Having students without computers would be a struggle for me because i plan on relying on technology alot. I realize that students will not all have computers and I think if there are situations that exist like this in schools, i think the first thing i would do is try and rectify it.
One of the first things I would do is bring it to the attention of the community that kids dont have acess to computers and that its going be detrimental to students future. Bringing the problem out in the open and help people see it as a problem would be the first step.
I would try and get money to help purchase basic computers for the school and for the students, I know there are computers that are less then a hundred dollers that is made by a company that is trying to spread technology in Africa to help them get acclimated to using technology. So I would contact this company to get this done.
So basically instead of ignoring the problem and just trying to teach without technology i would instead solve the problem to begin with and then teach.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Power point presentations
I thought that everyone used some great videos in their presentations and that they used alot of good mediums such as pictures and sound to do a great job in their presentations. A good example of some of the pictures was kelsey, she used interlapping photos which I thought were creative.
The thing i liked least of all was the amount of sounds some people had in their presentations, i thought that they were distracting and didnt match with what was being displayed. I think having less sounds would be a good thing to do.
If i were to do this assighnment again, i would put in links that were important in my topic. Hyperlinking photos was be a pretty good addition to my project.
I think power point presentations are a really good way to help students keep engaged, i just want to make sure that I am the main focus and not random information or words in my presentation. I think printing out the power point presentation as notes would be a good idea to combat that.
The thing i liked least of all was the amount of sounds some people had in their presentations, i thought that they were distracting and didnt match with what was being displayed. I think having less sounds would be a good thing to do.
If i were to do this assighnment again, i would put in links that were important in my topic. Hyperlinking photos was be a pretty good addition to my project.
I think power point presentations are a really good way to help students keep engaged, i just want to make sure that I am the main focus and not random information or words in my presentation. I think printing out the power point presentation as notes would be a good idea to combat that.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Does technology shorten our attention span?
I am biased and thinking that it does not because I have used technology most of my life and I am considered pretty patient with people, if I was not, I would probably not be a teacher. However, the counterpoint argument does not really strengthen either of their arguments about this subject.
When talking about an issue like this, using a story in history, or describing an ideal classroom does not really get at the heart of any issue. Personal stories are biased, and anyone can find a story that counter's the oposing story. The only way to really argue this subject is to use research and data, which none of them do.
If I was to argue for either side, I would do research first so see if there has been a study to prove either way. I am personally biased on this paticular topic because my data set, is my friends and people I have played computer games with and I have not identified anyone as having impatience or small attention spans, in fact, I usually find the opposite in my group of friends.
This does not prove anything however because I live in oregon and hang out with a group of people in a specific geography, in addition, I am going to find friends that are similar to me, so everything is scewed. A true research will have data, that gets rid of bias or environmental factors other then the one being test for. I feel that any argument that has to do with this topic should look at students who play computer games and compare them with others and compare them with a control group.
If I were to guess, I think it would make sense that studetns would eventually have a shorter attention span, especially since kids are playing these games during the developmental phase. However, if the brain is developed, I do not think playing games will overtly change how patient you are.
When talking about an issue like this, using a story in history, or describing an ideal classroom does not really get at the heart of any issue. Personal stories are biased, and anyone can find a story that counter's the oposing story. The only way to really argue this subject is to use research and data, which none of them do.
If I was to argue for either side, I would do research first so see if there has been a study to prove either way. I am personally biased on this paticular topic because my data set, is my friends and people I have played computer games with and I have not identified anyone as having impatience or small attention spans, in fact, I usually find the opposite in my group of friends.
This does not prove anything however because I live in oregon and hang out with a group of people in a specific geography, in addition, I am going to find friends that are similar to me, so everything is scewed. A true research will have data, that gets rid of bias or environmental factors other then the one being test for. I feel that any argument that has to do with this topic should look at students who play computer games and compare them with others and compare them with a control group.
If I were to guess, I think it would make sense that studetns would eventually have a shorter attention span, especially since kids are playing these games during the developmental phase. However, if the brain is developed, I do not think playing games will overtly change how patient you are.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Cyberbulling
Cyberulling is a big problem in schools and can be charachterized by someone making threats, issuing insults, overall harassment over the web. Playing games I do set my self up for being bullied and I guess it could be considered cyberbulling when someone is consistantly trying to harass me, but I have not had many problems with it over all.
Schools are going to have a difficult time with this because we cannot easily keep a track of what is going on online. There are also alot of freedom of speach laws and these things are not happening in the schools but at home. Schools should try and step in when they are legally able to, and I also think if teachers know about it, they can talk to the student and ask them to stop.
In my classroom I will try and desighn my class so that students can share whats going on with me or a counceler and look for sighns that students are being bullied. I think the only way to really fight this is to have open communication and then also inform students about what they can do to avoid being bullied while online.
Schools are going to have a difficult time with this because we cannot easily keep a track of what is going on online. There are also alot of freedom of speach laws and these things are not happening in the schools but at home. Schools should try and step in when they are legally able to, and I also think if teachers know about it, they can talk to the student and ask them to stop.
In my classroom I will try and desighn my class so that students can share whats going on with me or a counceler and look for sighns that students are being bullied. I think the only way to really fight this is to have open communication and then also inform students about what they can do to avoid being bullied while online.
Friday, July 16, 2010
The google search
I did not find anything about me while searching for my name on google or the other site, however, there were many people that might be confused as me, but i dont think I will run into problems because of that. I think I am lucky because i have a boring name that has multiple people, so i wont have any embarrising pictures come up because of it.
The only thing i have changed since apply for colleges is my facebook page i got rid of any pictures that show me drinking because I dont want my students know that I drink and I want to be a good example for my students.
I dont agree that teachers should be held to some unrealistic standard, everyone has faults and most people have dont something that does not meet the standards of society. However, I realize that this is being naive and we have to be role models for our students and weather we like it or not we are going to be held to higher standards that most of the population.
The most interesting part about the reading was the student who shared to much with his peers in the getting to know you section of his class. By putting up pictures that are considered inapropriate in society, he was judged by that picture and by the action of showing that to others. I think its going to be difficult for some people not to share many things about themselves.
I think i will make sure that my facebook profile is set to private so people cant look up information on it, and I will make sure that anything like is also private. Overall, I will just make sure what im tagged in, and what information is online thats about me.
The only thing i have changed since apply for colleges is my facebook page i got rid of any pictures that show me drinking because I dont want my students know that I drink and I want to be a good example for my students.
I dont agree that teachers should be held to some unrealistic standard, everyone has faults and most people have dont something that does not meet the standards of society. However, I realize that this is being naive and we have to be role models for our students and weather we like it or not we are going to be held to higher standards that most of the population.
The most interesting part about the reading was the student who shared to much with his peers in the getting to know you section of his class. By putting up pictures that are considered inapropriate in society, he was judged by that picture and by the action of showing that to others. I think its going to be difficult for some people not to share many things about themselves.
I think i will make sure that my facebook profile is set to private so people cant look up information on it, and I will make sure that anything like is also private. Overall, I will just make sure what im tagged in, and what information is online thats about me.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Am I a digital native
I think because of the oportunities that I had when I was young that I am a digital native, I have been able to have computers in my life for long periods of my life so I think I have a very good understanding of technology. This quote relates to me alot, "they have spent their entire lives surrounded by computers." This really relates to me and how I grew up. Also, the quote saying "Todays college graduates have read less then 5000 hours of reading, but over 10,000 hours of video games." Even though I have read probably 10,000 hours, I also have 10,000 hours or more of computer games.
I have been able to keep up with the language that is important in teaching students, because I have involved myself in computer games and other forms of media that students are involved in. This gives me many oportuinities to relate to students. "Students think and process information fundementally diffrentyly" this quote acurately describes me and how think is probably alot diffrent that what other people in my class think.
I had many good experiences in technology in the highschool setting because my school was at the leading edge of technology when I was attending, I actually had less technology in college classrooms because the teachers were not used to using technology and felt that it was distracting to the information they wanted to have shown.
I think the quote in the digital natives where they says "our students brains have physically changed" I think thats interesting to me and I am wondering how it has changed my brain.
Being a native in technology I feel that i already had the view that I will have to have technology in my classroom. I think the articles strengthened my view that I will have to have technology in the classroom and I would like more ideas on how to do this in the future.
I have been able to keep up with the language that is important in teaching students, because I have involved myself in computer games and other forms of media that students are involved in. This gives me many oportuinities to relate to students. "Students think and process information fundementally diffrentyly" this quote acurately describes me and how think is probably alot diffrent that what other people in my class think.
I had many good experiences in technology in the highschool setting because my school was at the leading edge of technology when I was attending, I actually had less technology in college classrooms because the teachers were not used to using technology and felt that it was distracting to the information they wanted to have shown.
I think the quote in the digital natives where they says "our students brains have physically changed" I think thats interesting to me and I am wondering how it has changed my brain.
Being a native in technology I feel that i already had the view that I will have to have technology in my classroom. I think the articles strengthened my view that I will have to have technology in the classroom and I would like more ideas on how to do this in the future.
Introduction
My name is Ryan Johnson, i hope to teach highschool social studies.
I went to school at Oregon State Univerisity and I studied computer science for 2 years so i have some basic knowledge of computers. However, i switched to history because i realized I could not program very well. I hope to challenge myself in this class so I can continue to keep up with technology as it becomes more important for my students.
My favorite animal is the lion, because it rymes with Ryan.
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