Podcasts and screencasts . . . .

Oh my! Information overload! Where to start and where to end? Without a doubt this class taught me to get my butt on line and not only access, but make videos. Who knew You Tube wasn't only a way for me to access early 80's music videos? Okay, so from You Tube to Khan Academy - from animoto, to podcasts, to screencasts, the classroom is no longer the four walls that enclose me and my kids, but the vast wall-less web of information that I bring in - or create for those other classrooms I may never see with my own two eyes. Who know? Maybe there is a Sarah Academy in my future???

Learning, Gaming and Searching

Well, what can I say? Who knew how digitally illiterate I really was until tonight? How terribly neanderthal my Google Searches were. It is nice to know how to better use that tool, and recognize how to access information that was once lost in the sea of the world wide web (or now as I have learned, lost on the Google Index). I thought the video on the Gaming school was interesting. It didn't necessarily make me want to teach gaming, but it did help to recognize that changing your point of view can do so much for kids in the classroom. All games are journeys. Education is a journey. Why do we call lessons lessons? Why don't we call them journeys. They are journeys where kids are discovering how to solve math problems, science questions, literature perspectives. The journey happens in the classroom and out of the classroom. I am going to call my lessons journeys when I have my own classroom. So, what is our journey for today? Maybe by then all of these digital badges will be available to us! I am so glad to know where to find plans for these journeys on sites like edutopia.org. I guess that was my a-ha for today. Happy searching, everyone!

Sarah's Voki

Am I really a Digital Immigrant?

It is easy for me to immediately gravitate toward saying I am a Digital Immigrant.  I don't want to upgrade to an iPhone, I still make my husband download pictures from the camera on the computer - because I don't want to learn how, and still have CDs, but couldn't load them onto my computer to save my life and don't own an iPod to load them onto.  My children are speed demons on the iPad and I don't like it, because I it doesn't have a mouse; however, I do love my email, I live on Facebook and have every recipe I have any desire to make pulled onto my Pinterest Board.  I grew up with Cable Television, remember MTV when it actually played videos all day long and have always used a microwave to heat my leftovers.  Okay, so does that make me a Native?  My parents didn't grow up with Television, let alone MTV nor a microwave . . . but they learned to embrace all of them.  I might be slow to embrace certain technology, but nevertheless there are many things that I do embrace.  I wouldn't dream of doing a research paper and not log onto the Internet to do so!

So, perhaps Professor Schwab was right - maybe we all are Digital Immigrants, just at different locations on the path.  Will everyone be a Native in this ever evolving Digital World?  I think not . . .  Why ask this question?  Because as teachers we need to be aware of where our kids are on the path, and do our best to keep in step . . .

Day One and Computer Learning has Begun!

Well, what can I say.  I can be a little stodgy when it comes to technology.  I often feel that we have taken away face to face interaction and interpersonal relationships.  I like to be present with people and events, and I feel that experiencing them through a text, a Facebook post, or otherwise loses authenticity.  Yeah, so I am dating myself, what can I say?

However, I will say this - I am willing to reflect, which is the purpose of this assignment, I know.  I am also willing to address my shortcomings.  The fact of the matter is technology is here.  Technology is present and technology is embraced.  Pretending it doesn't exist, fighting its relationship in the classroom leaves us behind the times.

What is technology?  Years past we defined the wheel as advanced technology.  Today we think of it as something far more complex, but it really is simply man-made creations to make our everyday actions a little easier, a little more accessible and a lot more convenient.  I realize as I sit here, that computers do, in fact, do that for us.  Fighting technology in the classroom does not equip our students any better, it hinders their abilities to interact in a computer literate world.  It limits their opportunities, interactions and abilities to compete in the larger world in just a decade - maybe two. So, how do we get them there?  How do we experience this with our students?  We embrace the journey and grab our passports in the classroom as Digital Immigrants - may the Natives be gentle!!!