Reations to Chapter 6, "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology, The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America"

My opinions on a specialized instruction as discussed in Chapter 6 is full of mixed emotions.  While I do support the idea of an education that is geared to "certifications to the specific goals of learners and their parents", thus bringing an "assessment could be more attuned to the technological imperatives of customization and learner control."  I can see value in a program that is adopted into the current curriculum and is used as a supplemental program for enrichment; rather than a replacement for a traditional classroom.  I do feel there is value in attending a school and taking the standard norm classes.  I also believe that it would be nice to have the opportunities for students to take their learning into their own hands.  I think it would be interesting to see how such a creditional system could be implemented and how much money it would cost to get it up and running. In terms of differentiated instruction, which seems to be a key factor in today's educational system, this program type would be beneficial.   So, how long until this becomes our new reality? Will you like this change?  And how will this effect the traditional schools and the roles of teachers?

Collins, Allan, and Richard Halverson. Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology, The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2009. 126-135. eBook.

Reactions to article: "50+ Ways to Use Twitter in Your Classroom"

After completing our reading from last week’s discussion on Twitter, I still felt there were missing pieces to exactly how Twitter could be used for education.  After reading through this article, I now have a better insight as to a multitude of options for including this resource in the classroom.  A few I can add easily in elementary school is use “Twitter as a bulletin board”, a quick reference for students when absent, use Twitter as a way to provide feedback and aid in student concerns or questions, summarize the days learning, a share site for resources, follow historically important people for instant updates, follow experts in their career interest, a place to seek help, bonus assignments, or play “Twitter puzzles”.  Being unfamiliar with Twitter, my concerns lie in the security and privacy issue for young media users.  Perhaps this media is more appropriate for high school aged students.  I’d love to hear how you use Twitter in the classroom!

Kharbach, Med. "50 Ways to Use Twitter in Your Classroom." Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. N.p., n. d. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. <http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/12/50-ways-to-use-twitter-in-your-classroom.html>.

Reactions from Chapter 6: The Social Web: Learning Together

Working with such young media users (K-5) and with such a large number of students (over 700) proves a difficult challenge when it comes to opening the doors to the Read/Write web in such a way that is educationally beneficial as well as safe and monitored; however, looking through this chapter, I gained a multitude of ideas.  Social Bookmarking is a great way to offer safe, appropriate, and approved sites in one location to allow students the ease of researching in a more controlled environment. I also think that Diigo sounds like a great resource for students to post work, share, and receive quick feedback.  I will have to do more research into this source! Additionally, I was a little intimidated by Twitter, but after reading chapter 6 find myself ready to open an account!  However, I am not sure how ready my students are for this type of environment in the music classroom.  I am sure it is better served for a homeroom classroom.  I do use Edmodo often, and think that using this site like Twitter to prepare students for that reality may be a great starting point.  But as Richardson says, "regardless of how you might think about Twitter in the classroom remember, the short (140 character or less) lesson is this: Think about Twitter for yourself first."  I think I'll take his advice.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Richardson, Will. Pedagogy and Practice from Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, 2010. p. 97-112. eBook

Reactions from article: "Can Playing Video Games Give Girls an Edge In Math?"

Whether you agree or not, researchers have made notable connections between spacial skills and "creative and scholarly achievements". While I have your attention, no, the article title isn't saying this would only benefit girls; however, boys already have interest in video games and are currently benefiting from the mathematical benefits. This information comes from the blog Mind/Shift and their research from the journal, Psychological Science, "the ability to mentally manipulate shapes and otherwise understand how the three-dimensional world works turns out to be an important predictor of creative and scholarly achievements."  In addition, this research predicts, "the likelihood that the individual would develop new knowledge and produce innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the domains collectively known as STEM". Additionally, the Journal of Cognition and Development, reported that "training children in spacial reasoning can improve their performance in math" and in a "single twenty-minute training session in spatial skills enhanced participants' ability to solve math problems, suggesting that the training 'primes' the brain to tackle arithmetic".  So, how does this all relate to video gaming?  The article suggests that children don't just learn at school, but at home.  It is this informal learning that adds additional impact on the child and suggest that parents fill this gap or add emphasis at home.  For older children this spatial manipulation of 3D shapes can come from video games.  The article claims that "males have historically held the advantage over females in spatial ability, and this advantage has often been attributed to genetic differences. But males' spatial edge may also reflect, in part, differences in the leisure-time activities of boys and girls, activities that add up to a kind of daily drill in spatial skills for boys." The article then states their opinion on how this type of informal learning could fill the gender gap and "produce more female scientists, engineers and mathematicians" as suggested by a study by University of Toronto researchers in the Psychological Science journal.  It is suggested by these authors that this higher-level ability to "mentally rotate objects" 'could play a significant role as part of a larger strategy designed to interest women in science and engineering careers.' So whether or not you agree with video games as your outlet for work with spacial learning, it is clear to see the importance of learning to manipulate spacial objects in some capacity.  I've always shied away from gaming; perhaps it's merely due to the marketing, games that don't really interest me, my competitive nature (I MUST WIN), or perhaps it is due to how I was raised.... OR perhaps, just because I'm a girl! But I do feel that I still hold a high understanding and interest in such areas as creativity, engineering, mathematics and the sciences.  It is more than likely in part to a hands on manipulation of objects.  Hey, we all love playing with Legos... right?

Paul, Annie Murphy. "Can Playing Video Games Give Girls an Edge in Math?." Mind / Shift. KQED, 24 Jul 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. <http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/can-playing-video-games-give-girls-an-edge-in-math/

Reactions on article: A Must See Visual Featuring the 5 Levels of Student Engagement

As educators, we are always striving to engage our students in the learning process to ensure they are getting the most out of our lesson; however, how do we "rate" if our students are fully learning?  Blogger, Med Kharbach, says that "unless students see a direct relevance between what they are going to learn and how that information will help them in their actual life, it becomes hard to hook and maintain their attention."  He continues by stressing the importance of "context in learning" as this often times increases the "rate of retention and comprehensibility."  This visual provides a clear view into student's level of engagement from the highest commitment right down to "rebellion" or the "diverted attention - no commitment".  This could easily be turned into a rubric for self-assessment.  If students are able to provide you with feedback on their engagement or commitment to the subject matter in class, you can find better ways to deliver the particular instruction if needed.

Kharbach, Med. "A Must See Visual Featuring the 5 Levels of Student Engagement." Educational Technology and Mobile Learning. N.p., n. d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/11/a-must-see-visual-featuring-5-levels-of.html.

Reactions to article: “Artistic to the Core: Music and Common Core” / Education Trends

Of course this particular article jumped out at me, as I of have first hand benefited from music.  Educator and musician, Dr. Karin Nolan, works with preparing college music students for their career and found the more often than not, students involved with the arts often times were more prepared for college.  "I'm not a gambling person, but if I had to place a bet on one sure-fire method for engaging students, increasing test scores, reaching students who fall below standards, challenging students who exceed grade-level standards, accessing students' creativity and originality, maximizing brain connections formed, applying concepts to new situations, and making the learning process more fun for the students and teacher, I would place that bet on... teaching the core curriculum through the arts."  In my music classroom, I strive to incorporate outside learning in my room to aid in making connections to provide a more authentic experience, but how often do teachers include the arts in their own classroom? Most teachers feel unqualified and perhaps uncomfortable with such incorporation; however, Nolan suggests that "teachers must think on their feet, modify plans on the spot, approach content from different angles, support uniqueness, and inspire and foster growth", all of which proves that teachers are capable of such creative thought, and if successful they may build a classroom environment that is enjoyable for both student and teacher and interactive, moving away from the confines of worksheets.  "Through arts-integrated lessons, students are engaged and focused on the content because it takes them beyond the confines of "traditional" learning. They get to hear, see, and become the content through the arts."  A very cool concept that should be considered by all educators.

Nolan, Dr. Karin. "Artist to the Core: Music and Common Core." Edutopia. The George Lucas Educational Foundation, 23 Nov 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/music-and-common-core-karin-nolan.

Reactions to Chapter 5: RSS (Week 4)

In the past, I have been using the RSS feed from Google's Blogger site to stay up to date on the music world through blogs that I have subscribed to or followed.  Now that my eyes have been opened to Feedly, I have added the Feedly button to my browser and find that with a quick click, blogs from various locations are easily added and I am able to quickly view all of my news in one convenient location.  No wonder RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication"! (Richardson, p. 84) I enjoyed the chapter and how Richardson tied in how to use RSS in your class in addition to the fun tricks with the aggregator.  Using an aggregator to sort student blogs for quick commenting and project submission makes perfect sense!  And, also using the feed for current event research and reflective writing is a great tool for older students to stay current and create authentic learning tasks.  Another great tool Richardson notes, is the use of the search feature.  "That student could actually create an RSS feed that would bring any news... to his aggregator as soon as it was published - kind of like doing research 24/7, only the RSS feed does all the work." (Richardson, p. 91)  That sounds like a wonderful idea!  My next unit is on melody, and I may just give this search feature a try to aid in finding new and exciting lesson plan ideas.  Very cool!

Richardson, Will. Pedagogy and Practice from Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, 2010. p. 83-96. eBook.