Weekly Reading #10

In a video from ISTE Vision News, the keynote speaker, Yong Zhao, discusses the topic of global, creative, and entrepreneurial skills as it relates to education.  The main argument being made by the speaker is that there is too much focus on test scores which, in his words, “do not reflect your teaching ability, your students’ future, or your schools quality” (Zhao, 2012).  There needs to be a shift is the way we view our school systems.  As a society, we want employable skills for our youth, and I think this often leads to conformity and, in turn, kills the creativity of students.  Dr. Yong Zhao contends that school programs and curriculum needs to enhance human talents and strengths rather than trying to fix deficits that exist in our students.

I have always questioned the way that the education system measures success among students.  Yong Zhao’s argument about too much focus begin placed on testing is right on the mark, as far as I am concerned.  I have known individuals who do poorly on standardized exams such as the ACT and SAT, but do incredibly well in both their college adventure and career. 

While reading the conclusion of the text, some connections between the text and Dr. Yong Zhao become clear.   Dr. Zhao says that educators need to find out what matters in the terms of what is important to build a curriculum for students in the technology age.  This creates a problem.  “It is problematic to develop a standardized set of benchmarks to measure kid’s levels of new media and technical literacy” because media changes quickly and is driven by so many different practices of participation (Ito, 2010).  Education needs to put the students in the driver’s seat, so to speak.  When we allow more real-life, interest driven, and self-directed learning to take place, we are allowing true learning to occur.  “We should value diversity rather than standardization” (Ito, 2010).

References

Ito, M. (2010).  Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media.

Zhao, Y. (Writer) (2012). Iste 2012 tuewsday keynote feasturing yong zhao [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKXeNKsjoMI

Weekly Reading 9

1.How do educators in youth media programs differ from the orientation of classroom teachers in terms of preparing students for using digital media for work related purposes?

I liked the comment in the text about new media learning being validated by the expectation that it will transfer to job-relevant skills in the future (page 298).  I agree with this.  Educators in youth media programs tend to focus on collaboration and creation.  I also think there is less focus laced on there being a right and wrong.  Students are encouraged to think outside the box.  In the regular classroom, I think that there is too much focus on there being a right and wrong answer and structure, for lack of a better word.

2. With some important exceptions, how are lower income youth marginalized from using digital media in ways that might provide them with economic empowerment?

I think it all come down to access.  Economic status plays a role in almost every aspect of life, including the use of technology.  In my experience, lower income families have goals that pertain more to mere survival.  Often (not always) my lower-income students do not have the support of families.  They are often just wondering where the next meal is going to come from.  More of them do not have the access to technology that higher-income students do.  Many of them have to get jobs in high school to merely survive and help take care of the family. 

3. In 2005 the CEO of IBM announced that if we wanted know what business leadership looks like in the 21 century look at what is going on in MMORPG's. After reading Box 7.4 does this make sense? Are you impressed by the levels of commitment and collaboration it takes players to be successful in these games? Do you have new respect for gamers?
 It does make sense to me to look at what is going on in MMORPG's to find leadership.  I am extremely impressed with the level of commitment and collaboration that it takes to successful in these types of games.  I do, and always have, a deep respect for gamers and the commitment that they show.  I have actually got to see my own sons (and their friends) play this type of game - talking on headsets, listening to others comments, and changing strategies to succeed.  I have watched many epic battles to get through a stage.  While watching, I could definitely see, and pick out, the leaders as well as the grunts and doers with a common goal of success in mind.  Just like in the real world, we need them all to succeed.  Some of the ones that I never would have pegged as the leaders were actually the best leaders and the same goes with the strategists.

4. How do school need to change to become learning environments that cultivate the same kind of enthusiasm and commitment from young people like NeoPets did for Eddie? How can digital media play a role in the creation of these kinds of environments?
Assignments in classrooms need to be more relevant to real life situations.  Students need to know that what they are doing is important and relevant to them.  Using digital media to create learning environments is a great place to start.  There are many sites that already have such games that are engaging and relevant.  As teachers, we need to find those and use them. 

Product Created in WebQuest

The technologies that I used for my WebQuest are Animoto and VoiceThread.  The WebQuest dictates that the students contribute to two different VoiceThreads throughout the lesson and that they create a service announcement using Animoto.  The following are links to the VoiceThreads used and the service announcement that I created as an example for students.



Make a video of your own at Animoto.


VoiceThread1

VoiceThread2

My WebQuest - FINALLY

I chose to create a WebQuest that I could try out in my own classroom.  I teach second grade and do a unit on recycling around Earth Day every year.  I think that it is terribly important to teach our kids to take care of the planet that we live on.  Check out my WebQuest and let me know how to improve it.

WebQuest Modifications

In my previous post, I linked you to a Google document with the evaluation of my chosen WebQuest using the rubric.  I realize now that I did not link you to the actual WebQuest.  Sorry!  Like I said before, my brain has turned to mush.  Here is the WebQuest.  I hope you enjoy it.

The WebQuest that I chose is age appropriate for the grade level that it was designed for.  I loved the color scheme, the images used, and the introduction is a real attention getter. The task assigned is for students to work together and create a story from the point of view of the food that is being digested.  Each group will focus on a specific area of digestion and then the class would decide on which parts to use to create the best story possible.  To enable a better understanding of each area of digestion, I would add some links that described each area and its responsibility to digestion in more detail.

The main problem with the WebQuest is that it did not include technology accept for the students working through the site itself.  Incorporating technology to this WebQuest would be easy.  Since students are creating a story, I would have them do it digitally with FlipBook or Digital Storyteller.  I think the students would enjoy animating their story.  The creator also has students writing down the three most important things that they learn from their research each day.  It would be great to have students post the important things in a Voicethread so they could see what their classmates have to add. 

Weekly Reading 8

1.  What impressed you most about young people's engagement with creative productions?  What impresses me the most is that they just seem to inherently know how to do it already.  I was talking to my friend the other day and her second grader came running into the room.  He was very excited and kept repeating, "they want me to save and share with everybody".  She was a bit concerned so we went to see what he was talking about.  He had actually made a comic strip using Cartoon Network and it was ready to be shared, and it was awesome.  He said that nobody had taught him, he just knew.  It's just like Inertia in our text book (Page 253).  He made  films and just seemed to learn to edit.

2.  What concerns do have about young people posting content online?  My biggest concern today is that they will post something that is inappropriate or do/say something that is considered to be cyber-bullying.  I am constantly hearing about teens being involved in cyber-bullying.  Teens often do not realize that things they do as a teen can have negative affects on them later in life.

3.  Do you think that most school policy toward student use of the Internet is reactionary or a necessary evil?  Unfortunately, I think that school policy toward Internet use is a necessary evil.  With that being said, I think that many of the policies in place are over the top and that there are too many restrictions.  There have been numerous times when I have tried to use something that I created or learned in one of my classes and can't get there because of all of the restrictions.  Its very frustrating.  On the other hand, the school is responsible for the students and should protect them from certain content.  When my son and I were working on his 4th grade WV book (at home), there were certain requirements of Washington D.C.that needed to be included.  We conducted a Google search for the Whitehouse.  Let me tell you, the difference that .com and .org make is substantial.   It would have been nice to have had a few restrictions.

4.  How might teachers' capitalize on student's interest in creative production with digital media?  First, I think that teachers need to be actively involved with keeping up with the creative production media that's available to our youth (I have lots of homework to do to get there, and even more to stay there).  Lessons and activities need to utilize these technologies.  Teachers need to create more open-ended, student centered projects that allow students to truly show off their talents with technology.   


5.  Link to an online lesson plan, article, blog post video or podcast that is an example of student engagement in creative production with digital media for school related purposes?

I found this video and think it is interesting.  Let me know what you think?

Finding a WebQuest - Part 2

I found a nice WebQuest about digestion created for K-2.  For some reason I could not get the rubic embedded.  I think my brain is mush!  I decided to create a Google document including the rubric with my comments and just the link.  I hope it works.