Is Google Making Us Stupid?

As a technology teacher, this is an argument I have heard again and again. Is Google making us stupid? Have students' attention spans deteriorated? What happened to the days when people enjoyed a good book? I feel myself secretly observing my students as they work thinking about these issues, and what kind of long term effects we will see through the "net generation". Although it is tempting to assume the worst, as Carr would lead us to believe, I can't agree that the Internet is making us any less smart. Is it changing the way we once learned, think, or even approach new information? Yes, however, I truly believe there is still learning occurring, just different than we have ever experienced.  We are multitasking better than ever, skimming information, pulling out ideas, and these are all skills that shouldn't be negated as negative.

However, I believe the amount of options, endless resources at our fingertips is the true culprit. Is that we cannot concentrate for long periods of time, or that we cannot ignore the impulse to look at the other countless options we know are right there in front of us.  Almost as if it's a "grass is greener" technology syndrome. This article is good, but there's probably a better, more interesting one I can be reading right now! It is teaching 101. Any experienced teacher would tell you, don't give them too many options, your afternoon will be shot. Give them three or four to pick from. Well, as a technology teacher I have to adhere to this. While doing a research project, I always give my students suggested web sties, no more than five, to gather their information from. Other wise, I find 45 minutes haves gone by, and my students have one sentence. However, I feel the focus should be on a common theme we've been discussing throughout this course; how we, as educators should and can adapt our teaching to our students' learning environment. Check out this great article for more information!

Kids, Tech and Those Shrinking Attention Spans

"instead of lamenting the changes that technology has wrought upon the brains of our children, perhaps it's time to ask how the environment our kids learn in (i.e., school) can adapt to the world they live in.."

-D.Graber

Casting

I've always been very interested in the idea of utilizing podcasts and screen casts in my classroom. Over the past couple of years, I've experimented a little with some tools, however, have not fully taken advantage of the vast benefits casting offers to the 21st Century educator. I envision using casting in my classroom for instructional and professional purposes. As an elementary technology teacher, I can apply casting to reinforce my instruction. Often throughout the year I have much time wasted to reviewing on how to use new programs that I want students to use to create final projects. I will use casting to record myself giving step by step directions to set up accounts such as Storybird, explaining basic features of programs we use in class such as Microsoft PowerPoint, and how to post on our class blog. This will save me an enormous amount of time repeating myself and prevent time from being taken away in class to work hands on with these programs. I also can use this professionally in a similar sense. As a technology representative in my schools, I am often sent to workshops on new programs and asked to turn key them to my staff. In the past, I would type up a guide and share it with my colleagues. I never thought of using casting to turn key workshops or review basic features of new programs on the professional level. This would save me the time from showing teachers during my prep, or theirs.


I can also enhance many of my lessons as a technology teacher. I can show castings I've created at home during class. This way, if some students are struggling they can go to the castings on their laptops for a quick review. This would work best since many of my students do not have access to computers at home. I can also upload my podcasts/screencasts to my website for students to watch and reflect on for homework assignments.


From the students' perspective, podcasts can be used to reinforce learning. I will have my students record their voices during our digital storytelling unit and insert it to their file. Afterwards, students can listen to each others stories in class or at home. Students can also use podcasts to give feedback. After watching a video or reading an essay, they may create a podcasts of their critiques. When it comes to screencasts, I love the idea of having students explain a math problem. They would have to plan, organize, and demonstrate each step of the process to solve the problem for their peers to see. Another way students can use screencasts is to review important facts from a chapter or an event. Students could do this in groups or pairs and later share as a class review.

Blogging and PLNs...Making the "Connection"

Many educators underestimate the true power of Personal Learning Networks. As we have discussed in previous weeks in this course, our students growing up in the 21st Century are already taking advantage of the endless amount of information at their fingertips. So, why wouldn't we, as educators? Today I was able to explore and join various new and innovative PLNs that will help me grow as an educator in the field of technology instruction. I spent much time on Classroom 2.0, The Innovative Eductor, and Education World.  What I liked about Education World and other sites like it, such as Edutopia, is that they keep me up to date and informed on what is new in the professional field of education. Whether it is new reforms to PARCC testing, tenure law, or evaluation systems, it is good to not only focus on your craft of teaching, but also to stay informed in your professional realm. I also liked how Classroom 2.0 included forums and articles organized by topic where teachers could share comments on techniques, post questions and seek answers from other teacher professionals, and join special interest groups. Finally, I plan to continue exploration on "The Innovative Classroom." I definitely plan on following Lisa Nielsen's section, "the hottest posts everyone's reading." It had numerous topics that were relevant to today's educator.

As a technology teacher, I already have had experience utilizing blogging in my classroom. However, I did pick up some new ways to incorporate blogging into my class that I want to start implementing in the next school year. In appreciated Lisi Gopin's article, "8 tips for Blogging with Students" as a starting point for teachers who want to launch blogging tools in their classroom. It is something I will pass on to my colleagues in the future. I think one of the key points Gopin stressed was modeling good, quality blogging before they do it. One way I will utilize blogging is on reflection. I really connected to the article, "High Tech Reflection Strategies Make Learning Stick". I will utilize blogging a new way not just by having students post on my class blogger page afterwards, but during the learning process. By posting my prompt such as, "what are some challenges you are facing during this project and how did you approach them?" I will open my students reflecting on their problem-solving skills. I will also implement blogging by allowing my students to post on outside blog sites, such as dogonews. This is a wonderful site that posts student friendly current even articles in which students can leave comments. It is also safe since it is regulary monitored and comments must be approved. This is a great way for students to connect with other students aroud the world on issues while vocalizing their own opinion on a global platform.

The Escape of "Death Valley"

I always loved school. As a young student myself, I was an eager learner, ready to take on what each year had in store for me. I looked up to my teachers as experts, intriguing individuals with fascinating personal experiences and passions for the subjects they taught. I remember Mr. Miller, my English teacher, who shared his personal struggle with schooling himself. How he didn't "get things" like others but worked twice as hard to complete his degree after serving in the military. Mr. Miller who recreated our class into the show "Survivor" with weekly competitions based off our latest Shakespeare novel. I never studied so hard as I did before those big competition days. I remember Mr. Connelly, an innovative Social Studies teacher who single handily proposed the new and only class in our district, "Civic Empowerment". The first class that required us students to study a real problem in our community, research, interview, question, and report back with proposed plans. There was no textbook in that class, but there sure was learning. As I work today in the very same school district, I see fewer and fewer of these learning experiences. Much of my day, faculty meetings, urgent emails are centered around one word - testing.


It is true, many of our schools are stuck in a "death valley". As Ken Robinson discussed, many may be going through the motions of "teaching" but that does not necessarily mean that learning is occurring.  This notion that if we find the perfect test, the perfect tool to assess our students, all will fall into place, is absurd. I agree, as Ken said, testing has its place-to assist and improve instruction. A better test does not result in better students, unless one uses it to influence and improve instruction. Yet year after year it seems all these state officials can talk about is testing. What about exploration? Art? Music? These are being cut instead of embraced as amazing learning platforms. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a teacher say, "Why am I going to teach that? It's not on the test." Honestly, at times I can't blame them, with the intense pressure administration holds these tests as a reflection of their teaching.


Another big concern today is the overwhelming classification of kids. The alarming amount of ADD and ADHD students has become a huge concern in schools. I read this article a couple weeks ago that discussed this very issue. It takes a comparative look at how the United States and France differ in this area. It highlights how currently, the US had around 10% diagnosed kids with ADD while France, less than .5%. Check out the full article yourself - Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD

Digital Native...or Digital Immigrant?

As I organized myself to begin this assignment post, I began a systematic thought process that many educators today go through on a day to day basis. Step one, get my readings ready. Step two, get ready to take notes. Knowing that my readings were articles available only online I thought, well, I could read them online but what if I want to annotate them with notes? Ok, I thought to myself, read them online and take notes in my notebook. Another thought aroused. I could just print them out! Print them out! This was the sub conscious urge I felt in the back of my mind. Print out the articles and take notes in your good old fashion notebook. Now, I KNOW I can annotate them digitally while I read. After all, I'm a technology teacher! But why is this an afterthought? I am a digital immigrant.

Prensky did an exceptional job distinguishing the characteristics of students today and those who did not grow up in a digital rich world in his article, "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants." He refers students today as "native speakers" of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet. Digital immigrants on the other hand, are those who did not grow up in this environment and experienced very different learning experiences themselves. In my own k-12 schooling, I was not surrounded by a fast paced environment, with unlimited stimuli at my fingertips. As much as I have grown in my own skills with technology, at times I still hear my own digital accent slowly trying to fight its way back out.

Part two of Prensky's article, "Do They Really Think Differently"  drew upon the science of neuroplasticity. It was interesting to learn that the brain maintains its plasticity for life. I also found the section on attention span to be eye opening. After all, us teachers have been claiming for years that this new generation has no attention span because everything is too stimulating. It was shocking to hear that the focus group of students watching the television program with toys in the room recalled just as much vital information as the group without toys. This goes beyond past assumptions on learning and information processing. If these students are able to multi-task, who are we to tell them not to?  The final point I took away from this was how beneficial games are to learning. It is key to remember that games are effective when they are real games and building skills on real content. I feel reaffirmed as an educator knowing that I always provide links to great educational games on my school blog that I come across. I decided to end my post with a video I found on edutopia called, "Welcome to the Digital Generation."

Learning to Change-Changing to Learn

This video captured what many educators have already began to notice in the education system today. We are now teaching in a world where technology isn't just a tool to use here or there, it is a requirement for success in almost any field. Our students are living in a different world than we grew up in. They are learning in different ways than we learned. They have more information at their fingertips than we could have ever imagined. So, what does this mean to us as educators? It means if we, as educators, do not equip them with the technological skill sets of the 21st century it is not just poor teaching, it is a disservice to that child. Currently, students are being over tested and drilled with skills that are not relevant to the world they are walking out to outside the classroom. We as educators need to strive toward facilitating students to be problem solvers, critical thinkers, data collectors, and explorers, not "good test takers".

It is undeniable that students are surrounded by an amazingly stimulating environment. One of the speakers said that students are so connected outside of school through Facebook, twitter, online communities, messaging, and yet schools are banning these tools. I can relate to this in my own experience as a teacher. I can recount conversations with several educators who said that they have passed on these great global opportunities for fear of breaching "school policy". Is it safe? Will I get in trouble if my student posts something online? How do I even go about utilizing more technology into my teaching? These are just a few questions that linger in the minds of most educators. I believe in order to move forward we need to make educators comfortable with taking risks in 21st century learning and teaching.  We also need to train and give teachers the skills they need to lead their students in a technology rich world. Just as we recognize that students are learning in a different way, we need to address that teachers need to teach in a different way.