bianca

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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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The commentary piece by channel 10 news, is an excellent example of how podcasting can be integrated into the classroom setting. sometimes teachers find it very difficult to engage students in every single subjects as some topics can appear extremely tedious and boring. At the same time these subject are important to students educational development. Therefor podcasting can be used to the advantage of teachers as they can use them to engage and spark students interests. As the example channel 10 reported, poetry can be very boring and many students become unmotivated as well as see no point in creating a poetic piece if nobody is going to listen to it. podcasting allows children to becoming motivated if they know they will get the opportunity to use commuters to record their work for a real audience, an audience other than their classmates. Another valid point that was raised in the report was that podcasting is an excellent way for teacher to engage boys in English. To young boys, English may appear as a girls subject or they struggle to express themselves with the correct English wording. However, podcasting can change this as majority of boys love computers and may be better at expressing themselves when speaking rather than writing. therefor podcasting is an opportunity that all teachers should embrace in. Yes it may be hard initially to implement into the classroom as learning and teaching new technology can be difficult to manage, but in the long run when students are producing better essays and poems the benefits will shine through. As evident in the report by channel 10 news students become very excited when learning with tools that are considered cool such as “mobile phones and computers”. i believe that if podcasting is going to spark enthusiasm and passion for learning… why not try it.

http://www.apple.com/education/digitalauthoring/podcasting.html

After reading the article “podcasting in education”, i once again was reminded by the enormous amounts of benefits that podcasting holds. the many examples that the article expressed includes: Professional development, communicated with parents, place homework tasks online, foreign language lessons, perform plays, and the list goes on. This article opened my eyes to the creativity this program holds. it allows children to have expression and creativity. podcasting is motivating to the new generation as children today are becoming bored with traditional essays, reading and arithmetic. However i do believe that traditional learning’s are crucial to intellectual development but podcasting adds creativity to boring teaching units. the main difference between the two, is that podcasting provides children with a real audience and voice. they become the speakers with the world their audience. The walls of the classroom are expanded and students are allowed to be set free. in the podcasting world there are no rules, there is no right and wrong, all there is an educational playground waiting to be explored.

i truly believe that podcasting is an easy introduction to the 21st technology that is being invented. its an interactive tool which all age children can engage themselves in. Basically it offers benefits and creativity that a piece of paper can simply not offer. teachers must consider this tool if they are to produce students that are experience in all areas of the world. whether we like it or technology is becoming our world and teachers need to prepare their students for this revolutionary change. podcasting is the best and easiest way to start.

 After viewing this effective teacher tube by Rachel Boyd, i came to realise the short but very meaningful words that describe blogging. The video is very simple but extremely effective, as the  short phrases placed on the slide present to the audience so many positives towards blogging. My favourite slide was when it stated,  ” Giving students an audience”, with the background of a map of the world. This i believe is the best thing about blogging, that students can communicate with other children across the planet with a click of a button.  other phrases that i was attracted to, was that blogging provides students with the opportunity to express themselves, as well as the fact that blogging gives them a voice. This way even students who are too shy to speak in-front of the class, can still express their ideas and feeling on a topic without the fear of face to face confrontation. However, i don’t believe that blogging is the only important aspect of education, as i think that students should still be engaged in traditional learning’s, such as writing essays and adding sums. Blogging should work along side other learning topics and be incorporated into traditional eduction to bring excitement into learning.

 The positives of blogging definitely out weigh the negatives, such as blogging provides ownership, motivation, creativity and extends the walls of the classroom. These are just a few mentioned in Rachel Boyds slide. The only negative aspect of blogging that i believe to be evident, is that not many teachers are experienced with this new tool and may be too afraid to approach the idea of logging. However this negative can easily be fixed  with sufficient teacher training, because i believe if teachers don’t try to use exciting technology in their classroom, students will be far too advanced for the teacher and the teacher will be completely lost in the past. Rachel clearly shows the endless amounts of positives blogging provides, we would be stupid not to take the plunge, don’t you think?

 i was so intrigued by the variety of ways that Alanah king uses technology within her classroom. at first i thought that using technology within education can distract students and stray them away from the purpose of learning. however, after watching Alanah’s blog, its easy to see that using blogs, Flicker and pod-casts, children can showcase their work not only to parents but to the rest of the world. it was totally liberating to see that technology such as sykpe can allow students to learn about other cultures and people through talking on the Internet. To me this seemed like a more advanced method of pen pals. This is the same with blogging, Alanah invites her students to write down all their thoughts and crazy ideas on the class blog but instead of the students ideas primarily being secluded to the classroom, outsiders can enjoys students ideas too. i honestly believe that when i become a qualified teacher i will aim to allow my students experience the same excitement as Alanah’s students do. i think that using blogs in the classroom invites students to be creative with their idea and allows the teacher to spruce up boring topics. i also liked the idea that Alanah had of children taking it in turns to be blog monitors as it allows all ideas and work to be viewed, as well as all children are then involved in learning the new technology. finally i believe that after watching Alanah kings story, it has shown me exactly how exciting blogs, pod-casting, skype and flicker can be in the classroom. the fact that countries all over the world can read students work is so motivating for students to try their hardest in the classroom. After all by using blogs in the classroom, the teacher wont need to use merits or stckers because the rewards would be someone across the glob reading students writtings.

i read the commentary article and this is what i thought.

ACMA Media Release (2007), Australian families with children are ‘media-rich’, research finds. 17th Dec., 2007. http://internet.aca.gov.au

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After reading the commentary page,”The three X’s” by Idit Harel, i discovered a very valuable message. The article outlines the idea that we live in a ever changing technological world, and it is our job as teachers to support this. I think we need to equip students with the necessary skills that will allow them to be confident and ready for the future. Harel explains that yes reading, writing and arithmetic are important life skills but they are no less important than technological skills. Harel believes that exploring, expressing and exchanging ideas are ways that creativity in the classroom can be expanded. These three x’s help children to be more creative with their ideas and learning’s because they can explore their ideas, express their ideas by bringing their creativity to life and exchange their creativity. I agree with the article that we need to help students keep up to date with technology and that it should be a part of the curriculum to ensure students creativity is never refined. however i think too much freedom of technology can poison students creativity.

 

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due the story being from a word document the link is very long: https://online.uts.edu.au/courses/1/021310/content/_337765_1/Fairytale2.doc?bsession=22299616&bsession_str=session_id=22299616,user_id_pk1=197480,user_id_sos_id_pk2=1,one_time_token=

Over the weekend i read a commentary piece called “A fairy story- Pencils across the curriculum.” I am very much a visual learner and understand concepts easier if i can see or imagine what is being taught. Therefor this writing was perfect for me. Its a short but catchy story and requires you to read between the lines. The main idea of the story is about how two schools react to new technology of the pencil. Pencils are used to illustrate how we view the computer-some are scared and want to be trained and taught how to use it and others are willing to experiment and explore. This story is an excellent example of how technology is being used in schools today. Teachers who are not confident when using technology will stunt students from moving forward in the technological world. Whilst teachers who are willing to use technology and incorporate it into their lessons will ensure their students experience all forms of learning. Personally i believe i am a little bit like school A- afraid to make a mistake and break the “pencil”. However after doing E-learning i hope to be more like school B and embrace the moving development of the “pencil”, AKA technology.