Although we are only halfway through the second semester of our graduate studies, I hope to rekindle wearying spirits. With sighs of exhaustion and frustration in the air, David Warlick reminds us this week how important love is to our central drive as teachers. He suggests that loving one’s job and teaching with heart are especially important in the field of education. “There is so much about teaching and learning that is about communication. And it seems to me that when communication has heart behind it, then it becomes especially sticky.” I agree.
Passion and excitement are contagious, and I believe if we show students how wonderful and captivating our subject matters, then we can spread the good infection of learning. I contend that technology in the classroom is one way to ease this process. Technology can spark that ember of intrigue, and once we have captured the interest of our students, we can begin to shape their perceptions.
I believe a love for teaching entails a love for technology. As the students of the next generation become evermore aware and confident in the technological skills, we must remain engaged in educational technology so that we can still teach them something novel, and above all educational. Four months ago, I never would have dreamed that podcasting was something I could do. A month ago, I never would have considered a cell phone a educational technology tool. Before the program, I thought wikis and blogs were reserved for politics or techies. I am simply amazed at how much I have learned in the past months about technology and how it can be utilized in the class.
Fellow colleagues, I hope your heart is still in education despite whatever has happened in your cognates, placements, or education courses. Also, I hope that part, at least, of your passion about teaching entertains the potential of educational technology.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Blog Reflection – Week of October 15th
David Warlick raised an interesting question this week in his blog regarding ethics and contemporary literacy. Many people, including teachers, administrators, and parents, believe teachers should incorporate an ethics lesson here and there to remind students of appropriate behavior in the cyber world. Some would quickly argue that ethics is the prerogative of philosophy, but I would contend that educators could grapple with this issue if we create parameters of investigation. General education teachers should contribute to the resolution of this inquiry, not just information technology personnel.
Warlick outlines four basic concepts in attempting to address the tension between ethics and contemporary literacy:
• Respect for intellectual property (copyright, etc.)
• Respect for intellectual integrity (respect truth)
• Respect for each other (cause no harm)
• Respect for the information infrastructure
Each one of these concepts deserves much thought and an adequate response, which I will leave a few of these to my colleagues. For my purposes, I would like to address the third area of focus: respect for each other.
The most prominent classroom rule in middle and high schools across the country is probably a simple, although often tested, one: respect each other. We ask students to respect each other’s space, feelings, beliefs, etc., and we usually teach students some of the skills that are necessary in honoring this classroom rule. In addition, we often reward students that practice these skills and punish those who exercise inappropriate conduct. Should we not do the same thing in cyberspace?
On the Internet, blogs, wikis, and messages from Facebook and MySpace each provide students a plethora of opportunities to attack other students, and with this type of freedom, I think students should be educated on proper virtual behavior. Perhaps, teachers could set up class blogs or wikis in order to teach proper virtual etiquette. Programs like Enemybook (here’s an NPR interview with the creator of the Facebook paraody) will probably expand over time, but if we teach students how to respond to such programs, they will hopefully fizzle out.
What about the other concepts? What do these mean to you? What has been left out?
Warlick outlines four basic concepts in attempting to address the tension between ethics and contemporary literacy:
• Respect for intellectual property (copyright, etc.)
• Respect for intellectual integrity (respect truth)
• Respect for each other (cause no harm)
• Respect for the information infrastructure
Each one of these concepts deserves much thought and an adequate response, which I will leave a few of these to my colleagues. For my purposes, I would like to address the third area of focus: respect for each other.
The most prominent classroom rule in middle and high schools across the country is probably a simple, although often tested, one: respect each other. We ask students to respect each other’s space, feelings, beliefs, etc., and we usually teach students some of the skills that are necessary in honoring this classroom rule. In addition, we often reward students that practice these skills and punish those who exercise inappropriate conduct. Should we not do the same thing in cyberspace?
On the Internet, blogs, wikis, and messages from Facebook and MySpace each provide students a plethora of opportunities to attack other students, and with this type of freedom, I think students should be educated on proper virtual behavior. Perhaps, teachers could set up class blogs or wikis in order to teach proper virtual etiquette. Programs like Enemybook (here’s an NPR interview with the creator of the Facebook paraody) will probably expand over time, but if we teach students how to respond to such programs, they will hopefully fizzle out.
What about the other concepts? What do these mean to you? What has been left out?
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Blog Reflection – Week of September 24th
This week, David Warlick once again posed a question that all of us MACers should consider as we complete our education program. With an ever-growing attention toward technology in the classroom, perhaps we should think broader about the 21st century: “But a new century, a new global economy, a new environment of personal power, and a new information and media landscape demand a new culture and even definition for education and being educated” (Warlick, 2007, paragraph 4). Recently, professional educators have been formulating a new framework to prepare future teachers, and while the framework does not, in my opinion, completely shake-up our current understanding of literacy, it does offer some tweaks. In his blog, Warlick asked his readers to address any of the three following questions:
* How would you define the 21st century teacher?
* How would you define the 21st century classroom?
* How would you define the 21st century student?
I’ll take up the first question and leave the other two to my colleagues. In defining the 21st-century teacher, I think an important characteristic to consider will be open-mindedness. Without a doubt, technology will play an integral role in the classroom of the future, and teachers must be prepared to assess these tools and incorporate them when possible. Texts will also change; in fact, some things may undergo fundamental changes, and in order to prepare for future changes, teachers must maintain an open mind.
The second part of the definition would relate to creativity. With an abundance of entertainment venues available to our students, for example, video games, the Internet, DVD players in vehicles, maintaining the focus of our students will be a difficult task. While I believe varied instructional activities and teaching methods will assist us, I think teachers will need harness their creative energies to think about how to integrate more technology into the classroom. I do not think the role of teachers should be to entertain students, but I think it is up to teachers to do whatever they can to keep the minds of their students engaged. Technology, one would think, is one tool that can help teachers succeed in this endeavor, but we must make sure not to inundate our students to the point of distraction.
Finally, teachers must remain learned in their field. Content mastery will always be, in my opinion, a prerequisite to teaching. As the field changes, I hope teachers will remain up-to-speed on what is occurring in their content area, including current research and successful teaching strategies.
Teacher: An open-minded, creative, and learned individual in charge of educating children and young adults.
Any thoughts on the classroom, student, or teacher of the 21st century?
* How would you define the 21st century teacher?
* How would you define the 21st century classroom?
* How would you define the 21st century student?
I’ll take up the first question and leave the other two to my colleagues. In defining the 21st-century teacher, I think an important characteristic to consider will be open-mindedness. Without a doubt, technology will play an integral role in the classroom of the future, and teachers must be prepared to assess these tools and incorporate them when possible. Texts will also change; in fact, some things may undergo fundamental changes, and in order to prepare for future changes, teachers must maintain an open mind.
The second part of the definition would relate to creativity. With an abundance of entertainment venues available to our students, for example, video games, the Internet, DVD players in vehicles, maintaining the focus of our students will be a difficult task. While I believe varied instructional activities and teaching methods will assist us, I think teachers will need harness their creative energies to think about how to integrate more technology into the classroom. I do not think the role of teachers should be to entertain students, but I think it is up to teachers to do whatever they can to keep the minds of their students engaged. Technology, one would think, is one tool that can help teachers succeed in this endeavor, but we must make sure not to inundate our students to the point of distraction.
Finally, teachers must remain learned in their field. Content mastery will always be, in my opinion, a prerequisite to teaching. As the field changes, I hope teachers will remain up-to-speed on what is occurring in their content area, including current research and successful teaching strategies.
Teacher: An open-minded, creative, and learned individual in charge of educating children and young adults.
Any thoughts on the classroom, student, or teacher of the 21st century?
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