The assignment of blogging

The greatest advantage to having a blog for this course was being able to easily share ideas with classmates and familiarize myself with this tool. I also think that this was the greatest challenge. The constant updating and attention required for a blog takes some getting useful, especially if you prefer not to spent long lengths of time on the computer.

Twittering

Twittering during surgery, really? Really? Here's an article from the New York Times about how people are putting twittering to work - no mention of its function in the classroom.

Economics and Business

The PBS presentation gave me valuable knowledge of useful resources available for teachers and students on the web. This weekend I explored some of them and found some that I really enjoyed for my content area.

In particular Lemonade for Sale allowed students to explore proft and not-for-proft businesses. When I was in the 5th grade all 100 students had to form small groups, create a business and product to sell to their fellow classmates and balance a checkbook which had a starting balance of $500 (fake - obviously). With that money you could buy products from fellow classmates (my business was friendship bracelets, some people sold their artwork, etc.). Not only was this a fun event every Friday, but our teachers incorporated math, economics and business lessons into this activity. It was one of the highlights of 5th grade. I think that combining my own experience with this project as a student and the suggestions from Lemonade for Sale, this could be an excellent experience for my future students.

Within the Lemonade for Sale lesson plan, they suggest using Just For Clicks Business Game. I think parts of this game could be beneficial for students; however, students will need guidance, perhaps some modeling and as a teacher you would need to be explicit about what part of the game you would like them to utilize. It's also great for them to explore other children's ideas and brainstorm their own.

I think from this lesson plan alone, a unit plan could be created which could incorporate the website and show bizkids. There is so much information regarding money, economics and business on this site. You really have to take time, explore and find out what will work for the specific objectives your lesson plan or unit plan has. On a positive note, I don't think there would be any trouble finding quality supplemental material pertaining to economics on this site. It's very usable. Check it out!

Assistive Technology: Having a Wheelchair Bound Student in the Classroom

In my school experience - on the elementary, high school and college levels- I have witnessed fellow students use wheelchairs. The types of wheelchairs varied from being powered electronically to the ol' fashioned use of manpower. Either way, this technology can be restrictive in terms of its ability to maneuver and pass through places.

I believe the layout of a classroom to be very important. The way students can move from area to area and access certain material is key to successful classroom management. If I had a student in my classroom who used a wheelchair as their form of assistive technology it would greatly affect the layout of my classroom. I would ensure all areas were maneuverable for their wheelchair. Materials that students would need to access on a day-to-day basis would be at a level reachable by the student in a wheelchair. I would be conscious of my use and placement of rugs in the room, so as to not hinder their ability to move about. I would also accomodate them in other ways - for instance, if I had a cozy reading spot in the classroom, I would work with the student to find out what they would like to have it the reading spot - perhaps a special pillow or a lap desk etc.

In terms of my teaching strategy, as long as the student felt comfortable I would allow a class discussion on their particular disability and why they use a wheelchair in an attempt to make the rest of the students comfortable and accepting. In reading, I would incorporate stories about differently abled people (I would do this whether or not I had a student in my classroom who was differently abled, however, I would probably pay even closer attention to my chioces). Finally, when it came time to use manipulatives or do science labs I would ensure that it is at a level which all students are able to observe.

Quizlet

Just wanted to share quickly a site called quizlet.com. My boss passed this on to me as a useful tool for our APT tutors at the Learning Center on campus. I haven't had too much time to explore it, but it looks like it can be beneficial (with appropriate teacher screening - checking the validity of the flashcards) for some students. Let me know what you think! When I get a chance to explore it and the way the Learning Center plans on using it I will let you all know.

Nobel Prize Educational Games

If anyone is interested nobelprize.org has some educational games for middle - high school level. I haven't gone in to play them because my concentration is childhood but they look like they have some potential. Categories include chemistry, physics, war and peace, literature (there's a Lord of the Flies review game). Let me know if it's useful!

And Article Two...

The second article I read was Computers and Young Children by Jan Lacina. After focusing on upper elementary for the last article, I wanted to look into young elementary grades for this one.

While I found this article to be an interesting read, I don't believe the author has conducted studies/experiments of her own. She has analyzed others studies' from the ninties to 2007. It would've been nice to have her reflect on more studies in the 2007 time frame than the 1994 one.

To sum up the article, children should be exposed to computers around the age of 3 or 4 - when they are developmentally ready. Children will benefit by having positive attitudes about learning, and advanced spoken language. Another study found that kindergartners and 1st-graders access to technolgy led to higher academic achievement.

The author includes several links to websites that these younger students could benefit from. Many of them are literacy site and relate back to my post on e-books. Are they really books if they're animated???

Hope everyone's enjoying their weekend! See you tomorrow!

Quick note

Note: In order to get to the article on my last post you must, click the link, then click the article link and use your plattsburgh network id and password.

Article one post

I read Do students benefit equally from interactive computer simulations regardless of prior knowledge levels? by Seong ik Park, Gyumin Lee and Meeyoung Kim. I chose this article becuase it dealt with elementary (5th grade) aged students. The study took two groups of students and split them up based on their prior knowledge of physics (they used a multiple choice test, example questions can be found in section 3.2). They then took each group - one high level prior knowledge (HL), and one low level prior knowledge(LL) - and split them into two. A section of the HL and LL would be exposed to high interactive computer simulations, while the other section of HL and LL learners would be exposed to low interactive computer simulations.

The study found that the HL group exposed to high interactive computer simulations had better comprehension, a lower cognitive load (see section 3.2 for how this is rated - it basically reflects how much of a mental effort they had to put in) and therefore higher learner efficacy than HL group exposed to low interactive computer simulations. The HL group that was exposed to low interactive computer simulations experienced a detrimental effect on their comprehension, cognitive load and learner efficacy.

At the other end of the spectrum, those LL learners benefitted from the low interactive computer simulations because they were able to go at a slower pace and move forward when they fully understood each step.

If you have time, you should check the article out for the graphs. I am a visual learner and this definitely helped me organize the data. In addition, its a pretty interesting article and it proves that as educators we need to be aware of where are students are at in their learning and what software will they benefit from. One of the authors is also available to email if this peaks anyones interest. Enjoy! My second article post will be up shortly...

E-books and Children

This is an interesting blog post from the NYTimes.com "The Medium" blog. It discusses e-books, a topic of discussion from last night's class, and a child's perspective ("It's not a book").

http://themedium.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/click-and-jane/

Dr. Seuss thinks blogs are hot

"There are blogs about dogs and frogs, even people who wear clogs. There are flying blogs and frying blogs, crying blogs, and dying blogs. There are blogs for every age (my eight-year-old son Tucker blogs), every occupation, every nationality, every...well, you get the idea. Blogs are hot." (p. 19)



Richardson, W. (2008) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.