Class,
I've had such a good time with all of you this semester! I love how by the end of the semester we all started to help each other and try different things!!! I hope everyone has an amazing summer!! See you in the fall!!
-Katie
Thursday, May 1, 2008
EDM 310
I think that this class has been very helpful. I really have learned a lot more than I thought I would. It has been very interesting using all the google resources, but I'm not sure that I will use them a whole lot in the classroom. I also really liked all the help Dr. Strange offered. He really did a great job of helping everyone feel at home and giving us many opportunities to complete all our projects.
Wikipedia
My freshman year of college I was writing my first ever collegiate research paper. I finished it and proudly turned it in, only to recieve a B. Okay, so I had some typos here and there but what got the mose points dropped was the big red X through my number one source, Wikipedia. I didn't understand that so I asked my teacher and all they said was that that was not a reliable source for a true research paper. I never really questioned it and just never used it again, but now I know why.
Wikipedia is not a reliable source of anything really. I mean sure the idea behind it was a great one. Everyone can write what they want and just coloborate so we can get all sides of the different subjects...but thats only theoretical. In real life people can change fact to be one sided, they can only upload propoganda. I think that what turned out to be a great idea has turned into something completely different. This website is not at all reliable so I can't help but wonder why its non-existent reliability can keep it online and running as an "encyclopedia"?
Wikipedia is not a reliable source of anything really. I mean sure the idea behind it was a great one. Everyone can write what they want and just coloborate so we can get all sides of the different subjects...but thats only theoretical. In real life people can change fact to be one sided, they can only upload propoganda. I think that what turned out to be a great idea has turned into something completely different. This website is not at all reliable so I can't help but wonder why its non-existent reliability can keep it online and running as an "encyclopedia"?
Growth Mindset
This video really brought up many different things I haven't really thought about it. It is very true that many students get discouraged when they believe that you are as smart once as you'll always be. It is really sad that some children have that mindset and in this video the lady talked about changing that. She explained that they did an experiment where they had half a class go into one workshop that explained this growth mindset. That if they work hard that they will be smarter, but in the other workshop they didn't mention this idea at all. The children that were in the first workshop started to improve with their grades while the other students stayed the same.
This is a very important idea for any future or current teacher. We must learn to tell our students just like the students in the first session were told "your brain is like a muscle, the more you work it out the more it grows". I think every child should be taught from the time they begin their academic career that they can always improve and their brain can always make new connections. I really like the way this lady explained it and I think that this video should be shown to as many classes as possible because the things she explain really do make a lot of sense and they have been proven to be correct.
This is a very important idea for any future or current teacher. We must learn to tell our students just like the students in the first session were told "your brain is like a muscle, the more you work it out the more it grows". I think every child should be taught from the time they begin their academic career that they can always improve and their brain can always make new connections. I really like the way this lady explained it and I think that this video should be shown to as many classes as possible because the things she explain really do make a lot of sense and they have been proven to be correct.
A Night in the Coral Reef
Once I made it to the Itunes store and began my search for WGHB I was immediately shocked be all the materials and lessons avaliable to teachers. It is amazing how many videos you can watch and the many many topics that they cover. Everything from science, to health, to history to math and back again are all a part of this amazing website.
I watched a video in the earth sciences field called "A Night in the Coral Reef". This video was very interesting and while it was very short there was a lot of great information in it. It explained the differences between the creatures that are awake during the day and those that are awake at night in the coral reef. This video explained a lot about sea urchins, porcupine fish, and other animals that you normally wouldn't come across.
I really think that this would help in the classroom. These would be great little videos that you could play prior to a discussion on the same subjec in class. They are just long enough that they would give all the students something to think about but they aren't so long that the children would get bored with them. It would also be a great way for them to see the different things instead of looking at some pictures in a book as a class. I think that this is a very great tool and I really plan to use it in my classroom in the future.
I watched a video in the earth sciences field called "A Night in the Coral Reef". This video was very interesting and while it was very short there was a lot of great information in it. It explained the differences between the creatures that are awake during the day and those that are awake at night in the coral reef. This video explained a lot about sea urchins, porcupine fish, and other animals that you normally wouldn't come across.
I really think that this would help in the classroom. These would be great little videos that you could play prior to a discussion on the same subjec in class. They are just long enough that they would give all the students something to think about but they aren't so long that the children would get bored with them. It would also be a great way for them to see the different things instead of looking at some pictures in a book as a class. I think that this is a very great tool and I really plan to use it in my classroom in the future.
iTunes U..yes please!
Wow. We need this. I think that iTunes University is an amazing idea. I really like the thought of being able to access my class information on my ipod while I'm busy running errands during the day. I think that this is a great idea. You could be listening to lectures you didn't understand while you pick up some groceries. You could prep for class by listening to the previous lecture on your walk to the room. I think that this is a totally important and ingenius idea.
In my previous blog I mentioned how it might be a distraction for students to have such a multi-facited device with them at all times, but I think once you reach the college level, that this wouldn't be as much of a problem. More mature students recognize that work must be done and so I think that having it with you at all times would be an incredible advantage.
http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu_mobilelearning/itunesu.html
http://alexreid.typepad.com/digital_digs/itunes_university/index.html
In my previous blog I mentioned how it might be a distraction for students to have such a multi-facited device with them at all times, but I think once you reach the college level, that this wouldn't be as much of a problem. More mature students recognize that work must be done and so I think that having it with you at all times would be an incredible advantage.
http://www.apple.com/education/itunesu_mobilelearning/itunesu.html
http://alexreid.typepad.com/digital_digs/itunes_university/index.html
ipods on k-12 campuses
To me an iPod has always been my workout buddy. A device that is great for listening to tunes while I'm at the gym, but recently the world has begun to see iPods in a new light. They are being viewed in some circles as instructional tools. In researching this topic I thought that it was a very interesting concept for a school to allow a child to walk around all day with a device that has the potential to be that distracting, I mean how many times have you seen teachers take up cell phones or other things that students tend to pay a lot of attention to? But in doing this research I realized that is beside the point
The iPod is potentially an incredible learning device. Students can record lectures, download presentations, and have all this at the tips of the fingers at all times. It is also an amazing way to make sure that every child knows exactly what they need to do. I think that using these devices on a k-12 campus wouldn't be such a bad idea. Sure the younger children would need a very simplified structure to work with and it probably wouldn't hurt to be able to have the music locked during school hours for the older kids, but hey you've got to let the bad in with the good and in this case I think the benefits definatly outweigh the disadvantages.
http://www.principalspartnership.com/iPods.pdf
eschoolnews.com
The iPod is potentially an incredible learning device. Students can record lectures, download presentations, and have all this at the tips of the fingers at all times. It is also an amazing way to make sure that every child knows exactly what they need to do. I think that using these devices on a k-12 campus wouldn't be such a bad idea. Sure the younger children would need a very simplified structure to work with and it probably wouldn't hurt to be able to have the music locked during school hours for the older kids, but hey you've got to let the bad in with the good and in this case I think the benefits definatly outweigh the disadvantages.
http://www.principalspartnership.com/iPods.pdf
eschoolnews.com
Best of April 07
"180?" was a great blog/presentation. I thought it was really interesting how the teachers both saw the differences in the classroom and how this project was inspired because of one classroom's reaction to the "Shift Happens" video. The slide show for 180? days simply takes a look at whether students actually get 180 days worth of instructional time. Once you subtract all the time that we take off for getting class going, wrapping it up, and everything in between, actual instruction time is cut down to 120 days. And is that really enough time to get everything that we're supposed to accomplish throughout a school year done?
It's an interesting question, and I really don't feel like 120 days is enough time to complete everything that needs to be completed in the classroom. Students need time to adjust and time to actually sit down and understand all the different aspects of their classroom, and with 60 days (on average) that each child misses instructional time, they really are given less opportunities to do their best.
It's an interesting question, and I really don't feel like 120 days is enough time to complete everything that needs to be completed in the classroom. Students need time to adjust and time to actually sit down and understand all the different aspects of their classroom, and with 60 days (on average) that each child misses instructional time, they really are given less opportunities to do their best.
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