Food from the Renaissance era
In this day and age communication is essential between teachers, parents, and students. More and more people have less time to actually communicate with one another. There are so many papers that go home to parents that never really make it to the parents possession. In creating a newsletter we hope that it has some higher value than a single piece of paper that a teacher gives a child. On the most part newsletters are colorful and usually hold higher meaning to them. By sending home a newsletter it embraces the learning community and hopefully connects the teacher, student, and parent. I would not like to use any new forms of communication to parents. Technology is expensive and for the poorer communities out there I think using too much technology puts a divide between people. For making my newsletter I used Letter pop. I loved using it. It was easy to pick a template, drag and drop pictures, and make the letter exactly the way one would want it to be. If I did a newsletter again I would use a different program just to have some different exposure to a different technology.
Depending on what kind of school district I end up in will depend on the variety of communication that I will be able to use with my parents. I like technology but it highly depends on the economic status of the community that one is in. For now I'll stick with sending notes home by paper hoping that they make it home! However the one nice thing about using the Internet one does not have to hope that a paper makes it home. By posting something on a website students, parents, and teachers will have access at all times!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Creating a crossword puzzel in excel
I just finished creating my crossword puzzle in excel. I thought the process was tedious, time consuming, and really ridiculous to complete. I as a grad student struggled with this then how would kids in the K-12 level really do this? I thought that completing this was more than enough to do for anyone. I do not think kids want to spend their time completing mindless task like this one. I would not have my students complete a project like this one I can see their own frustrations right now and this is time consuming too. Students in New York State have too much curriculum and completing was a tedious task would be over kill!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Authentic Assessment... The C.I.A. days...
Authentic assessment is something that is very familiar to me. I think authentic assessment will not happen in school simply because it is too time consuming and will cost to much money in a K-12 school. However when I attended and completed my degree at the Culinary Institute of America authentic assessment was the major way to earn a grade in a class. We had to produce our end products to the best of our abilities. For example, if we were making a baguette (french bread) it had to be: crunchy, scored correctly, baked evenly and not dried out, and when the bread was cut open on should have be able to see the proper hole aeration inside of it. It was the same concept for each class: chocolate, wedding cakes, culinary skills, cookies, and other core classes. We also had written test but for the most part the school was HUGE on authentic assessment! Traditionally trade schools are for students who do not like traditional school, tests, papers, and other "traditional" ideas.
The C.I.A. was a complete hands on form of learning where the visual and kinesthetic learner did the best. Everyone had to put out their "own" product. It was a schools where a student truly had to think for his/herself and give their own results. In a school of learning and achievement there were no ways to copy someone. One could true to reproduce a product, however to copy it just like the last one would be really difficult. Another way in school we were assessed was by our own dress code. We were judged on performance and how well we were able to keep ourselves, our end products, and our stations cleaned as well. Learning in this kind of environment was solely on the student itself. The end product was the way learning was demonstrated. We had some defining vocabulary tests and some papers too, but the majority was hands on.
Students like myself attend those kinds of schools because we truly care about what we are learning and will try harder about something we truly care about in the learning process. I have had lots of experience with the authentic learning process in my time there. We also had to pass practicals on our own products so that we were allowed to out and move forth on our externships as a requirement for school. However, we need to have a certain grades so we could complete our own school process for completion.
The C.I.A. was a complete hands on form of learning where the visual and kinesthetic learner did the best. Everyone had to put out their "own" product. It was a schools where a student truly had to think for his/herself and give their own results. In a school of learning and achievement there were no ways to copy someone. One could true to reproduce a product, however to copy it just like the last one would be really difficult. Another way in school we were assessed was by our own dress code. We were judged on performance and how well we were able to keep ourselves, our end products, and our stations cleaned as well. Learning in this kind of environment was solely on the student itself. The end product was the way learning was demonstrated. We had some defining vocabulary tests and some papers too, but the majority was hands on.
Students like myself attend those kinds of schools because we truly care about what we are learning and will try harder about something we truly care about in the learning process. I have had lots of experience with the authentic learning process in my time there. We also had to pass practicals on our own products so that we were allowed to out and move forth on our externships as a requirement for school. However, we need to have a certain grades so we could complete our own school process for completion.
Identify if a web page is accurate and is credible...
Back when I attended the Culinary Institute of America, I took two information and technology classes in 2004. One of our very first assignments in our IT class was to identify if a website was accurate and credible. We were given a list of websites and we had to write down our thoughts and ideas if a site was credible or not. For the most part I thought it was extremely easy to recognize, but one must remember that not everyone sees the world the way you do! The first thing someone has to look at is the accuracy. Who made the page? Did they have the so-called ability to do so. ANYONE can make a web page. What is the URL, is it appropriate? Most links end with .com, .org, .gov, or edu. One should recognize the fact of what the link truly looks like. Also, on should look at is the person who wrote it different from the publisher?
One must learn to read for content of the page. One must understand if the author wrote on a bias or are there facts so that the reader can make a detailed and form able opinion of what they are reading. Also, one must look and see if the site is current. When was the last time the site was updated? How old is the site, etc! Lots of that simply takes time to look at each website and examine with a critical eye. Another thing one should ask is what I am reading, readable? Do I need to pay or download other software to read this website?
Reading websites are simple. Reading websites take time and a little bit of common sense to find out which ones are credible or not! It's simple if a page does not look credible or looks sketchy, well then your probably right! There are no "rocket science ways" to teach credibility it is something that simply takes practice in the classroom.
One must learn to read for content of the page. One must understand if the author wrote on a bias or are there facts so that the reader can make a detailed and form able opinion of what they are reading. Also, one must look and see if the site is current. When was the last time the site was updated? How old is the site, etc! Lots of that simply takes time to look at each website and examine with a critical eye. Another thing one should ask is what I am reading, readable? Do I need to pay or download other software to read this website?
Reading websites are simple. Reading websites take time and a little bit of common sense to find out which ones are credible or not! It's simple if a page does not look credible or looks sketchy, well then your probably right! There are no "rocket science ways" to teach credibility it is something that simply takes practice in the classroom.
Security, ethics, emerging with technology and education
As soon as I started to read this article I began to think of all of those college papers that are plagiarized every year and all that must happen to catch it. When I was an English major at Plattsburgh State College they started to use a program called "Turn it In." It was simple, down load your paper and the teacher could see if a student copied anything from another source or if it was his/her ideas in the paper. With the emergence of technology it is good to have such programs to watch out for people who copy off other works of others.
Speaking of copying, downloading music has became big over the last couple of years with the emergence of Ipods. There is a program on the Internet where one can download all the free songs that they can find. I think it is great media exposure, however, musicians are claiming that they are losing millions of of people down loading music.
Also, when people are looking for really cool clip art pieces, some pictures are not eligible to be cut and pasted and they have a so-called privacy lock on them. People have become more aware of what to post on the Internet and who may or may not steal their own ideas. There is so much out there in the digital world to be aware of. One must be careful of what they download on their notebooks, what they read, and anything else that may require giving away of any form of identity. Also with using protection one must have an anti-virus on their computer. Most common anti-viruses are Norton and Mcaffe. There are just so much junk on the Internet that one has to be careful.
Also, many people are fooled by fake websites and too many commerical pop ups that are scams that lead to people having their computers corrupted. It does not take much and especially with the usage of digital communities or My Space, and Face book. There is so much sharing going on with the two communities by itself. Everyone must be aware of what they are using on the Internet and how it may hurt their own computers that they have. As creatures we must be careful and not have to find out every little thing on the Internet. Sometimes, less is more :)
Speaking of copying, downloading music has became big over the last couple of years with the emergence of Ipods. There is a program on the Internet where one can download all the free songs that they can find. I think it is great media exposure, however, musicians are claiming that they are losing millions of of people down loading music.
Also, when people are looking for really cool clip art pieces, some pictures are not eligible to be cut and pasted and they have a so-called privacy lock on them. People have become more aware of what to post on the Internet and who may or may not steal their own ideas. There is so much out there in the digital world to be aware of. One must be careful of what they download on their notebooks, what they read, and anything else that may require giving away of any form of identity. Also with using protection one must have an anti-virus on their computer. Most common anti-viruses are Norton and Mcaffe. There are just so much junk on the Internet that one has to be careful.
Also, many people are fooled by fake websites and too many commerical pop ups that are scams that lead to people having their computers corrupted. It does not take much and especially with the usage of digital communities or My Space, and Face book. There is so much sharing going on with the two communities by itself. Everyone must be aware of what they are using on the Internet and how it may hurt their own computers that they have. As creatures we must be careful and not have to find out every little thing on the Internet. Sometimes, less is more :)
Evaluation of educational technology it takes a lot of time...
After reading chapter 7 I was a little taken by it. Evaluating educational technology is an evaluation like anything else. As I was reading through the numerous rubrics, I thought this is a little too extensive for me. I think we spend to much time on the assessment process and we lose too much time teaching what students need to learn. I know that in Newburgh School District that they spend a lot of time getting ready for bench marks and then finally taking them. I was told by an administrator at an elementary school that they waste a month plus out of the whole school year simply by getting ready and taking care of these tests. After reading the technology rubrics I was like, wow.
As a society as a whole we need to stop testing every little thing. Not every student does well in a test situation and not every student will excel at the levels that we want them to. I did like reading what James Gee had to say about video games. The statistic was that 92% of all students in the K-12 setting spend at least 20-30 minutes per day playing video games. I'm sure that the number is much higher. Video games work on hand eye coordination, kids have to analyze, evaluate and make an on demand decision about what to do next in their game that they are playing. I don't think it's too much to ask students to spend less time on video games, however that seems to be a more societal problem. Parents are ready to throw their children in from of the t.v. so that they don't have to be bothered.
I also remember reading about Sim City which was quite the popular game growing up along with Oregon Trail. Both of these games one had to solve problems. For example in Oregon trail one had to remember how much food they need for their trip, how long to rest, and when to keep going on his/her travels. Another popular game was Where is Carmen San Diego? We always had a computer in all of our classes with those floppy disk. We loved playing on the computer during recess and we used to compete for it at the end of the day as a reward. It was a form of video games, therefore it was used as a way to keep behavior in check in the classroom as well as a reward factor for others.
I like the program inspiration and how one can lay ideas out in it. I think it is a visual stimulate that goes well in the classroom for everyone. Also another program that has been very successful is Leap Frog. It has engaged lots of young children in the learning process. When we were kids we had programs to learn from too. We had computer hand held games that were red, yellow, and gray from Texas Instruments that had different level cartridges in it to practice our skills on. I think back and that was our "digital learning."
Like I have stated earlier that we spend to much time on assessing where we are instead of teaching and working with what we have. We have become to much of a proactive society and prevent problems that we have not yet met from occur! That my friend is absolutely crazy indeed! We need to work with what we have an hope that what we are teaching will go along with their life long learning process.
As a society as a whole we need to stop testing every little thing. Not every student does well in a test situation and not every student will excel at the levels that we want them to. I did like reading what James Gee had to say about video games. The statistic was that 92% of all students in the K-12 setting spend at least 20-30 minutes per day playing video games. I'm sure that the number is much higher. Video games work on hand eye coordination, kids have to analyze, evaluate and make an on demand decision about what to do next in their game that they are playing. I don't think it's too much to ask students to spend less time on video games, however that seems to be a more societal problem. Parents are ready to throw their children in from of the t.v. so that they don't have to be bothered.
I also remember reading about Sim City which was quite the popular game growing up along with Oregon Trail. Both of these games one had to solve problems. For example in Oregon trail one had to remember how much food they need for their trip, how long to rest, and when to keep going on his/her travels. Another popular game was Where is Carmen San Diego? We always had a computer in all of our classes with those floppy disk. We loved playing on the computer during recess and we used to compete for it at the end of the day as a reward. It was a form of video games, therefore it was used as a way to keep behavior in check in the classroom as well as a reward factor for others.
I like the program inspiration and how one can lay ideas out in it. I think it is a visual stimulate that goes well in the classroom for everyone. Also another program that has been very successful is Leap Frog. It has engaged lots of young children in the learning process. When we were kids we had programs to learn from too. We had computer hand held games that were red, yellow, and gray from Texas Instruments that had different level cartridges in it to practice our skills on. I think back and that was our "digital learning."
Like I have stated earlier that we spend to much time on assessing where we are instead of teaching and working with what we have. We have become to much of a proactive society and prevent problems that we have not yet met from occur! That my friend is absolutely crazy indeed! We need to work with what we have an hope that what we are teaching will go along with their life long learning process.
Friday, June 6, 2008
5 E lesson plan
When were were working on our 5 E lesson plan there were five main components that went along with it. The five main ideas were: engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate. I thought these five ideas were necessary and stimulating all in one. For anyone to answer these questions one has to think about what they are writing and one has to process their own information in the process. In inquiry process is what the learner wants to know from finding out by doing instead of by watching someone else telling them what to do. I really enjoyed completing this kind of lesson plan. I liked the idea of having to take the time to think, process, and retrieve our own information to design our own lesson plan(s).
If I was a principal in a school I would advise the thinking process of this kind of lesson plan, but I'm not sure that I would want them to use this plan for teaching.There is so much curriculum to be learned that a complete and lengthy lesson plan like this may take up too much time in the classroom. However, I do like the thoroughness that this kind of structure provides. I am afraid that with all that goes on in a day to day classroom that it will take up too much time. I know that sounds sad, but we like things that are through. However the reality of what happens in a class day and what should happen are two different things! I liked the lesson plan because there was a lot of questioning which prompts writing, critical thinking, and other cognitive thoughts that have the ability to stretch our own minds!
If I was a principal in a school I would advise the thinking process of this kind of lesson plan, but I'm not sure that I would want them to use this plan for teaching.There is so much curriculum to be learned that a complete and lengthy lesson plan like this may take up too much time in the classroom. However, I do like the thoroughness that this kind of structure provides. I am afraid that with all that goes on in a day to day classroom that it will take up too much time. I know that sounds sad, but we like things that are through. However the reality of what happens in a class day and what should happen are two different things! I liked the lesson plan because there was a lot of questioning which prompts writing, critical thinking, and other cognitive thoughts that have the ability to stretch our own minds!
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