Sunday, September 20, 2009
When should students collaborate and when should they work alone?”
There is a time and place for working collaboratively and individually. Students can work together for any lesson, any project, any experiment, etc. It is up to the teacher to determine what is best for that specific situation. Teachers can have students start working individually and then switch to group work to collaborate ideas or they could work as a group and split up individually. There are also times when students will complete an entire task either collaboratively or individually. Important aspects to consider while planning are assessment and the goal of the lesson. It is difficult to assess the individuals’ understanding of the concept when they work collaboratively as well as how the individual can apply the knowledge being taught. If the goal of the lesson is for the individual student to apply a skill it may be best to have students work independently; however, if the goal of the lesson is for students to gain understanding of a more general topic then group work may be more appropriate. Both collaboration and individual work are useful and beneficial in the classroom but there is a time and place for both.
YackPack
We decided to choose the 2.0 tool YackPack. YackPack is an online voice communication tool that can be used by both teachers and students. YackPack has many strengths including a very informational website that lists many ideas for classroom use. Some of these ideas include: grading student work and giving verbal feedback; collaborating with other classrooms; answering students’ questions verbally; and assigning oral practice for foreign languages. YackPack enhances traditional classroom by using the expressiveness of voice in a virtual learning environment. Being that it is a web 2.0 tool, students and teachers can access the free site anywhere, anytime. YackPack is a safe and private tool where only those you invite can access your messages. You can also belong to several groups at one time and YackPack automatically stores your voice messages. Before YackPack sends your voice message, you are able to listen to it and rerecord if necessary. YackPack can be used asynchronously so users do not have to be online at the same time to receive messages. There are, however, some weaknesses to the site. At this time they are experiencing some technical difficulties so the site is not running properly. We were unable to create our own YackPack to explore exactly how it works but current users are still able to fully access their YackPack account.
YackPack is user friendly and easy to learn for all ages. On the homepage, there is an informational video that walks you through how to use the tool. To send a message you simply click on the members of your pack that you want to receive the message, record, and send. It’s that easy! All members upload a picture of themselves when they create an account; this picture shows up in your pack. When you receive a message, the box around the sender’s picture lights up green informing you of your new message.
YackPack can be used in the classroom for many educational purposes. Each student can easily create an account and the teacher can invite all students to the classroom pack. Once in the private pack, the teacher and students can communicate. Students can ask and answer each others questions or discuss the topic of the teacher’s choice. The teacher can also verbally answer students’ questions or give verbal explanations of math, science, etc. problems. Students can also create a verbal blog to communicate their thoughts and opinions about a certain topic. Teachers can invite other classrooms to a separate pack to collaborate. Teachers and students can give verbal feedback on assignments as well as encouragement; parents can also access the account to view feedback. YackPack can also be used for distance education. The educational uses of YackPack is not limited to the ideas above.
To work on this assignment, we collaborated the old fashion way. We both sat with our laptops and searched for a useful online web 2.0 tool. We found one that we both liked and continued to critique it together. One of us typed while the other had the web 2.0 tool open for exploration. By collaborating we were able to navigate the website easily because we both noticed and observed different parts or links on the page. Because we worked together and at the same time, we did not use the internet to collaborate but definitely could have.
YackPack is user friendly and easy to learn for all ages. On the homepage, there is an informational video that walks you through how to use the tool. To send a message you simply click on the members of your pack that you want to receive the message, record, and send. It’s that easy! All members upload a picture of themselves when they create an account; this picture shows up in your pack. When you receive a message, the box around the sender’s picture lights up green informing you of your new message.
YackPack can be used in the classroom for many educational purposes. Each student can easily create an account and the teacher can invite all students to the classroom pack. Once in the private pack, the teacher and students can communicate. Students can ask and answer each others questions or discuss the topic of the teacher’s choice. The teacher can also verbally answer students’ questions or give verbal explanations of math, science, etc. problems. Students can also create a verbal blog to communicate their thoughts and opinions about a certain topic. Teachers can invite other classrooms to a separate pack to collaborate. Teachers and students can give verbal feedback on assignments as well as encouragement; parents can also access the account to view feedback. YackPack can also be used for distance education. The educational uses of YackPack is not limited to the ideas above.
To work on this assignment, we collaborated the old fashion way. We both sat with our laptops and searched for a useful online web 2.0 tool. We found one that we both liked and continued to critique it together. One of us typed while the other had the web 2.0 tool open for exploration. By collaborating we were able to navigate the website easily because we both noticed and observed different parts or links on the page. Because we worked together and at the same time, we did not use the internet to collaborate but definitely could have.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
#2. Customization Generation
Customization Generation
Children these days love to own and create items that are customized to them. They want a wallet with their name on it or a necklace with the first letter of their name or their name embroidered on their back pack. Almost everyone is a part of this customization generation; everyone has an iPod that is customized with their type of music or a computer that has their customized desktop. As a part of this customization generation, students are used to customizing everything of theirs so why would students want a form of technology in school they cannot customize to be their own?
“What I am starting to see is that if students cannot customize a technology device to their way, their style, then it doesn’t interest them,” states middle-school teacher Jeff Utech from the book on his Website The Thinking Stick. Students want to learn with technology in school, but students are not going to stay interested in the technology or the concept if they are not allowed to customize it to their own.
According to Shaping Tech for the Classroom by Marc Prensky, “The missing technological element is true one-to-one computing, in which each student has a device he or she can work on, keep, customize, and take home. For true technological advance to occur, the computers must be personal to each learner. When used properly and well for education, these computers become extensions of the students' personal self and brain. They must have each student's stuff and each student's style all over them (in case you haven't noticed, kids love to customize and make technology personal)…”
Now the big question is how do we take this customization generation and apply the customization in our classrooms? The answer is quite simple: give students the opportunity to customize! From Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum, Jeff Utecht suggests allowing students to “choose their method of presentation, choose where they go to find their information, and choose to learn in a way that meets their needs.”
Teachers, if you want your students to be engaged in technology, you better make it customizable!
To learn more about customization, visit these resources:
http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt?page=2
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/customization-generation
Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum
Children these days love to own and create items that are customized to them. They want a wallet with their name on it or a necklace with the first letter of their name or their name embroidered on their back pack. Almost everyone is a part of this customization generation; everyone has an iPod that is customized with their type of music or a computer that has their customized desktop. As a part of this customization generation, students are used to customizing everything of theirs so why would students want a form of technology in school they cannot customize to be their own?
“What I am starting to see is that if students cannot customize a technology device to their way, their style, then it doesn’t interest them,” states middle-school teacher Jeff Utech from the book on his Website The Thinking Stick. Students want to learn with technology in school, but students are not going to stay interested in the technology or the concept if they are not allowed to customize it to their own.
According to Shaping Tech for the Classroom by Marc Prensky, “The missing technological element is true one-to-one computing, in which each student has a device he or she can work on, keep, customize, and take home. For true technological advance to occur, the computers must be personal to each learner. When used properly and well for education, these computers become extensions of the students' personal self and brain. They must have each student's stuff and each student's style all over them (in case you haven't noticed, kids love to customize and make technology personal)…”
Now the big question is how do we take this customization generation and apply the customization in our classrooms? The answer is quite simple: give students the opportunity to customize! From Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum, Jeff Utecht suggests allowing students to “choose their method of presentation, choose where they go to find their information, and choose to learn in a way that meets their needs.”
Teachers, if you want your students to be engaged in technology, you better make it customizable!
To learn more about customization, visit these resources:
http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt?page=2
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/customization-generation
Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum
#1. About Me
Greetings! My name is Miss Lydia Grote and teaching is my passion. I am currently a senior in the Teacher Education program at Iowa State University majoring in Elementary Education, with a minor in Educational Computing. My area of specialization is mathematics and I will be obtaining my Reading Endorsement directly after graduation in May of 2010. This coming Spring I will be student teaching in locations yet to be assigned.
Philosophy of Education:
I aim to bring high expectations, an open mind, and a positive attitude to my classroom each and every day. Students need a safe learning environment that fosters their exploration, experimentation and extension of concepts; this learning environment takes place in a student centered classroom where students are able to work both collaboratively and individually. My classroom will be an environment of openness and acceptance of each student’s strengths and weaknesses. I want to encourage all students to reach for their goals.
I believe all students deserve equal opportunities regardless of their race, socio economic status, gender, and ability. Not all students are going to grasp a concept with the same instruction and teaching method; I believe in using a variety of teaching styles and differentiating instruction to meet the ability levels and learning styles of all my students. Despite the students learning styles and ability levels, my expectations for each child will remain high. Through my variance in teaching styles and differentiating instruction, I hope to create self confident enthusiastic learners who are problem solvers and lifelong learners in their community.
Technology can and should be implemented in all classrooms regardless of grade level. Interactive technology enlivens the classroom and gets students involved. Students should have a hands-on experience with the educational technology and the learning should be student centered. All of the students in a classroom are not going to have the same expertise level when it comes to the different technologies and as a teacher my expertise level may be below some of the students. I will set up a classroom that allows students to teach students, students to teach the teacher, and teachers to teach the students. In my technology filled classroom, I am excited to be an expert in some areas of technology but most of all I am eager and enthusiastic to learn from my students’ expertise with technology.
Overall, I want to motivate students to want to learn. I want to ignite their fire to love to learn and help them become life long learners. I want to be the teacher who teaches the children to love learning because they know I love to teach.
With new education laws in effect, the rules and guidelines regulating the classroom, the teachers, and the students have changed tremendously. No Child Left Behind has put an emphasis on standardized testing and students achieving at close to the same level. With all of this said, I firmly believe the most important issue facing K-12 education in the next five years is the realization of ability levels and differentiating instruction to meet all students’ needs.
At Iowa State University, students in the teacher education program are not offered a course on classroom management. Classroom management is a key to a positive, learning experience for students in the classroom. With the lack of a course in classroom management my biggest challenge to my effectiveness as an educator would be creating an environment in my classroom where respect of one another and the teacher is foremost.
Philosophy of Education:
I aim to bring high expectations, an open mind, and a positive attitude to my classroom each and every day. Students need a safe learning environment that fosters their exploration, experimentation and extension of concepts; this learning environment takes place in a student centered classroom where students are able to work both collaboratively and individually. My classroom will be an environment of openness and acceptance of each student’s strengths and weaknesses. I want to encourage all students to reach for their goals.
I believe all students deserve equal opportunities regardless of their race, socio economic status, gender, and ability. Not all students are going to grasp a concept with the same instruction and teaching method; I believe in using a variety of teaching styles and differentiating instruction to meet the ability levels and learning styles of all my students. Despite the students learning styles and ability levels, my expectations for each child will remain high. Through my variance in teaching styles and differentiating instruction, I hope to create self confident enthusiastic learners who are problem solvers and lifelong learners in their community.
Technology can and should be implemented in all classrooms regardless of grade level. Interactive technology enlivens the classroom and gets students involved. Students should have a hands-on experience with the educational technology and the learning should be student centered. All of the students in a classroom are not going to have the same expertise level when it comes to the different technologies and as a teacher my expertise level may be below some of the students. I will set up a classroom that allows students to teach students, students to teach the teacher, and teachers to teach the students. In my technology filled classroom, I am excited to be an expert in some areas of technology but most of all I am eager and enthusiastic to learn from my students’ expertise with technology.
Overall, I want to motivate students to want to learn. I want to ignite their fire to love to learn and help them become life long learners. I want to be the teacher who teaches the children to love learning because they know I love to teach.
With new education laws in effect, the rules and guidelines regulating the classroom, the teachers, and the students have changed tremendously. No Child Left Behind has put an emphasis on standardized testing and students achieving at close to the same level. With all of this said, I firmly believe the most important issue facing K-12 education in the next five years is the realization of ability levels and differentiating instruction to meet all students’ needs.
At Iowa State University, students in the teacher education program are not offered a course on classroom management. Classroom management is a key to a positive, learning experience for students in the classroom. With the lack of a course in classroom management my biggest challenge to my effectiveness as an educator would be creating an environment in my classroom where respect of one another and the teacher is foremost.
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