Teachers, You are the molders of their dreams The gods who build or crush Their young beliefs of right or wrong. You are the spark that sets aflame The poet's hand or lights the flame of some great singer's song. You are the god of the young, the very young You are the guardian of a million dreams Your every smile or frown can heal or pierce the heart. You are a hundred lives, a thousand lives. Yours the pride of loving them And the sorrow too. Your patient work, your touch Make you the goals of hope Who fill their souls with dreams To make those dreams come true. 
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Here is a interesting article on sexting that I shred with my Tech colleagues.
http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/11/why-kids-sext/380798/?single_page=true It suggests that adults overreact a lot and perhaps that is true but still! I don't think it helps to ignore the situation either. It shares an example about a huge case that was in Lousia County. "We get such a kick out of looking forward to pleasures and rushing ahead to meet them that we can't slow down enough to enjoy them when they come. We are therefore a civilization which suffers from chronic disappointment--a formidable swarm of spoiled children smashing their toys."  I am an ITRT and I will admit that I do not have the stress of classroom teachers. However, lately I have wondered about going back into the classroom. I love teaching and it is lessons like what went on during 3rd grade computer lab today that make me realize how much I love teaching! We did a circle Thinking Map on what we do at school. Next time the kids are with me we will turn the circle maps into flow maps. Now as an ITRT I am not supposed to be the computer lab teacher but just like Scarlet O’Hara never felt like she belonged unless she was at Tara, I feel like my place in in the classroom. Every year the tug to go back into classroom teaching gets stronger. I wonder if this year will be the year I succumb?
For a period of about 10 years the term 21st century skills has been evolving. It is generally understood that teaching 21st century skills is a very important task but when pushed to define what it means to teach these 21st century skills most educators believe that merely allowing students to work on a computer, a tablet, or other technology device is providing the students with 21st century skills. This cannot be farther from the truth. Twenty-first century skills are not new to the 21st century but rather a set of skills that have been valued by educators for many centuries. Twenty first century skills are divided into three types: Learning, Literacy, and Life skills.
Learning skills include the needs to think critically and creatively, "out of the box" thinking. Students need to be able to communicate and collaborate with each other. Literacy skills combine information, media, and technology literacy. Life skills mean developing leaders who are productive and can take initiative. Students must have strong social skills and be able to be flexible. These skills have always been important to students but have not been as valued in practice in the schools. When schools were preparing students to hold jobs in industry, the key skills were knowing a trade, following directions, getting along with others, working hard, and being professional—efficient, prompt, honest, and fair. Schools have done an excellent job of teaching these skills, and students still need them. However, jobs students need to be prepared for are information-age jobs. These types of jobs still depend on students knowing how to follow directions, get along, work hard, and be professional but now they also need to think deeply about issues, solve problems creatively, work in teams, communicate clearly in many different media, adapt and learn ever-changing technologies in order to deal with a flood of information. The rapid changes require students to be flexible, to take the initiative and lead when necessary, and to produce something new and useful. Unfortunately, schools have been pushed to deal with the new and evolving age of information in a very antiquated manner and have moved into a teach to the test paradigm. We as educators, have forgotten that students are children and because the bottom line is getting the answer right on "THE TEST" schools have been forced to to take away the one best learning strategy a child has to make sense of this new information packed world. We no longer allow a child to learn by doing. John Dewey was the most significant educator of the 20th century, for that matter, the 21st century as well. Dewey's concept of education put a premium on meaningful activity in learning and participation in the classroom. Rather than the concept of authoritarianism and rote learning which a teach to the test classroom demands, John Dewey believed that students must be invested and engaged in what they were learning. Dewey argued that learning tasks should be relevant to students' lives. He saw learning by doing and development of practical life skills as crucial to children's education. John Dewey would have most definitely not been a fan of high stakes testing that takes away a child’s creativity and forces them to give just the right answer. On the other hand he would have loved and been a huge supporter of the technology integrated classroom. He would have said that if we want children to succeed as students preparing themselves for jobs that require them to fail and then pick themselves up and try again, to be able to communicate with individuals from across the globe even though they have never left their own backyard, to work with a multitude of different people, we need to teach the 21st century skills as they are meant to be taught. Nowhere could this be done better than in a computer classroom by a teacher trained to integrate technology into a variety of subjects and not just as a separate add on. We need to put away canned drill and kill technology programs and allow students to experience what it means to work on a project that may take a period of time. Students need to be able to think through and solve problems and to realize that sometimes problems may not be able to be solved. We need to build "out of the box thinkers" that can do more than answer a test question. If the motivation is to build 21st century skills in order to close the achievement gap by focusing on 21st century skills we need to find a way to reach all students. These learning experiences need to be provided to the gifted and talented as well as the struggling learner. Even more imperatively, we need to find a way to get greater computer access because no matter what incredible programs we use, a half hour with technology a week, which is what is standard in many classrooms, is not nearly enough time. Ten years ago Virginia thought that by mandating one ITRT, or instructional technology resource teacher, per every thousand students they could solve the issues of teaching those missing 21st century skills. The ITRT was to work with the classroom teacher helping to plan and co-plan lessons with effective technology integration. There are several problems with this thought. First, there were still some teachers who did not want to use the ITRT at all and of course those students went without the needed instruction. Secondly, since the ITRT was so spread out trying to accommodate the needs of 1000 students (even though the work was done with the teacher) long term projects were not engaged in often. This means the students did not have time to try again or figure out a problem if the project failed the first time.So, rather than attempt project base learning tasks, teachers turned to learning game websites. A better idea would be to fund one ITRT per elementary building and allowing the ITRT to also man the computer lab. By hiring a full time ITRT we could schedule blocks of time several times a week for the students to visit the computer lab under the tutor-ledge of a highly qualified teacher who knows how to plan and carry out project based learning activities which focus on 21st century skills and incorporate integrated technology. If the teacher would rather, the ITRT could push into a classroom to help with integration ideas that focus on the needed 21st century skills. During the week the ITRT should have time to plan with grade levels built into his/her schedule. Finally, a full time ITRT could, and should be expected to work with students to provide them with ways to use their 21st century skills in real life situations to benefit their communities. This would show students that education has a reason, a purpose.
This is way cool! And to be honest I am so glad for this change. My desk use to be a total mess and I could never find anything. As I began moving into the digital world it became much easier to stay organized. I have all this "stuff" now on my cell phone. No more mess for me!
Note: I got this video from a Vimeo page by someone named Designboom, Last night (12/11/15) I was contacted by the original producer of this cool animation. He gave permission for me to leave it up as long as I mentioned his company, Best Reviews and included a clickable link. I am totally in love with this so please feel free to check it out on their website. The top of the page has reviews of desk chairs. You will have to scroll down to the bottom to see a larger version of the Evolution of the Desk. Thank you, Mr. Faw. This is truly cool! Link to the original work: http://bestreviews.com#reviews Our school division is moving to using Thinking Maps across the curriculum. Today was a very busy day for me as I not only installed Thinking maps software on all teacher computers in their classrooms but also on all the lab computers. Then in 3-5 grades we began using the software. Thinking Maps are visual learning tools that support specific thinking skills and allow students to organize information. The first slide show was from a lesson 4 & 5th graders did today on safe passwords. The second is from a third grade lesson on school. Later we will build a flow chart from the 3rd grade maps and then a timeline. Fourth and Fifth graders will be creating passwords for their blog and Edmodo accounts. As you browse through the students' maps below please remember that although they were very familiar with the Thinking Maps, the software was brand new to them. Still, I feel they did a remarkable job! I have put together a symbaloo of resources for Thinking Maps. |
Melanie LewisHi, my name is Melanie Lewis. I am an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher for Amherst County Public Schools, located in the beautiful state of Virginia. I LOVE my job! I get to work on my hobby, anything that has to do with computers. I get to work with teachers and students, and I am definitely a people person. Plus, I DO NOT have to give grades. Wonderful, huh? Let me know how I can help you better integrate technology into your classroom. Archives
March 2020
ACPS' 1st computers
I know only one thing about the technology that awaits us in the future: We will find ways to tell stories with it. ~Jason Ohler
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