Educational Websites

I really enjoyed the webpage rubric presentations over the last two sessions in Computers in the Curriculum. There were many great websites that I can't wait to use in my own classroom when I begin teaching. This assignment really opened my eyes to the tremendous amount of quality resources available on the internet. It also showed me that every website needs to be critically evaluated before introducing it in the classroom. Though several websites seemed very appealing at first, as we looked closer and the presenters discussed their content, it became clear that they were not very useful or appropriate after all. It seems that in today's classrooms there is so much to do and so little time to do it in. Teachers really need to make every minute and every experience count. Websites like the ones we saw should not be used in the classroom simply for the sake of utilizing technology instead of traditional methods of teaching. Much like poor parents use television to babysit their children, poor teachers can use the internet to distract and occupy their students. Websites should only be introduced if the learning activities on the website provide an opportunity to reach students in unique and meaningful ways that can not be accomplished otherwise. I think many of the websites discussed through this project do just that, and I thank my classmates for introducing them to me!

Guided Reading

I really enjoyed learning more about the many processes and techniques that can be used in guided reading. Developing a love of reading in your students depends on two factors, their ability to read the text and their ability to comprehend the story. Students need to be proficient in both these areas to get value and enjoyment out of reading. Guided reading in your classroom helps develop and strengthen both these skills. I particularly enjoyed the case study about the book The Giver. Through guided reading exercises and extensive written work and class discussions students were able to understand a very deep and complicated story. Students analyzed the characters and made a list of the attributes of the Giver as they read the book. They imagined their own perfect community and compared it to the community in the book and to their real world community. They reacted to events in the book and related them to real issues in our world. Through the many activities the teacher constructed to support the reading of The Giver students were completely submerged in the world of the book and the characters. The entire class was able to read, comprehend, react to and critique the text on many different levels. If this book was assigned without the intense level of guidance this teacher provided, the majority of the students would not have gotten much, if any meaning from the story beyond simply being able to recount the events of the plot. Constructing valuable guided reading experiences for your students seems like it can be a challenging and time consuming process. However when you review the results for your students, not only in the improvement of their understanding of that specific text, but in their overall enjoyment and motivation to read, you see that the value far outweighs the effort!

Not On The Test

I really enjoyed the "not on the test" music video. I think it is sad how important doing well on standardized tests has become in schools at the expense of so many other learning opportunities. Since the scores of these tests now hold so much weight for the future of the teacher, school and district, these tests have become the sole focus of the entire school year. Many districts now even write their whole curriculum around the content of the test to be taken. As the music video says often the art and music programs and other elective classes suffer as money and time are taken from them and given to test preparation programs. Some schools have even completely discontinued some of their electives to save money and keep the focus on academics. The problem with this test obsession is that learning becomes all about simple drills on reading, writing and math. Students do not get the same quality of instruction in other subjects, and even worse, they do not get as much of the type of instruction that will help them develop higher level thinking skills. Some students also do not get to experience electives, which means they do not get the chance to find a passion, a hobby, or even just a reason to come to school. Studies have even shown that art and music in school help develop a child's brain and teach them to think in new ways. Schools fail to realize that if they present a well-rounded complete curriculum students will do well on the standardized tests and beyond.

Finding Educational Websites

Check out the website http://www.bestedsites.com/ . It has a ton of links to educational websites divided into categories. Though obviously it is still up to us as educators to evaluate each site and decide if it is appropriate and useful for our classroom, this is a great place to start! I have found several interesting websites through this site, and I still have so much more to explore!

Teaching with Podcasts

My parents have a huge record collection, I myself have a ton of CD's and cassettes, and the youth of today have computers full of music files. The way music is produced and shared has gone through several evolutions over the last 50 years and now in the digital age an iPod or other mp3 player is considered essential equipment. That is why I love the idea of turning something most every student has for entertainment into a valuable tool for learning. The article on the use of podcasts for learning was very detailed and interesting, though it was written about a group of graduate students that were required to use and create podcasts for class. As I read it at first I could not see how this technology would be usable at a grade school level, where I would like to teach. Though now as I reflect on the contents of the article I do see some excellent uses for podcasts for younger students.
The author mentioned that the use of the podcasts greatly improved the writing skills of a particularly weak student. She recorded herself reading her papers, and when she listened to her recording she was able to see where her writing needed changes and adjustments. Though in the article this was just an added bonus and in no way the focus of the project, for grade school students I could see this being a valuable application. Often when I write I read my work out loud to myself as part of my editing process, so I understand how hearing a piece can make you aware of what is awkward or hard to understand much better then silently reading the work. I think it would be great for grade school students to record their work and listen to it to help them edit and adjust their pieces. Podcasts could also help students prepare for oral presentations as they record themselves giving the presentation then are able to listen to it over and over anywhere to help them remember and feel more comfortable with the speech.
Another possible application of the podcast that would be appropriate for grade school students was the way the graduate students in the article used podcasts to help them research and share information for papers and projects. Students working on a group project could record information for each other such as summaries of research or updates on what they have done so far, and the teacher would be able to see how the project is coming along and post the podcast so other group members could keep updated. I think it would be awesome to do group projects with other students in different classes, schools, and even states using podcasts to communicate.
The article also talked about how listening to each others' podcasts helped students prepare for class discussions. I could see this being particularly good for grade school students when discussing literature. Students could each be assigned a chapter in a book the whole class is reading, and given directions to create a podcast that perhaps summarized the chapter, reacted to the information or story, or asked questions. This would allow the class to listen to each others podcasts and see where they agree and disagree on their peers perspective, which would then lead to interesting class discussions. Teachers may also record podcasts that students can listen to when reading at home that would encourage better comprehension by giving students background information and questions to think about during their reading.
Though I have an iPod I have never recorded or used a podcast, but this article has inspired me to check out the technology. It opened my eyes to the true educational benefits that podcasts can have when used properly. I am excited to learn more, and to integrate this new and exciting way of teaching and learning in my future classroom!

BrainPop

I have been checking out the educational websites Dr. Luongo listed for us and I have to say I fell in love with BrainPop! This website absolutely has it all, and is the best educational website I have seen yet. First of all is is visually exciting, colorful and well-organized. Secondly, the characters are interesting, but it does not waste too much time on meaningless animation sequences like some of the websites I have seen. Third, and most important, it has a ton of interesting topics, and is very engaging and informative. I watched the segments on Halloween and penguins, and both were short and to the point. They kept my attention, were filled with interesting information, gave good visuals to help illustrate the concepts, and were just fun to watch. I am hoping to teach fifth grade, and I think BrainPop would be perfect for use in a fifth grade classroom because it is right on their level. I could definitely see myself showing the class BrainPop segments to introduce topics and stir their interest. It would also be a good resource to help students choose topics for papers since they can check out many different subjects and learn about them in a short amount of time to see what they are most interested in researching.

No Child Left Behind

I just read the New York Times article on the large number of schools that could not reach their No Child Left Behind target improvement goals this year. When I entered the program at Saint Peter's this summer I knew about NCLB through what I had heard in the media over the past several years. To me it sounded like a great law that would make huge improvements in our nation's educational system. Now through my coursework here I have learned a lot more about NCLB and how it works and I have to say my opinion has greatly changed. Of course I would love to see every student in America graduate high school and be able to read fluently and have strong math and science skills. Though now that I understand the true magnitude and challenges of that task I have accepted that it is a noble, but impossible, goal. My real issue with the law is that it expects 100 percent success with 100 percent of the students, not taking into account that some students may have more challenges than others. It also expects that these goals can be reached by all schools in the same amount of time not taking into account the circumstances of the individual schools. It is not fair to expect a poor urban minority school who's learners start out well below compliance level to reach perfection in the same amount of time it takes a white middle class suburban school where most of the learners are already at or near compliance level. It is also not fair to compare a school with almost no students with learning disabilities to a school with a large population of students with severe disabilities. I do, however, agree with the portion of the law that requires measurable improvement every year in test results. Though it also does not seem fair that since states choose their own tests the true level of achievement varies greatly across the nation. A state with an easy exam could boast 90 percent compliance, however if those students took another state's exam they might only be at 20 percent compliance. For No Child Left Behind to truly work I believe the law would need to be greatly revised. First, I think there needs to be one nationally accepted series of exams to measure progress. This will level the playing field and assure that every student would have the same minimum level of skills based on their grade level regardless of what state they live in. This would make NCLB comparisons more fair and the skills assessed more uniform and accurate. Colleges could also be sure that all high school seniors possess at least the same level of basic skills no matter where they are from. Since teaching and the curriculum often becomes aligned to the test in order to improve scores this would make education throughout the country more uniform in general. The second major revision to No Child Left Behind that would be necessary for success is for the government to rethink the yearly progress indicators and the final goal. As the article stated no schools, no matter how good, have been able to improve their test scores more then three or four percent per year. The problem discussed in the article was that California wanted an eleven percent improvement over last year which was largely unreachable for it's schools. NCLB would have more success if it required national improvement of three percent a year for all schools in all states. The final goal of NCLB should also be reduced from 100 percent to 85 or 90 percent compliance by 2014. The final goal may also be assigned individually considering each schools unique population distribution. It is not reasonable to compare a school with ten students with minor learning disabilities to a school with 100 students with severe mental disabilities. If the tests are standardized nationwide and the standards on yearly progress indicators and final outcomes are adjusted I believe in a few years time it will overall greatly reduce the number of failing schools. This will help identify schools that truly need radical overhauls, not just minor adjustments, and allow them to get the help they need. With my proposed suggestions I feel that No Child Left Behind can become an important and successful piece of legislation that greatly improves the education of all students throughout the country.