Hi Everyone:
Here is my audioblog. I interviewed some teachers that I worked with on their views and practices with technology in the classroom. Have a listen and tell me what you think.
http://soundcloud.com/surriayia/sounds-from-friday-afternoon-2
http://soundcloud.com/surriayia/sounds-from-friday-afternoon-1
http://soundcloud.com/surriayia/sounds-from-friday-afternoon
Saturday 26 November 2011
Sunday 20 November 2011
Giving Digital Natives A Choice
Liz, in response to your question if social media and cell phones could be considered technology since they are so ingrained into our lives, I think they are no longer the "new" technology. Look at the pencil, at one point it was considered technology and today we don't even give it a passing thought when we pick it up to use it. Liz I also think about the computer lab being run by robots but will tell you more in my presentation. As I dig into the impact that technology has on the Digital Natives the more I lament over what will be lost.
Please don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to technology as it is inevitable and has made some parts of my life easier, but I was happy to see that Maha & Kristin understood where I was coming from in my previous blog. As mentioned at the beginning of this course, I was the Technology Support Teacher for my school and my job was to train/mentor other teachers on using more digital devices in their classroom. Preet, I think you misunderstood me at the beginning of the course. I did know how to use blogs and knew of Twitter, from my Tech Support time, but I didn't want to spend the countless hours that were put into creating and maintaining my school blog. I did not want the same scenario to play out in my master courses. Preet I applaud you for learning Prezi. I too looked at it for presenting my presentation and it was more than I was willing to put effort into at this time. I keep wondering about when Socrates or Martin Luther King Jr. were speaking to crowds and they did not have visuals, people did not walk away, instead they were engaged in what they were saying. Today we have to have the latest and greatest visuals so we can keep our audience listening. Yesterday when I was working on my PowerPoint for this class, I almost spent $60.00 on buying 3D clip art so you guys would be engaged! The Digital Immigrant in me refrained me from doing it and ensured me that my content would be engaging enough that I would not have to resort to the latest and greatest. Again, it's not that I am afraid to learn the new software and purchase the latest and greatest add ons, it is that I chose not to buy into the hype. It is the hype that I lament over.
While I'm working on my presentation and my literature review I am sad to see what technology has done to the Digital Natives in my classroom. At the beginning of the year, I had to tie my first shoelace in about 15 years. The last one I remember tying was for my niece when she was two years old. My student could not tie his shoe since he was use to Velcro. Velcro was the newest technology. All school year long, students have been asking me what time it is (they have to sign out to go use the washrooms) since they aren't able to tell time on an analog clock. This week I had enough (maybe doing my assignments for this class had some impact on it) and I began to teach them how to tell time on an analog clock. If I could go back to teach the students how to tell time by the sun right now, I would!
My job as an educator is to present my Digital Native students all the different ways to do something, be it tying a shoelace or using Velcro, telling time digitally or by analog, handwriting or typing and let them decide which way they chose to do it and what median is the most appropriate for them to demonstrate their learning. As I mentioned in class, I have a stack of cards I use when students are deciding which format to use when giving presentations. It has everything from digital displays, artwork to hands on construction. To me each student can be honored and are not told "you have to do this the old fashioned way" or you have to do it the "new fashioned way". These approaches takes the ownership and creative process away from the student. I would be no better than the ones who are pushing for technology or the ones who are opposing technology in the school if I told my students which way to do something. I have to give them the tools and they have to decide which tool works best for the job at hand.
Please don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to technology as it is inevitable and has made some parts of my life easier, but I was happy to see that Maha & Kristin understood where I was coming from in my previous blog. As mentioned at the beginning of this course, I was the Technology Support Teacher for my school and my job was to train/mentor other teachers on using more digital devices in their classroom. Preet, I think you misunderstood me at the beginning of the course. I did know how to use blogs and knew of Twitter, from my Tech Support time, but I didn't want to spend the countless hours that were put into creating and maintaining my school blog. I did not want the same scenario to play out in my master courses. Preet I applaud you for learning Prezi. I too looked at it for presenting my presentation and it was more than I was willing to put effort into at this time. I keep wondering about when Socrates or Martin Luther King Jr. were speaking to crowds and they did not have visuals, people did not walk away, instead they were engaged in what they were saying. Today we have to have the latest and greatest visuals so we can keep our audience listening. Yesterday when I was working on my PowerPoint for this class, I almost spent $60.00 on buying 3D clip art so you guys would be engaged! The Digital Immigrant in me refrained me from doing it and ensured me that my content would be engaging enough that I would not have to resort to the latest and greatest. Again, it's not that I am afraid to learn the new software and purchase the latest and greatest add ons, it is that I chose not to buy into the hype. It is the hype that I lament over.
While I'm working on my presentation and my literature review I am sad to see what technology has done to the Digital Natives in my classroom. At the beginning of the year, I had to tie my first shoelace in about 15 years. The last one I remember tying was for my niece when she was two years old. My student could not tie his shoe since he was use to Velcro. Velcro was the newest technology. All school year long, students have been asking me what time it is (they have to sign out to go use the washrooms) since they aren't able to tell time on an analog clock. This week I had enough (maybe doing my assignments for this class had some impact on it) and I began to teach them how to tell time on an analog clock. If I could go back to teach the students how to tell time by the sun right now, I would!
My job as an educator is to present my Digital Native students all the different ways to do something, be it tying a shoelace or using Velcro, telling time digitally or by analog, handwriting or typing and let them decide which way they chose to do it and what median is the most appropriate for them to demonstrate their learning. As I mentioned in class, I have a stack of cards I use when students are deciding which format to use when giving presentations. It has everything from digital displays, artwork to hands on construction. To me each student can be honored and are not told "you have to do this the old fashioned way" or you have to do it the "new fashioned way". These approaches takes the ownership and creative process away from the student. I would be no better than the ones who are pushing for technology or the ones who are opposing technology in the school if I told my students which way to do something. I have to give them the tools and they have to decide which tool works best for the job at hand.
Monday 7 November 2011
Come Full Circle
The more we advance in our course, the more questions I have around technology. Before starting this course, I had clear ideas of where I stood with technology and how it played or would play a part in my life and those of my classroom. I believed that technology was going to play a minimal part of my personal life; cell phone laptop used for e-mail and word processing and smart boards and digital devices in the school would only enhance my students learning. Though some of my thoughts remain in these areas, others have changed.
Since starting my inquiry into technology I have bought and IPAD 2, joined twitter and created a blog. I also now enjoy tweeting (but not on demand) and text far more than I used to. I am questioning if I need a new laptop and think that I want a macbook, but a voice in my head is telling me that I am buying into all of the hype that is directed by the big corporations. I don't want to be anyone's puppet and therefore have not bought a new laptop...yet.
For my classroom, I view somethings differently. Immediately, during our first class I started to realize why I bought into all of the sensation of smart boards being used in the classroom as well as other digital devices. In a sense, I was programmed to believe in their validity through all of the inservicing that was being done. Now instead of buying into what I am told, the voice in my head has me questioning, who is gaining from this? The big corporations or my students and myself. If there is some benefit to my students and myself, then I will use it, otherwise it will not enter my classroom.
New information I have learned is around e-waste, robotics and gaming in the classroom. I totally buy into the proper disposal or reuse of digital devices and am seeing from first hand experience, the impact in can have on the future generation to do something about it.
As far as robotics and gaming in the classroom, I agree with Preet, there is the time and place for it. It should not be a forced issue. If gaming works into my lesson or unit, then great I will use it. I will not, however, force my unit or lesson to fit into gaming.
Robots have a place also, as a tool. I agree with my grade 4 student who said that we should use robots to do functions that would be dangerous for humans to do. It amazes me how a nine year old is clear with his thoughts and mine are so muddled up. When robots start taking on human persona's like the ones Maha showed us through twitter, then that to me is taking it too far.
The friend of Kristin's in London who did not want to be rude and read on the bus, was a shocker for me. Being an avid reader I was sad to hear that reading took a back seat to digital devices on a bus. Somewhere in my mind I knew it was coming, I just didn't think it was here already.
I enjoyed seeing the business cards that Liz blogged about. I think they are a great idea. As a teacher, we get a lot of business cards from substitute teachers that have been in our classrooms. We can't put a face or know anything about the person who has taught our students for the day. Like Stephanie said, it would be like advertising, but that's one advertisement or information I would like to see.
So for me, everything is coming full circle. Everything seems to go back to topics previously discussed and I think will be discussed for years to come. I am glad to now have more information than I did before I started this journey. I can no longer be that person who can live in her limited technology bubble, but now have to be an active participant in the technology world. I have more information to decide what I want my digital world to look like.
Since starting my inquiry into technology I have bought and IPAD 2, joined twitter and created a blog. I also now enjoy tweeting (but not on demand) and text far more than I used to. I am questioning if I need a new laptop and think that I want a macbook, but a voice in my head is telling me that I am buying into all of the hype that is directed by the big corporations. I don't want to be anyone's puppet and therefore have not bought a new laptop...yet.
For my classroom, I view somethings differently. Immediately, during our first class I started to realize why I bought into all of the sensation of smart boards being used in the classroom as well as other digital devices. In a sense, I was programmed to believe in their validity through all of the inservicing that was being done. Now instead of buying into what I am told, the voice in my head has me questioning, who is gaining from this? The big corporations or my students and myself. If there is some benefit to my students and myself, then I will use it, otherwise it will not enter my classroom.
New information I have learned is around e-waste, robotics and gaming in the classroom. I totally buy into the proper disposal or reuse of digital devices and am seeing from first hand experience, the impact in can have on the future generation to do something about it.
As far as robotics and gaming in the classroom, I agree with Preet, there is the time and place for it. It should not be a forced issue. If gaming works into my lesson or unit, then great I will use it. I will not, however, force my unit or lesson to fit into gaming.
Robots have a place also, as a tool. I agree with my grade 4 student who said that we should use robots to do functions that would be dangerous for humans to do. It amazes me how a nine year old is clear with his thoughts and mine are so muddled up. When robots start taking on human persona's like the ones Maha showed us through twitter, then that to me is taking it too far.
The friend of Kristin's in London who did not want to be rude and read on the bus, was a shocker for me. Being an avid reader I was sad to hear that reading took a back seat to digital devices on a bus. Somewhere in my mind I knew it was coming, I just didn't think it was here already.
I enjoyed seeing the business cards that Liz blogged about. I think they are a great idea. As a teacher, we get a lot of business cards from substitute teachers that have been in our classrooms. We can't put a face or know anything about the person who has taught our students for the day. Like Stephanie said, it would be like advertising, but that's one advertisement or information I would like to see.
So for me, everything is coming full circle. Everything seems to go back to topics previously discussed and I think will be discussed for years to come. I am glad to now have more information than I did before I started this journey. I can no longer be that person who can live in her limited technology bubble, but now have to be an active participant in the technology world. I have more information to decide what I want my digital world to look like.
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