listenup

Technology

Administrator — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 15:53:13 +0000

Technology in the classroom will be one area I plan on keeping updated. As a social studies major I believe that the globalization of the classroom will only improve the students capacity to learn. With the many different programs available to the teachers such as “web-quest” and Trackstar I definitely see these as an improvement to my curriculum. I found many helpful and easy ways to integrate this into lesson plans as I am currently enrolled in SST for elementary teaching.
I did visit my local MAISD office on line but could not find any seminars on integrating technology into the classroom, this system I hope is just not operating today. In today’s world of technology I believe that teaching social studies will only be greatly improved by the opportunities of communication the internet affords both the student and teachers. I know I will use many of the virtual field trips and will integrate the programs available through the many different museum sites.
One very simple way to keep abreast on new technology in the classroom is to use your Google alert to send articles to your e-mail. This will help to see what new technology is available and will also give you reviews from people that have used many of the new programs.

Evaluating websites

Administrator — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 14:29:14 +0000

This web sit on MLK is a web site that shows you how untrue information is easily available on the web and how important it is to teach our children how to evaluate the information. If you look to see who is sponsoring this web site you will find that the name is Stormfront and is a white nationalist community. If you Google MLK you will find this website on page one number six with the information stating “The truth about Martin Luther King: Includes historical trivia, articles and pictures. A valuable resource for teachers and students alike”. If you Google the URL you will find a different definition “Attacking Dr. King as a corrupt communist, under the control of a Marxist Jewish conspiracy. As teachers we should be aware and ready to teach our children the importance of evaluating information not only from websites, but form books, newspapers, and other forms of media.

A better way to learn

Administrator — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 19:42:23 +0000

I defiantly believe that there are many ways to teach or convey information to students to help in their learning process. Unfortunately my own background in learning was that of the 1960’s which dealt mainly with ingestion of information from a teacher and rote learning, but never really understanding how to process the information I had acquired. I see the constructivist point of view as that of learning how and where to acquire information, evaluating that information and leaning how to use the information in more than one area of study.
With all the information that is now available to students via web access I believe that students must learn to question the validity of that information and learn to decipher what is most valuable to the student.
I have been able to see the results of constructivist teaching in a classroom environment and believe that this style tremendously helps students acquire, process, and summarize the task at hand. There are many different lesson plans available for teachers to develop this type of learning. One that I particularly like is called “jigsaw learning”. This plan is designed for the students to become the experts on a particular subject once they have completed their investigation (from sources that the teachers has helped to provide) the students present to smaller groups of students their knowledge and also receive new information that the other expert group has acquired.
While on web quest this week I found another helpful program that I would definitely use to help my student develop their investigative skills. http://php.indiana.edu/~kdharper/introduction.htm
This is a great program for learning in a constructivist style with dividing into groups and letting the children present the information they have developed. I believe that people who criticize the constructivist view of learning think that the teacher is not helping to build on the information that is be taught. This is in my opinion completely wrong. I believe that the teacher must put more time and energy in to preparing and helping to analyze the information that the students are receiving and in turn the students develop a critical step in processing and storing the information and also learn how to cross-reference this information when need for different situations that arise.

On-line Learning

Administrator — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 19:08:34 +0000

This class has been quite an eye-opener for me on how little I know about the “web world”. I must say though by taking this class on-line versus in-class I learned over and over again how to do many things I may have just had help with if I could have asked an instructor. One area I found to be most helpful is learning to communicate on-line. I have never enjoyed writing I would much perfer to talk live. This class has made me participate in classroom discussions I most likely would not have. I am not hundred percent sure I would take an on-line class where I was not comfortable with the material I was going to learn. I find that I spend quite a bit of time searching for information and then I still have to put it all together. I believe this class takes me as much time on-line as it would have in class, probably longer because I do not have a total grasp of the computer as of yet. I definately feel this type of learning is only going to improve my skills as an educator for both my students and myself.

Software and priority in learning

Administrator — Sat, 08 Oct 2005 00:12:45 +0000

How do we decide what is most important when trying to teach children software applications? I would have to say the most important software that young children should be taught is word processing. These programs most likely will be used daily in the life of a student. But, to say that this is the number one program to be taught is unfair to many students who are mathematically inclined. But by the fact that we must list them in order of importance I guess I will have to say what programs I find most useful. That would mean under no circumstances would excel ever make my list.
Second on my list would definitely be power point. This program may be used in many different classroom settings from social studies to theater. Presentations in schools are a must for all students these days. Children in grades as early as 2nd are working on group activities. Power point can help students become much more organized in the presentation of their materials.
Okay, I am backing off on my early statement about excel. I think this program should be taught to students, but because it is more difficult to teach and learn I believe it should not be taught until children have a pretty good grasp of mathematics. So, perhaps we are looking more towards middle school students.
Although I am not to familiar with imaging software or video editing I believe that most students love to work with cameras and anything that can make their presentations unique will be important to them. These programs I believe will become a necessity in the future and most children will enjoy working with them once they have a understanding of basic software programs

Children and Tragedy

Administrator — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 20:43:44 +0000

I believe that teachers should definitely discuss issues such as these with their students. If there are open lines of communication at school this will help to improve lines of communication at home. If we are unwilling to deal with situations like these in the classroom where will students learn cope with problems such as these. There are many places to look for help such as community health centers, on-line information is also available, and most schools are also set up to have counselors on site when such tragedies as students dying. As a social studies major I feel situations such as Katrina give teachers an opportunity to discuss how we as citizens can help people in need. Although you must be concerned with what information you discuss with different age groups I believe that all ages of children an understand the need and want to help. Last weekend I helped a class of 2nd grade students with a car wash to raise money for families that were affected by Katrina. Although they did not know the families they still felt a sense of community.

Hello world!

Administrator — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 18:44:09 +0000

Welcome to lindenba at Blogsome. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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