Blog 4- Ch 4 & 6

On a daily basis students are exposed to technology, they are not digital immigrants. Some students just lack the maturity and sophistication in regards to technology. Teachers can support and contribute wisdom and guidance to these students through everyday learning and learning about how/when/why  to use technology. In chapter 4 it lists the strategies for Single and Multiple Computer Classrooms- how they can be used in a classroom. Computers can be used for information, interaction, presentation, and rotation. All students would be exposed to the computer in their classrooms. As there are less and less classrooms without computers nowadays teachers should be able to incorporate computers into their lessons. I have been observing an Elementary School in the Bronx where the science teacher teaches all  her lessons through the smart board and through presentations. The teacher adds video clips and pictures into power points. The students seem to enjoy the lessons more because of all these visual add ons. I've noticed that teachers use and take advantage of one or more electronic devices in their classrooms, which I think is a good thing.

simple educational game site that I think is a good tool
http://www.funbrain.com


1. Do you think all students should have access to a computer altogether at once? or having one computer in a classroom enough?
2. How might teaching change from what a teacher might do if the technology were not present?

Take away

Knowledge is not static it's on-going and endless. We want to educate our students digitally and this is where digital citizenship comes in play. We want to prepare our students in the digital world by having them move forward, be aware of their information and if its valid by evaluating. Teach them the Three Broad Areas- Respect, Educate, and Protect yourself and others when using the internet or any other digital devices. There are similarities and differences in digital citizenship and what we teach our students in our classrooms. We went over what WebQuest is and concluded that it's a task for students. During our dicussions we talked about China and how the media is so regulated by the Central people. It reminded me again of how we take little things for granted like media, technology, and etc in the US.

Take away

Today in class we went over the pros and the cons of using Wikipedia. Majority of us raised our hands for allowing students to use Wikipedia whereas some said they wouldn't want their students to use it. A lot of the concerns on using Wikipedia was of how reliable it is, who writes for wiki? where are the information coming from? and it's sketchy how someone can edit the page. Through the lecture/lesson I learned that not everybody can edit the information and that there are limitations to who writes for Wikipedia. Wikipedia is still being shaped unlike an encyclopedia so it's actually more current. Things on wikipedia is always being updated and revised. I'll allow my students to use Wikipedia but this should not be their main and only source. Wikipeida is a starting point and from the information they get from this site they'll be able to go more in depth and search other websites that are more legit and check out books on print.

Blog 3- Chapter 5

In chapter 5 it talks about how teachers and students can critically research and evaluate the Internet as a teaching and learning environment. Today we see that the search for education knowledge increasingly features the Internet.  Internet can be used by teachers professionally and service students academically. So it is very important for us to teach the students where to get their information and what sites are safe to use. We can first teach students to recognize the URL- .com, .org, .gov, .net and then give them some educational preselected sites to access. There’s always that concern for plagiarism and it suggests in the chapter for teachers to give assignments that cannot be plagiarized, for example allow students to use the internet to gather information but tell them to produce their own original research that was not copied from online. And also teach them about quoting, to quote correctly and effectively. Skills of locating, evaluating, and using information in a computer environment are defined as information literacy and media literacy. Without us realizing we are constantly analyzing and evaluating the media this includes print.

I always use the Internet to find information almost all the time. I can’t help it; it’s so convenient and fast. I prefer using Google, it’s my main search engine window. I don’t know if it’s just me but I don’t like using other search engines like Internet Explorer, Bing, and etc. because I feel as though Google is more organized and maybe it’s simply because I’m so used to how Google is laid out. Using the Internet can be dangerous because of plagiarism and unsafe sites but for the most part I think it’s so useful. It’s bigger than we can imagine all the information and sources available on the Internet, its actually quite incredible that we live in this generation where we can access information with a click/tap of our fingers.

1.     What do you think about reading online and it’s outcome on students today?

2.     Have you used or suggested educational sites to your students or colleagues? Which ones did you find most useful?

Take away

Today in class we were shown examples of previous students' trailers. I thought they were very eye-catching especially the "Earthquake" trailer, I wanted to learn about earthquakes and see what the teacher had in store for her/his students! I like how the "American Dream" lesson gave students the opportunity to reply back using technology. It was interesting to see how students brought out their creativity by interviewing people, adding on audio to go along with their presentation, and adding pictures that pointed out their viewpoints on what the American Dream/American Nightmare is.
During today's lesson we learned about behaviorism, information processing, and constructivism.  I enjoyed the clips that Dr. Chen provided during the powerpoints for better understanding about what behaviorism is. The constructivist perceptive is to engage students in meaningful experiences, use of knownledge to facilitate thinking in real life, and for problem solving and discovery.

Webquest topic

Topic: Butterfly Life Cycle

Kindergartens will learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.


Common Core Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners aboutkindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.2 Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.3 Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.
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Ch 2 & 3 blog

In chapter 2 it covers how technology promotes unique, powerful and transformative learning for students. Experiences with computers might not always be a positive time but students are attracted to technology-based activities. These activities offer students a sense of "independence, exploration, and dynamic learning." Students can use technology to collaborate with one another instead of always competing with each other. They'll be able to do group projects together, help each other if fellow student needs help using an electronic device. Another beneficial factor about using computers during a  lesson is allowing students to be engaged and participate altogether. It was interesting to read some examples of Student-Centered Teaching Methods and how technology supports it. With one-to-one tutoring students get help on topics they are having difficulties in and after they can go home and use their computers to follow through and explore more in depth. Also another was dealing with Inquiry learning, students can exchange and share information with each other and monitor their own learning through these processes.

Yes, technology alone can't take over a classroom or a teacher but it will definitely increase new experiences for the students. Certain programs on the computers can allow students to be more creative and interested. Using computers students have access to the past, present, and imagine the future through visuals, this promotes their visual learning. They can also do a lot more when using computers for instance replay clips going back and forth if they did not get it the first time. Technology is also great for teachers as well because it helps teachers to plan, deliver, and organize for class. It's inevitable that soon all teachers will end up using technology into their lessons. There are so many positive benefits from using technology in classrooms. I enjoy seeing how creative some teachers get with their power points and I'm amazed and how quick some students pick up things dealing with technologies.



1. What do you think are some harms that technology does with students' learning?
2. Which active learning methods did you value as a student yourself and why?