Dynamic Learning Communities

When I first started reading about Dynamic Learning Communities (DLC) I immediately started thinking about the Socratic seminar teaching method that was taught during one of our classes. When DLC was described as the community being in charge and all the members discuss all ideas. I found this to be an extremely interesting idea because I really enjoyed the demonstration of the Socratic seminar teaching method. I love the idea because everyone’s input is important because it could change the way the entire group looks at the given topic.

As the article discussed, it is always tough to implement new things into an established classroom especially when the article wants the classroom to be more open which is against the conventional classroom setting. I think DLC can be best implemented as part of the varying teaching methods used within the classroom. I would like to see a real world example of DLC because it is tough for me to picture the implementation in different subject areas. I think this style is defiantly geared for the high school level which is why I am having a hard time picturing my fifth and sixth grade students participating in this learning style.

Media and Attention, Cognition, and School Achievement.

I found that a lot of the information presented in this article was “common” knowledge. I think most people assume that watching TV could be beneficial for students learning languages. I also think people know that if you students watch too much TV it could have a negative effect on their school work. Do I really need to be told that some students learn better from watching a demonstration instead of reading? Now the article did provide some numbers to back up these obvious statements, but for the most part I was not overly impressed with most of this article. I also thought it was interesting that the paper used Atari research, ATARI?!? Atari is from the 80’s and I know all data is data but really can we get some more current data since a lot has changed since Atari was popular.
I agree with the authors when they say there are some benefits to video games. I think the problem solving aspects of video games are often overlooked.
I don’t know how I really feel about the section talking about television watching and ADHD. My first thought is how can you test if ADHD is caused by more television watching? I then read the section and realized they just wanted to compare media watching with kids who have been diagnosed with ADHD. It makes complete sense to me that ADHD students will watch more TV because it can capture their attention.
I really enjoyed the number about the internet at school and home. How in 9 years schools with internet access went from 35% to 100%. I found the stat about parents using internet filtering surprising. The article said that 50% of parents use some type of internet filter, I thought the number would be lower.

Laptops in the classroom

I enjoyed this article but I keep thinking to myself that this article was written seven years ago and when we are talking about technology in almost any fashion, seven years is a very long time. One of my biggest questions is the implementation of student laptops. If they get to take them home and bring them to school, what type of security settings do you put on there? I would think you would need an excellent IT department that knew what they were doing so that kids don’t figure out ways around security features. I also wonder about power cords and the number of outlets required to charge the student’s laptops such as in Julia’s example.
One of my favorite ideas behind the Woodvale situation is the idea of how much communication goes on between teachers, parents and students over email. I have wondered for several years why we send so much paper home with the kids when we should have email addresses for everyone and send out a mass email with the papers attached.
Being in a computer lab every day my students always have a laptop in front of them at all times. That being said it is hard to compare my class to a regular education classroom that would always have computers in front of them. One of the first drawbacks of computers always being in front of the students is the students want to play with the mouse and on the desktop. Unless you have them close the screen down it is very hard to keep their attention. I also teach my keyboarding classes in a different computer lab that have desktop computers with full size keyboards which are hooked up to 17 inch lcd monitors. In this other lab you cannot have the student close down a screen and the students can almost hide behind the monitors because in 5th grade the students just are not that tall. They constantly play with the mouse and with the icons on the desktop just because it is in front of them. Based on my scenario I would prefer the laptops over the desktop computers.

Learning Anytime, Anywhere

I think Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) is a wonderful idea. ADL is access of materials, video clips, animations, audio clips and more whenever the student may need them. I really like the idea of the teaching guiding the student in their learning instead of shoving information at them telling them to memorize it. I truly feel everyone learns better by doing and ADL would defiantly allow for this type of learning.

I really enjoyed the following quote from the article: “As with most technological developments, we may begin with an analogy based on current practice but finish with something entirely new and unexpected” this is so true in so many ways. Whether we are discussing technology/computers or education, nobody knows what the future holds and all you can do is try to get educated on a given subject and make an educated hypothesis. I think the idea behind ADL is a wonderful idea but how willing will the US education system will welcome change. From my experience the education systems will accept certain changes, especially anything for special education, but will they accept something like ADL for regular education classes. The other major concern is cost, how expensive is this new idea going to cost. Paying for the digital media rights and storage in order to be accessed 24/7 sounds like it might have a hefty price tag. I know that my school currently is using some e-textbooks along with subscriptions to United Streaming and other online websites, which I believe is the beginning stages of ADL.

I will be very curious to see how this idea evolves over time.

Politics of Curriculum: Origins, Controversies, and Significance of Critical Perspectives

I know that education and schools are very political. I don’t think they have always been that way and as a teacher I was we could go back to the old days of education. Teachers have to avoid touchy subjects so that the administration doesn’t receive any complaints about what was taught at school. This makes me wonder why the government doesn’t regulate even more when it comes to what we teach at schools (NCLB was a bad attempt but I guess a start). I find it very sad that we as educated teachers can’t teach whatever we want, because we teach to a test. We have to teach to a test to make sure our school gets funding. If we don’t get funding then special programs and classes will likely get cut and then teachers will lose their job. I could be wrong but I don’t think teachers taught to a test 40 years ago and the vast majority of students turned out just fine. I am not saying that standards and tests are a bad thing but I think there is way too much emphasis placed on them. I love the idea of developing the curriculum involving the students. I know the ideas presented in this articles are just ideas or principles but the concept behind them is very strong and I would like to see them implemented in a real life classroom and see what happens.

AT and UDL

This article discussed the assistive technology and the universal design for learners. My only experience with Assistive Technology has come with my present job at Hadley Middle School. I have seen many of our special needs students, especially if they are placed within the intensive needs classroom. These students have small computers that they can use for talking, or for better understanding of class work. I feel our school does an excellent job of addressing our special needs students.

As far as the concept of universal design for learners (UDL), this is a new concept for me. I have learned about the Americans with Disability Act in school before but never about this UDL. The whole idea behind UDL is a very simple but important idea. UDL is basically reducing barriers and increasing opportunities for the widest range of users. I believe that my building is very friendly and accessible to all students. My building is one story tall, with wide hallways. I have seen our administration and special education department work together in multiple cases to make sure all students are getting the best possible education.

Most schools are faced with budgets constraints and cuts however I believe special education is the one area where funding is fairly abundant and that is very important. Even though technology has become very visible and abundant in schools the devices that special education students use are still very expensive. That makes funding even more important because any benefits assistive technology can provide needs to be taken advantage of for the students benefits.

Designing Educatice Curriculum Materials to Promote Teacher Learning

I enjoyed reading this article due to its appreciation for the teacher. The authors seem to understand that teaching is not easy and the materials provided to teachers probably does not help the teacher teach the subject.

Since I am not a classroom teacher who deals with classroom materials such as books, I felt I was a little disconnected from some of the information within this article. However, when I student taught high school health and used textbooks I saw what the authors were talking about when they stated one of the key phrases within this article states the curriculum “guides” and “might support teacher learning”. I think most teachers instinctively teach their subject to the best of their ability and are almost always open to new ideas. However those new ideas don’t come around too often because the information usually doesn’t change from year to year so therefore neither does the practices. I was happy to see the author mention that the material would have to be different for different teachers based on experience (beginning vs. experienced).

I like the ideas about how these curriculum materials would make relating subjects throughout the year easier and how it would help “support teachers’ learning of a subject matter”. I am a bit skeptical about the whole idea but I am willing to give anything a couple chances to see if it can help. I completely agree that “professional development is more effective than any one source”. Personally I have always learned more by watching a demonstration then trying to learn from reading about how to do something.

All in all, I enjoyed this article and the ideas it presented. I would be very curious to hear the feedback of some classroom teachers since my perspective is a little skewed by not being a classroom core subject teacher that uses books.