When I taught middle school, I read to my students every day. We were working on Imaging as a comprehension strategy. Every once in a while I stopped and the students drew a response. We conferenced about their images looking for connections, big, ideas, themes, etc. we also did this in reading with text that was individually chosen. Thirty kids and thirty books. It was never about straight knowledge but thinking and strategies. it was based on the SMART Learning framework on Susan Close. She has a website. You might find this interesting.

Don

Posted Date: October 25, 2012 9:27 PM
Subject: ConclusionsGreat job on Module 6, Anne, Heidi and Mark! I really enjoyed the video clips and adding my Pong experience to the timeline.How important is understanding the history of educational technology in choosing and developing technologies for the classroom today?My first response? Not very… but then I started to think more about my personal journey with educational technology. Every step I took required careful consideration. Will an overhead projector improve the effectiveness of my lesson? Should I ditto a worksheet instead of doing boardwork? Will Appleworks help me write a better report card? Sometimes technology helped improve my teaching: the overhead project helped me better demonstrate math concepts to the whole class. Sometimes technology did not improve my teaching: Appleworks was a frustrating fiasco! I think I share this experience with everyone who engages with technology and with the history of educational technology as a whole. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. The intent may be improvement but this is not always supported by the results. I wonder if Og reflected on this before he taught his children to hunt by drawing on a cave wall wall?In the coming months, my principal and I intend to explore the possibility of WIFI use in our school. It is a controversial subject. Understanding the history of educational technology helps me understand the controversy. It happened with when radio was introduced to schools,. It happened when television was iintroduced to schools. It happened when computers were introduced to schools. The media may be different but all three did impact teaching and learning. They did impact students. Perhaps the impact was not as life-threatening as the naysayers suggested. This may prove to be the case with WIFI, but the naysayers are right to point out that WIFI does impact teaching and learning. It does impact students. Again, I wonder if Og considered his wife’s concern about the sharpness of the stick and the safety of the children’s eyes before he started teaching. Something to keep in mind as we work through the WIFI process.Don

Posted Date: October 25, 2012 8:54 PM
Subject: The Children of Telstar

Camille, Rebecca, and Anne,

I enjoyed reading your responses and agree with much of what you said.

How comfortable do you feel teachers are at letting students take over their learning experience like what happened in the Mamaranock school system?

I believe that allowing students to take control over their learning is most successful when the task is demanding and authentic. Learning to read, with the goal of reading a book to the class once a week, is this kind of task for Kindergarteners. Structure is key. I put my students in a reading environment and expect they will figure it out. Demanding? Sure. But they rise to the challenge. They take more responsibility for the process. I coach and guide but don’t formally “teach” reading. Most grow by leaps and bounds with about a third of the class well and truly reading by the end of the year.

How has the change in educational technology allowed educators to take more of a facilitator role in the learning process?

I think that environment and lesson design are key factors in becoming a mentor for students. Technology helps keep my learning resources organized and easily accessible. I can relax and respond more quickly and easily to my students’ interests. The flexibility of a Smartboard, document camera, and iPads allows me to adjust my lesson while I am teaching. Again, I feel more responsive to my students – especially when they suggest ways to improve what we are doing!

As an example…last year when we were talking about the colour of fish blood (yes, it ties into the curriculum) a spider walked across the carpet. Immediately, someone asked, what colour is spider blood? Thank heavens for my Smartboard and the internet. We were able to find out right away. The students even generated words for the search. And the answer….blue. Why? because it has a copper base rather than an iron base. It took some explaining of oxidation but they got it and then we went right back to talking about fish.

I do believe that student freedom and choice are important but I think this needs to be tempered by our knowledge of child development. Understanding where our students are developmentally helps us facilitate learning that encourage continued development. Unstructured or non-purposeful freedom seems to lead to anarchy; I have been in a few Kindergartens that remind me of Lord of Flies. Kind of reverse development.

Thanks for the discourse,

Don

Posted Date: October 24, 2012 2:33 PM
Subject: The Medium is the Message

How does McLuhan’s understanding of both the medium and message affect educators as they implement ET into their curriculum? How is an understanding of the ‘medium’ fundamental to meaningful ET?

A timely question… My kindergarten students and I are just finishing a unit on Fall.  As a techophile, I included the usual Youtube videos, audio books, and Smartboard activities. As an effective teacher, however, I included: walking in the woods (we were pelted by falling acorns and distracted by colourful dancing leaves), acting out signs of Fall in gym, singing a Fall song, visiting an apple orchard and making applesauce. How limiting it would be if the experience of Fall got lost to the medium of the Smartboard. Experience is about more than sights and sounds. My techie activities add to the expereince but certainly don’t replace it!

One of my students’ favourite time of day is when I read a book to them. Given a choice between “watching” the book on the Smartboard and “listening” to me read it, they always choose the latter. I have noticed they talk more, laugh more, comment more, call out more. They just seem to enjoy it more. Does the medium change the message? Is the medium the message? Sure….my kindergarteners understand this. It is something for me to remember!

Don

Posted Date: October 24, 2012 3:03 PM
Subject: The Magic Box

While technology has changed over the years, purposes for its use and similar concerns remain regarding the use of computers in education. What are some of the purposes or concerns that are still the same today? Are they still valid? Which ones should be taken into consideration when planning for the use of technology?

I was not surprised to hear and understand that the beginnings of computer technology are rooted in military applications and that companies got involved with an eye to profit. It occurs to me that many video games are designed to carry on both “proud” traditions. The early involvement and rivalry of IBM and Apple in schools was not a suprise. I was teaching at the time! With the arrival of iPads and the myriad of associated apps, I have noticed a difference. The apps are getting better. It seems like the companies producing them are beginning to understand good sales requires selling an application to a teacher. I think many teachers are becoming more saavie about applications. They need to support real learning and to do more than provide drill and practice. Students in our school are working on storytelling and reporting. They experimenting with a simple green screen app to provide scenes for their oral reports. Simple, cheap, and effective. I like it, students like it, parents like it. The company sells more copies! Oops….maybe things haven’t changed after all.

Don