As of now, my school is working to secure individual technology for each student for next year. This is very exciting, but it's not finalized so I'm unsure of which device will be purchased. My goal of blogging is becoming a reality!
As I proceed with this blog (my first ever), I can perceive the challenges my students will face. I can also foresee the benefits. Physically setting up the blog and aggregator for RSS feed will take significant time, but it'll be worth it. The time used to set up the blog successfully will benefit us in the long run. Now that my own blog is working, I'm creating this post from my cell phone. I can work from anywhere, and so can my students. Although, I doubt they'll see it as work.
As I proceed with this blog (my first ever), I can perceive the challenges my students will face. I can also foresee the benefits. Physically setting up the blog and aggregator for RSS feed will take significant time, but it'll be worth it. The time used to set up the blog successfully will benefit us in the long run. Now that my own blog is working, I'm creating this post from my cell phone. I can work from anywhere, and so can my students. Although, I doubt they'll see it as work.
Lately, a concern has creeping in my mind. My goal for blogging has been to create better writers in my students - more fluent, creative, and reflective writers. Will my self-contained students adequately utilize their newly learned skills on pencil and paper standardized tests. These students require significant scaffolding (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009) and feedback from teachers, and struggle independently. On our standardized state test, the use of word processing accommodations reflects poorly on our school. How can I do what's best for the child when it harms the school? Where's the balance? Dr. Ross (Laureate Education, Inc, 2010) said the assessment must match the instruction. Well, teaching them with pencil and paper hasn't made them better writers, and I'm ready to rock the boat to see if the technology can provide the necessary motivation.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc. custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Assessing Student Learning with Technology [Webcast]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.
I have never heard of a CITT. That would be a wonderful resource! Pensky pointed out that many students are constantly in contact with technology–except sometimes at school. Sometimes there is resistance within a school or district to embrace the technology because it can be a pandora’s box or we just don’t have the time to figure it all out. I know last week I was trying to help a student make a simple PowerPoint and he could not click and copy images. Later, the IT person told me it was because students did not have right-click capability because they changes settings and move folders. I can see that concern, but it was creating a real problem for this student to complete his assignment. Other students were able to complete their project, so I will have to ask them how so I can pass it on to this student. It sounds like your school is a few steps ahead of some of us.
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