Information Literacy...

I have gained a lot of valuable information just from reading the material posted in the sandbox. It's not only valuable for students but for adults as well since searching the net for information can sometimes be quite overwhelming. I knew a few things but most of the material I'm reading is quite interesting. It would be nice to post some of that info where we can recover it for future use since we will lose it once the class is over. Can I copy and paste it or is that a copyright infringement?? :)

Mechanics...

I’ve become completely frustrated with using APA guidelines! Does all that stuff really matter? Why on earth do I need to italicize the sub titles and move them FLUSH left? I understand the issue with citing sources used in a paper but all the other little things seem absolutely senseless. Then I read Warlick’s blog about the controversies surrounding ICT in schools and whether students comprehend information they read on the net. Apparently, from studies that were conducted there is evidence showing that kids may be acquiring more skills through technology then they would reading print only. Here’s some of what I read in Warlick’s blog: “But all of this got me to thinking, back to the original question about reading on the web and reading in print — and I think it’s the period. According to WordNet at Princeton, a period is “a punctuation mark (.) placed at the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop..” It is the end of the sentence. It’s all to be said. If you don’t get it, then go back and re-read the sentence. In a sense, to folks who have been raised on the Net, there are no periods. Certainly there are sentences and they end in periods. But you can always go further — deeper. You can dig, hyperlink, right-click and dictionary a single word or phrase. Under some circumstances, you can re-write the sentence, and ask for clarification from the original author.” If that’s the case then why do we bother making sure that every comma is in the right place? Or am I so confused that I can't recall why I started writing this blog entry...

ICT in the classroom...

…a cyber center in the high school, a section of the cafeteria where students can lounge and have access to laptops for surfing and working together — social learning. (Warlick) Wow! What more can a person say? That is pretty impressive use of technology in the school and here we are not allowing cell phones in the classroom…we must be insane! In the post Yates, a K-6 tech integrationist briefly discusses his use of Nintendo DS in the classroom as a communication tool. I wonder if the students felt any urges to play a few games in between what they were learning about? I’m not being cynical here but until I can truly get used to this idea I think use of such things such as Nintendo DS might be a bit distracting.

Change...

I read a quote from Charles Darwin the other day as I was reading through Marnie’s notes. Here’s what it read: “It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” This instantly brought me to my own fear with technology and the amount of undue stress I cause myself trying to read all the workshops, and watch as many tutorials as I can so I can try to implement tools into the blog and the final project. I finally figured that I don’t have to try and learn about all these things (in reality there’s no way one could learn all the stuff that’s available anyway) but to try and learn about a few. At least in this way I am attempting to change my views and diminish my fears.

So in my response to the statement taken from “Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns” I will say I have to agree that some teachers, including myself, have used technology in very, very limited ways. I basically used the computer for word processing and to find helpful hints on how to make those boring topics more appealing to the students and for students to search for information for research papers, etc. The first program I came across in my teaching was Successmaker. This program was introduced to staff over a two day period and I really thought it would take off and the teachers would utilize it within their own classrooms but what really happened? Successmaker was only used during computer class which was maybe once on a six day cycle. It’s possible some of the staff used the program in their classrooms but I know I didn’t.
But getting back to the question…if I had known some of the things I’m learning through this course and some of the things I’m finding on the internet (fascinating!) I would have used more of the tools available. I suppose it’s not too late to start.
Although I learned basic math skills through drill I think there are more innovative ways to teach those same skills. For instance, during teacher training one of the instructors (math 101) used an overhead projector and a calculator to show us how you could use these tools to teach children calculator skills. I thought that was brilliant since we could all see what she was doing on the overhead. Now technology is far more advanced and there are probably more modern ways to teach this same skill.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

I’ve been wrestling with ideas for our projects and thus far could not decide on a route to take but I think I have come to some sort of revelation (an aha moment), good thing I talked to Marnie! Since the use of technology is so new to me it will take a bit of time to put together what I’m hoping will be a good resource for language teachers. We’ll see where I end up with this!!!

…It all makes me wonder what this might mean to future, more porous classrooms. As we stop resisting the networks, shielding our classrooms as sealed containers, designed to hold and protect both learners and that which is required to be learned — I wonder how porous classrooms might reshape themselves by the actions of the students. Might, in such classrooms, active differentiated instruction techniques become practically obsolete. Might free learners, engaged in a lifestyle of curiosity, inquiry, experimentation, and construction; supported by professional master learners, make education less an ordeal and more a habit. (David Warlick, Feb 5th) This is an extension of my previous post regarding technology in the classrooms and how Web 2.0 is slowly making its way into everyday, traditional classrooms. Maybe if I do as Warlick states, stop resisting, then I will be better able to absorb the idea that we are in a technological age and whether I like it or not it’s only going to be more so in the near future.

I recently read David Warlick’s blog on “Bloggers Who Help You Teach” (Feb 2nd) and although I agree that we need to learn how to use technology effectively and innovatively in the classroom there are time constraints in finding things that will keep students interesting and whether or not it is relevant to curriculum. I am not against utilizing technology but I suppose taking this class has really opened my eyes (really huge) to the vast amount of information on the web…it’s like watching everything in fast forward! I rarely have enough time with my hectic work schedule to explore all the different wikis, blogs, etc to find tools I can use even in this class but I suppose once I figure out how to navigate through this world known as Web 2.0 I will not be so distraught.

I am basically on information overload right now in terms of constructivist and connectivist theories of learning. I have been reading and trying to inform my own ways of thinking and to make connections with the knowledge that I carry with me from previous life experiences but there are little bells going off in my mind at the same time since the information I am reading carries some relevance depending on how one looks at it. The idea behind constructivism is to “build lifelong learners” working within a backward design to meet the needs of students through the implementation of a curriculum based on this knowledge. I recently attended a two day workshop on curriculum renewal within our province and although the workshop facilitators tried their best to communicate the information in an effective and efficient manner I left the workshop with pretty much the same knowledge I had of curriculum renewal at the start of the two days. Not until I started reading the material in block four and relating that to what the provincial curriculum writers are aiming for could I make better connections. I will admit the ideas in the constructivist theory are things we should all be practicing to some degree but even if we have been practicing other theoretical behaviors it may possibly be the time to begin making adjustments to the way we have tried to create learners, learners who have been viewed as ‘empty vessels needing to be filled’.
As for the connectivism theory….well, let’s just say I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of blogging but maybe I will be more informed at the end of this class.

Inspiring students to want to learn takes work, dedication, and a real commitment to meeting students’ learning needs and being able to use a variety of strategies to keep students interested. I enjoyed David Warlick’s blog post which discussed Antique Samplers (Wikipedia definition: A (needlework) sampler is a piece of embroidery produced as a demonstration or test of skill in needlework. It often includes the alphabet, figures, motifs, decorative borders and sometimes the name of the person who embroidered it and the date) because it sort of reminded me of the whole idea with cursive writing and how years ago cursive writing was deeply embedded into the grade 2-3 curriculum therefore everyone from that particular era basically all handwrite. But….is handwriting all that important? I attended a workshop a couple of weeks ago and one of the presenters discussed this kind of “loss” of handwriting skills. He went on to describe all the usefulness in utilizing this ‘art’ but then he mentioned that teachers of students in elementary grades were sometimes frustrated in trying to teach handwriting since teachers in the middle and upper levels just printed on the board anyways. This reminded me of myself teaching middle years students…I tried handwriting on the board but I guess I just never learned the ‘art’ of writing certain letters properly since the students would often mistake them for other letters. Maybe placing too much emphasis on these types of trivial things causes, in one way or another, a loss of student interest.