I was excited to see that this week in class we would be completing a hands-on activity utilizing Microsoft Excel. While I find our weekly quizzes and reflections constructive, I am definitely more of a project/activity person. After reading this week’s chapter and exploring the resources in the course module, I opened the instructions for the Excel activity. For this assignment we were required to edit and add to a pre-created sample grade spreadsheet. This assignment was not too overwhelming for me, but a few of the later steps definitely required some online research to complete successfully.
The steps encompassing text/cell formatting and insertion of columns were “easy, peasy, lemon squeezy” (as my oh-so-goofy 2nd graders would say). Entering the Excel formulas for the Homework and Test averages was a bit more challenging, but I learned that Excel has a handy Formulas tab under which the formulas are organized by type and purpose. Once I discovered where these formula shortcuts were located, these steps went pretty smoothly. This was much easier than spending twenty minutes trying to guess what the formula should be, as I used to do (and by used to do, I mean as of a week ago…).
I learned how to perform two completely new tasks in Excel through this assignment: sorting data according to values and linking four workbooks dynamically. Sorting the data seemed easy enough, but I honestly had just never attempted it in Excel before. A simple Google search of how to sort data in Microsoft Excel 2007 gave me just the guidance I was looking for. Once again, there was a convenient Data tab under which the option to Sort was suitably located. Now, to the final step of the assignment: dynamic linking of spreadsheet data. Easy peasy lemon squeezy? Not so much this time. I spent quite a while looking through the program before I did yet another Google search. On top of the Microsoft tutorial, I found many helpful how-to posts by general users, and a step-by-step YouTube video. I was glad to know I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t mastered that skill yet! And people say Excel is old and outdated… hmph. I’ll bet they (A) never taught and (B) never tried to dynamically link workbooks together.
I really enjoyed this activity, and I am looking forward to more hands-on activities in the future. I could definitely use some improvement of my Excel skills, especially after my newfound discovery of the resources available to manipulate and organize the inputted data. My school district requires all teachers to use an online gradebook called ProgressBook. Not only does ProgressBook hold student grades, but teachers also input lesson plans, post assignments and homework, and do Progress Reports and Report Cards through this portal. I currently use Excel to track student homework completion, but after this assignment I feel like Excel allows the user to do so much more with the data than the online grade book does, and it is definitely more user friendly. I am currently organizing student reading data and response to interventions, and I think Excel and I will be great friends in this process :).
Alyssa
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Censorship: The Lesser of Two Evils
Henry Steele Commager put it perfectly, “The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.” This was true in Commager’s early 20th century lifetime, and it remains true today; however, nothing in life is ever that cut and dry. Censorship definitely has a dark side, as do most necessary evils, but I must say I can see both sides of the spectrum in terms of educational censorship. On one hand, in K-12 classrooms you are responsible for what students view, read, and interact with in every subject. When a student goes home and says they heard the F-word in a YouTube video they watched while researching a history assignment in class that responsibility falls back on the teacher and administration. On the other hand, if we do not teach students how to choose appropriate sites and research effectively, they will not be prepared to sort through the immense mounds of objectionable material catapulted at them each time they access the internet. Students will not learn to find the educational jewels if they never have to use caution and discretion to wade through the irrelevant (and often inappropriate) materials. But when do we start expecting students to self-censor materials? Certainly not in Kindergarten, and probably not even in 2nd grade… What about 5th grade? Must we wait until middle or high school? Do we eliminate all censorship in education or just that of the secondary students? Drawing a line for censorship can be even trickier than eliminating it all together.
One issue that must be addressed in regards to having no censorship in education is one that student safety. The limitation of student access to only trustworthy resources protects schools and districts not only from lawsuits but also from unwanted viruses and hackers. A student simply attempting to download a document from a seemingly valid resource can result in a file virus or even a worm, which can then affect other computers within the district’s network (Gunter 2010). Ideally, anti-virus software will protect schools from this danger, but I have personally gotten a virus while having this protective software, so a young student in the classroom is equally susceptible. Also, the text discusses several ways in which the Federal Government, school districts, and even a single classroom teacher can (and do) monitor student interaction with virtual content. These methods ranged from nation-wide filtering software geared around the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) to curriculum pages with prepared links to reviewed sites for student use to teacher observation of all student computer activity (Gunter 2010). While these methods appear to simply be providing students with effective sites and means of research, they are still censoring materials available to our youth. While some may make the argument that teachers are able to find suitable materials for their students, once the teacher limits students to those chosen suitable resources, it becomes just as much censorship as the government telling us YouTube is not safe for school use.
Now, we must cross over to the other side, the side taken by writers such as Joseph Janes in his journal article Censorship Gets Smart (2009). Janes regards the implementation of the CIPA as being “forced down our throats.” Something that must be dealt with rather than appreciated. While Janes paints an entertaining and pretty convincing picture of the misguided attempts to maintain the oh-so-pure character of our nation’s (and world’s) citizens through censorship, I cannot help but wonder if he has ever actually set foot into an elementary classroom as a teacher or felt the weight of being responsible for everything that goes into the eyes, ears, and minds of twenty children from 8 am until that bell rings at 3 o’clock. My guess is probably not. Beyond the fact that censorship is yet another means of controlling our thoughts and viewpoints, today’s students must be prepared to not only interact with people in a face to face manner, but also to network with children and adults around the globe through the internet. In order for these students to effectively communicate, learn, and conduct business in this flat world (Gunter 2010), these students must be exposed to the virtual world as it really is. We will not be helping them as educators to simply provide them with the silver lining on a pre constructed curriculum page and not teach them how to search for and find it through appropriate research and self-filtering of materials.
I think we are capable and creative enough as educators to teach our students how to effectively search and filter through materials to find relevant and thought-provoking resources without exposing them to every website out there. Even with the already established censorship in today’s schools, there are still inappropriate and un-educational websites that students must be taught to avoid or recognize as incredible. They will be exposed to the crap at one time or another, of that I am sure, but it does not have to be at school. We barely have enough time to teach and expand upon the required curriculum, let alone explain to little Johnny why Pretty Lady 1 was blowing a kiss to Handsome Gentleman 1 while holding hands with Pretty Lady 2… all while wearing barely any clothing and saying naughty words. That is something I do not have a strong desire to willingly expose my students to every time they type the word three in a search engine. I will however explain to them how the Three Stooges are not relevant to the three stages of a plant’s life cycle they are supposed to be researching. In that respect, I suppose I ultimately find myself in favor of censorship. After all, if we cannot say it is best to eliminate all censorship in each area of education, then we are all, in some way or another, in favor of a form of censorship.
Janes, J. (2009). Censorship Gets Smart. American Libraries, 40(11), 32. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database. Shelly, G. & Gunter, G & Gunter, R. (2010).
Teacher Discovering Computers Integrating technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. (6th Ed.) Cengage Learning
One issue that must be addressed in regards to having no censorship in education is one that student safety. The limitation of student access to only trustworthy resources protects schools and districts not only from lawsuits but also from unwanted viruses and hackers. A student simply attempting to download a document from a seemingly valid resource can result in a file virus or even a worm, which can then affect other computers within the district’s network (Gunter 2010). Ideally, anti-virus software will protect schools from this danger, but I have personally gotten a virus while having this protective software, so a young student in the classroom is equally susceptible. Also, the text discusses several ways in which the Federal Government, school districts, and even a single classroom teacher can (and do) monitor student interaction with virtual content. These methods ranged from nation-wide filtering software geared around the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) to curriculum pages with prepared links to reviewed sites for student use to teacher observation of all student computer activity (Gunter 2010). While these methods appear to simply be providing students with effective sites and means of research, they are still censoring materials available to our youth. While some may make the argument that teachers are able to find suitable materials for their students, once the teacher limits students to those chosen suitable resources, it becomes just as much censorship as the government telling us YouTube is not safe for school use.
Now, we must cross over to the other side, the side taken by writers such as Joseph Janes in his journal article Censorship Gets Smart (2009). Janes regards the implementation of the CIPA as being “forced down our throats.” Something that must be dealt with rather than appreciated. While Janes paints an entertaining and pretty convincing picture of the misguided attempts to maintain the oh-so-pure character of our nation’s (and world’s) citizens through censorship, I cannot help but wonder if he has ever actually set foot into an elementary classroom as a teacher or felt the weight of being responsible for everything that goes into the eyes, ears, and minds of twenty children from 8 am until that bell rings at 3 o’clock. My guess is probably not. Beyond the fact that censorship is yet another means of controlling our thoughts and viewpoints, today’s students must be prepared to not only interact with people in a face to face manner, but also to network with children and adults around the globe through the internet. In order for these students to effectively communicate, learn, and conduct business in this flat world (Gunter 2010), these students must be exposed to the virtual world as it really is. We will not be helping them as educators to simply provide them with the silver lining on a pre constructed curriculum page and not teach them how to search for and find it through appropriate research and self-filtering of materials.
I think we are capable and creative enough as educators to teach our students how to effectively search and filter through materials to find relevant and thought-provoking resources without exposing them to every website out there. Even with the already established censorship in today’s schools, there are still inappropriate and un-educational websites that students must be taught to avoid or recognize as incredible. They will be exposed to the crap at one time or another, of that I am sure, but it does not have to be at school. We barely have enough time to teach and expand upon the required curriculum, let alone explain to little Johnny why Pretty Lady 1 was blowing a kiss to Handsome Gentleman 1 while holding hands with Pretty Lady 2… all while wearing barely any clothing and saying naughty words. That is something I do not have a strong desire to willingly expose my students to every time they type the word three in a search engine. I will however explain to them how the Three Stooges are not relevant to the three stages of a plant’s life cycle they are supposed to be researching. In that respect, I suppose I ultimately find myself in favor of censorship. After all, if we cannot say it is best to eliminate all censorship in each area of education, then we are all, in some way or another, in favor of a form of censorship.
Janes, J. (2009). Censorship Gets Smart. American Libraries, 40(11), 32. Retrieved from Professional Development Collection database. Shelly, G. & Gunter, G & Gunter, R. (2010).
Teacher Discovering Computers Integrating technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. (6th Ed.) Cengage Learning
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Networked Student_Oh, the possibilities
While it is not always easy or convenient to effectively integrate technology into the classroom, it is a necessary task to prepare 21st century students of all ages for today’s globally networked society. Wendy Drexler’s portrayal of the “networked student” provided a window into the possibilities of teaching through “connectivism.” Drexler defines connectivism as a “theory stating that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties.” Though I am familiar with many different electronic portals through which learning may be facilitated, such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts, the coined term, connectivism, was still new to me. The reading provided an abundance of information on the resources available to through the internet, and this video clearly displayed not only how these resources can be utilized for education but how the virtual educational process can contribute to these resources (Gunter 2010).
I found the characteristics of how the networked student learns and communicates intriguing, but I also felt slightly overwhelmed. Every task seemed so seamlessly connected in the students’ learning experience, and every activity or post done with a specific purpose. As a teacher, my mind wandered to how I could ensure that each student is provided the same framework and starting tools going into this vast sea of valuable (and not so valuable) information without being there to actually teach them. How could I ensure that my students not only know how to type correctly and efficiently, but also that they are aware that a participatory website in which viewers may make modifications, such as Wikipedia, may not be deemed as credible though it may appear so (Gunter 2010)? It is no easy task, but with the proper training and practice, we can create 21st century virtual Jedi’s… and thus, successful citizens and leaders of the future.
Happily, as I watched the video a second time, the importance of the teacher’s role in connectivist teaching became clearer. Not only must the teacher instruct students how to search, but how to sift through the information for content that is credible and serves a purpose to the students. While student responsibility appears to be higher in this form of learning, it is not without scaffolding and support. It is just like with anything else in education, you must start by building a foundation of basic technology and internet skills, and then move to the networking and collaboration. This is where students delve deeper into discovery learning (Gunter 2010), not only by searching for their own material to add to their ever-growing virtual textbook, but also by exploring deeper into the topic at hand by visiting connected websites and blogs through site contained hyperlinks. Students must be taught that once they find a valuable information source, their exploring must not stop there. I feel learning has the most lasting impact when students initiate the search for knowledge themselves. Also, when the information is found out of genuine curiosity and interest, rather than forced retrieval of information, the students will take ownership of the resulting product. They can even go a step further in posting the resulting product for other students, or professionals, to view, comment on, or add to their own works in progress. Students are able to publish their own work and collaborate through the vast networks available online (Gunter 2010).
The many benefits of student driven virtual learning are apparent to me, but I still see one issue that must be addressed. What happens when students start giving the excuse, “My computer crashed last night, and my mom was working? I can’t complete my assignment.” I have already heard numerous accounts of students not completing typed work or assignments requiring internet due to computer malfunctions, and alternate assignments had to be given to satisfy student needs. Now, imagine if all assignments were not only on the computer, but each student’s assignment built on that of another student. They may require students to network with one another through a class blog or wiki, such as those available at ePals, or emailing pen pals in other states or countries, also available at ePals, which require full internet access (Gunter 2010). What would the alternate assignment be in this case; would there be one at all? Students could submit a written paper, I suppose, but then is the playing field still the same for each student? Perhaps, the day will come in which students are provided with the computers to take part in this virtual learning, and ideally we will have the technology support staff to accompany the disbursed technology ;) After all, technology is amazing, but it is not without flaws. We need to be sure as virtual education becomes less of a supplement and more of a requirement in today’s world that students are provided with consistent resources to partake in and succeed in the virtual classroom. I know one thing for certain, I would love the opportunity to teach in a paper-free environment and iron out all the kinks, especially in elementary school. We think students are creative and hard-working now? Imagine if they had the resources of the world wide web at their fingertips and assessment could be obtained through guided creative expression. The possibilities are endless, I know. Now just for the actual opportunity.
Shelly, G. & Gunter, G & Gunter, R. (2010). Teacher Discovering Computers Integrating technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. (6th Ed.) Cengage Learning
I found the characteristics of how the networked student learns and communicates intriguing, but I also felt slightly overwhelmed. Every task seemed so seamlessly connected in the students’ learning experience, and every activity or post done with a specific purpose. As a teacher, my mind wandered to how I could ensure that each student is provided the same framework and starting tools going into this vast sea of valuable (and not so valuable) information without being there to actually teach them. How could I ensure that my students not only know how to type correctly and efficiently, but also that they are aware that a participatory website in which viewers may make modifications, such as Wikipedia, may not be deemed as credible though it may appear so (Gunter 2010)? It is no easy task, but with the proper training and practice, we can create 21st century virtual Jedi’s… and thus, successful citizens and leaders of the future.
Happily, as I watched the video a second time, the importance of the teacher’s role in connectivist teaching became clearer. Not only must the teacher instruct students how to search, but how to sift through the information for content that is credible and serves a purpose to the students. While student responsibility appears to be higher in this form of learning, it is not without scaffolding and support. It is just like with anything else in education, you must start by building a foundation of basic technology and internet skills, and then move to the networking and collaboration. This is where students delve deeper into discovery learning (Gunter 2010), not only by searching for their own material to add to their ever-growing virtual textbook, but also by exploring deeper into the topic at hand by visiting connected websites and blogs through site contained hyperlinks. Students must be taught that once they find a valuable information source, their exploring must not stop there. I feel learning has the most lasting impact when students initiate the search for knowledge themselves. Also, when the information is found out of genuine curiosity and interest, rather than forced retrieval of information, the students will take ownership of the resulting product. They can even go a step further in posting the resulting product for other students, or professionals, to view, comment on, or add to their own works in progress. Students are able to publish their own work and collaborate through the vast networks available online (Gunter 2010).
The many benefits of student driven virtual learning are apparent to me, but I still see one issue that must be addressed. What happens when students start giving the excuse, “My computer crashed last night, and my mom was working? I can’t complete my assignment.” I have already heard numerous accounts of students not completing typed work or assignments requiring internet due to computer malfunctions, and alternate assignments had to be given to satisfy student needs. Now, imagine if all assignments were not only on the computer, but each student’s assignment built on that of another student. They may require students to network with one another through a class blog or wiki, such as those available at ePals, or emailing pen pals in other states or countries, also available at ePals, which require full internet access (Gunter 2010). What would the alternate assignment be in this case; would there be one at all? Students could submit a written paper, I suppose, but then is the playing field still the same for each student? Perhaps, the day will come in which students are provided with the computers to take part in this virtual learning, and ideally we will have the technology support staff to accompany the disbursed technology ;) After all, technology is amazing, but it is not without flaws. We need to be sure as virtual education becomes less of a supplement and more of a requirement in today’s world that students are provided with consistent resources to partake in and succeed in the virtual classroom. I know one thing for certain, I would love the opportunity to teach in a paper-free environment and iron out all the kinks, especially in elementary school. We think students are creative and hard-working now? Imagine if they had the resources of the world wide web at their fingertips and assessment could be obtained through guided creative expression. The possibilities are endless, I know. Now just for the actual opportunity.
Shelly, G. & Gunter, G & Gunter, R. (2010). Teacher Discovering Computers Integrating technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. (6th Ed.) Cengage Learning
Friday, September 10, 2010
Activity Reflection 1_Searching with a Purpose
Googol: noun. A cardinal number represented as 1 followed by 100 zeros (ten raised to the power of a hundred) (http://www.definitions.net/definition/googol).
That is A LOT of zeroes, and an equally overwhelming amount of search results to wade through. While I am an avid Google user on an everyday basis, when it comes to finding a reading lesson focusing on main idea, I dread the mounds of virtual “crap” I undoubtedly must sort through to find a single quality educational resource I can use in my classroom. I would visit the returned sites and weed them out one by one, until finally I would be able to find a reputable teacher’s web page or a site created by experts in the field. But then another search begins! I must then search through the site to find the most relevant and applicable lesson or activity for my classroom purposes. After all, just because the activity had the words “main idea” peppered within its description does not mean it is age appropriate or meeting the intended standards. We spend more time as educators sifting through the irrelevant information than actually delving deeper into a truly well-crafted and useful resource.
As a new teacher, researching more effective educational search tools and resource pages is a helpful and time-saving task (ironic in that it takes quite a bit of time to do thoroughly). While I found several applicable resources, a few that really stuck out to me were Education World (www.education-world.com), FirstGov for Kids (kids.gov), and Learning Page (learningpage.com). Each of these sites offers an efficient means of searching for ready to use classroom resources readily organized into a variety of subject areas. While Education World offers student activity and lesson ideas, it also has a section dedicated to Technology Integration, School Issues, and Professional Development. This site is geared toward the teacher building her own lesson, whereas FirstGov offers resources for building lessons, but also provides ready to use activities. At FirstGov, teachers, students, and parents are able to search by subject area for interactive educational activities. Many of the activities on this site are online, so students can extend their learning beyond the school day, a continuous goal for many teachers. FirstGov also has a page linking to each state’s website, which I found spectacular, partly because geography is an easily ignored topic nowadays, and partly because I secretly love well-organized and visually pleasing educational information. What teacher doesn’t dream of a list of educator-reviewed resources with a to-the-point summary of each one’s academic value and a listed source for the activity… in alphabetical order OR sorted by subject? I can’t think of a single one.
Clearly, FirstGov is extremely well-organized, as is my final favorite site, Learning Page. This site is not geared toward students, but educators, in that it offers resources to accompany your lesson plans such as work sheets and ready-made educational packs. Many schools do team lesson plans, in which each teacher on the grade level shares the same lesson plan. While it is convenient, it is unrealistic to believe that the students in every class have the same needs and learning interests. This is where sites such as Learning Page come in to play. Teachers are able to search by the topic of their lesson, and they can then choose any supplemental pages they would like to add to their lesson in order to differentiate for their students. The fantastic thing is that this is also a free site, and registered members are able to download mini books and vocabulary books for use in their classroom. You can never get enough books, and this is a great way to choose books based on your students’ levels and send them home for students to utilize. I know many of my students do not have access to books at home, so these books would be a great weekly giveaway in my classroom.
Another great resource is Renzulli Learning, and while it is not free, I thought it was worth mentioning. Renzulli is not only an educational search engine, but a differentiated search engine. Each student must complete a learning profile when they first log in, but then when students search for a topic, it returns results geared toward their learning interests. Teachers are also able to go in, search for activities by topic or standard, and assign activities to specific students or groups of students based on their interests. With differentiation being such a hot word in education right now, this has been a necessary resource for attempting to integrate more individualized technology into the classroom. There are numerous quality resources available to educators, but we must put in the time to search through them intitially. Once we bookmark the sites offering the most consistent and well-organized educational resources, we can simply return to those proven sites for a much more directed and less time-consuming search. I can officially say that my Favorites list has grown by at least five these past couple days, and I'm a better person (at least a better educator/resource searcher) for it. Happy searching!
That is A LOT of zeroes, and an equally overwhelming amount of search results to wade through. While I am an avid Google user on an everyday basis, when it comes to finding a reading lesson focusing on main idea, I dread the mounds of virtual “crap” I undoubtedly must sort through to find a single quality educational resource I can use in my classroom. I would visit the returned sites and weed them out one by one, until finally I would be able to find a reputable teacher’s web page or a site created by experts in the field. But then another search begins! I must then search through the site to find the most relevant and applicable lesson or activity for my classroom purposes. After all, just because the activity had the words “main idea” peppered within its description does not mean it is age appropriate or meeting the intended standards. We spend more time as educators sifting through the irrelevant information than actually delving deeper into a truly well-crafted and useful resource.
As a new teacher, researching more effective educational search tools and resource pages is a helpful and time-saving task (ironic in that it takes quite a bit of time to do thoroughly). While I found several applicable resources, a few that really stuck out to me were Education World (www.education-world.com), FirstGov for Kids (kids.gov), and Learning Page (learningpage.com). Each of these sites offers an efficient means of searching for ready to use classroom resources readily organized into a variety of subject areas. While Education World offers student activity and lesson ideas, it also has a section dedicated to Technology Integration, School Issues, and Professional Development. This site is geared toward the teacher building her own lesson, whereas FirstGov offers resources for building lessons, but also provides ready to use activities. At FirstGov, teachers, students, and parents are able to search by subject area for interactive educational activities. Many of the activities on this site are online, so students can extend their learning beyond the school day, a continuous goal for many teachers. FirstGov also has a page linking to each state’s website, which I found spectacular, partly because geography is an easily ignored topic nowadays, and partly because I secretly love well-organized and visually pleasing educational information. What teacher doesn’t dream of a list of educator-reviewed resources with a to-the-point summary of each one’s academic value and a listed source for the activity… in alphabetical order OR sorted by subject? I can’t think of a single one.
Clearly, FirstGov is extremely well-organized, as is my final favorite site, Learning Page. This site is not geared toward students, but educators, in that it offers resources to accompany your lesson plans such as work sheets and ready-made educational packs. Many schools do team lesson plans, in which each teacher on the grade level shares the same lesson plan. While it is convenient, it is unrealistic to believe that the students in every class have the same needs and learning interests. This is where sites such as Learning Page come in to play. Teachers are able to search by the topic of their lesson, and they can then choose any supplemental pages they would like to add to their lesson in order to differentiate for their students. The fantastic thing is that this is also a free site, and registered members are able to download mini books and vocabulary books for use in their classroom. You can never get enough books, and this is a great way to choose books based on your students’ levels and send them home for students to utilize. I know many of my students do not have access to books at home, so these books would be a great weekly giveaway in my classroom.
Another great resource is Renzulli Learning, and while it is not free, I thought it was worth mentioning. Renzulli is not only an educational search engine, but a differentiated search engine. Each student must complete a learning profile when they first log in, but then when students search for a topic, it returns results geared toward their learning interests. Teachers are also able to go in, search for activities by topic or standard, and assign activities to specific students or groups of students based on their interests. With differentiation being such a hot word in education right now, this has been a necessary resource for attempting to integrate more individualized technology into the classroom. There are numerous quality resources available to educators, but we must put in the time to search through them intitially. Once we bookmark the sites offering the most consistent and well-organized educational resources, we can simply return to those proven sites for a much more directed and less time-consuming search. I can officially say that my Favorites list has grown by at least five these past couple days, and I'm a better person (at least a better educator/resource searcher) for it. Happy searching!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Quality or Convenience?
Just as the Sunshine State Standards do not remain an unwavering set of expectations students must meet, nor do the needs and learning preferences of students remain a constant in education. Just this past year, the Sunshine State Standards for both Math and Science were updated, and the curriculum teachers delivered followed suit. After all, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) would be assessing the students on these very standards, and here in Florida, we teach to this test, whether you like it or not. The FCAT determines every public school grade throughout the state of Florida, not only representing school quality, but clearly indicating each student’s mastery of necessary skills and preparedness for future success. Right? I disagree. This may have rung true 20, even 15, years ago, but in today’s world, we house a different type of student, the digital student. The annual paper-pencil test is no longer enough to evaluate a student’s ability to succeed in the 21st century.
Not only do digital students require a different skill set to succeed in today’s world, but they come in with a different skill set and areas of interest. Digital students often come in the classroom having been predisposed to personal computers, electronic handheld devices, and video game consoles (Gunter 2010). Fifteen years ago, these technologies were not nearly as commonplace as they are today, and they certainly did not play a major role in the molding of children. Today, we as educators cannot expect students to walk in the classroom and simply “turn off” every interest and mode of entertainment they are engulfed in daily. Yet, in our 90 minute Reading block and 60 minute Math block, the curriculum is expected to be followed with fidelity. Often times this does not include an area of technological integration. We may not veer from that curriculum because our children are “high need” and from a low income school, and we must ensure they are successful… or at least make them pass the FCAT. But what will happen once the FCAT is over, once they are out of school, once they must compete with other more privileged students in the real world? At most low-income schools, the students will not stand a chance. While they will be skilled test takers and able to bubble in answers on a scantron, will they be able to effectively navigate the internet and locate credible resources? Will they be able to communicate in this “flat world” with others across the globe through email, blogs, and wikis (Gunter 2010)? They will not be prepared to succeed if we do not get them ready.
“Integration” is a hot word in education, and it is a necessary element for teachers to successfully prepare today’s digital students for success in an even more elaborate and ever changing digital society. For example, not all public schools have a Technology Committee working side by side with them to evaluate their technology usage in the schools and how well their students are prepared for today’s digital world (Gunter 2010). The technology committee at my school consisted of me and about five other teachers, none of which had extensive experience with educational technology integration or the National Educational Technology Standards. Our job was to determine what should be on the school website, not what the most effective means of technology integration were for the insured success of our students. The example provided in the reading was the polar opposite. The technology committee in the reading seems ideal, in that educational professionals, parents, and students comprise it, and there is a set goal and detailed technology plan (Gunter 2010). This would seem the most effective collection for a successful technology committee.
Utilizing educational technology to appeal to digital students in a high-need, high-structure school can be a bit more of a challenge. Rather than putting a data question in front of students during the Math block, and expecting them to work it out with paper and pencil (because that is what they will do on the FCAT), teachers could ideally help students increase their data literacy through digital media. Simply having students interact with the data through an online game would be a simple method of technology integration, but not even the requirement of digital supplements seems to be made a requirement. Unfortunately, if something is not made a requirement in the school setting, it often gets dismissed as unimportant and arbitrary. There are so many websites and software programs available to supplement the necessary curriculum, but there simply is not the time or freedom to implement these relevant and engaging resources. Unfortunately, no matter how determined a teacher is to appeal to her students through technology and digital media, administration and the school district must share this same commitment and set of priorities for the initiative to be successful. On the same note, adequate support must be provided to make this integration not only successful, but meaningful.
Finally, while many students may bring cell phones, PDAs, and even lap tops to school daily, what about those students who do not have the means to do so? How are we able to level the playing field? These same students are the ones who are receiving the limited curriculum, and while providing class materials and activities through online portals or mobile devices is a phenomenal advancement, what do teachers do about those students who do not have the hardware to participate? They cannot just be left behind to drown in the mediocrity of yesterday, and then held to the same standard as the students flooded with digital tools and technology enriched educational experiences. I believe the first step to truly preparing our digital kids for the “flat world” is making sure each student receives the same tools to succeed. Whether this means media literacy, data literacy, and an understanding of digital media as a whole must be added to the FCAT in order for it to be consistently taught, I am not sure. But one thing is certain: our priorities must change (Gunter 2010).
Not only do digital students require a different skill set to succeed in today’s world, but they come in with a different skill set and areas of interest. Digital students often come in the classroom having been predisposed to personal computers, electronic handheld devices, and video game consoles (Gunter 2010). Fifteen years ago, these technologies were not nearly as commonplace as they are today, and they certainly did not play a major role in the molding of children. Today, we as educators cannot expect students to walk in the classroom and simply “turn off” every interest and mode of entertainment they are engulfed in daily. Yet, in our 90 minute Reading block and 60 minute Math block, the curriculum is expected to be followed with fidelity. Often times this does not include an area of technological integration. We may not veer from that curriculum because our children are “high need” and from a low income school, and we must ensure they are successful… or at least make them pass the FCAT. But what will happen once the FCAT is over, once they are out of school, once they must compete with other more privileged students in the real world? At most low-income schools, the students will not stand a chance. While they will be skilled test takers and able to bubble in answers on a scantron, will they be able to effectively navigate the internet and locate credible resources? Will they be able to communicate in this “flat world” with others across the globe through email, blogs, and wikis (Gunter 2010)? They will not be prepared to succeed if we do not get them ready.
“Integration” is a hot word in education, and it is a necessary element for teachers to successfully prepare today’s digital students for success in an even more elaborate and ever changing digital society. For example, not all public schools have a Technology Committee working side by side with them to evaluate their technology usage in the schools and how well their students are prepared for today’s digital world (Gunter 2010). The technology committee at my school consisted of me and about five other teachers, none of which had extensive experience with educational technology integration or the National Educational Technology Standards. Our job was to determine what should be on the school website, not what the most effective means of technology integration were for the insured success of our students. The example provided in the reading was the polar opposite. The technology committee in the reading seems ideal, in that educational professionals, parents, and students comprise it, and there is a set goal and detailed technology plan (Gunter 2010). This would seem the most effective collection for a successful technology committee.
Utilizing educational technology to appeal to digital students in a high-need, high-structure school can be a bit more of a challenge. Rather than putting a data question in front of students during the Math block, and expecting them to work it out with paper and pencil (because that is what they will do on the FCAT), teachers could ideally help students increase their data literacy through digital media. Simply having students interact with the data through an online game would be a simple method of technology integration, but not even the requirement of digital supplements seems to be made a requirement. Unfortunately, if something is not made a requirement in the school setting, it often gets dismissed as unimportant and arbitrary. There are so many websites and software programs available to supplement the necessary curriculum, but there simply is not the time or freedom to implement these relevant and engaging resources. Unfortunately, no matter how determined a teacher is to appeal to her students through technology and digital media, administration and the school district must share this same commitment and set of priorities for the initiative to be successful. On the same note, adequate support must be provided to make this integration not only successful, but meaningful.
Finally, while many students may bring cell phones, PDAs, and even lap tops to school daily, what about those students who do not have the means to do so? How are we able to level the playing field? These same students are the ones who are receiving the limited curriculum, and while providing class materials and activities through online portals or mobile devices is a phenomenal advancement, what do teachers do about those students who do not have the hardware to participate? They cannot just be left behind to drown in the mediocrity of yesterday, and then held to the same standard as the students flooded with digital tools and technology enriched educational experiences. I believe the first step to truly preparing our digital kids for the “flat world” is making sure each student receives the same tools to succeed. Whether this means media literacy, data literacy, and an understanding of digital media as a whole must be added to the FCAT in order for it to be consistently taught, I am not sure. But one thing is certain: our priorities must change (Gunter 2010).
Shelly, G. & Gunter, G & Gunter, R. (2010). Teacher Discovering Computers Integrating technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. (6th Ed.) Cengage Learning
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