bianca

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Harel, I. (2003). Sand castles go digital. Retrieved August 4, 2006 at:
http://www.mamamedia.com/areas/grownups/new/21_learning/sand_castles.html

I read the article “sand castles go digital” by Idit Harel, which outlines the idea of constructivism. This I found such an interesting and valid theory, especially for primary school children. During the first years of primary school, gaining children’s enthusiastic and concentration can often be the most challenging aspect of teaching. Harel points out that,” children learn best when they are in the active roles of designer and constructor”. Allowing children to take charge and play an active role in their learning, they will become excited and see the relevance of learning experiences. Even more so children will remember the activities and new knowledge. If children are active learners and are able to become lost in the activity and forget they are learning, then constructivism is taking its tole. I love the example that Idit gives of children playing with sandcastles and making a learning experience at the same time. This can be achieved in the classroom too, by allowing children to become engaged in learning tasks by giving them a role and opportunity to make discussions, explore, create and discover. However unlike sandcastles being washed away and forgotten, Idit reminds the reader that children can publish their work on line for the world to enjoy. “The Net, for example, offers a wide-open learning environment in which children can explore the world, express themselves, save their creations, revise and refine them over time and exchange ideas in ways that were simply not possible in the past” I really enjoy the idea that through constructiveness children can learn and play at the same time, making education seem so much more appealing and relevant to young children. I can remember as a child that if I were told to sit down and listen, as soon as I walked out of the classroom, I would forget what was said. If I had the opportunity to make choices, discover and explore learning I would remember it for sure.

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i think that Alissa raises an exceptional point, that technology is so challenging and can lead to so many frustrations and yet teachers are expected to teach children to engage in it. however, after prac and doing various subjects in e-learning, i have become very motivated to try and include technology in my classroom. yes we may loose work or not be able to master particular skills but isn’t that with everything. when learning to ride a bike u fall off, graze your knee or even brake a few bones but we always get back on and practice. when learning to drive, you start slow, stall or even crash but most people can now drive. its exactly the same as technology!!! you make mistakes, loose your work or spend a long time on one area but with time and practice u will become an expert. unlike a bike or car, computers don’t brake or fall apart…. there is room for errors. i do know how frustrating it can be loosing assignments and work because my partner and i lost how whole LAMS task and had to redo the entire thing. looking back i wanted to smash the computer up, but now that we have redone the task i have got back on the cyber bicycle.

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i just read Una`s post “Sunny’s blog post A Vision of K-12 Students Today”  i found what she wrote very intresting. I think that it is true that students of today are asking to be engaged and want to be motivated with new challenging iddeas. the blog shows how the internet can engage children and help them learn effectively because children are engaged. Una makes a valid point that todays children no longer want to be fed information but would rather discover them for themselves.

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i recommend watching this video to get a feel for how easy it is to integrate technology into the classroom. this video from youtube is one that also helps us understand exactly how technology has changed oner time. it outlines how 20 years ago we only had pens and paper and the rest of society was comfortable with that. what about if we fast forward our lives to 20 years in the future, what technologies would have evolved then. will our societythen besaying well we were comfortable with only computers. no matter if we move with the times or try and ignore new technological advances, changes are still going to occur whether we like it or not. if we are going to be educators then we must prepare our students for life outside school. if start school this year then they will be graduating in the year 2021, which is a very very long time where so much can happen. so if teachers are still not bringing children up to speed with new technology from the last 20 years then just how lost are they going to be when they graduate? It would be incorrect of us to say that we are trying our best. the video simply urges us to aim to integrate technology into primary school, not to let it take over the traditional literracy methods but rather allow it to be a part of it. for example to improve students creative writing structure or essay format, students could write it on the computer and publish it on edublogs for other teachers and students to critique it. of course children need the knowledge of all the KlAs but its a matter of incorporating new teaching methods that can prepare students for this moving technological age. the children within the video do a spider project using movie maker, this is an excellent example of how to engage children using technology but also learning at the same time.

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Maddux, C.D., Johnson, D.L., & Willis, J.W. (1997). Educational Computing: Learning With Tomorrow’s Technology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon

click on the link to be intrigued:

http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/cnc.html

i read this article “building on technologies promise” and was blown away on how useful and informative it was. i could not believe how interesting it was and how easy it made technology sound. one excellent benefit of computers is that “Students can work through a computer-based activity at their own pace. Rather than 25 individuals working together on one activity, technology allows independent completion of work. Those who begin to fall behind can receive an instructor’s individualized attention while others can begin to tackle more complex tasks” This in turn allows teachers to develop new classroom management strategies of challenging the highly intelligent students whist working with the struggling ones. computer software can provide opportunities for students to become independent learners and give their work a touch of their own. for example they may add personal photos or a voice over for an English narrative. students can even add color, motion pictures and comments to spruce up their work. Another incredible point made by the article is that “Students can build on their own understanding by using computers as resource tools, as work stations for individual learning, or as communication channels to share their ideas with other learners“. children can develop and discover answers to their personal queries and form interest groups by connecting with sites such as edublogs, wikki spaces and hound bite. here children can be children and find out answers to their educational questions and have fun socializing at the same time. this article is quite long but i asure you, that once you start reading you will be so intrigued and excited to start your own technological based classroom. i know i was. i really recommend reading this article as it puts a new light on using computers in the classroom.

After prac i decided to read what other bloggers were up to. i stumbled across Joannes blog about the three X. i was really inspired by the idea that echnology allows children to grow and succeed. “that they can “grow and succeed” in today’s world – eXploring, eXpressing and eXchanging”. personally i think that these two words are really what sums up what technology is about in todays society. wthout teachers embracing and expanding childrens creativity with technology the truth of the matter is that they will not be able to succeed.if i think about all the jobs that use technology it comes to the conclusion that the only job that doesnt use technology is a street sweeper. therefor what future are we providing for our students. simply a dismil one at that. introducing students to technology allows them to not turn out like some of us who are tecnophobic. it allows them to have endless oppotunities as well as discover themselves. some students may find that their talent is computing and if teachers do not introduce technology how is a student to discover this talent. there for i think that joannes blog was very insighful in providing me with an overall summery of technology- it provides students with the skills and talent to grow and succeed.

After starting prac, i have come to realise that technology in schools is very common. i am teaching a kindergarten class an was shocked to see how much they know. on thursday, my class was taken into the computer labs where the students were asked to log on and open up paint. from there students used all the tools and created a picture of their choice. it was not the fact that they could use the tools but the fact that many of them were not afraid to experiement and persist on the computers. children are so different to adults as it would seem that they are not afraid of technology but merely embracing it. they were quite happy to try new things and if they made a mistake they were not afraid. this was 5 year olds using technology and having fun. if 5 year olds are not scared, then why are teachers so afraid??? i observed my teacher during this lesson and if there were tools that she hadnt quite worked out, she would avoid using the tool or got another students to show her how to use it. i think that teachers should take on the attitude of these kindergartens and just TRY!! There is nothing wrong with making a mistake.

one thing i did notice was that after students had drawn their paintings they didnt even save their pictures but merely logged off the computer and that was the end of the lesson. So it was if the lesson didnt even happen. this disturbed me as there is so much technology available to help celebrate students work. i think it would have been an excellent idea if they published their pictures on edyblogs or wikki space, rather than simply loosing their work with no one to view and celebrate it.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?l=cc&q=+children+audience&m=text

Harris, J. (2002). Wherefore art though, telecollaboration? Learning and Leading with Technology, 29(6), 54-63.

The reading “Wherefore art thou, telecollaboration” By Judi Harris, speaks exactly of what i am interested. technology providing children with a a voice and communication with the rest of the world. Judi explain the many ways that technology connect children and helps them to learn collaboratly. these examples include:

Interpersonal exchange- are those activities “in which individuals talk electronically with other individuals, individuals talk with groups or groups talk with other groups. Interpersonal Exchanges include: key-pals, global classrooms, electronic appearances, telementoring, question-and answer activities“ (Harris, 1998, p. 18).

Information collection and analysis:  which “involve students collecting, compiling, and comparing different types of interesting information” eg  information exhanges, database creation, electronic publishing” (Harris, 1998, p. 18).

Problem solving: “activities that promote critical thinking, collaboration and problem based learning. Problem Solving structures include: information searches, peer feedback activities, parallel problem solving, sequential problem solving, and social action projects.” (Harris, 1998, p. 18).

i think that these examples are excellent ways in which teachers can incorporate computers into the classroom, to help set up communication between students and the rest of the world. At the beginning of the reading, the article explains that 75% of teachers believe that technology is valuable in education. however only 35% of teachers use it in their classroom.of course we all have our own personal reasons such as computer illiterate, time , unreliable computers, lack of computers ect. but this is no time to make excuses, as there are so many fascinating and exciting activities that teachers can involve students and help celebrate students work.  Judi expresses that teachers that use computers to allow students to get in touch with the world, are the ones that engage students straight away. students get tired of always having the same audience, same peers to express ideas and same people to critique their work. give children variety and use some of the examples  above, allow them to have a different set of people every day. yes that sounds hard, but with technology all you have to do is log on and there’s a whole world waiting to discover what children have to offer.

i read the observations that shalena made about the reading “How to use Podcasts at Your School”, i totally agree with her view that the opportunities that podcasting offers are endless. i think that podcasting really offers students valuable learning experiences that writing in a workbook cannot. As shalena said children can work on their listening and speaking skills without the fear of face to face confrontation. some children are not comfortable with speaking in front of the whole class and cannot perform to the best of their ability. therefor podcasting can be used as a medium for assessment as the teacher can ask children to record their answers and then assess children’s perfected recorded version. children can post personal reflections about lessons and express their feelings and actually say what they are thinking, not what they think they are suppose to say. another important point to note is that young children love to talk. they could talk before they could write, so why not embrace in knowledge that children much prefer to express in voice than written words. If you say to the class, today we are going to do some talking, naturally they will be engaged as its a task they know they can complete. Shalena ideas on the reading by Richardson can influence teachers to aim to try new things in their class. It no good teachers always doing the same old boring thing because before they know it children will become demotivated and uninterested in important units of learning. Podcasting is a simple, easy and interactive tool to use, its something that can encourage children in deep thoughtful thinking and allow children to really express themselves and have fun.

Shalenas blog post: http://shalena87.edublogs.org/2008/03/18/how-to-use-podcasts-at-your-school/

Richardson, W. (2006). . In Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Retrieved 18th March, 2008 from http://www.techsmith.com/community/articles/schoolpodcasts.asp?DCMP=NLC-edunews30&ATT=podcast

This is a mindmap done on ispiration based on the reading “Intigrating computers into the primary school curriculum“, it outlines the pro and cons of intergrating computers into the primary school. click on the thunbnail below and view the main points i picked up on from the reading.

Wood, J. (2005). Integrating computers into the primary school curriculum. Education Horizons, 8(5), 10-11.