Salon Five

This blog entry is in reference to Salon Five where we discussed the article "Are Free Tools Worth the Price" from Teaching and Leading with Technology, November, 2008, p. 8-9.

“Are Free Web Tools Worth the Price?” Yes. The benefits of free web 2.0 tools far outnumber any problems that may arise from using them. It is true that often there are glitches in the programs and the availability may not be reliable, however technology is so engaging for students that even a lesson that contains a technology tool gone array can be used as a great learning moment. It is a good way to model problem solving techniques to students. In my experience in the classroom when some technology isn’t working correctly, students are eager to jump in and help to resolve the problem. If the issue is beyond repair, students are understanding and willing to listen to your lead and learn via plan B.

The main argument in the article from Teaching and Learning with Technology against the use of free tools is that educators are burdened with having to rewrite curriculum accommodate the changing and availability of tools. As discussed in Salon Five, educators use technology tools to enhance curriculum and not as the main learning objective. As educators we know that there is always multiple ways to teach any given lesson and we should always be prepared to do so.

David Warlick lists about a dozen reasons why educators should “be the trailblazers of these tools”. The three that I feel are most relevant to me are relevance and audience. As I have gotten more comfortable with using various technologies in my classroom, I feel that students are more involved and excited about lessons that have technology then with those that do not. The reason for this is that technology is a big part of their everyday life, and they are eager to see how the tool connects with the topic they are studying.

I am currently working on a blogging project with my Geometry Honors class. I have done this same project in the past using journal notebooks, and I can definitely see an improvement in the students work on the blog. Having an authentic audience other then their teacher forces some students to put more effort into the assignment knowing that their peers and other teachers will be reviewing their work.

Educational Revolution

Reading this article kind of made me feel like I am in the inside loop reguarding changes that are expected to happen in education in the next 5 years. If it weren’t for TEAM I would not know about a lot of these technologies that the article referred to. This alone makes me skeptical that they will “significantly impact education over the next five years”. I don’t feel that enough people are fluent in these technologies that they will provide much of an impact. In TEAM we have explored the many uses for these tech tools and found that they can be adapted to many different field areas. So for me it is not a question of whether these technology tools are definitely powerful and CAN deeply effect teaching and education at all levels and curriculum areas, I just don’t feel that they will in this time period due to the readiness of educators to embrace them.

The Pythagorean what?

“Cognitive learning environments focus on helping students encode information meaningfully to long-term memory so that it can be easily retrieved.” Getting students to “retrieve” previously learned material has always been something that frustrates me. More so in the lower level classes, students can’t seem to remember concepts they have learned in previous years, semesters, and weeks! Math is a very cumulative topic, previous knowledge is almost always necessary to understanding new concepts that are taught. So, I am all for thinking of methods that I can use to help students store some math in their long-term memory so that next time I ask “what is the Pythagorean theorem?”, I will get something other than blank stares in return.
The first thing that came to mind is something I do constantly and that is Organize information so that learners can connect new information to existing knowledge. I usually start each class with a “Do Now” that is a question they have seen before and then build on it in the lesson to explain the new material. An idea I have always liked but never really made it a regular part of my routine is students can journal or blog about a new topic. They would have to summarize it or pretend they are writing a letter to a friend who was not in class the day of the lesson. Maybe encourage them to think about where/when they would use this new concept and maybe come up with a mnemonic (if possible) or method to remember a formula, definition, etc. Students can then read each others blogs and maybe get another view of the topic that might help them to remember it.
I think the idea of groupwork would also benefit students. If students had to explain how to solve a problem to another and talk about the process together I feel that they will better understand it. During a workshop last summer I learned about an ongoing project where everyday a student is selected from the class to type up the notes from that period. They would have to add to the notes explicit directions and explanations of everything that was discussed (applications, questions, steps, etc) and submit this for a grade. I thought this was a great idea but could only see it working well in an honors class. I think it might be a good idea for partner work in a regular or weaker class. Through student discussion and writing I think they might be more apt to listen and remember.

Workshop Week

I have been on a workshop marathon this week with one on the first, third and two this Saturday. Some have been more productive than others so it will be interesting to see what this Saturday brings.

Stress

The holiday season has arrived! I am feeling the stress of it all with the semester in TEAM winding down, shopping, curriculum...lots to do! Filling out the last online input and seeing all that is due in the upcoming weeks was scary.
As I was shopping this weekend online, I finally used googlecheckout I have been hearing about. It was pretty exciting in that it saved me $10, I have to play around with it some more to see if it will be as useful for future purchases.
I am excited to start dabbling with some website-creating in class this week. I remember doing some programing in college and feeling very confused and overwhelmed with it. But like most things we learn, I think it will make much more sense this time around!

Online class

I'm not sure how I felt about the online class. I definately feel like it was less productive, but that could just be b/c it was the first time and there were technical issues. Unproductive seems to be the theme of this weekend though! 3 days and I feel like I had less time to get done all of that end of the quarter stuff. I think all of this technology is great and fun to incorporate into the classroom, but at this point it definately is time consuming making smartboard lessons, updating class websites and grades...On a positive note, I saw Bon Jovi Saturday!

Workshops

I took part in 2 of the Marratech workshops this week and learned some basic CSS with Dreamweaver. I am looking forward to getting more involved with programming, it was a good taste of what is to come. I had some issues with Marratech however that I hope to figure out if it is my mic or my internet connection that was acting up.