Hello Once Again Everyone!! I do hope your day is going well! Fun fact: This Friday (Feb. 22) is George Washington's Birthday!
Happy 231st Birthday George!
Throughout the week, I kept think about what Kajdar said about "print-trained" kids and how soon the generation will change to "digital-trained" kids. The more I thought about, the more I realized how that generation is already here.
For example, online classes. Universities and Institutions now offer classes online where students can stay home and earn credits for a class on the computer. Personally, I have taken my Intro to Computers course online (which seems a bit redundant) but it was a completely new experience for me. I did not have a textbook, have to go to a classroom, or meet the instructor. It was really weird and a little bit uncomfortable for me because I'm so used to the traditional way of teaching. Luckily, I was able to get a hang of it but it was a new experience for me.
And Universities are not the only ones doing online classes. Students now have the option to go to school virtually online. K12 is a company that offers classes Kindergarten through twelve grade online. They also have the option of attending a private or public school online as well as individual courses. Link here What a complete change this is in the field of education! Students never have to actually have to go to a classroom setting and meet their teacher. If a parent really wanted to, he or she could just have his or her son or daughter go to school or 13 years online and never go to a school. Its a little bit scary isnt it?
I know some of my friends actually went to school online for a year or two in high school and we thought it was so strange that they could do that. I'm not quite sure how to feel about online schools but I know that there are many advantages to them such as kids who constantly move, are bullied really bad, and other examples like that.
Overall, technology already is a huge part of education and I feel like the "digital-trained" generation is already here. What do you all think?
Kajdar, Chapter 5:
Throughout most of the chapter, Kajdar focused on a teacher by the name of Kristen who said something that really spoke to me: "...that was a big conceptual leap for students whom Kristen referred to as 'print-trained'" (Kajdar 73). In the passage I got this quote from, Kristen was talking about how some technology can come as a big event in the lives of kids who are normally taught to read and learn from a book, ie: "Print-trained" and a thought occurred to me.
When we enter the teaching field, we will be teaching students who are "print-trained" and will face the same kind of difficulties Kristen dealt with. However, as the years progress, I believe we will deal less and less with "Print-trained" kids and move to more "digital-trained" kids who deal with technology much earlier and have a better grasp with it. If this happens, who knows how it will affect our teaching and the future of education. Those "digital-trained" kids will grow up and become teachers themselves and soon the whole face of education will change. So, how will we deal with it and what can we do? Any ideas?
Robert Rozema: The Book Report.... Rozema's article centered around Podcasts and their uses. I never really knew much, or anything, about Podcasts and basically pushed them aside. After reading the article, I found out that Podcasts are pretty neat and I took to the internet to find some. I found this really interesting Podcast called The Fireside Book Chat . It is a Podcast that reviews books by teens for teens and I thought this would be really helpful for those going into Secondary English Education like myself. You should visit the page and listen to a review. They are pretty fair and gives you some pretty good insight. You can visit it by clicking here: The Fireside Book Chat Smyte & Neufield "Podcast Time" Like Rozema's article, these two also talked about Podcasts and their use in a classroom. I like hearing how some 6th and 7th graders were recording stories for 3rd graders to listen to as they read the same book. It was a really neat idea and I'd like to do something like that myself and maybe for my future students. Being an Secondary English Education major, I am more than positive that I will definitely find a use for Podcasts in my classroom. Kist, Chapter 3:
Chapter 3 was all about social networking and being connected via the web. Two topics in the book were hyperlink response paper and keeping blogs-two things which we do in this class. In the chapter, it talked about how students were almost addicted to hyperlink writing and I must admit after writing these blogs, I enjoy including hyperlinks in my responses because it expands your thoughts and back them up. Also, writing blogs that can be share-able over the internet is much more fun because it gives student;s the opportunity to have their thoughts seen by a much bigger audience than the teacher and classmates.
Anyway, that is all for this week. Take care and until then remember....
~Add a little Streiff to your life~
Hello Everyone! I hope your Valentine's Day was filled with fun and laughter! For my Education Response this week, I wanted to discuss the possibilities of allowing students to choose how they would like to complete an assignment.
In class, we drew pictures of how students could choose their own way of completing an assignment given a rubric. I for one, think that is an absolute brilliant idea! I really enjoyed talking about it in class and seeing everyone nod in agreements because I know if I had the choice in high school, I probably would've gotten some better grades.
Yet, it seems more and more teachers are thinking this way. For example, in my Production and Utilization of Instruction Technology class on Thursday, our teacher taught the class about assessing students using different literacies and having the students choose which one they would like to do. It seems as we are becoming more and more technological advanced and using more technology, teachers are allowing students to be more free in school.
As a teacher, I believe I will also allow my students to choose how he/she would like to complete an assignment. Of course I would have to make rubrics and make sure that grading is fair across every project, but I know that if I spend a little more time doing work, then the students will enjoy their time in high school and maybe find their strengths. Many students do not know what field of study they want to pursue after high school so if a students writes a story or makes a video, he or she will discover their talent is being a writer or movie director. The possibilities are certainly there.
(Take this video for example. If I wanted to assign a student to sum up a play, he or she could take vocals from the movie of the play and do a mash-up song that goes with the feel and flow of the play. I'm not quite sure of how to grade this or if it teaches anything, but I think it would be neat to see)
Overall, I feel like our generation of teachers will be more technological and offer more choices to students. I believe that will help students find their strengths and weaknesses and may help them decide what to do with their life.
So, how do you guys feel? Do you believe you will offer students choices?
Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great day and feel free to comment below and remember...
Hello Everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the nicer weather we've been having!
As the sun is coming out, we are reading more about how to integrate technology into the classroom. As I read Chapter 2 in Mulitmodel Composing in Classrooms, a few points stuck out to me. The first came on page 23 when the authors wrote "The end product is not technology integration or even teachers using technology in their classroom pedagogy to deliver content..." (Miller 23). I feel this is the same objective for our Writing for Non-Print Media class.
While incorporating technology and infusing it into our classroom pedagogy is important for a number of reasons (ease, new experiences, connections, etc...), the whole idea of multimodel literacies is a completely new and individual principle and learning theology.
I think the goal of the course it to teach us about a new subject to think about and learn how to apply it in our thoughts for teaching. Just like math and science, multimodel literacies is a different train of thought that we need to become aware to. I mean, I had no idea what literacy even was before this class and now that I know about it, I feel it is crucial to use it in the classroom.
Although I did say incorporating technology or even using technology in the classroom was not the goal, it is still important to learn how to along the way. For example, in the same book by Miller, I learned that a teacher's role in a fast-paced, on the spot technology infused lesson is not one as the "dispenser of knowledge", but instead a teacher who uses collaboration and shared ideas to help come up with solutions.
In fact, we as students do that already. Remember last week in class when we had to create our Blogger account? Well, many students were lost and we all had to work together so that everyone had one made and knew how to follow people by the end of class. That is the kind of collaboration Miller is talking about.
So what do you all think? Do you think Mutlimodel literacies is a subject on its own? Also, do you think we should teach it in our High Schools?
Thanks for reading Everyone! Have a great day and remember...
Hello Again Everyone! Hope your day is going swell! Today, I will be talking about technolgy-and the lack there of-in a classroom.
I first want to talk about Rewired by Larry Rosen. Larry states that we are the iGeneration, the generation born with earbuds in our ears. Well, its true. Our generation is smothered with technolgy and we love-at least, I know I do.
("Gotta Share"-by Improv Everywhere)
Could you imagine life today without a cellphone? A computer? Most importantly, the internet? I know I can't. I've become dependent on technolgy. I'll admit. It is hard for me to go a steady period without technolgy. The most I can do is probabaly a week-thanks to those week long scout trips where there was to be no technology at all. And i found it relaxing! I could just sit down, read a book, and relax. No worries, no refreshing my internet to check for new notification, no emails-no responsibility.
With technology, we are avaliable at a moment's notice. We can check for an email, text, anything in a few flicks of the hand and people expect that. We are expected to get back to people immediately because they know we have access 24/7. Its a little bit scary and it raises our responsibilty.
However, while technology can be a stress-giver, it can also alleviate stress and make our life more easier. For example, I absolutely love having my email on my phone. It is so helpful and I can check for emails from the post office if I have a package and Im already near the post office. Or, if a teacher needs to see me, I can meet them while I am already out. It helps me by taking time off my hands that I would normally spending having to walk back to my apartment, log on, check my email, then venture out again.
Thanks to technology, we focus more on ourselves. Have I got a new messege? Do I have new followers? It is no wonder we find school boring sometimes. As Rosen brought up, schools are grossly behind in the modern times, relying on readings and the standard barf-back teaching methods.
(This is where I really talk about Education)
As teachers, we must-must-MUST keep up to date with technology. In such a fast-pace developing world we live in (Look at Apple, they have a new version every six weeks!) teachers must constantly search and find new medias in order to connect and help their students. Like when Mitchell tells Rosen about how his son Danny is bored in school, Mitchell says he tries to help by finding interesting websites but he believes it isn't his job.
Rant Ahead:
(Excuse me Mitchell? Did you really just say that? Parents are not suppose to help their kids find school work interesting? Really? Pardon me, but I will only see your kid for 50 minutes for 5 days a week while you see him for several hours 7 days a week. I apologize if you have to take a little time out of your day to help your son ,which you birthed into the world, learn. I forgot, teachers are the only ones who know how to raise kids. I realize teachers are there to help the students learn but the truth is, we don't see your kids as much as you do. We do our best with the time we are given but it is up to you-the parents- to help fill in the gaps. Teachers already put in countless hours outside of school grading papers, making lesson plans, and assisting students who need help, so sorry we don't put Danny on the top of our list.)
Ignoring my passionate rant, teachers really do need to make sure we do keep up with technology. I know we have busy workloads, but it really is our duty as educators to help teach kids (whose parents might have the same ignorant thought process as Mitchell) and find ways that effectively teach the kids. I realize we need to make our work interesting but sometimes there are times where teachers simply cannot and we rely on the parents for helping. End of Rant
Anyway, back on topic- Gone are the days where textbooks and a pen and paper were all you needed. Kids don't learn that way anymore. With the internet at our hands, we search for our own information and find it our way. As teachers, we have to "live" like a student and be compatable with technology.
Will it be hard? I don't think so. Luckily, we as the iGeneration have grown up with technology. Our generation has started the internet trends and I doubt we will use less technolgy as we get older. In fact, I think I will still be checking Facebook in my old, old days.
However, as Kist brings up, we don't need technolgy in the classroom. His entire chapter was filled with lesson plans (alot of them I want to do in my classes cause they look like a lot of fun) that did not require digital medias or when they do, did not need many of them. For example, the idea about wathcing a movie for the particular screen shots was a brilliant idea! It would be easy enough obtaining a movie for the kids to watch and show it in class. Even if a school isnt very digital, at least they will have a T.V. on a cart with a DVD player. Heck, the school where I volunteer at is very, very, very old fashioned and does not have any tech. However, they still have those T.V.s on carts.
My overall point is this: We may not need to use many digital medias in our classroom but we must be the forerunners with technology and continiously discover and try new digital medias so we can connect and offer new medias to our students.
Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment below. Here are some questions if you'd like to answer:
1. Do you think Mitchell is just in his opinions that it isn't his job to make school interesting for his son? I realize teachers must do the most they can't, but shouldn't teachers be a part of their child's learning career?
2. How much technolgy do you feel you will use in a classroom?
3. Does Kist speak to you? What was your favorite activity of his?
Thanks again for reading! I hope you have a great day and rememeber...
~Add a little Streiff to your life~
Good Day Everyone! I hope this blog will find you well!
The readings for this week (while many and daunting) were filled with a plethora of information-mostly technolgy.
I started reading Kajder who showed several examples of real students who give a fair representation of the "digital youth." The one youth I was most impressed with was Molly from Richland High. She took it upon herself to do the assignments in a variety of multimodel ways (some that I didn't even know about!) and consistetly showed her teacher all these new medias. It made me realize that as a person, most importantly a teacher, that I will have to continually keep up to date on all the latest media trends and helpful websites.
Speaking of multimodel, the d2l handout, I just need to draw... talked about transmediation- aka the transition of one sign system into another. While sign system doesnt actually mean sign...
oh look...a sign
...it does mean the ways one "communicates" in a a given media. However, speaking of sign, I am secretary for the American Sign Language (ASL) Club here at SRU and I can relate to the idea of transmediation when signing english words in ASL. While that is called translating, the idea is the same and I realize the importance and most importantly the equality in transcribing from one thing to another. Transmediation does not lost quality if it is transcribed from one media to another, which I feel some old-time teachers may think. Some people may think an essay is superior to a picture show, but isnt a picture worth a thousand words? The quality is the same
Overall, the readings showed me how crucial technolgy is in the modern world. Now that we have it, we are not going to stop using it so we better become the forerunners on the topic so we dont drowned in the sea of digital literacy~~~
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the blog, let me know in the comments section! If you'd like me to add anything to make the text more fun or easier to read, let me know. Some questions for the comment section:
Do you believe transmediation is effective and produced the same level of quality?
If you had a student like Molly in your class, how would you react? Would you let her be free to do the assignment in a different way?
My name is Joey Streiff! I am a Secondary English Education Major with a minor in Exceptionalities.
I am from Pittsburgh, PA and I grew up with 4 brothers and 1 sister. Currently, I live with 3 roommates and a pet fish named Shimmer who is a red betta fish.
Some of my favorite activities are:
Reading
Writing
Acting
Singing
Baking
Bike Riding
Hiking
Star Gazing
Watching Theatrical Productions
Tumblr-ing
At college, I am Secretary for American Sign Language Club and I have been studying ASL for 3 years now. If you are interested in learning ASL, talk to me and I would gladely help you out!
Feel free to comment or anything with my blog. They may be a lil random in thought but I will do my best to make them funny and entertaining!
If you'd like to talk to me or learn anything about me, feel free to leave a messege or talk to me in class! I'd love to talk and discuss things with you!
Have a good day and remember.....
~Add a little Streiff to your life~
