The Digitial Generation

This podcast starts off showing children sitting in a classroom where a teacher is using a chalkboard to explain what a galaxity is. It shows the students falling asleep until different forms of technology start falling from the sky. When the students get their hands on laptops, ipods, and cell phones they wake up. Technology is more than a tool to children today, it is their world. Technology engages children, allows for creativity, empowerment, and provides self guided learning. The teachers job is to guide the children with their use of technology.

The podcast on Edutiopa ends saying "this is the digital generation, welcome to their world." This statement couldn't have been said better. Technology is our world today, so we better join it. It is transforming who we are as adults and it is all that children know. If we do not keep up with technology in the classroom, we will only be crippling our children in the future.

Instruments of Learning

Bayshore School District located in Long Island, NY has been recognized as one of the country's top music programs by the Grammy organization. Music starts in first grade and continues through high school. The district uses several types of technology to teach music. The computers allow the students to be more creative with their music. They can see and hear the differences in the notes and harmonies. The use of strong music skills is believed by Bayshore to help with learning in every subject; whether it be in PE because of the movement of music or language arts because of reading the lyrics. It also enforces great discipline in the student because it requires a lot of practice.

The music coming from the students of the Bayshore School District is pretty amazing. The sound of the bands are great and the children singing in music class sing with such excitement. Bayshore provides great education to future musicians. The use of technology in the upper grade levels allows those musicians to further their skills in composition. It is pretty cool that a school district puts so much emphasis on music when so many other schools are cutting the program all together. This video podcast found on Edutopia shows how important music is to children.

A Product of Learning

King Middle School, located in Maine, is the most ethnically and economically diverse school in the state. 60% of the students at King Middle School qualify for free lunch. There are also 28 different languages spoken in the school alone. King Middle School does not use textbooks, but uses laptops that are provided by the school. The school is working to make their students the authors of their own learning. The test scores of this school have improved from the bottom 1/3 to the top 1/3 in the state because of the use of technology. King Middle School wants to provide high quality learning to produce high quality work.

I think it is pretty amazing that King Middle School is able to incorporate so many uses of technology into their classrooms. I especially love the fact that they do not have textbooks, but use the computer and internet. Textbooks go out of date so quickly, this is a way to stay up to date with the most current information. What would be interesting to know is how the school affords such technology considering the fact that the school is located in a poor area. Government grants maybe? This video podcast can found on Edutopia.

The Sound of Learning

This podcast found on Edutopia follows Albano Berberi who is a blind student at Boston College. He is able to play video games based on sound. Textbooks can be read to him from the computer. He can also get on AIM and talk to his friends because of technology.

Students who are unable to type can speak what they are saying. Richard Jackson who is a professor at Boston College says in the podcast that "in 2008, this is a wonderful time to be blind." He says this because of all the technology that is offered to those who cannot see. Albano uses a program on his computer called Jaws that reads what is on the computer to him. According to Terry Maggiore, a teacher at Boston College for the visually impaired, Albano could not speak English or read braille when he came to Boston College, but he devoured any piece of technology that was given to him and within a year he was able to speak fluent English and type and read braille.

It is amazing to me that Albano can function perfectly in a classroom setting and be at the same level as his peers because of his use of technology. This video podcast was very cool to watch.

The Whiteboard Conundrum

How fun is this podcast. Music and everything, and Chris Betcher who actually is interesting to listen to...his voice isn't monotone like the last guy I listened to. He actually sounds enthusiastic about what he is talking about. Imagine that!

This podcast is on "The Virtual Staffroom" and is titled "The Whiteboard Conundrum." Listed below are some key concepts I took from the podcast; what the interactive whiteboard is doing to the classroom.

• Get the students up to use the board (smartboard) to have a more interactive lesson plan
• Use it as a teaching tool for the teacher.
• A lot of different ways to use a smartboard, it's not just a whiteboard or a projector
• Students should not notice the smartboard when they walk into the classroom, technology should be used all the time so the smartboard is familiar.
• Suddenly teachers are learning how to use more technology by using the smartboard. They want to improve their teaching!!
• Smartboards are cool! You can touch them and they will react! There is a human connection.
• Interaction is better with students when a teacher is up using the smartboard
• A lot better then finding a cursor on a projector. 
• It is easier to follow the teacher
• Students are connected in a physical way. They are part of the information. 
• Students are a group and when one student is up using the smartboard, they are completely focused in
• They help start conversations after using the technology of the board. 
• finding information on Google maps that relates to history
• Schools need to provide training to the teachers so they know what the smartboards can do
• If schools are going to spend the money on smartboards, they need to train the teacher as well
•  Students can become interested in learning again because they are engaged
• What I can do with a smartboard that I couldn't do before?
• Take stills of a video and then flip through those to reinforce the point of what the video was teaching.
• Make information available instantly to students
• Explore more difficult concepts

How cool is it that one piece of technology like the smartboard can offer so much to learning. I hope my future classroom has one!

Googlios

I listened to the podcast "Googlios: A 21st-Century Approach to Teaching, Learning, & Assessment by Alex Ambrose" that was found on K12 Online Conference 2009. A Googlio is your own website where you can use all of Google's free tools. I have to admit that at the beginning of this podcast I was thinking "there is no way I'm going to make it through this 20 minutes," but about 3 minutes into the podcast I was interested. The introduction was terrible, but Alex Ambrose started to really know what he was talking about once the video slide show started playing. I learned that the use of technology is projected to keep rising as we enter further into the 21st century. DFL or "digital as a first language" are what our students are. We need to offer them the type of learning that is natural to them. They are digital natives, unlike most of us teachers who are digital immigrants. The biggest question is...will schools advance fast enough to provide this type of learning environment? Google apps help provide schools and educators with the tools they need to create this type of environment. If learning changes, then assessment needs to change as well. The use of webfolios, which are portfolios online, offer a great way to assess students in this century. The webfolio will follow the student their whole life. Teachers can use them, parents can see them, guidance counselors can use them and so on. Googlios are webfolios and it is free to use. They are a great way to begin to create a learning environment that will help our DFL students understand faster.

I never realized how many cool things Google has to offer. I keep hearing more and more about them this week. "Google it" has much more meaning to me now. It is not just a search engine, its like everything!