Hello Everyone,
My group and I are working on an Immigration Unit Plan in which we will be focusing on the immigrants that immigrated to our country from Ireland and China leading up to and around the time of our Civil War. We have discussed using many aspects of technology and tying our unit to the community in which our students live as well.
We believe that one of the bests ways our anyone can learn is collaboratively either with each other or others. We would love for our students to reach out into our community to either Irish or Chinese immigrants and learn from them what they would otherwise learn from a textbook. We have seen so many times that this type of explorative and collaborative learning is so effective.
We have also reached out to members of our community in the building of our Unit Plan. These people are either members of the teaching community or specialist in the area of immigration. It is important for us to utilize these people to create the most effective lesson plans for our students to learn from.
Lastly, we would love to incorporate guest speakers into our unit that can come into at least one of our classes to speak with our students about what it means to be an immigrant and the reality of being an immigrant as well. Again, it is our belief that students will learn from these speakers more effectively than from a textbook!
I look forward to hearing your feedback about my thoughts!!
-Meaghan
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Copyright Concerns in the Classroom
Hello Followers,
After our last class, I found myself very intrigued by the copyright and fair use guidelines we discussed. I did not realize how strict they really are and, to be honest, how many times I have seen these guidelines not being followed. I can remember being in high school and having teachers copy entire workbooks for their classes in order to save money. I can remember copyrighted images being used by teachers in powerpoint presentations and I can even remember using too much of copyrighted material in my own work and never being warned about it or reprimanded for it.
The reason for this is quite simple; too many people do not know what the guidelines are in order to follow them and a majority of the time they do not even know that they are breaking any rules. Because of this lack of knowledge, we will definitely be affected in our classrooms one day. I hate to say it because NYS has enough standards as it is, but I feel as though NYS should mandate that a course be taken by education students in college regarding copyright and fair use guidelines to mitigate the naivety factor.
When I think about the ways in which our past class will affect me moving forward as an educator, I can say that I will be much more diligent in my efforts to ensure that I am not breaking copyright or fair use guidelines. Before I decide it is okay to photocopy worksheets for my classes or create powerpoint presentations with content taken from other authors, I will most certainly check back to what the guidelines stipulate. As I have already said, so many people now-a-days break these rules without even knowing they have...I will do my best to stay out of this group.
-Meaghan
After our last class, I found myself very intrigued by the copyright and fair use guidelines we discussed. I did not realize how strict they really are and, to be honest, how many times I have seen these guidelines not being followed. I can remember being in high school and having teachers copy entire workbooks for their classes in order to save money. I can remember copyrighted images being used by teachers in powerpoint presentations and I can even remember using too much of copyrighted material in my own work and never being warned about it or reprimanded for it.
The reason for this is quite simple; too many people do not know what the guidelines are in order to follow them and a majority of the time they do not even know that they are breaking any rules. Because of this lack of knowledge, we will definitely be affected in our classrooms one day. I hate to say it because NYS has enough standards as it is, but I feel as though NYS should mandate that a course be taken by education students in college regarding copyright and fair use guidelines to mitigate the naivety factor.
When I think about the ways in which our past class will affect me moving forward as an educator, I can say that I will be much more diligent in my efforts to ensure that I am not breaking copyright or fair use guidelines. Before I decide it is okay to photocopy worksheets for my classes or create powerpoint presentations with content taken from other authors, I will most certainly check back to what the guidelines stipulate. As I have already said, so many people now-a-days break these rules without even knowing they have...I will do my best to stay out of this group.
-Meaghan
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Learning in Virtual Worlds
Hello Followers!
For my blog entry, I chose to review the section regarding virtual worlds. I chose this section because it was something that I was not already familiar with. I must say that after navigating through this section and learning more about it, I was very intrigued and was left with many thoughts.
I learned that their are many aspects of the virtual world that actually do teach life skills that students and adults alike can benefit from. A virtual world teaches an individual to be part of a community and to collaborate with the community that they are a part of. I believe that collaborating within a community is a crucial life skill that people should learn as early as possible. I believe that it can afford an individual success both as a student and when they enter the work force. Virtual worlds also teach other life skills such as problem-solving, risk taking, and persistence; all of which are important and crucial in being successful both in the virtual world and the real world.
The reason why a virtual world is so effective in teaching skills like these is because of the fact that it is nearly impossible to find a kid that doesn't want to play socially or be included. Once kids are able to find this sense of belonging they engage and excel; they want to teach, mentor, lead and build as members of these communities. This fact is so intriguing to me because I am a true believer of being an independent thinker and learner. Unfortunately, I also believe that this is something that we aren't finding is apparent in many schools and classrooms. Many students go to school, do what they are told, regurgitate the information that they are expected to know, and really don't retain all that much. In a virtual world, one is expected to learn individually but to build upon what they learn within a community. This dynamic SHOULD be what we find in schools and is perhaps the most effective way for people to learn.
From what I reviewed in this section I find myself torn. I believe that the virtual world offers students a learning experience that is both modern and crucial. There is a good possibility that students can learn from a virtual world just as well, if not better, than they can learn from a textbook because it is certainly a 21st Century tactic being used on 21st Century learners. What leaves me torn is the difficulty of integrating the virtual world into the real world. A point that was brought up in this section is the basis for this concern. Virtual learning is based almost completely on community and collaboration. Many schools consider collaborative learning to be cheating or an ineffective teaching method because students are tested independently. For this reason, I can see schools being resistant to the integration and I think that this is unfortunate! I really do see it being a great learning tool if integrated and used correctly! Let me know what all of you think!
-Meaghan
For my blog entry, I chose to review the section regarding virtual worlds. I chose this section because it was something that I was not already familiar with. I must say that after navigating through this section and learning more about it, I was very intrigued and was left with many thoughts.
I learned that their are many aspects of the virtual world that actually do teach life skills that students and adults alike can benefit from. A virtual world teaches an individual to be part of a community and to collaborate with the community that they are a part of. I believe that collaborating within a community is a crucial life skill that people should learn as early as possible. I believe that it can afford an individual success both as a student and when they enter the work force. Virtual worlds also teach other life skills such as problem-solving, risk taking, and persistence; all of which are important and crucial in being successful both in the virtual world and the real world.
The reason why a virtual world is so effective in teaching skills like these is because of the fact that it is nearly impossible to find a kid that doesn't want to play socially or be included. Once kids are able to find this sense of belonging they engage and excel; they want to teach, mentor, lead and build as members of these communities. This fact is so intriguing to me because I am a true believer of being an independent thinker and learner. Unfortunately, I also believe that this is something that we aren't finding is apparent in many schools and classrooms. Many students go to school, do what they are told, regurgitate the information that they are expected to know, and really don't retain all that much. In a virtual world, one is expected to learn individually but to build upon what they learn within a community. This dynamic SHOULD be what we find in schools and is perhaps the most effective way for people to learn.
From what I reviewed in this section I find myself torn. I believe that the virtual world offers students a learning experience that is both modern and crucial. There is a good possibility that students can learn from a virtual world just as well, if not better, than they can learn from a textbook because it is certainly a 21st Century tactic being used on 21st Century learners. What leaves me torn is the difficulty of integrating the virtual world into the real world. A point that was brought up in this section is the basis for this concern. Virtual learning is based almost completely on community and collaboration. Many schools consider collaborative learning to be cheating or an ineffective teaching method because students are tested independently. For this reason, I can see schools being resistant to the integration and I think that this is unfortunate! I really do see it being a great learning tool if integrated and used correctly! Let me know what all of you think!
-Meaghan
Sunday, January 30, 2011
I hope to learn...
Hello Classmates!
Welcome to my blog for this class! I hope to learn a lot from this class. Technology is something that is ever-changing and I feel that it is important to keep up with all of its changes and advances. I hope that this class will, at the very least, bring me up to speed with the technology that is available to me both as a teacher and as a student. If I can better understand technology and its advantages from the aspect of an educator and a learner it would be a huge step forward in professional development for me. I must admit that I am a little bit intimidated after our first class. Just seeing the long list of software that I am not yet familiar with scares me a little bit, but it excites me at the same time because of the learning possibilities that lie ahead for me. I look forward to working with all of you this semester!
-Meaghan
Welcome to my blog for this class! I hope to learn a lot from this class. Technology is something that is ever-changing and I feel that it is important to keep up with all of its changes and advances. I hope that this class will, at the very least, bring me up to speed with the technology that is available to me both as a teacher and as a student. If I can better understand technology and its advantages from the aspect of an educator and a learner it would be a huge step forward in professional development for me. I must admit that I am a little bit intimidated after our first class. Just seeing the long list of software that I am not yet familiar with scares me a little bit, but it excites me at the same time because of the learning possibilities that lie ahead for me. I look forward to working with all of you this semester!
-Meaghan
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