Let's all take a moment to acknowledge just how adorable that picture is. Then notice what is actually happening. Then realize my blatant use of cute to distract the reader from my own ceaseless ramblings. Welcome back to another edition of my blog (gotta come up with a catchier name). Week four is almost upon me and I am still having a blast, even with the numerous projects and assignments all seeming to be due at the exact same time. Yet through all of that I have been lucky enough to work with some great people and learn just what I need to do to succeed. Also some fun has been had, and maybe even a karaoke song sung (there is a video, but I have no control over it). All this has made it easier to survive with all the work that has needed to be completed. But unfortunately something recently has occurred that has made me stop to think about all the research I have been collecting and it's validity. Becoming a teacher means I will need to know just where my information is coming from, as I will be relying heavily on it to teach or plan a lesson. Luckily I have been give the resources and instruction to find numerous databases or search engines that will guide me to educational sources. However for younger kids, who are still getting the whole internet thing under them, this can be a crazy task. Where do they go when they need info fast, or have an assignment due? Parents, siblings, friends and teachers are almost the last resources that are used. Instead it's straight to the internet and most likely right to Google. Now how can I complain about this, seeing as, if I need info on the best vegetarian recipe that'll trick meat eaters, or what flowers say "sorry I forgot our anniversary", Google is my first stop. I have been able to decipher all the excess that show's up, to know that first you must filter through some garbage before you find the good stuff. I just worry that with the way attention spans seem to be going now, students will only ever stop at the first to links that pop up after a search and thus will lose out on even better information. The internet is a huge tool, that helps in so many ways, and brings a lot of information to a younger mind that may have not gotten there any other way. But like any other tool it needs to be taught how to use, and used in the proper way. So the challenge I have given myself is to be the one who models this behaviour in my own classroom someday. To be the teacher who helps explain that the internet is a great place to start, but if real information is needed just where to look. I believe this type of thinking is vital for so many aspects of my career choiceThis will hopefully save numerous students from typing in "What does the fox say?" and finding this instead of this.
"Add me as a friend", "like my page", "follow me", "I'll be watching you" are all phrases that seem to be taking over most conversations. Well except for the last one, that's just lyrics from a Police song (I'm continuing with music education). Yet, before when I would normally scoff at these things, while secretly updating my status, I am now seeing a whole new possibility to not only learn from all these different networking tools, but also find myself in a position to gain employment. That's right, being on Twitter could in fact help a new teacher like myself land a job. For the last two weeks I've been going to a lunch hour seminar, that focuses on something called a PLN or Professional Learning Network. The function of this network is to no longer fear the internet and all those horrible things that could be posted, (speaking of which please google my name and see if I have any skeletons in my closet, cheers) but to utilize and in some cases turn it to your advantage. Of course nothing can ever really be erased, but if you start flooding the net with all the positive aspects of your online life, soon you won't have to worry as much about those few pictures of you wearing your mothers dress that might appear on page 50 in a web search (and now you know how I became a drama kid).
Twitter is now actually exploding as a teacher resource and I have learned just first hand of this. Already I can tweet a prof and get and answer to a question (and luckily only in 140 characters so I won't be confused), or I can find great resources for furthering my own teaching abilities. Just today I read this great article (click article, it'll take you there I promise) on how to begin incorporating twitter into an elementary classroom. Some pretty cool ideas to think of, and the best part is you can expand on them too if you don't necessarily agree, but the building blocks are out there, and as someone with an ever-growing amount of "stuff" on my plate, it's nice to get help where I can. What is your take on this? So there's always those times when profs tell you to "read up on this" or "make sure you're doing that". For a change I decided to listen. My last blog talked about technology and the use of the blog for future students. Well this student decided to take his own advice. My fellow classmates are all posting blogs, and better yet posting their own take on numerous issues. Heck some are even talking about the same issue but from different angles. Here I have this huge resource of people in the same situation as me, and they're talking about stuff that I'm thinking about right now, well maybe not right now, I mean it's a sunday night and Football is on...... ok fine Dancing with the Stars. Still it's great to feel I'm not alone in my stressing when some school work seems fairly daunting. In my perusals of numerous blogs I came across a pledge that a fellow student has made in order to ensure the success of his students by making his every action count. Check it out http://andrewcrabbe.weebly.com/1/post/2013/09/the-pledge-of-powerful-learning.html This got me thinking about my own conditions for powerful learning and I came across a video about the GR8 8's (posted at the bottom of this page). As I watched the list being made, I checked off each one that I often need to focus on in myself. Number one states, "Feel Okay", how true is that. Each day try and see if everything is okay in your own life before trying to learn something new. Eat food, exercise, smell the roses, tickle a baby, don't stress about the micro teaching you will need to do in exactly 3 weeks, 2 days, 14 hours, and 37 minutes (kind of curious if anyone calls me on that). Number two, "It matters". That poor train in math that always seems to leave from Houston and is about to crash into another leaving from Chicago, it was tough for me to find the importance in that, and my learning suffered. If interest is to be kept, interests must be taught. Or at the very least real world examples, I mean does a train even go from Houston to Chicago. The more I heard of this list in the video, the more I realized I'm still dealing with everything that is on it. And that's when the eureka moment happened. I as a future teacher, will be going through life checking off the exact same list as my students are. So why would I ever teach something that I wouldn't myself want to learn? Or why would I enter a class when I'm not feeling okay? Just because the amount of education is different between the teacher and classroom, doesn't mean approaching the subjects need to be. Now I'm still too young to know if I can do all this once I'm in the real world, but I gotta admit I'll be heading into class tomorrow feeling better than "Okay", because I'm at least thinking of these things now, and if I get lost in my thinking, I can reflect back here and give myself the swift kick I just may need. Wasn't it great when all I needed to prove that I was techno savvy was to program the VCR, or set the clock on the microwave? I still remember when "Jurassic Park" had the coolest special effects in CGI, and 3D was still just in green and red and on the page of a comic book. Yet, now it seems everything has become more technologically advanced and it's tougher and tougher to keep up. Well that's all fine with me, I prefer the real life to the screen, and the page to the laptop anyways (and no I’m not old, I’m still under 30). I will do just fine in this world. Of course this would be fine and dandy if it wasn’t for my desire to become a teacher. I was the first student to laugh at my former teachers when they couldn’t figure out how to work the overhead projector, and that was a plug in and turn on issue. What will the kids think of me if I’m standing in front of a smartboard, bashing it like some Neanderthal from 2001: A Space Odyssey (that’s a movie by the way, not some historical fact about an actual event http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtbOmpTnyOc). Kids will always know more then me, and will always have access before me to the newest craze of gadgets, and they will keep getting bigger and more elaborate. You would think growing up watching Star Trek I would be prepared for a future like this, but I never actually expected it to happen. Touch screens, and face time, instant access to a computer that can give an indeterminate amount of information. This is where we’re heading, and it’s time for the classroom to incorporate what is already being used. One example of this is the writing of a blog, just like the one you are reading now. Such a simple literary tool, at first glance, but when looked at closer, numerous educational applications become very apparent. Although journaling has been utilized, for many years, never with the accountability that a blog would entail. A student would be responsible for their written work, and as such would want to make sure what is being read is of a higher caliber. Michael Drennan, head of Psychology in non-selective British schools, states, “This can be initially intimidating, but that removes all apathy or sense of the humdrum.” Writing blogs ups the ante for students, and calls on them to rise to the occasion. Wouldn’t this relate to other aspects in their lives as well? Furthermore, the global connectivity an online blog would provide students is something I hope every teacher would begin to utilize. Writing to pen pals was my way of learning about other places, but often to get speedy responses we were restricted to other cities within our province. I am an avid traveller and a huge fan of cross-cultural teaching. If a class of mine is studying another country, why wouldn’t I want them to create a blog, that could very well connect them with a school in that country. They could ask real students questions, and get the answers from peers across the globe. The possibilities for striking up debates and awareness of the world around them would increase with something that seems only one step up from a journal. And what’s even better is I’m writing a blog right now, which just might mean I’ll look like I know what I’m talking about when teaching my class. Check out these links for where I got my info http://www.evenfromhere.org/ and http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/jul/17/students-should-be-blogging As an added bonus I’ve linked in a song for you all to enjoy, which speaks more on where we’ve come from with technology, or something like that. |
Keith Miller"I'm sure you've read something about me already, now for you to do some writing" Archives
February 2020
Categories |