I came across this amazing new software that is still in its development stage. It sounds like it will be a great way to teach students ages 5-7 how to code. Amazing!
Last night during my Ed Tech class we skyped with Will Chamberlain who is an expert on edublogging. One of the things he said was that
" asking questions is a wonderful way to extend the conversation (with students)." Earlier in the day I was doing some reading for another class and took these notes: To stimulate higher ordered thinking in your students- we can use the following guided questions- 1. Ask HOW DO WE KNOW? 2. WHOSE VIEWPOINT IS THAT? 3. HOW IS ONE THING CONNECTED TO THE OTHER? 4. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? 5. HOW ELSE MIGHT IT HAVE BEEN? As educators we are responsible for our students acquisition of content as guided by school curriculum. But more importantly, we must take on the responsibility of our students cognition. We need to guide our students and make sure that they can APPLY their new knowledge to their world. One of the best ways to do this is through conversation! I read a fellow student's blog today about lack of support from her district. Basically, the district spent money to bring Stratelogica to the classroom but never gave the teachers any training.
What gives? Why are we as teachers never given the support we need to adequately run our classrooms. Why can't you give us training on how to effectively use a new computer software program in the classroom? We wouldn't give the IRS new software and say just give it a try...... Lord knows the government has provided MANY hours of instruction and probably FREE LUNCH to it's employees. We wouldn't hand a surgeon a new tool and say, "just go with it". So why do you put our teachers through this, day in and day out? So what about the teachers? The ones who are paid to educate our kids. The ones who are with our kids everyday. Who provide hugs, snack, a listening ear ALL while trying provide love and safety, as well as fit in Common Core. So here's my question to the districts- WE are doing our job- what about you? Just a quick note to make you aware of a little situation I have with your blog service. I have an assignment due in my class which requires me to create an animoto video and then upload it onto my blog. Now I did my assignment- I created this great video of my son for his blog but here's the problem-
PROBLEM WITH WEEBLY: You don't allow users to upload video unless you pay to upgrade service. Can I send you the bill if I fail my class? Since my last post was for you parents out there who have some apprehensions latting your kids online- I thought this video might offer you some helpful hints! The whole idea of blogging for students can really make a teacher's head spin, especially if you are a parent! All I kept thinking was that I don't know if I really want to encourage my kids to have more screen time!!
Video games are very popular in my house, as well as the tv. I feel like I am constantly saying, "please turn that off". So the thought of giving my kids a reason to spend more time online was really crazy to me! The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently updated their screen time policy due to a recent study that states in the U.S., kids ages 8-18 are getting an average of 7 hours of screen entertainment time PER DAY!! A popular pediatrician a group says that *parents need to be aware that too much screen time can have serious consequences- such as; cyber bullying, school woes, obesity, lack of sleep.*. (2013) CBS News Interactive Inc. This data is depressing, and I worry about how much this will affect our kids in the long run. So much of our kids learning is dependent upon their interactions with their environment. When we send our kids out to play we are exposing them to an entire world of exploration. I worry that the amount of real, hands-on learning experiences will be diminished as the kids choose instead to watch tv. So what does this mean for our Students and blogging? Well first and MOST importantly, We have to separate screen time from our educational time! So then we can explore blogging as an educational activity! Blogging IS an educational activity! One that is being used in tons of classrooms around the country, Canada and the world. Blogging gives Ss the ability to have "real" authentic learning experiences about subject areas that are important to them. The main pedagogical theory regarding experiential learning is the idea that learning is dependent upon the Meaning making process of the students educational experience. Therefore, meaningful learning experiences CAN in fact occur when students are actively blogging about their learning experiences. So how do we help our children find the right balance? Do we set limits on their creativity? Do we want to set a timer on their learning? I think that the best answer to these questions is that there is a time and place for blogging within every curriculum. I myself, have been surprised by the unique learning experiences that my son Dylan's blog has exposed him to. When I asked him what he likes about blogging he said "he likes that it lets him interact with people around the world!" That's all the justification I need. ok so my blog is very boring!! Even Dylan's blog has a picture!! So this week I challenged myself to figure out how to get some pictures in my blog. So here goes!! Next week- clustrmap and the following week.....
(drum roll) a VIDEO Now I'm getting way ahead of myself :) This is my first blog post! But my 2nd blog! You see I started this graduate course in Ed Tech and my teacher mentioned that her son had a blog........and I HAD to go home and show my son......and of course he HAD to have his OWN blog!
Needless to say, I have learned more in the past week in this course than I learned all last semester! So I spent the past week and a half learning how to use Twitter, and Google+ and Weebly. I'm gonna admit, Twitter still confuses me! But today, for the first time, I tweeted my first tweet!! It only took me 8 days-- not too bad for a mom who's not very cool according to her 13 yr old! The whole blog thing is not too bad! I spent last week helping my son create his blog- Mylifeasmebyd.weebly.com and now he's up and running. My favorite post of his so far is called "annoying sister and nice brother". You should check it out. Anyways, I guess I'm supposed to introduce myself so here goes- My name is Maggie, right now I mostly identify myself as mom because I have 3 kids, Julia, Jake and Dylan, and they have completely taken over my life! In a good way, of course! I like the color pink, and chocolate chip cookies, and I am a graduate student at the Univ of St Joes. Just to add an element of curiosity here so that you HAVE to come back- I was a little unsure about this whole blogging thing at first. But I'll save that for my next post! |