Lesson Evaluation

I'm not sure why but this assignment was very difficult for me.  For as confident as I am to teach my fourth graders each day, I do not feel confident gettting up in front of a group of my peers to teach.  It was hard to pretend that my peers were kids in my classroom.  So, I decided to create a "lesson" for my peers instead.  But, I was not at all confident about my choice when I was finished with the lesson.  There are so many new things that I learn about teaching every year.  I have learned a great deal from teachers who have just come out of college and are in their first year of teaching.  I will never be finished learning new ways to give my students the best instruction available at the time.

I did not enjoy watching the video of my lesson.  I cannot give a specific detail of what I needed to fix or work on, but I just know I didn't like watching myself.  I probably should tape myself more often sot that I can really analyze my teaching more thoroughly.

Legal Review

I must admit my lack of technology knowledge has me at a loss for how to change this assignment.  Personally, I learn best auditorially so I really learned a lot from the class discussion about all of the legal reviews.   Many other people have posted that we are so concerned with the push of technology that we forget to teach the "basics" to our students.  I couldn't agree more.  Writing is a vital skill that is not emphasized enough in our technolgy based world.  And, I love class discussions.  It is so nice, and a refreshing change, to be able to sit down with a group of intelligent, eloquent people and learn from them through discussion. 

One thing that I would like to change is the class blog.  I really enjoyed the Wiki discussion board where you can see everyone's discussion on one page.  The blog is not as user friendly and can be tedious.  You have to make the effort to go and search out other people's discussions.  If we were using Wiki, all of the posts show up on one page and it is much easier to discuss and share ideas as a whole class.

Framework for 21st Century Learning

I'm not sure why we spend so much time and energy talking about how different the world is for our students today.  One quote in the reading states, "Today’s life and work environments require far more than thinking skills and content knowledge. The ability to navigate the complex life and work environments in the globally competitive information age requires students to pay rigorous attention to developing adequate life and career skills."  Hasn't life always been more complicated for the generations that come next?  Hasn't "technology" always been advancing?  Yes, the world is much more global now that it was when I was a student in elementary or high school.  But, students today have never experienced a world that wasn't global.  I see my students managing this complex life quite natually every day.  In fact, they manage it better than the teachers do.  I think this article is much more a "map" for teachers than it is for students.  My students are already naturally exposed to these ideas and expectations simply due to the technology that they use and are exposed to every day.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Most teachers are very familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy and I was glad to see the interpretation placed on the digital world.  It seems to me that we place to much importance on texting and blogging.  I have wondered why we would spend time in schools working with tools that kids will inevitably use constantly and without any teacher direction.  We should use and teach more advanced digital tools.  But, as the article states, all of the lower level skills are essential in order to work with the higher level skills.  Texting and blogging can be thought of as the lower level skills essential for collaboration in the digital world.

Drive Chapter Two: Seven Reasons Carrots and Sticks (Often) Don't Work

I found "Seven Reasons Carrots and Sticks (Often) Don't Work" very interesting. I could have predicted that motivations that come from within a person are the most successful. I have witnessed this time and again. Especially the short term effect of motivations that I offer to my students and my kids at home. The effect wears off very quickly and I have to up-the-anti contstantly in order to get the same effect. The questions remains, how do we instill this self-motivation within our students? I feel like when we read articles like this I am left feeling like I have always been taking the wrong approach. But, I don't have clear answers on how to be more effective.  It is so easy for the "experts" to tell us approaches that do not work.  How about some approaches that do work.

June 14 Class

What do you want to get out of this class?  I really want to become more proficient with the uses of technology in my classroom.  I am not at all experienced with blogging, searching the web for useful sites, screencasting or the use of voice thread.  These are all tools that seem to be useful and I want to learn about them.

What are your concerns?  I am often lost with some of the terms that you are using.  I am not familiar with most of the sites and programs that we are using.  I don't want to get lost.  Please do not assume that I know what you are talking about.