Hi Class! The article we read, Oh, the Changes We’ve Seen, was about how technology has affected the way students learn and teachers teach. As we’ve seen in this class so far, and from all of the articles we’ve read I can definitely see this to be true. Technology has an amazing way of getting students interested in the learning process. The article stated that, “Technology was not a fad, but a tool providing possibilities that we could only imagine 30 years ago.” (p. 7) I find it amazing that 30 years ago my parents would never have been able to introduce me to technology the way I have been able to introduce my own children at the same age I was back then. Kids today have such a big advantage having technology in their lives. The article states that students are able to take on many roles by using technology, which include; Learner of facts, programmer, problem solver, editor, designer, collaborator, adventurer, sense maker, and much more. Given all of these roles, anybody can see that technology is and should be a big part of the school experience. The real-world story that was mentioned on p. 16, talked about how when students can relate and start to care about what they are learning, they are a lot more motivated in their learning process. I can really relate to this statement. In my previous blog I talked about how my daughter was studying whales in her third grade class and it wasn’t until they constructed the body parts of the whale on the computer that all of the information they were learning about whales was able to sink in. They really took the time to construct their whales on the computer and because of this they really began to care about how the project looked. Once they finally printed the project, they all gleamed with such pride.
I learned a lot this week from the assignment we had which was constructing a newsletter. I never knew that Microsoft Word had so many of the awesome tools that it has, including making the header and using a drop cap. I always thought I had to use a program like Printmaster to create a piece like the one we did for the newsletter. I think the newsletter is a great idea for teachers to do. As a parent, I like to know what is going on in my child’s classroom as well as being reminded about things that are coming up. I don’t know about you, but the newsletter took me a while to construct. So, I was thinking that once I have created the first newsletter for my class, I could save it on the computer then each month it would be easy to go back to it and make the necessary changes for the new month. My final thought on the newsletter is that is looks very professional and being that we are going to be teacher’s, professional is the way to go!
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6 comments:
I completely agree with you that technology has a way of getting children to learn, even when they think they are just playing! When I was a kid, I played many computer games that were actually teaching me things! Furthermore I also am amazed by the fact that thirty years ago my parents would have no way of telling me about the technology that we have today!
Students today definitely have an advantage with technology. Most students become familiar with technology at an early age. I was recently observing a high school class where the students were giving presentations. I was amazed that these kids were using PowerPoint!I didn't use PowerPoint until college...
I agree that the technology available today gives children such an advantage in the educational world. I myself am so much more 'technologically savy' than both of my parents. I credit this knowledge of mine to the presence of technology in the classroom for as long as I can remember. I can only imagine how savy my children will be!
I enjoyed your post on how you mentioned that your learned a lot from writing the letter to our professor. I thought it was a great idea to refresh my memory of using that as a specific tool. I hate to admit it, but I really felt that I was a "pro" with computers, but just starting this class I have realized that there is so much more I need to learn and also just become more familiar with!
I enjoyed your post on how you mentioned that your learned a lot from writing the letter to our professor. I thought it was a great idea to refresh my memory of using that as a specific tool. I hate to admit it, but I really felt that I was a "pro" with computers, but just starting this class I have realized that there is so much more I need to learn and also just become more familiar with!
That is so amazing that your daughter was able to construct a whale on the computer. The programs for computers today really blow me away some times. They're definitely a lot more advanced and interesting than the Oregon Trail I grew up with.
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