I asked the very same question at the beginning of this journey and then I quickly came to realize how very beneficial it would be for my students just as it has been for me. In today's global world our students need to be able to thrive in a global community and therefore I feel that by providing them the tools and knowledge to do so in a safe and secure environment will better prepare them for the future.
Students of today are not interested in sitting in a traditional desk, staring at a traditional text book, writing with a traditional pencil. Why should they be? Why should they be expected to anyway? It isn't relevant to what is going on outside of the schoolhouse walls in the real world. Out there in the real world, adults (yes, that is you and me) use our devices or containers as they are referred to--to learn and collaborate with one another. We use our devices for everything from keeping up with appointments, to checking the weather, calculating figures, getting directions, watching how-to videos, reading our favorite books, communicating & collaborating with associates next door and/or on the other side of the world to accomplish a goal.
Technology in the classroom is more than a smartboard on the wall and a few desktops in the back of the room. Technology in the classroom is about letting students explore and utilize these programs and resources to expand their learning and their networks. Networks you ask, what are networks? While in this class, I have built a network of support amongst my classmates, we Tweet one another ideas about articles and websites that we have found that supplement each others studies and research. There is no way that one person can devote all of this time to research, I mean lets face it we live in a fast paced world these days and our young adolescents are not any different. I hear it all the time from parents; my 'Sally has dance four nights a week' or 'Tom has travel ball' when do you expect that he will have time for all this work? Well, if Sally and Tom has access to the kinds of technology that I am applying in my classroom and they build the networks that I have built with my classmates/colleagues then they can support one another on this learning journey and still have a life outside of school. SocialBookmarking sites allow students to pin items of shared interest for one another to view so that one person does not have to do all of the research, Twitter allows for people to tweet findings using a common hashtag# so that their followers can easily (immediatley see) what has been posted thus allowing quick review, and blogs are and good place for students to reflect on their work and to communicate with one another about what is going on in the classroom and thier studies (like I have done here.)
Blogging is going to be one of my personal favorites because I am an advocate for writing, but I know that every time I mention writing to my middle schoolers they moan and they groan. But, research shows that bloging has a different effect on middle schoolers. Blogging in the middle school, for some reason is not 'viewed' by middle schoolers as writing or reading, therefore, they will sit sometimes for an hour at a time reading post and responding(writing) to post. Cha-Ching!!! Reading and Writing!!! An english teachers dream come true, and without the moans and groans; where have you been all my life.
I have come to learn this week with my own child (she is 10, by the way, for all you elementary teachers/parents) that Twitter, Skype, Texting, ECT. is apperently cool. It is not reading and writing to her either. See, here is the thing. Every summer we pick a new thing to work, last summer it was journaling so anytime we were in the car she would write in her journal. The car seemed like the ideal place because you were confined to a space and what else are you going to do, so why not write. Well, this year she does not want to write, she did take several books with her on vacation and read going and coming....I am very proud of her for that, but she has decided she is going to be resistive to the 'lets pick something and work on it this summer plan.' So, me being the "You think you are smarter than me mom that I am" combined with the power of #RE5533 got the idea of my daughter could be my office assistant to which she was very receptive. So, everytime my phone ot iPad goes off that I have a message from Twitter, Skype, email, or text she runs, grabs it,
ask, "Can I read it mom?"
I reply, "Sure, you can read it." (to which under my breath I am secretly in my best synical laugh going gotcha!!)
She reads the message and then ask
"What do I say now?"
So, I help her construct an appropriate response.
Life is good! She is getting training in proper ettiquette for global communities, spelling practice, language arts review--sentence structure, and reading. All in a manner that is relevant to today's 21st century learning standards.
Students of today are not interested in sitting in a traditional desk, staring at a traditional text book, writing with a traditional pencil. Why should they be? Why should they be expected to anyway? It isn't relevant to what is going on outside of the schoolhouse walls in the real world. Out there in the real world, adults (yes, that is you and me) use our devices or containers as they are referred to--to learn and collaborate with one another. We use our devices for everything from keeping up with appointments, to checking the weather, calculating figures, getting directions, watching how-to videos, reading our favorite books, communicating & collaborating with associates next door and/or on the other side of the world to accomplish a goal.
Technology in the classroom is more than a smartboard on the wall and a few desktops in the back of the room. Technology in the classroom is about letting students explore and utilize these programs and resources to expand their learning and their networks. Networks you ask, what are networks? While in this class, I have built a network of support amongst my classmates, we Tweet one another ideas about articles and websites that we have found that supplement each others studies and research. There is no way that one person can devote all of this time to research, I mean lets face it we live in a fast paced world these days and our young adolescents are not any different. I hear it all the time from parents; my 'Sally has dance four nights a week' or 'Tom has travel ball' when do you expect that he will have time for all this work? Well, if Sally and Tom has access to the kinds of technology that I am applying in my classroom and they build the networks that I have built with my classmates/colleagues then they can support one another on this learning journey and still have a life outside of school. SocialBookmarking sites allow students to pin items of shared interest for one another to view so that one person does not have to do all of the research, Twitter allows for people to tweet findings using a common hashtag# so that their followers can easily (immediatley see) what has been posted thus allowing quick review, and blogs are and good place for students to reflect on their work and to communicate with one another about what is going on in the classroom and thier studies (like I have done here.)
Blogging is going to be one of my personal favorites because I am an advocate for writing, but I know that every time I mention writing to my middle schoolers they moan and they groan. But, research shows that bloging has a different effect on middle schoolers. Blogging in the middle school, for some reason is not 'viewed' by middle schoolers as writing or reading, therefore, they will sit sometimes for an hour at a time reading post and responding(writing) to post. Cha-Ching!!! Reading and Writing!!! An english teachers dream come true, and without the moans and groans; where have you been all my life.
I have come to learn this week with my own child (she is 10, by the way, for all you elementary teachers/parents) that Twitter, Skype, Texting, ECT. is apperently cool. It is not reading and writing to her either. See, here is the thing. Every summer we pick a new thing to work, last summer it was journaling so anytime we were in the car she would write in her journal. The car seemed like the ideal place because you were confined to a space and what else are you going to do, so why not write. Well, this year she does not want to write, she did take several books with her on vacation and read going and coming....I am very proud of her for that, but she has decided she is going to be resistive to the 'lets pick something and work on it this summer plan.' So, me being the "You think you are smarter than me mom that I am" combined with the power of #RE5533 got the idea of my daughter could be my office assistant to which she was very receptive. So, everytime my phone ot iPad goes off that I have a message from Twitter, Skype, email, or text she runs, grabs it,
ask, "Can I read it mom?"
I reply, "Sure, you can read it." (to which under my breath I am secretly in my best synical laugh going gotcha!!)
She reads the message and then ask
"What do I say now?"
So, I help her construct an appropriate response.
Life is good! She is getting training in proper ettiquette for global communities, spelling practice, language arts review--sentence structure, and reading. All in a manner that is relevant to today's 21st century learning standards.