Friday, February 24, 2012

Blog Post 5

ischoolinitiative
Scott Mcleod
Scott Mcleod is one of the nation's leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. He is an Associate Professor of Education Leadership at the University of Kentucky and is the founding director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE). He has also received numerous national awards for his technology leadership work.

I agree with everything in Scott Mcleod's post up until he said "I don't want them creating, sharing, thinking, learning". Technology can be an AMAZING learning tool IF used with proper precautions and necessary adult supervision. There are countless things that can happen including child pornography, attempted kidnappings, cyber-bullying, child predators preying on your children, ect which lead us to have our doubts about the internet. However, if children are properly monitored (which can't be stressed enough), technology can not only enhance but exceede your child's learning capacities beyond belief.

The iSchool Initiative
I strongly disagree with this revolution!!! Technology should absolutely be incorporated within our school system but should NOT completely take it over. Students should still use textbooks, have to hand-write assignments, and complete homework/exercises out of books just like we have been doing from generation to generation. If everything changes to technology base, how are kids supposed to learn to write/enhance handwriting/penmanship skills? Also keeping in mind that we can't rely on technology to work 100% of the time. There are things that do go wrong with technology such as gliches in the system, power outages, internet servers go down, and even cases of lost/stolen devices such as iPads, iTouch, iPhones, laptops, or whatever is being used. Whereas, pen and paper will always be there and are 100% guaranteed!

Virtual Choir

I think Roberts went by a theory such as: "In order to know, you must ask/learn first", and always asked himself "And just who do we learn from"? Our teachers. So don't feel quite so hopeless yet. Without even realizing it, we use techniques and tools every day that our childhood teachers taught and embedded into our brains, like HOW to think, the process of thinking, how to become creative and put our imaginations to use, evaluate/analyze information we have been given, and then APPLY that to what we need to do to get our answers. "The tools provide temptation, but they are not the source of negative behavior". WE, as educators, have to become the source of inspiration for our students. Don't just teach the contents from a text book, go above and beyond because ultimately, that's what your students will remember.

Reading Rockets
I have a 3 year old daughter who will be entering the Pre-School Program next year and it just so happens this is the age group I am interested in teaching one day, therefore the category "Preschool Teachers" on the
Reading Rockets Website stood out to me and became the one I most explored.

I found several great resources on reading that will be of much use to me in my classroom one day such as Toddling Toward Reading and the ABC's of Teaching Reading. The idea behind Toddling Toward Reading is that the best predictor of how children will do in school is how much they know before they get there. This program encourages you, as a parent, to be involved with your child through their toddler years and take the time to review with them letters, sounds, shapes, colors, and so on. Repetition is a key tool in child developmental learning.

With the ABC's of Teaching Reading, you learn that several concepts are incorporated into learning to read such as: print awareness, the sounds of speech and what sound each letter makes, phonemic awareness (letter placement), Phonics, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and writing. One of the most important techniques a teacher must posess is patience. Not all children learn and progress in the same way or at the same pace.


summaryofavideoonscottmcleod'sviewsontechnologyleadershipissues

2 comments:

  1. Hi, Ashton
    I am on the other side of the fence in reference to the iSchool Initiative. I think that this was a great idea. You have to think about the money it would save in the long run. My husband is a teacher and we see cut-backs all of the time due to budgets. However, I do agree with you that students need to be taught writing skills, but if you recall from Did You Know-A John Strange Version the top jobs 10 years from now do not exist yet, and will use technologies not invented yet. It is crazy to think that, but we must start preparing our children for it. They are our future. I also have to admit that it is a bit intimidating, as you stated in Teaching the 21st Century, but going above and beyond is exactly what we have to do! I am sure that when we become teachers that we will learn lots of things from our students; we should never stop learning!
    I also have children, 3 girls, one of which is also 3 years old. There was so much information on the reading rockets site that I can use to help my own children, along with my classroom. It is really a wonderful site.

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  2. Hello Ashton,

    Unfortunately you missed the point in Dr. McLeod's post. He was making a point about technology being feared in the classroom by using sarcasm. The entire post is tongue-in-cheek poking fun at the educators who refuse to integrate technology simply for fear of the students seeing something bad. There are numerous ways to prevent such things and in the long run, those teachers who refuse to get with the times are going to be doing a disservice to their students.

    Also, you need to remember to include pictures with ALT and TITLE tags in your posts and clickable links to the sites and videos that you discussed.

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