and show to be the lowest learners. Two years ago they piloted a version of this test, which was to be taken on the computer. So here you have students who are already struggling with reading and then those struggles are compounded by difficilties they have with reading from a computer. Perhaps if these students were more familiar with using and reading a computer it woud be one thing, but most of these students are also in the lower socio economic strata, so they do not have access to computer at home.

I thought it then, and I definilty think it now, this is a bad idea.

Operating Systems

Operating system, it seems like a very technical, computer oriented term, as i read chapter 1 this week I realized something very different. In reality we each have our own operating system, as individuals, and specifically related to this class, as teachers. It is our operating system that dictates what our discipline plan is, how we set up our classroom, and how we interact with out students. Often we take our OS for granted, we don't even realize we have one. I think though, that reflection on our OS is, in fact, very important. We need to look and see what has impacted that OS. It might be that the OS we have been working with is not the best for our situation; just because Microsoft is what we have always used, does not mean that it serves our needs best.

Chapter 1

I really liked the idea of creating a wonder wall in a classroom. I will be going back to teaching 5th grade next year, and think I will implement this idea. I don't think I will call it a Wonder Wall though. I don't want a lot of questions that start out with "I wonder..." because expierience shows these questions tend to me limited in higher order thinking. I want to see questions also start with How, Who, etc.

I really like the idea of assigning some students to look into getting the answer of SUPs, either from the library or computer lab.