A Time for Reflection 3

I have really enjoyed this course, it has taught me so many new things regarding technology that I had heard about but never tried. I really like the use of a blog and wikis to generate and share new ideas. I think it is such a great concept that we can utilize ideas from people across the world who are doing the exact same job we are, and trying to achieve the same success! As a resource room teacher, I would really like to try and use either a blog site or a wiki to help my students improve their study skills. Getting ideas from not only other teachers, but other students may be the push some of them need.

I am a technology person, it doesn't scare me and I have fun with it. If we are going to keep up with our students today and in the future, it has to happen now. This class has proven that technology is not scary, it is cool! I like it and I hope more people start to use it in their classes, assignments, and even in homework assignments. If the students could utilize some of these tools for homework, believe me more homework would get done because it would be fun!

School 2.0 The School of the Future!

I really enjoyed reading about school 2.0, it is neat to think about education in the future and what it will look like. I think that it is time to look at education and try to find ways to redesign how we do things. Technology is not just the future, it is the here and now! As far as I can see it, education is behind the times and we, as educators, need to catch up!

The one thing about School 2.0 that I really like is the idea of collaboration between school, home, and the community. I mean, we are supposed to be preparing our students for the future, shouldn't it be parallel to what the communities they live want and need? After all, the more support a young person has, the more successful they will be! I really like how they call it a "Learning Ecosystem" I think that says it all. The students are always asking, when will I ever use this in my life? Well if the community is involved in the planning, and the education is relevant, then they won't have to ask this question anymore!

I wouldn't keep anything off of this map and I wouldn't change anything either. I think it makes not only great connections, but great sense! I really like and hope I am around long enough to see it happen one day!

Dr. Zhao, A modern day Philosopher!

I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Zhao, he was entertaining, fun, and has a lot of good ideas about education. It is refreshing to hear someone say all the things that, as an educator, we are always thinking. Things like how the people on the front lines, who work with kids, should have the power and how the people who have the power need to work closer with kids! I love his philosophy of how education is always trying to fix the past and needs to work to the present and the future. How we as educators need to push more creativity and get our students ready to live in a computer world.

I agree with Dr. Zhao about how we need to make students active contributers to the economy. I find that when students are held responsible for their work and actions, then they perform to their highest abilities. We need to get them ready to contribute to the digital society by actively participating and working hard for it. We are a technological society and if we want our students to be successful in it, then we need to prepare them to their fullest potential.

Collaborative Projects

I really enjoyed listening to Kevin Honeycutt's presentation, he is funny, entertaining, and definitely passionate about teaching. He has very strong beliefs and ideas about learing through collaboration and working as a team. I like the idea of the kids leading the project, just giving them a few guidelines and then letting them soar with the information they learn. I thought it was funny when he was telling about the airplane project, how the two teams, as he describes, became "corporations" instead of working together. Kids become very protective of their projects and it can become like a competition. I think if they have clear guidelines to follow and the collaboration is a big piece of it, then they will learn to work together.

Being a resource room teacher, I am not sure how I would use the collaborative project. The only thing I can think of is when I have students working on an assignment for a regular education teacher, then the students could collaborate on the assignments. It may also be neat for the students to see what other classes, in other areas, are doing for the same book, story, or to see how others teach a similar math concept or social studies concept. Skills based lessons could also be beneficial for this type of learning, having kids learn from other kids. They love that!