Thing 5

It took me quite some time to wrap my brain around the idea of Web 2.0. I had to view both videos and read the three selections before I could get some what of an understanding of Web 2.0. I think my trouble of grasping the concept is due in part to the numerous possibilities both personally and professionally.

I see Web 2.0 as a tool to share information with other educators, students, parents, community members, etc. I could also see it as a means to gain new ideas and teaching strategies that I can incorporate into my teaching. There are several teachers both in my building/district as well as in other districts that have awesome ideas and are incorporating activities into their classrooms that I am sure I could benefit from as well. I thought the last article that depicted the middle school teachers working together and sharing websites to teach across the curriculum was inspiring. I am amazed at how well those teachers worked together. I do believe that it had to take quite some time for them to get to that point though. It had to take time for all of those teachers to get comfortable with blogging and sharing their ideas with one another. Too often teaching seems like an isolated profession with some teachers not willing to share their ideas. Web 2.0 will be a benefit to teachers and students alike.

Thing 4

The combination of videos and articles that were selected for "thing 4" confirmed my thoughts that our students learn differently than those of 5, 10 or more years ago. The challenge that I (and several other educators) face in the classroom is, "How do we teach these children?" The only technology that I have in my classroom is a computer. I would love to engage my students by incorporating interactive websites and allowing them to explore math in a nontraditional way, but it is hard without the means to do so.

Another obstacle that face is the curriculum that we are expected to cover. I agree completely with the ideas of the Time magazine regarding the textbooks in Sweden and various other countries. I feel our math textbooks are filled with so much information that it is hard for our students to master the important facts that are needed. Students are resourceful, if they need to figure something out they can look it up on the Internet. For the majority of concepts, remote memorization is a thing of the past. I try to explain to my students that as long as they know how to find the answers they will be able to function outside of the classroom.

Staying with the idea of curriculum, several of the articles viewed compared 20th century learners to 21st century learners and one that stuck out to me was the idea of curriculum. In the 20th century, curriculum was irrelevant and meaningless to students. In the 21st century curriculum needs to be connected to student interest, experiences, talents and the real world. I find that the standards set for our students today are still similar to that of the 20th century in that it is meaningless to our students. There are certain topics in the curriculum that I try to show relevance to the real world. However, so much of it seems irrelevant, yet I still teach it because of standardized tests.

This is something that I struggle with on a daily basis and promise to change each school year. Yet, I still fall into the same teaching methods - lectures, notes, tests, etc. It is my hope that upon completion of this course, I will have some tools that will help me change my teaching to accommodate my students' needs.

Thing 3

Before reading/exploring the selected blogs, I was unaware of blogging for educational purposes. I originally thought that I had never blogged before, but then I remembered a class I took in college where we had to post responses to what our classmates wrote about various topics as an extra credit assignment. I don't remember this process being referred to as blogging though. Since then, the only exposure that I have had to blogs are the blogs at the end of online news articles in our local newspaper. Unfortunately, I feel the postings on these blogs are often used to insult and humiliate people. Bloggers are allowed to remain unanimous, which gives people more "power" to state their opinions without worrying what other people might think.

I am happy to learn that there are blogs available where people, particularly teachers, can share valuable information and actually gain knowledge that can be used daily. These blogs are a benefit to people rather than as a means of insult as previously mentioned in the newspaper blogs. Teachers as well as students can share information. Blogging is a great way for teachers to share what is happening in their classrooms. It is also a great way to get students that might not normally participate in class disucssions share their opinions and ideas.

After reading the selected blogs, I realized that the possibilities of blogs for educational use are unlimited. As with anything, it is important to set guidelines for all participants to follow when sharing posts.

Welcome to Nyespace!

This is my first blog...I hope it works!