NEW POST TO BE ADDED

Workshop on learning 2.0

I recently participated in a workshop dealing with learning 2.0 by Jim Dunne. I found it very interesting to see the progression from "learning 1.0" to the current learning system. I strongly believe that technology is very useful in education. For my new job, I was struggling with reaching some of the "good" kids who want to learn during classtime due to the numerous behavior issues I experience on a daily basis every period of the day. For these students to learn outside the classroom has shown me that not all my kids are heading in the wrong direction, despite the lack of homeworks I receive in a timely fashion. I used google sites to create my own avenue for those students to take advantage of extra credit opportunities and ultimately continue their education at home. I feel that if this is successful, then my presence in class unfortunately will become a thing of the past. This is why I took on this second masters. I am looking to get myself out of the classroom, due to the political bureaucratic nonsense I have to deal with as a classroom teacher. My dream is to be the technology supervisor who helps teachers in my situation now to reach those kids not having to worry about having my lesson plans completed every day for example. We discussed how this is the wave of education and where ultimately we may be putting teachers out of jobs. If we are able to meet in an online room on Marratech, why do we need to subject kids to confined desks in a classroom in an area where the school is literally unsafe? I think using technology in the classroom can be applied to every socio-economic area, but I truly believe it will help to level the playing field for the schools who can and the schools who can't. In this economy, my students will end up working as dish washers and housekeepers (these will be the students that graduate middle school) As for the ones that do not graduate middle school, they will be unemployed collecting welfare checks from taxpayers like me. This is a scary situation if not controlled properly.

Ultimately I was really taken back about how easy it is to replace a classroom teacher with a technology driven curriculum, lesson plans from a website, and ultimately the teacher would not even need to be in the classroom (a projector and a video feed will be sufficient) Even though these web 2.0 programs are free of charge, one day we are going to be hit with fees for these programs that ultimately make our jobs as teachers easier. I look forward to taking more workshops about the direction of technology in education.

Standardized Testing

There is some debate as to the educational merits of standardized testing. Some of this is presented in the Januszewski & Molenda text. Specifically, the authors (and others) contend that most standardized tests do not address deep learning. Briefly describe a lesson that would include some technology as well as learning goals that would require deep learning. Describe how you know this addresses deep learning. Discuss what the appropriate learning outcomes for these goals should be. Finally, describe how your lesson uses concepts of either cognitive information processing or constructivist learning.

I have to agree with Januszewski and Molenda in their theory about how standardized testing does not provide or allow for deep learning to take place. Ultimately standardized testing is ruining our education system.
For example, I am a social studies teacher in NYC. Ultimately my students know that as long as they succeed on the Math State Test and the English Language Arts State Test, therefore their behavior is terrible. They seem to behave much better in classes where they know the consequences of failing that state examinmation. Overall deep learning does not take place in my classes because I am on a time constraint and unfortunately since teach history and every day is a new day in history books, my curriculum is shortened as a result. Technology can save my subject however. If I were to assign extra readings, work for extra credit, or even credit-bearing assignments my students would be more inclined if they are interested in learning more about say Pearl Harbor for example. Pearl Harbor was a major turning point in American History. It was one of the first direct attacks that caused the United States to enter a war where they did not belong. My lesson would involve constructivist and cognitive information processing ideas.
Constructivist Ideas:

1. Students will be given various documents that they must read and respond to.

• Document One- NY TIMES Front Page with Pearl Harbor "Date That Will Live in Infamy" Speech by President Roosevelt.
• Document Two- Reading on Cmdr. Fuchida's experience from the Japanese perspective about the attack.

--- SWBAT understand the different perspectives about Pearl Harbor and link it to the attacks on 9-11-2001.

Cognitive Information Processing Ideas:

• Students will be able to link the events of 9-11 to the events of Pearl Harbor. They will read various news articles about 9-11 and using CIP they will extract information they know, create a reaction paper, and ultimately learn what it was like as a child or a young soldier in Pearl Harbor December 1941. We will examine the causes of the attack on Pearl Harbor including the ban on oil, fuel, and steel exports from the United States and imports into Japan following Japan's annex of China in the 1940s. Students will be able to understand the reasons behind why a country goes to war (God, Gold, Glory)

This lesson would be assessed with the response paper, DBQ questions that accompany the articles and readings, as well as a multiple choice content quiz.

Blog for Nov 13

(individual) In your blogs, discuss how you, or other teachers, might use some of the tools you've learned about this semester to develop instructional supplements for their content area. Try to be specific as you discuss this. What could you (or others) create, specifically, that you could use to help students learn? Discuss how this relates back to cognitive information processing. Then, describe how you (or others) could have students using some of these tools for learning content. Try to come up with specific examples of this. Then, discuss how this use of the tools relates back to either cognitive information processing or constructivist learning environments.


Ultimately I have used and will continue to utilize the programs and concepts that I learned in this masters program thus far. I use google docs to create documents that I can access in school to print in the teacher's center for example, then I publish them to my google sites for students to view at home if they leave the paper in school, and also can forward the information to a child's parent email address. This would not have been as easy if I hadn't learned the programs this semester. I have created online lessons for students to continue their own education at home. These include cognitive information processing techniques like reviewing past material, linking material to current events, and assessing students with extra credit opportunities. Ultimately I am using what my students already know about youtube for example, and applying it and showing them how the programs could be used for educational purposes.
My class would also work as a constructivist classroom online as well. If I post documents for example for one class to view and write questions, have another class do the basic research for the chapter, and a third class create an assessment, I have ultimately made the students more responsible for their own learning therefore it is constructivist in nature. Google docs and technology in the classroom can help with technology out of the classroom and social networking with students via engrade (online grading assessment). This also allows parents to view and keep a heads up on their children for work that is assigned.

Google Documents Suite for Classroom and Out of Classroom Activities

Google documents is an essential tool for teachers in the 21st century. Personally, I have come to understand the workings of the program for my students, however since my students do not all have access to the internet, let alone a computer, using Google Docs seems like a pipedream right now. I have seen how in Red Owl's class, we have used the programs for group assignments and have been able to correctly identify the problems of group issues and free riding problems. Personally I have used google docs to create a webpage through google sites that has enabled parents and students to be equally accountable for my classroom work and projects. I have ultimately created a better avenue where parents and students can contact me and know the daily agenda in case they were not in class that day or it was too noisy and other students disrupted their education. Overall, google docs while there are still some flaws will be an essential part of my classroom from now on. YouTube and teachertube are unfortunately blocked in my school, but they have some great videos where students can visually relate to the subject matter I am working on. FlickR is a great program if I were to post images for a slide show presentation that would relate to the material of the class at the time. iTunes for my students is an avenue to download legal and illegal music, but showing them the educational side of the program may entice them to try and create their own podcasts using audacity. Technology is on the rise in education; if you don't partake now, you might as well get off the proverbial bus, because education will reach a standstill without integrating technology.

Spreadsheets Workshop

I recently attended a workshop on spreadsheets taught by Michele Dornisch in late October. I learned how as a social studies teacher I can use excel to create a map that is pasted into various cells that allow for information to be hidden unless hovered over. I found it very interesting because this was not something I had seen used before for map studies. I also found the grade book portion of the workshop very useful. I have previously used excel spreadsheets before for grading, but I learned many new techniques that would streamline the process for me. I have sucessfully applied the techniques I have learned and used them for my 1st quarter grading. I think this workshop could have been shortened and perhaps webcast since the technology we use for other classes would also be very effective. I think this would be something to look into for the future.

My podcast for EDT

http://jstrum.podbean.com/

Powered by Podbean.com

Using Graphic Organizers as a Social Studies Teacher

Earlier this week, my Principal sent a letter to all 8th grade social studies teachers directing us to administer a practice ELA writing assignment every Wednesday until the ELA Examination in January. The assignment was for the teacher to read aloud a selection two times while the students take notes appropriately. The material read to the students was not very easy, but it made the task make that much more sense in the end. Students were required to use their notes they took and complete a graphic organizer (two boxes) similar to that of a flow chart or a concept map. Students were introduced to this type of advanced organizer and this helped them to create a 4 paragraph essay containing the information that was input into the graphic organizer.

As a social studies teacher, comparing and contrasting various people, events, cultures, and places is a standard that we must uphold. I have been using graphic organizers with my students from my old school because they were special education students and they needed a visual representation of their notes. Many times I found myself using concept mapping and visual representations in my planning so that I would have a more effective lesson. Students use T-charts, 4-squares, Venn diagrams, and word webs mostly every day in social studies. These are skills that I personally learned as a young student, but it did not hit me until I took the LSAT how important those graphic organizers were when you had numerous reading comprehensions and you only had a short amount of time to write your essay or answer the questions below the readings.

I hope that my students one day will look back and say "Mr. S taught me how to do graphic organizers and this has made my life and note-taking much easier" Well one can only hope, but I truthfully want to thank my teachers for shaping me to be a more effective teacher than they were overall---some of them were very good, while others have shown me "what not to do." I have taken both of these into account in my own classroom.

My Day at the UN - Workshop #1

Dr. Schneiderman,

It was a wonderful opportunity to share in the International Day of Peace 2008. It was a great display of integrating technology in the classroom, across world barriers. I think I would like to incorporate this technology with my new school *I don't know if I told you, but that same day I got a new job!* I will be working in Queens (South Ozone Park Middle School 226).

Back to topic-- I believe that the use of social networking, including text messaging is the wave of the future, at least for the students today. If it were not for the stringent cell phone policies in schools, students can perhaps use their text messaging capabilities for good things, perhaps communicating with a penpal, for example. I think that if our students realize what they are capable of with communicating worldwide, they can truly make a difference in someone else's lives.
Thank you again for the wonderful opportunity. I look forward to further meetings with you ;)

Jay

Learning Styles

Based on your readings, do you think teachers should teach to students’ perceived learning styles? Why or not? (your response should be 300 words or less, with the heading "Learning Styles." Make sure that your response is well written, coherent, and has a well-developed response that does not digress from the question)

As a social studies teacher in a specialized high school for emotionally disturbed girls, I usually teach toward my students' perceived learning styles. If I do not teach toward their styles, I will lose my students' focus, attention, and be met with negativity from them. In an ideal school, teachers should be able to teach to various students' needs without having to conform to a specialized curriculum prescribed by the state or nation. I think teachers are now more worried about teaching skills necessary for passing the exams, regardless of the perceived learning styles their students exhibit. For me, I have had success teaching the basics of understanding the wording used on the Regents using past Regents questions on my tests. Even though my responsibility may fall on teaching to various learning styles, I have to guide my students through the prescribed curricula for the exam in June. It would be more effective for students to be taught across many different media, so that multiple intelligences are utilized. I believe that is truly the best way to teach to perceived learning styles for all students.