My final project is going great! I am very excited, because it is something that I feel I will be able to use in the future! After our discussion on class, I feel much more at ease- all my questions have been answered. I was nervous about teaching a lesson to the class, but I have begun to visualize what I will do. I am far from done working on the unit of instruction, because I have been going crazy doing other homework lately. I was crazily daring and stubborn enough to beg for my Practicum to be in the juvenile jail this semester, so in the last two weeks, I have found my head spinning trying to do the work and reports for that... without getting mugged by the convicts! :-) But in the next week, that will (hopefully) calm down, and I will once again be able to turn my attention to my final project. I have written two of the lesson plans, and am very excited about what I have planned so far. I still have to write the narrative of the unit, and present a lesson... then we are done! Yahoo!

You are the teacher of an 8th grade English class. Your class is reading the novel "Huck Finn" by Mark Twain. You have a student named Renee in your class that has some significant challenges. She is living in her 3rd foster family in the past 4 years having been removed from her birth family because of severe neglect. She has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and is receiving speech and language services for a speech/language disorder where she has a difficult time processing what you are saying to her (receptive language). You do note that she has a significant strength in math. You have assigned the class the task of creating a keynote presentation that highlights the main events from each chapter. You have broken the class into groups of 3. Each group has 4 chapters they need to present. Their task is to find a picture online that could possibly illustrate an event or character in that chapter and to note the most important events of the chapter. When this project is complete, your hope is that you can put all of the chapters together and have a keynote summary of the text. Renee is working with a girl named Liz who is a straight A student and a boy name Josh who is the class clown. Renee is refusing to engage with the other members of the group. She says that the activity is "stupid" and she doesn't like the other two members of her group. What do you do? What action do you take to try to get Renee to engage?

I would think about other students in the class... are there any others that she would get along with? She may not like the class clown, because she has to fight for attention; foster children can often be more attention-hungry. So she may feel threatened by Josh. Or she may not understand the clown's immaturity and not know how to handle him.

If there aren't other students she can be grouped with (or if she often refuses to group work), give her an opportunity to fit in in the group. Help them to assign the necessary tasks to the group members. She may just need a push to get started. Giving her a leadership role may engage her better. If Josh is what is setting her off, think about speaking to him about holding his humor and commentary until after group time.

Are Online Games Helpful or Harmful to Kids?

http://libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/authmaine.asp?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.prxy5.ursus.maine.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24826078&site=ehost-live

For researching educational online games, I found an article from the British Journal of Educational Technology titled Online Gaming as an Educational Tool in Learning and Training. Online gaming for education is becoming more popular and widely used in schools. In school, it allows the children to be more interactive and teachers to teach more thoroughly. Motivation and engagement in students has increased with the use of gaming.

I cannot argue with the positive results that have been found while using online games. I would have to say that educational online games can be very helpful to education... But I still do not see the necessity of students gaming rather than learning from books, experiments, and teaching. I don't know if I could defend saying that it is harmful to students, but I don't think it is always beneficial. Much of the time spent in school now seems to revolve around technology and discovery learning. These are necessary components of preparing them for the world after school, but so is book work, memorization, rote, and learning how to respect and learn from direct instruction! There is less direct interaction, and children are not as accustomed to listening to a teacher. University professors are surprised with the current trend of students texting, emailing, and facebooking during class. This should come as no surprise, because they are now being encouraged to discover things on their own, and encouraged to do everything with technology devices. In grade school, they don't have to sit silently and respectively... they aren't expected to be as disciplined as in the past. I was brought up in a highly disciplined environment, and am accustomed to being respectful and engaged when someone is teaching me. I can learn from just reading a book... but many people I know say they get nothing out of listening to a teacher or studying a book- they need a computer. I am one of the few that believe these changes to be unfortunate!

Update!

I am doing fine with this class... still hate technology, but that probably will never change. There is a lot of homework to do, and its pretty time consuming, but not hard work... I think its my own fault for having 21 credits and 3 jobs! I feel ill-qualified to recommend something I want to learn, because I know NOTHING about this computer stuff! All of this is new to me, and though I despise modern technology, I am very happy to be in this class. Education demands the use of computers and technology... especially in secondary science! So all of these things we are learning is fabulous- I don't think any of it is a waste of time. I feel like this class is really pushing me to solidify my values, ideas, and philosophy of education... for instance, I I have always been the old-fashioned rote learning type of person (which is probably why I don't like college- its not rote based!). But in seeing the effects of technology in classes like last week's video of the kindergarten class, I cannot possibly say its bad! Its just another style... so this has been a good experience to get myself out of my simple, comfort-zone box!

Auburn, AL Edutopia Video

This was a great video! The school was willing to test methods of how to best engage and teach students; they weren't willing to just do what everyone else has always done. By the staff openly showing curiosity and creativity, that curios behavior was modeled to the students. The entire Kindergarten is driven by creativity and curiosity, so the kids would just naturally follow that lead. This taught them to WANT to learn, leading to being MOTIVATED learners, leading to ENGAGEMENT. As an end result, these children are capable of real-life problem-solving and finding resources to learn on their own. I love the way the principal talked about "authentic learning"- at first, I thought that was a funny term, because isn't all learning authentic? But then as the video continued, I saw what she meant- they learned through real life situations (like the student's experience of having a virus) and personal stories that were meaningful to them. I do worry about if they are learning all they need to learn. For instance, they spent so much time studying how to get to Brazil (which was great!), but what about the other countries? I had such a traditional curriculum in home school- it was definitely rote leaning-based. So I always am hesitant to attach myself to this progressive and discovery teaching, but I do like parts of it. I think rote is still important though, but we can balance that with fun activities. My Mom was good at that during home school- if we really buckled down and did the book work, we would get to do really fun activities like field trips (to airports, architects, etc...) or games like geography quiz bowl. But I still see much value in rote, also.

This Kindergarten class used much technology. Because of the personal experience-based learning, they have a karaoke machine for the kids to talk into when telling a story. They also have a TV and smart board in the room. The smart board increases literacy- they can write letters and match them together to make words. They also frequently use the Internet, and watch educational videos. This use of technology supports the students' learning, because it lets them be curious and experience how to find answers. For instance, they can drag and drop letters on the smart board in order to see the differences between letters.

Creativity:
I feel a little passionate about this- I feel like education in this day and age does in fact "squander" children's creativity! As we tell kids to use such and such specific program on a computer to show creativity, we are taking away the thoughts of "should I act it out? make a poster? write a report? color pictures?" We expect them to use what is on this specific program. I think we need to let them be kids! Let them be original... they will learn how to use a computer in due time! They don't need to learn to draw on a computer paint program! Give them a piece of paper and box of Crayons! let them create something outlandish! We get so worried about preparing them... we need to calm down and realize that they are still kids, and that is OK! We need to challenge them to think and be independent, but let them have fun... and make mistakes. The goal isn't to make the perfect child who never makes a mistake, but it is to mold a child into thinking for themselves and knowing what to do after making an inevitable mistake.

I love how Sir Ken Robinson said "all are born artists, but most grow out of it." This is so true- if we box them in to only what is on a computer or what we want them to do, we are discouraging this creative drive. As we continue to stress ourselves out about forming children who will meet the demands of our coming day and age, we automatically take out all the fun creative things that come with being a child, because we think there is no time for that, because we have to raise them to run the world! So we have to start now! In a (very small) way, I agree with that, but let them be children first! A kindergartner does not need to know how to make a google portfolio! Let them go build a tree house, learning how to creatively construct by making mistakes and learning from them! There is something fascinating about watching what a child will come up with, given a field, tree, and a stick of wood! Where I grew up, my town was a tiny farming and logging town. Building tree houses and digging bunkers into a hillside is what we did. It taught me problem-solving, curiosity, creativity, and so much more. At our house, my parents said we were never allowed to say "I am bored!" And we never wanted to! But as I see other kids who grew up in other situations, with their creativity being stomped out, they can't function without having the amusement of a television or computer- they can't make their own fun, solve their own problems, or come up with their own solutions. But it is OK, because they can just google anything to find the answer so they never have to think for themselves! I hope you find this as sad as I do... I don't see the great advances that this day and age has brought us. We need to push kids to create and imagine (not just on a computer!), and they will grow into the demands of this society as soon as they become established as a creative, curious, common-sense, and problem solving person.

In home school, I used limited technology. I took Life Science, Biology, Algebra I and II, and Geometry through video classes on the television. For Spanish, 3 years of Chinese, Chemistry, and Anatomy, I used computer programs. I didn't know how to have email or do anything on a computer. All I knew was how to get onto these programs to read and answer questions. Even for writing reports, my Mom let me hand-write it. So when I got to college, I had a lot to learn about typing, emailing, researching, and knowing the ins and outs of computers. That was three years ago, and I still feel like I am learning! I got my laptop a year ago... that forced me to learn a lot more! For instance, just yesterday, I figured out how to get a side bar on my desktop so I could see what the temperature is outside! I was beyond excited! I didn't even have to call my brother for help! So instead, I called to tell him that I successfully did something having to do with technology without him! He was pretty proud of me. He is used to me calling him at all hours throughout the day (even when he is at work on the Navy base or pulling cars over as a cop!) with random questions of how to do something on a computer, advice, or homework that I can't figure out... He is smart- he always knows the answer to everything!!! :-)

So as I integrate technology with my teaching, I anticipate coming to him for more help... although I may not need him for that after this Technology In Education class! Won't he be so happy?!?! I know that public schools have laptops for the students, but I don't like that... maybe I'll find some little private Christian school without all those resources... I know there is a plethora of knowledge gained from using technology like laptops, but I still don't think it's necessary! I should have been born in the 1800's...