Blog Post 3

Peer Editing and Peer Editing with Perfection

When it comes to peer review, I have decided that approaching the problems headfirst and just outlining them in a comment is the best way to go about it. So long as you don’t completely bash the classmates writing, constructive criticism in a comment is the best way to go. I believe the Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes video called this person a mean Margaret. Being sure to compliment the writing and how things flow is an absolute must and would help them take things not quite as personal. If you approach the person in a comment in a polite manner and keep the attitude out of your critique, then there is no problem with leaving a comment. If the person would like to continue on with the conversation, moving to e-mail would benefit in that sense.

I find things like this are a good resource to have, not just for this class but all classes. I’ve found as I move along in my History classes and reach the higher levels, peer editing is an incredibly valuable resource. Being able to collaborate with people in my class, even if their papers are on a different topic, is nice. It’s always best to have another set of eyes looking over your paper. Someone else can always find something you did not see before. As educators I’m sure we will be approached by our students and fellow educators for help in this aspect as well.

Technology in Special Education

I really like the fact that one of our posts focuses on technology and special education, because I don’t think this aspect of education can be forgotten as we move forward. Last Fall I took my Special Education class and the professor required us to go out into a facility used for special needs children. I chose Learning Tree and was able to witness first-hand technology and special education. There were several children there that did not speak but were able to communicate with an iPad. It really is something to watch the student with a teacher and being to learn just like another other student, all because of technology.

In my classroom, I would do the same. One of the things we talked about last year was how special education students are kept in separate classrooms, away from everyone else. They are essentially kept from receiving the same education other kids receive. I strongly believe that if we have technology such as an iPad app that will allow a non-speaking child to speak and learn, they should be granted the same education as well. I believe progress in special needs should be granted the same allowance as progress in regular classrooms.

iPad and Autism

Being that I am in a Social Sciences/History concentration of education, I automatically went right to the History and Geography section. I found World Book – This Day in History. In it you select a day and it gives you photos, illustrations, music and speeches from that day. I believe this is one way to really make History come alive not just for special needs children but for all students in the subject. It’s one thing to read a transcript of the Emancipation Proclamation; it is a completely different thing to hear it. I believe this app could be used for a special education student to be able to learn and grasp the subject, as well as stay focused.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts

The first thing I noticed about this video was that it was posted in 2009. If she can do all of this, connecting her students to the world and teaching them to think outside of the box, then it should be more than possible now. There are so many new advances and apps being developed that it would seem silly not to use it. Vicki Davis shows exactly how to implement all of the technology we are learning about in EDM 310 in an everyday classroom.

Learning is a community challenge. I would have loved for the opportunity to teach the class or learn from a fellow student. Sometimes things are just different coming from a peer. Group projects, when effective, can prove extremely useful for students. When all members of the group are willing to collaborate and learn together, everyone benefits. This applies to how Vicki Davis says that her students taught each other Terraform. In a classroom with technology, there are some cases you rely on the knowledge of others. That is what I like the most of the Digiteen effort. You really do learn with others not just in your state or country, but from around the world.

Project 2 - Wordle

This is my wordle and I really like it! Mostly because the biggest words also happen to be the most important words to me.

Blog Post 2

Did You Know 3.0 by John Strange

“India has more K-12 Honors Students than ALL of the K-12 students in the United States.” This statement, taken with the fact that India does have a higher population, is still shocking. I did really like this video though, because it is tailored towards our class and the things we read and deal with. This video got the point across that we are always doing something with technology. It is forever at our fingertips. Even I’ve become more aware of the amount of time I spend on Google or on other class related websites. It’s interesting to see.

I did take time to watch the original. I feel this time around there were several things I did not catch. For instance “it is estimated that a week’s worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.” This just seems so shocking to me. Granted, things did travel by word of mouth as opposed to being able to hop on a computer and Google something. However, because we are so connected at any given moment, there is no excuse to be living in your own world. We should know what is going on around the world or even in just our community.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

The more I watch this video, the more it really begins to bothers me. It shows just how behind education really is in a technological standpoint. If other fields can make these advances, then why did it take so long for education to catch up? It shouldn’t be like that. If anything, we should have been the forerunners in this advance. The children we educate will become the doctors and lawyers and officer workers that Mr. Winkle witnesses using technology. Shouldn’t their first taste of technology come in a classroom where they can learn and grow?

As much as the video bothers me, it also slightly intrigues me. Here you have this little character that awakens from a slumber and sees how different his world has become. There are computers and breathing machines and telephones; nothing he knows to be normal. How many Mr. Winkle’s existed when technology first began advancing? I think educators who chose not to use technology in the classroom could be called a Mr. Winkle as well. Why make your students suffer because you just don’t want to learn?

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

“My contention is that all kids have tremendous talent and we squander them pretty ruthlessly.” “My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.” These are two of my favorite quotes from the Ken Robinson talk on creativity. One thing that he does very well is mixing the humor with the seriousness of his talk. I especially loved the bit where he talks about Shakespeare being in someone’s English class. He then goes on to say that there is a hierarchy within every single public education system in the world. First are math and Science, then humanities, and finally the arts. He doesn’t just target the European or American education systems; he targets all of them. In his view, it is designed for people to be steered into the subjects that will be useful as opposed to the subjects like arts. Robinson says that intelligence goes hand in hand with creativity.

I enjoyed this talk as much as I did the first time around, mostly because he is so adamant about the use of creativity in the classroom. The best part of the talk is when he talks about the dancer, Jillian. Back then, she is taken to a dance school and sees people just like her, who have to move to think. Nowadays, just as Robinson said, she would have been put on medication and told to calm down. This rings so incredibly true, because instead of finding creative outlets for overactive children, we instead have them tested for ADD or ADHD or some other learning disorder when, in reality, the student could just be bored. A medication isn’t always the answer, especially in the case of a classroom. If people just took the time to figure out students, instead of jumping to a conclusion, students would be so much more better off.
A Day Made of Glass 2

Firstly, I’m sure something like this would scare Mr. Winkle as much as a normal desktop computer would or a machine that kept people alive. In fact, I felt a bit like Mr. Winkle while watching this video. Is something like this even possible? Could we have this technology at our disposal in the next fifty years? Maybe even less? Just imagining the possibilities for a classroom with this sort of integrated system excites me. This should be the direction our education system is moving, if only because we can as a whole benefit from it exponentially. Something like this, with the glass tablets and wall-to-wall touchscreen, gives the words ‘hands-on’ an entirely new meaning.

The medical portion of the video was just as neat. Mostly because you can be in one location and a specialist halfway around the world can help you solve something. This sort of thing could be so beneficial to everyone, not just certain countries or people. Also, everything was incredibly energy efficient. Even the elementary school shown had an energy usage graph on the wall. I think that would make people stop and think about their carbon footprint and the way they help to shape the world.