Britt Huxley- Blog 3

6.   Watch Mr. Winkle Wakes by Mathew Needleman:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm1sCsl2MQY Write two paragraphs.

Today’s world is changing every day. It is changing in the amount of people, in the buildings around us, the way we complete activities, and even the way we are teaching today compared too many years ago. Buildings are getting bigger, machines are doing factory jobs and helping people live their day to day lives, people are keeping in contact with people many miles away from them, and student’s classrooms are relying more and more on technology to teach them the curriculum. Technology is making a major impact on our world. All around us we are looking at different technological advances that are helping us live our day to day lives. Apps on phones and online activities are making creative ways to play ‘games’ to allow students to understand the curriculum in fun and easier ways. The teachers are using websites to teach kids, as well as electronics in the classrooms, like projectors, electric whiteboards, and more technological calculators. We need our students to learn how to use technology in the classroom so that they can keep up with the work and curriculum that they need to know throughout their schooling career and into adult life.

This video shows the importance of knowing how to use technology to learn in today’s world. There may be a few teachers who sit at the front of the room and lecture so the students can take notes, but generally, no matter how the teacher teaches, there is some kind of technology helping them. Anyone who is older, or born and went to school a while ago would have trouble in today’s classroom with all the technology. They weren’t taught how to use it and don’t understand it like the children today so they would feel uncomfortable in many of the classroom situations today. There has been so much change from a century ago to now, changing every year and many argue whether it is a good thing or not. Of course it is helping the world in so many ways, but many are considering whether it is taking the world in the right direction or not and whether it should stick with more traditional ways of life and teaching as technology is taking over our lives too much in some aspects. This will always be a question up in the air, but technology is helping teachers in the classroom, it’s just a matter of how much they use it. Some people would rather it how it was many years ago, some would rather it how it is today. People who went to school a few decades ago or more would have trouble in the classroom today. It is about adapting the children to the world today and using the technology to help them succeed in the best way possible.

Britt Huxley Blog 2

4.   Read or listen to the story: Vocab Tech For Toddlers Encourages ‘Anytime.Anywhere Learning’ http://goo.gl/NtB4M9

What are your thoughts about this article? Agree or disagree? Write two paragraphs.

I definitely agree with this article. Sesame Street is a tool that allows children to watch the entertainment side of it but also allows them to take in the basic knowledge of what the characters are saying. The great thing about this show is that the children don’t even know they are taking this knowledge in and are actually learning something from an entertaining show. It gives the children the basics of reading and math in a fun and enjoyable way that the students will listen to (counting to a certain number while cookie monster eats each of the cookies). Starting up an app in today’s world is definitely going to benefit the child. Technology is all around us, and even if we don’t agree, our students and children need to incorporate this into their learning as they will struggle without it in the future, that’s just the way our world is turning. Having this app allows the students to use it anywhere they want and is interactive on a fun level as the majority of children love using technology. Having children use their own way to control the app and making them think about how to complete the activity (how do I get Elmo up the beanstalk- tap, swipe etc.) allows the students to be thinking intelligently but they aren’t realizing they are doing it. I agree that the important thing is the content. If it is interactive but does not have the correct content they should be learning, then the students may as well be sitting in front of a screen playing whatever game they want. Having this Sesame Street app, ‘Big Bird’s Words,’ can improve literacy skills, show students how words are related and see how certain groups of words go together and relate in real life. Having the student find the word they are given on an object in the room makes it fun but challenging at the same time, and allows them to see what other words are on that object so they can see how that one word relates to all the other words on the object. Adults need to help their children with this app which encourages interaction between child and adult which is critical in today’s world.

Even though these apps and watching videos on iPads/iPhones help students if used correctly, they need to be given time limits. Like any technology, they should be only used for a certain amount of time before having a break. After a while the children will not think as clearly as what they should be doing with the app and will just ‘go through the motions’. They will also get addicted to the technology and not want to do any learning any other way than on technology, which is not good. Everything needs to have a time limit and be in the right time and place to be used correctly. Whether we like it or not, technology is always going to be a part of our lives and especially our children’s, so we need to come up with the best possible ways to incorporate it into our learning, which I think this article is showing.  

Britt Huxley- Blog 1- Big Ideas for Better Schools

3. Watch: Big Ideas for Better Schools http://www.edutopia.org/big­ideas

What are your thoughts about the information shared in the video? How does this relate to you as a teacher? Write two paragraphs.

I believe that this video shows a good range of different ways to make schools better, even though some ideas are definitely better than others and used more. I feel it opens student’s minds up to more information in different ways that would be interesting to them. All of these ideas involve different ways to help the students and the school be the best they can be and learn in the most effective ways. They are really good ways to teach students the information in fun ways so that they will remember it later on. It keeps outside people included in the school and the student so that the school gets help to be the best they can be and so that the students feel appreciated and that they are receiving help from everyone and everything around them. The project-based learning, technology integration, integrated studies, cooperative learning, and comprehensive assessment are all great ways to teach a student to learn with different methods. Teaching the students each of these aspects allows them to learn information differently, work with others, share their knowledge, go more in depth with information, use the latest interventions that help them in the classroom, and be the best students they can be in many different ways. These aspects can then be used in life later on. Emotional intelligence is important to let the student know that they are appreciate and wanted to do well. Everyone around them is there to help them be the best they can be, in and out of school. Teacher preparation, parent involvement, community partners, and maximising resources, are ways in which allow the student to learn in the easiest and most appropriate way possible. Having people and resources around the students who help and are involved when the student needs them will always allow them to be better students. All of this information is great for teachers to give them indications as to how to build the best classroom and school they can for their students.

This relates to me as a teacher as it allows me to see all the different options I have as to how to teach my students. It gives me many different options to think about as to how to teach different aspects of the curriculum in different ways, and what is the best way for each student to learn as everyone is different. After watching this video I realize the outside resources I can have as a teacher that help the students in my class, making sure I am in good terms with the students’ parents and the community around the school, as well as being prepared myself. This gives me a good perspective as to things I need to think about when teaching my own class and how best to teach the students the information, depending on what it is they are learning. This has given me a good inside to think about as to what I have to do to allow me to be the best teacher I can be, and making me look at every aspect around me that could help me as a teacher, my students, and the school.