Fischbowl Best Of November

The Fischbowl's best of November blog discussed the use of wireless internet access being made available for staff and students at Arapahoe high school. The blog sheds light on the positive side of the issue. I feel that any distraction brought on by this advancement would not out way the benefit. I also agree with the author that there is so much more that can be done within the classroom through the use of the web. Perhaps the most valuable point made in the Blog was that, "There is a wealth of information and resources available to our students via the Internet." The fact that there students could view, at anytime, their grades and assignments, notes, worksheets via the web. Unlimited storage space for their work. Interaction with students and teachers worldwide is also a plus. There are countless advantages that come with this step forward.

I feel that it is necessary for everyone, especially young students, to become familiar with as much technology as possible. The world is advancing at such a rate that if you do not accept it, you will fall way behind. Having students use the internet as much as possible will do nothing but better prepare them for the world ahead. I wish secondary schools in our area would do the same. I also envy the Littleton Public School System for allowing this. Here is a link to their site Click Here

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OK for educators to be technologically illiterate?

Karl Fisch has a strong opinion regarding technological literacy and todays educators. Within his best of September blog, HERE I must say that I agree with most of his points. My mindset has always been, if you can not complete a certain task yourself, how can you effectively teach someone else to? Many times when I was thinking this way it was in regards to physical health. I found it quite strange that the majority of physical educators that I came across were not only out of shape, but were lacking the basic physical skills necessary to perform tasks which they were attempting to teach. I feel that this holds true in any area of instruction. Especially in regards to technology. How can a teacher prepare a student to be successful in todays technologically advanced world if he/she themselves are not proficient in the area.

Teachers of today should be embarrassed if lacking in technological capability. I am not one to go surfing the net for Blogs in my spare time, but I really agree with much of Karl Fisch's rant. I'm glad to have visited his site and suggest that you do the same.

International Blogging

The Sandaig Otters Primary School in Scotland uses their blog to display the students classwork and experiments, as well as upcoming events. The site offers links to educational games. There is also a list of other schools using blogs, and an archive section dating back to 2004. This site is an excellent example of school using blogs. This really lets the outside world see what is going on within an institution. Here is a picture of a experiment on series and parallel circuitry. Here is a link to there site HERE!



















Jo Mcleay, a secondary English teacher in Melbourne Australia, has the kind of open minded view on using Internet technology that is both exciting and contagious. Her site mentions quite a few of her great ideas, but it was her 1001 Flat Tales Writing Project that really got my attention. Jo has created a blog where students from classes around the globe will participate in story writing and share them all together. People like Jo are just one more great example of how educators around the world are using blogs to improve education, no matter where the student lives! Here is a Picture of JO with a friend, Jo is on the left.
Here is a link to her site Click Here!

Blogs In The U.S. Classroom

While searching the web for examples of blogs being used in the classroom, I came across the EA Teachers Blog, eateachers.blogspot.com. This blog offers insight to grade levels 2 - 6. Information within the blog listed the days assignments as well as any homework assignments and upcoming events for the entire school. This photo shows the 5th graders working with Legos during their Robotics Unit. I can see where an involved parent could use this blog to check up on their child's class work. This blog is a great example of how blogs can be used to make it easier for parents to be involved and informed of what is going on at their children's school. I believe this is very important when trying to improve education in the U.S.

The next educational blog I came across was the ICT in my Classroom Blog, tbarrett.edublogs.org/. The blog encouraged educators to share their teaching tools with one another and discuss problems and methods of improvement with one another. For example, this teacher has completed a diagram in SMART NOTEBOOK illustrating the water cycle. The post is asking for constructive criticism. Many links are provided. By the looks of the site, their are quite a few participants to the blog. By far one of the best ways to utilize the Internet for educators is the blog. The more the educational system accepts and takes advantage of the internet/blog technology, the faster we will see improvements in education!