Word To Your Mother!

this is a video elyse and myself created relating to why we became teachers.

One of the major probelms i faced on my second prac in a public school was the lack of resources, and the need for teachers to overcome this by investing their own money. Being a digital native myself, a lot of my lessons revolved around movies, television and internet based resources such as flash battle recreations and google earth to provide students with meaningful information. The lack of resources meant that we as teachers needed to provide our own equipment to be able to bring ICT into the classroom. I provided my own laptop with wireless broadband and a stereo to enable computer sound to be heard in the classroom. My supervising teacher provided her own projector to enable a fully interactive experience for the students. This is an unfortunate state of affairs, but if the teacher is willing to put their own resources into the classroom, they can truly provide the students with an all round education experience.

nice choice elyse!!!!

this video is a great teaching tool on a number levels. not only is the changing “it” interesting, so is the video itself. The little character is a “typical” digital native, just another device plugged into the web, almost another form of digital device. Also, the way in which the words flash up on the screen, its very orwellian, especially in relation to the late 70’s film version. it highlights that whilst you are connected to the world through technology, big brother is also connected to you through the same technology.

“curriculum-driven technology use [should be the focus], not technology-driven curriculum

couldn’t agree with this more elyse. students respond in a great way to the use of technology within in the classroom. unfortunately, in the Australian public system, “Equipment and financial obstacles” are still a serious problem, and if the teacher is unwilling to put some of their own money into getting this technology into the classroom, then ICT curriculum needs will remain unmet in a meaningful way.

Growing up with Google – what it means to education (Diana Oblinger, EDUCAUSE)

Today’s students bring a consumer orientation to education, which is viewed as
a commodity to be consumed, acquired and accumulated.7 Students place a
high value on the convenience technology provides, whether that means accessing course material from anywhere at any time or being able to see course grades as soon as they are posted. Many students describe education as a business where efficient, convenient, technology-mediated transactions are expected.8 Consumerism can sometimes bleed into an entitlement culture, however. An increasing number of students – and their parents – expect academic success with little academic effort.

This is an interesting idea, especially given the fact that i feel the same way. if i have a question that needs an answer, my first stop is the net. this compulsion is so strong that as the school at which i taught at didn’t have an internet connection, so i connected to a wireless broadband network so i could have access when needed. This is the fundamental difference between pre-digital and post digital teaching. in the “old” days, the teacher was the primary source of information in the classroom. These days, given the amount of information accessible to students, the teachers are only one of the sources. The other sources are the students themselves and the internet. by teaching students how to use the net and find information that is legitimate and solid, the teacher can still be source of information, and skills as well.

this is a great article, and it definitely reflects my teaching style. The idea of choice within a student’s learning experience is of vital importance for the student ownership of learning. By choosing what they want to study, the student is more likely to become engaged with the material. Thus ownership leads to greater educational possibility.

Malone and Lepper (1983) suggest that providing explicit choices among alternatives can enhance intrinsic motivation. Schiefele (1991) identified two components of interest: feeling-related and value-related valences. Feeling-related valences are feelings attached to a topic. Value-related valences relate to the importance of the topic to an individual. Value-related valences are associated with “constructing meaning” and are discussed later in this chapter. Feeling-related valences are the degree of enjoyment that an individual has toward a topic or object. If students are allowed to select a tasks that they personally enjoy doing, their motivation to learn increases.

When students are given choices to select assignments that are close to their personal interests, their motivation to do the work should increase. Ms. Betty allowed students to select the country that their group project would focus on. She gave them this choice hoping that the students would take responsibility for the assignment because it corresponded with their interests. For instance, Group A chose to introduce Japan because they liked to watch Japanese cartoons. Group B selected Taiwan because they had recently viewed a movie produced in Taiwan and were curious about the background of the movie. These feeling-related valences can be factors that enhance the motivation of learning.

This concept is one that is VERY close to my heart (challenge).Students’ are generally given up on, especially in the public system.

Providing or operating tasks just beyond the skill level of the students is a good approach to challenge learners. In the motivation chapter, the Flow Theory is presented (Csikszentmihalyi, 1985). Students may experience flow if the challenge of assignments matches their skills. Work that is too difficult raises anxiety, whereas tasks that are too easy contribute to boredom; both situations decrease motivation toward learning. In order to ensure that goals remain challenging, teachers should continue giving students the opportunity to provide feedback. Helping students search for more information to improve and revise their tasks plays an integral part in the learning process.

Students thrive on being challenged. On prac, i challenged a class well beyond the point they had been challenged before. once they become used to the idea, they thrived. After the course had finished, i had students coming up to me and thanking me for actually teaching them. Its not that i’m god’s gift to teachers, the students were excited because someone believed they could tackle and understand difficult material, and they did so successfully. This is what gives the students confidence in both themselves and their abilities. This paper should be used across all KLA’s and not just into digital education.

This is a great fable, yet it is still describing digital immigrants and not taking into account teacher digital natives

A FAIRY STORY – PENCILS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

A Story Of The Future Set In The Past

SCENE : It is deep in the past, schools are using chalk and slates, stylus and tablets, chisels and granite. Suddenly a new technology appears, the Pencil!

Once upon a time, the Department of Education and Training, after appointing a special task force and inviting tenders from all the major pencil manufacturers, gave 16 Pencils to each High school as part of a special Pencil initiative (and one Pencil to each Primary School but that’s another story). This is the story of two of those schools.

SCHOOL A

Opened a new Pencil Centre in a blaze of publicity and housed all 16 Pencils in it. They appointed a Teacher-in-Charge of Pencils.

They were worried that someone might steal these rare and valuable Pencils so they put bars on the windows.

“Special Pencil Centre” signs were painted on the wall to tell the world that they were proud of their Pencils and that Pencils are special.

No teachers were allowed to use Pencils unless teaching a Pencil Studies course – special training was needed to handle these expensive and delicate instruments: teachers needed to understand about Hardness, Length, Handling, Care and Safety (Pencils are very sharp).

Pencil Studies was introduced as a course for all Year 8’s – they studied the Applications of Pencils, Pencils in Drawing, Pencils in Writing, the Social Implications of Pencils, Design and Manufacture of Pencils, History of Pencils and Future Trends in Pencils.

10 Pencil Scholarships were offered to local primary students to attract the brightest and best.

One day the Art teacher heard about these new Pencils and thought they could be useful in Art classes but the Pencil Studies teacher explained that all the Pencils were always being used by Pencil Studies classes, and anyway, you need special training to use a pencil.

The Pencil Studies teacher agreed to do a few lessons on the use of Pencils in Art as part of the Pencil Awareness Course (despite not knowing anything about Art). “Wouldn’t it be better if we had our own Pencils in the Art Dept?” inquired the Art teacher.

“NO, NO, NO! DON’T BE SILLY!” countered the Pencil Studies teacher.

A similar thing happened in Technical Drawing (”I’ve heard these Pencils are great for Technical Drawing – really sharp!” and “It sure beats chiselling in granite – can we have some?”)

Across the way in English “Could we use Pencils do you think? Would they make it easier to create and edit writing?” “We’ll see what we can do,” said the Teacher-in-Charge of Pencils, “but its very hard to fit any more in the course. Besides, all our Pencil teachers are incredibly busy”.

In Business Education they got the news- “Accounts, Letter Writing, Book keeping…could pencils have a role to play here?”

Similar things happened in Music/ Theatre Arts/ Home Economics/ Science/Mathematics/ Library.

Demand for Pencil Studies courses became so great that School A had to spend $100 000 on new buildings to house more Pencil Labs and hired more Pencil teachers.

Meanwhile, back in the Technical Drawing room the stylus and tablet is all they have, in Art chalk is state-of-the-art and in Business Ed the abacus is all the go.

Tons of granite are consumed daily and a granite recycling programme is introduced.

Five years later School A had 5 Pencils Labs, 4 specialist Pencil teachers and half the students doing Pencil Studies courses. However no one else in the school ever used Pencils.

Then one day all the Pencil Studies teachers left to work in industry!

SCHOOL B

School B also started with it’s 16 Pencils in a special room but they had a PLAN.

The plan was ‘THE PENCILS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM PLAN’.

It was a brave plan, a bold plan, a problematical plan – but it was a good plan!:

They introduced special programmes to lend Pencils to teachers and put a Pencil in each staff office.

They put a few Pencils in the staff room so that staff could play with them at lunchtime.

They paid for teachers to go on Pencil courses.

They even put some Pencils in the Library for ANYONE to use even if they had no training!

“What? Anyone? “

“Oh what problems!”

“Who will sharpen them?”"Who can understood all the jargon -HB, 2B, 2H?”

“What about quality?”

“What about editing – who will replace the erasers?”

“Who will look after them?”

“What about compatibility problems – 0.2 , 0.5 mm or non-standard leads?”

“Who decides whether to have hexagonal or circular Pencils?”

“What about all these new Pencil technologies which appear with monotonous regularity – who will make decisions?”

Well yes, there were a few teething troubles but somehow people coped.

After a while they began to realise that Pencils were quite easy to use, even for teachers!

A few Pencils were put in subject areas for teachers to experiment with.

Some teachers were so impressed, they even bought their own Pencils and wondered how they ever managed without one.

There were still major problems to overcome as far as using Pencils in the actual classroom. New discipline and management problems that teachers hadn’t faced before. Was it necessary for every student to have a Pencil each or could they share or work in groups?

To begin with, only a few brave teachers used Pencils in their lessons but as time went by more and more teachers saw the amazing work being done by the students of the teachers who used Pencils and they began to ask for some Pencils in their classroom too.

Five years later the school didn’t need its Pencil Lab any more except for a few students who wanted to do Pencil Science at University or get a job in the Pencil Industry. There were Pencils all over the school and most staff and students used them quite naturally. Some even carried a pencil about in their pocket.

And what happened to all the specialist Pencil teachers? Well, they were OK because they had not been idle. They had been hearing about this new thing called a COMPUTER!

fascinating little article.

This is definitely  the sort of thinking that i encourage. the classroom of today is a new beast. With all of the forms of information available to students these days, the teacher is no longer the fountain of all knowledge. Instead of teaching knowledge exclusively, teachers now need to start teaching the students how to filter the information overload that is today’s society.

“My role is to train teachers in using technology in teaching, but often this means training teachers to think in a different way about how they deliver lessons. Teaching has evolved from teachers being the source of all knowledge and students learning what the teachers learned. We have become facilitators of learning, ensuring responsible learning and safe learning. Teachers are no longer those that supply information, but direct students to useful, the most up-to-date and appropriate research.”

I love the idea below. i myself am a big fan of multitasking, and i posses the short attention span that many of the students do. By breaking lessons up into smaller sections, it keeps the lesson fresh, interesting and exciting.

“Firstly, I teach in smaller grabs of time,” she says, “but this is a good thing. I personally believe that teaching has long been too auditory. It is important to cater for different perceptual styles — visual, auditory and kinesthetic (learning by doing) — especially when teaching younger children.”

“Before the internet, to be a teacher you had to be everything in one person. Now there is a range of possibilities and many more people can become part of the education process,” she says, “whether it is managing the process, creating new forms of content for a national curriculum, or devising new ways of evaluating progress and measuring success.”

This is also something that really speaks to me. i’m passionate about getting into curriculum myself. Being a history/english student, i want to see popular culture/net content being taught, as well as more in the way on internet resources. These are the skills students need. given the fact that people will often have between 8 and 10 jobs over their lifetimes, the need for self directed learing is greater now than ever before. Hence the need for teachers to instruct how to find quality information as well as use/deconstruct/understanding it.

“This is not to diminish the role of educators to simply and an administrative job,” she says. “Teaching is an intellectual skill. It is the art of getting people to expand their minds, have insights, develop values and to grow emotionally. That will not change.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself

Teachers on learning curve (Recent newspaper article)
Technology is forging new ways of teaching and learning, writes Kirsten Lees The Australian, April 05, 2008

watch?v=zVcUuTg5oSc

every new teacher should watch this video for management ideas