6-8-10

We watched two videos in class. The first video "taught" us about copyright law by using clips of different Disney videos clipped together. Personally, I thought it was just annoying and would rather have just seen a normal video about it. The second video was even worse. It used both spoken words and music from Disney videos, which made it impossible to understand without subtitles on the bottom, so what was the point? I've figured out why I don't want to use a large amount of technology in the classroom, and it is because of videos like this.

6-7-10

The video we watched today was more interesting than most of the other ones. Older students had to create exhibits about the ocean for younger students. The teacher was really excited, which made all of the students excited too. The objectives for the lesson were:

• Students design a hands-on scientific demonstration.

• Students research oceans using a variety of technological resources.

• Students assimilate information into a useful form.

• Students use technology to create a museum placard.

• Students teach their topic to grade school students.

Everyone looked like they did a really good job and were excited about what they were doing.

ED483 Video

Here is a video I made with two group members about Northern Michigan University.

6-3-10

The video we watched today was a professor ranting about the existence of learning styles. He believes that learning styles do not exist. I'm not sure what he is trying to say. Maybe our minds don't work musically or kinesthetically, but we have found ways to gain knowledge that our specific to ourselves. I know that I learn better if something is musical. I can tell you the words to every song I have ever learned, and every concept I have ever learned through song or a chant. In elementary school, my teachers used songs to teach us spelling, geography, math, languages, science, history, and most subjects. Maybe learning through song in elementary school taught me to learn through song for other things, but I know other people who went through the same programs and learn better through reading or seeing something on the screen. Yes, there are some things that HAVE to be learned a certain way (such as the shape of a country or continent, as he mentions multiple times), but most subjects have multiple ways of doing something.

One of the comments on this video says, "Don't confuse abilities with learning styles. Some people have troubles with mathematical ability. Trying to fix this by using one of their supposedly preferred learning abilities (ie. teaching them maths using movements, or through musical means) is not going to go much further than basic maths. Eventually, you're going to have to do the maths in the way that it's meant to be done: that is, in a mixture of visual and abstract ways. Practise is the key, not a 'cure'."

I know almost every student who came out of my high school learned the quadratic formula by putting it to the tune of the Notre Dame fight song. Whenever I do a problem that requires the quadratic formula, I still sing the song in my head as I do it. I don't consider these equations basic math, and the way I learned the formula is the only way I could still remember it. I don't know how to get the area of a shape, or what number pi is, but I can still sing you the quadratic formula if you ask me to. I can name all 50 states in alphabetical order. How can I do that? The Fifty Nifty United States. Ask me about any presidential assassination in US history. I can tell you all of them. I can tell you all of the attempted ones. Why? Because I know songs about them (as sad as that is). My fiance, who is a history major, really only knows the two well-known ones.

The comment (made in class) that if you are high in one intelligence, you are high in all of them, is not correct in my opinion, or at least in my case. I can learn a song the third time I hear it, but if you ask me to read the words without putting them to music, I probably wouldn't remember it after reading it 20 times. I can't remember anything I read in a textbook without reading it multiple times. If I see something, I usually have to ask someone to explain it to me. Most of the time I'll understand something if it's kinesthetic, but if I'm asked to think about something mathematically, I can't do it without a lot of thinking and writing things out. Maybe there aren't multiple intelligences, but students do learn different ways, and teachers should be aware of that. If my teachers hadn't taught me a song to remember the correct spelling of "community" or about the founding of Michigan, I probably wouldn't know them today.

6-1-10

The video we watched today was for high school English or health classes. I like that the teacher gave students choices. They are able to choose any relevant health issue, and the teacher encourages the students to choose a topic they will be able to stick with for four or five weeks. When the teacher goes around to the different student groups, they tell her ideas. One thing she does is ask how the topic will relate to high-schoolers.

The technology used in this lesson is movie software, cameras, and computers. This is a very good use of technology. All of the uses are relevant and useful for students to learn. They will also be using the technology when they present their projects after five weeks.

5-26-10

We watched two videos today about technology and students today. They were very different, though.

The first video we watched featured college students holding up signs that had to do with technology. The message I got from this movie was that technology was taking over their lives. One person said they only would read 8 books in a year, but thousands of webpages and ten thousands of facebook profiles. Some students said they spend most of their class time on facebook or doing things that have nothing to do with that class. Students are learning to believe they are multitasking, but from my experiences, when I spend time on facebook in class, I am not paying attention to anything my professor is saying. From this video, the message I received is that technology is not necessarily the best way to teach things. At NMU, I have had at most five classes where I was allowed to use my computer, and for good reason. Even if I will not going on facebook, someone around me will, and that distracts me. I also learn better if I write out notes instead of typing them, because usually I am switching between my notes window, my email, facebook, and maybe another website, so how can I keep something my teacher is saying in my head while I have so much other information coming at me?

The second video featured K-12 students. Their signs said that their teachers were using older technology and had never used a blog, a wiki, or digital storytelling. The only time I have seen something that high-tech in a classroom was when we saw smart boards at Danz Elementary in Green Bay, WI. Only the teacher had a smart board, and the students still had pencils and paper. In the second grade classroom I observed in last semester, the highest technology the teacher used was Reading Rainbow VHS tapes. She read aloud to students every day, used the Weather Channel to check the day's weather in the morning, and played Reading Rainbow while students ate their snacks. There was nothing I saw that would have negatively affected any of these students. They were the most eager to learn class I have ever seen. They loved to read and write and never once asked to use a computer. I think this video was very misleading in saying that students are being held back because they do not learn the latest technology in schools. I never learned how to facebook or use the internet or put music on my iPod in school. My teachers used the internet in school, but the assumed we already knew how to use it. We learned how to use all of our technology at home by ourselves or from friends. Someone in class made the argument that students would be able to teach themselves about technology better than a teacher would, and I think that's true. They can also learn how to use it so it is better suited for them instead of exactly how the teacher would use it. I remember learning how to type in elementary school. I got points off every time I typed a "C" with my left pointer finger because it is supposed to be pressed with the middle finger. I was still able to do what I was supposed to, but I was marked down because I did it differently. If we teach using certain technologies in our schools, we have to have some sort of assessment. How will we grade a student who reaches the same webpage, but does it differently than the way we tell them to? For elementary students, I think that typing is an important skill to learn, but I would rather teach them how to read and write with a pencil and paper than turn them into digital learners right away. If we don't teach them how to do things manually, what will they do when their computer crashes? I have no problem with students learning certain technologies at home, but I don't think it always belongs in the classroom. There are things that are better self-taught.

One other thing I think was misleading in the second video was the claim that in a few years China will have more English speakers than the US. I think this is supposed to be an argument that we will have so many immigrants who don't speak English, that China will surpass us, but the truth is that China has more people than us and is teaching its students more than we are. The population of the US (according to Google) is 307, 006, 550. The population of China (also according to Google) is 1,324,655,000. Even if every person in the US speaks fluent English and 1/4 of China's population speaks English (they never specified the level of English China would be speaking), they would have more English-speakers than the US. This video just shows us that we should check facts in context before believing everything we see on youtube. The fact that many people in China is at least bilingual should not shock us into making sure everyone speaks English in the US, it should inspire us to make our country bilingual too. Maybe we should learn Spanish to aid the growing population of Spanish-speakers in the US. From my experiences abroad, I have realized how hard it is to be in a country with a language you have only learned in your home country. It helps if someone speaks your language. I can't count the times I asked someone "¿Cómo se dice en español slow?" (How do you say in Spanish "slow"?) or any other word I didn't know. Most people would know at least a little English and be able to help me. It not only helped me to feel comfortable, but helped me to learn new vocabulary words (by the way, lento is "slow" in Spanish.) With the growing technology we have available to us, we should have no problem buying Rosetta Stone or some other language learning software to help us teach our students another language.

I know I went extremely off topic, but this is something I really believe in, and since we are becoming a more "global" world, we should be able to participate in it.

5-25-10

In this video, we saw an example of how the internet has changed over the years. It's interesting to think of the things we used to do face-to-face and the things we do now online. The only real internet communications I use are facebook and my email, but I know a lot of people who use Skype, Myspace, Twitter, AIM, and many more. I would rather talk to someone in person or on the phone because it is so easy to misread or misunderstand something online. There is no way to tell someone's tone of voice or see their facial expressions in many of the internet communications we have. I will most likely use Skype when I student teach in Argentina to talk to my family and friends, but other than that, I will most likely use the phone or talk to someone in person. I do enjoy communicating during facebook and email because they are both very quick and easy to do. Sometimes it's hard to find time to talk on the phone or the person is far away. If I don't have a timeline for my conversation, facebook is ok. I also like that online networking websites allow us all to see pictures and videos along with conversations, but the applications and games that people use are starting to become more frequent than the things I am interested in.

I'm not really a fan of blogs. It's a little funny that I'm saying this while I'm typing in a blog, but most of the blogs I've read seem pretty useless. I'm not all that interested in what random people are thinking about random subjects. I have read a few blogs from friends who studied abroad, but those are the only ones I'll probably read.