Week 13 Discussion

That’s so funny; I had never heard drill and practice used as “drill and kill”. I can completely understand why some would refer to it that way. There are many things that educators could do to make sure that drill and practice is a positive thing. There is so much software out there that could help students learn at their own pace and the way they want to learn and study. I remember coming across a wonderful website that helps students learn their multiplication facts. It’s a game that allows the students to race each other to see which student could make it to the finish line first. The only way your race car moves would be if you correctly answered the multiplication fact the computer gave you. My students loved it because it was exciting to them and the awesome thing about it was that they were learning their facts without even knowing they were. I think it’s very important that teachers don’t use drill and practice for a long period of time and teachers should use it accordingly. Teachers could create fun educational games to make drill and practice more entertaining. I think it’s really up to the teacher to come up with creative ways to do so.

Week 11 Discussion

I think distance technologies are a positive thing to have for all students. I think it opens the door to a new world outside the classroom. It gives the students a chance to broaden their horizons. I think it lets students decide how they will study something and when they want to do it. Distance technology is definitely changing the everyday classroom by restructuring many things about education. I think this scares many educators who have been teaching for a long time. Distance learning is impacting our life’s everyday and it’s only going to get more intense and much more advance. I think it allows more one on one time with students and an easier way to communicate with classmates and teachers; it’s just so much more convenient. Being a mother of 4 small children at home, distance learning has definitely helped me get through college.

I’m sure there are many critics that are against distance technologies. Like I mentioned earlier, there are teachers who are concerned about the quality of instruction that the students are receiving. This technology is completely changing the traditional curriculum that many all know. Things like face-to-face time, teaching children social skills, and teaching them how to interact with one another.

Week 9 " Chapter 15 Discussion"

I’m sure there are many issues relating to training special education teachers to use technology in their classrooms. It’s really interesting because I have a four year old son who has a speech disability. He does attend school for about two hours a day and his teacher has been at a training class all week for integrating technology in her class. My son doesn’t speak very well but he loves playing on the computer. I was just telling her how I think the training she will be getting will be very helpful for him and his friends in the class. I know the book mentioned that one of reasons why some teachers don’t use technology is because most teachers begin their career with minimal experiences. I think computers and other educational tools are very powerful tools in assisting students with special needs. I’m sure there are many teachers who get frustrated with technology but there should be support in school districts for the teachers who need it. They shouldn’t feel alone! Teachers need to get out there and do whatever needs to be done to learn about what technology and what it has to offer.

It was really interesting to learn about assistive technology and instructional technology. Some examples of no-tech would be what the book mentioned one-handed typing.

Low-technology: would be like pencil grips, planners to help stay organized, highlighters, tape, and even extra time for the students to complete exams or tests. Spell check is also an example.

High- Tech would be like tape recorders, calculators that talk to the students, dictionaries, and mind-minding software and speech recognition software.

Week 7 "History Wars"

Like we discussed in our groups Tuesday night, Technology has opened the doors to even more information out there in the world. When teaching a subject so fragile, I think it’s important that teachers are equipped to teach history. I think history teachers have their work cut out for them because not only are the students relying on them to teach the subject but if not taught properly it could affect everybody. I believe that teachers should be honest to the student about history. I guess it’s good that teachers have the TEKS to guide them on what to teach students in history.

History is a great subject to integrate technology in. There is so much out there online that can assist students. They can take virtual trips and participate in adventure learning sites to help them understand a certain topic in History. Take for example The Tom Snyder’s The Graph Club and Graph Master Website. This is an awesome web site for student to use. They can construct their very own 3D communities and are given an opportunity to view current historical maps. All teachers can integrate the internet into the lesson and it could be a positive thing. But, all teachers should do research before showing a website to their class. All websites need to be 100% factual and true. Wikipedia wouldn’t be a very good one to take the class too because Wikipedia is sometimes false and it can be altered.

Chapter 9

I feel that print literacy is more significant then media literacy at the moment. I’m not saying that media literacy isn’t meaningful I just feel that print literacy hasn’t been overrun yet by technology and media literacy. I think one day it will be but for now it hasn’t. With technology blooming so swiftly I often think about what would happen if computers become the only way we can write and communicate. In my science class this semester our professor has us write out our answers instead of typing them. It was so weird not typing them and only handwriting my chapter questions. I think the last time I turned in an assignment hand written was in high school. Technology literacy has been a huge part of my college education so far. But, traditionally we should never lose sight of our print literacy.

Page 279 of our textbook states that as new technologies emerge, so does the need for new literacy’s; therefore, it’s critical that students learn how to learn new literacy technologies. I do think that every student should get the teaching that they need to keep up with our technology but I hope that print literacy never gets replaced. So in conclusion when asked this question I really felt that it can go either way. I’m kind of torn between the two and I think that they are both important in their own way. Media and information technology is rapidly growing and it’s important for all students to know. I also feel that print literacy is just as important. The more we know about literacy the better!!

Week 3 Discussion

In order to be successful in integrating teaching into the lesson plan; all teachers must have a good plan. First and foremost a plan that is safe for all students to do. I think it’s a great idea that Esmerelda wants her class to access the Internet and have them locate historians or experts in history. But, I don’t think leaving them alone unattended in a computer lab is a good idea. Whether it’s elementary, middle, or high school students, these students need to be supervised while on the Internet. It’s not that we don’t trust our kids; it’s the other person on the Internet that we shouldn’t trust. If I was Esmerelda I would redo my lesson plan and make it safer for my class.

I also think it’s a very bad idea to have the students send out a standard email with the school’s name, their names, their ages, addresses, and personal email addresses. With identity theft on the rise if their information gets into the wrong hands they could be a victim of identity theft. Even worse, what would happen if one of her students gets in contact with some psycho who has the wrong intentions in mind? Plain and simple this world is crazy and as teachers when our students are at school it’s our jobs to keep them safe. I would never put my students in that situation and having them send out an email that way is a bad idea.

I think students would learn a lot from “virtual interviews” but there has to be a way that students can be supervised while doing it. If I was planning this lesson I would first make sure that I could be in the computer assisting my kids. If I really couldn’t be there I would find an assistant, and if that doesn’t work I would ask my principal for suggestion on the situation. I would also have each student find one or two experts that they really want to contact and I would have my class email them through an email that I set up for the class. My students would communicate to the expert under my supervision. I would read the email before the students send it and also when they get a response back from the experts.