So close, and yet still so far away!

I love fall! It is a beautiful time of the year. I hear my neighbor endlessly working on mulching and raking up her leaves. I wonder if she ever spent a few minutes of the day watching them gracefully dance to the ground. Falling leaves can be as beautiful as falling snow. It's about all I've been able to enjoy the last several months, but especially the last several weeks. So much work. So little time. I do not believe graduate school and working full time should ever entertwine. Or at least maybe just 1 class a semester. I am working on my last research paper, my brain is trying once again to shut down, my house is a disaster, and my neighbor is still working on her fallen leaves. When this semester is over, I'm going to sit down and enjoy the people in my life. I think it's what I have missed the most. Although I feel as if I've learned alot, (I know what I am going to do with all of my picture from Europe thanks to my technology class) I also feel as if I've missed alot. But at least I still get to watch the leaves fall.

still overwhelmed

Well, here it is at the end of October and not much has changed. If anything, I would say it has gotten worse. School is busy both as a teacher and as a graduate student. If the rest of the world knew all the demands placed on a teacher, we would be paid the big bucks. As it is, we are not, we are typically poor with just an overwhelming desire to reach children in a positive way with positive results. I wonder if teachers have a special place in heaven?

Article critique for 10/1/09

The students in my graduate class were asked to read two more articles from the Educational Leadership magazine. This is a greate magazine always full of useful information. The first article was about our changing language due to digital media. I must confess, this is not an area I had given much thought to before reading the article. It mentioned several areas in our language that become more difficult to keep clear and our attitude towards those areas isn't too bothered about it. Being a grammar freak quite often, this almost upset me, until the author pointed out how our English language has changed over the years. Good point.
The second article concerned a blogging project a 5th grade class was participating in. I thought this was a wonderful idea which lead to learning in a different way. I loved how other people responded to their blogs, especially from other parts of the world. They shared information and learned new vocabulary among other things. I can really see the benefits of blogging here. I also like how they stressed the importance of being safe with these students. Great article!

podcast frustration

Well, I spent over 4 hours making this stupid podcast and never could figure out how to upload it onto the blog. So now I am very tired, and as usual, very frustrated. Sorry I couldn't share the podcast.
One of the podcast I located on the internet though was called, Math Math Math. This podcast gave examples of how to teach a lesson on Geometry and pre-algebra using the smart board, which we hope to get soon. That was useful!

Technology article reflections

Of the two articles we were requested to read for technology class, "Rethinking Online Reading Assessment" was the longer but also very informative. I did not realize some online readers are not good offline readers and visa-versa. Nor did I ever stop to realize how this creates the need for new assessments. Since I teach middle school, the part concerning adolescents was most interesting. I did not realize students used a ".com strategy" nor that many students only look at the first link given. I also did not realize these students give up easily if the information is hard to find or even try to retype lenghtly URLs which leads to mistakes. All of this was very pertinent in my academic world and something I very much needed to be aware of while teaching adolescents. It provided a new perspective both on my explanations to them and my expectations of them.
The second article, "Video Games and Civic Engagement," was also extemely interesting and brought to my attention the value of some video games I was previously unaware of. The civic awareness some of the games envoked for these students is a positive response to what I felt was an otherwise waste of time. Now, if we can just get more students playing the more productive games, all would be well with the video-gaming world!

Overwhelmed and Disappointed

Well, I am so disappointed. The most wonderful, adventurous technology assignment that I just knew the students would love, that of creating a short video of the first football game showing math, not one student created. Yes, my poor heart, which is already technology poor, cracked just a little further. Oh, well, next time I won't make it extra credit. It will be for a grade! I love how I am so thinking of technology to help us both, the students and I. I have an LCD projector in my room now I am excited about using (of course I am going to have to bring my own laptop, but oh well). Everyone yell "HOORAY" for Kelly!!

Teaching Media Literacy

1.Media literacy, I feel, is the ability to to use a variety of technology and locate and analyze information while using this technology. As we rise into higher levels of education, the amount of media literacy expectations rise as well. The question is, are we supplying our students with the educational technology skills needed in order to meet the required expectations successfully? From my perspective, the answer is a big fat NO! Although research tells us some countries are successful at incorporating media literacy into their schools, I don't feel the U.S. is one of them.

2.My school in particular, compared to others in the district, is technology poor, and I don't see anything changing anytime soon. The calculator would be the exception. In this technology has indeed been incorporated into the classroom learning environment. Sure our children know how to use a computer, but do they know how to find credible resources with technology? Do they use technology to analyze and assess information or just to gather it? I believe most students have no clue as to locate credible resources, or discern if one is. I also believe most high school students don't even know the difference or importance of credible resources.

3.I agree that students who are proficient online readers, are not necessarily proficient with the offline, or visa-versa. Students are so used to being provided text or hard bound reference/resource books, and taking for granted the credibility of them. Being an online reader is different. One must know how to assess the authors credibility as well as make snap judgements about the information they are consuming, considering it could change before they located the website again. I feel the two different kinds of readers require different skills in order to be successful.

4. Since this is the first year I've actually had working computers in my classroom, albeit only four, still I plan to start here this year. Regular math students, in particular, benefit from remedial work in such a way as to appear fun, and basically, not remedial. We have new software just for these students. The wonderful aspect of this software, is it can connect to anybody else using it, they can compete against eachother, even in another country. I hope to allow the last 15 to 20 minutes a block for the students to rotate onto these computers. This, for my classroom, is the optimal place to start integrating media and technology into the classroom.

TECHNOLOGY - HOW?

According to the challenge presented to me, I am to pick one educational technology standard a seventh grader should be able to do, and implement it into my week. This was an extremely difficult assignment whose classroom is not overwhelmed with technology. I have decided to go with an assignment that won't hurt those who are unable to participate, but by the fun nature of the assignment, some students might feel more inclined to do.
Our first football game is this Thursday. One of the standards for technology a 7th grader should be able to do, is to create original animations or videos documenting school, community, or local events. I thought the first football game was a great place to start, but with a twist. The assignment given to all of my classes, whether regular math or pre-algebra, was to present a video using pictures from digital cameras or phones, or video from video cameras or phones highlighting the football game this Thursday. The twist is along with the highlights, the students MUST also show and explain how math is used during the game. Since equipment can be difficult for some to come by, I feel it is important to allow this first opportunity to be extra credit so as not to punish those who are unable to participate, but I will allow grouping so those who have not, can group with those who have.
Obviously the biggest challenge will be those students who want to participate but don't have the equipment to. These students will be paired as much as possible with those who have equipment, and most all of my students have cell phones. Most of these cell phones take pictures and video. Computers are at their disposal at school. I will post again next week to report on the success of my endeavor.

Technology - Really?

As an overwhelmed graduate student whom also maintains a full time teaching position, I am always looking for the opportunity to make my life, and that of my students, easier. I have often dreamed of being able to implement the same fascinating technology in my classroom I hear my fellow colleagues do. As I dream this particular dream, visions of LCD projectors and smart board sugar plums dance in my head. Elmo heartfully cries out, "Here I am, dance with me!" As I take his steely arm, our technological entwined image floats across the barren walls of the classroom until I realize the end of this particular dream has arrived, the server has crashed.

In reality, I have had only my teacher computer and a set of TI-73 calculators, one for each 7th grader, at my disposal. Don't misunderstand, we have done marvelous things with these calculators, and are in themselves an example of outstanding technology. My students typically score higher than any others in the district in which I teach on their benchmarks. But what could I do with more? How greater an impact could be made with the proper technology? This is the question I ponder. This will be the focus of the semester.