Thursday, September 13, 2012

Facebook

What is this person known for?

This person seems to be known for going out with friends and liking cats.

What is important to this person?

Friends, music, and funny things

Is this person committed to the growth of others?

This person seems somewhat committed to the growth of others.  They "like" Invisible Children and other pages and organizations that are definitely committed to the growth of others. 




Nine Ways the Common Core Will Change Classroom Practice

There are 9 main differences in the Common Core State Standards that will help students be prepared for new standards and be ready for higher learning education.  These 9 differences provide more in depth teaching on what is important for students to learn at their grade level so they can have a clear understanding of the material when they move on to the next grade.  Mathematics focuses more on arithmetic and less on geometry and there are no standards for data and statistics until the sixth grade.  This is so students know mathematical procedures more fluently and develop a deep understanding of the topic before beginning a new one.  In English Language Arts more nonfiction literature will be introduced so students are more prepared for high school and college reading requirements.  There is also more emphasis on speaking and listening so the educators are sure the students understand the text they have read. 

Out-of-School


As technology grows and the use for technology grows students will need to have experience and skills to understand and keep up with digital learning and the 21st century.  Educators and research labs that study digital-media technologies and children learning are trying to incorporate the teaching of digital technology in the classroom and outside of the classroom.  The best way to teach digital technology is still under debate.  The focus in this article is how to teach digital technology out of the classroom in a way that requires the student to have hands on learning and still be interesting enough for them to retain the information. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

New Technology in the Classroom


John Laidlaw Elementary School in Western Springs integrated 30 Google Chromebooks to the fifth grade class.  A Chromebook is a type of laptop that uses Google Chrome as the search engine as its operating system.  This can run thousands of applications that are stored online through the cloud.  The students are getting use of the application Google Documents which allows them to write an essay on their own computer, then other students, or the teacher, can get online and read and edit it.  The fifth grade teacher, Ashley Klem, helped the school get grants to purchase the Chromebooks and she has had great success with them.  Klem says it makes her job easier and the students are getting a lot out of it and they actually look forward to school work now. 

Public Media


California’s adoption of the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) gives educators a wider and more interesting way of teaching students critical skills for the 21st Century.  As technology and media become a bigger part of the education process it’s vital for students to have skills related to these both critical and production wise.  Since the integration of media throughout almost all curricular areas is so important there are two learning modules that provide digital media resources that engage students with intriguing content and directly align curriculum to the new standards, these modules are KQED and PBS Learning Media.  The CCSS has four central components for English-Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects which are emphasis on informational text, the focus on argument, the push for media literacy, and encouraging online collaboration and exchange of ideas.  KQED media has tools that can be used to address these components.  KQED and PBS Learning Media has a digital library that provides a variety of interesting multimedia and writing examples, video and audio clips, updated news and coverage of current events such as the 2012 elections, and provides students a way to socially connect with others from all over the world on issues concerning them.