Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Google Earth - Sarah
My students were blown away with Google Earth. They came up with so many applications - geography, of course, but also math, visual literacy, map reading, physical science, weather, and on and on. They also commented on all ages, all learning styles, and all interests. They were so into it and thought all their students would be too. Another 'aha' moment - and comments like "I can't wait to show this to my students tomorrow". Hope you all had the same positive experience.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Last night's class
We got the 'Guess the City' activity completed. The Google Doc 'save' feature made in hard to edit as a part of lecture with the doc completely refreshing so often. However the autosave is useful. Can the timing be adjusted? Also all the students had the document open at the same time so there was some synchronous editing - or at least attempts. All good learning experience. The students saw real value in the application, however, and that the process is something that they could and would do with their own classes.
We also used a blog for class lecture and discussion. We went in and out of talking about the content (diversity, millenials, how children learn, and their preferences) to how the blog works. How they could add posts and comments, difference in blog and web site, creating their own blog, inviting participants, etc. They were fully engaged with a very interactive class discussion as well as interactive on the blog. We ended class with looking at our blog for this project and creation of their own blogs. Hope we are on track :)
We also played the game Atiya Cost of Life. Interesting reactions! They kind of got the point but did not like the feeling of no control over the situation - lack of money, sickness etc. I have a student in the class whose native country is Haiti and he was polite, but a little offended. He said the whole country is not like that, everyone in his circle of friends and family were educated and not poverty-stricken. He thought the game give the perception that all Haitians are in the same situation as protrayed in the game. I encouraged him to share his concerns with others, so hopefully you will be hearing from him. When asked to compare and contrast this simulation to their own students some said 'no connection' and others said 'very parallel', so we had a very lively discussion of the plight of students in schools in NYC.
We talked too about the characteristics of Millennials, those born since 1982 and whether students in my students classrooms can be identified in the millennial mainstream. Since NYC schools are a huge inner city urban school system with 1.1M students, children have greater opportunities to experience multiculturalism than those in other parts of the country, yet the identity remains with their racial, ethnic, and cultural community. Affiliation with gangs are prevalent for those whose have additional needs for connections, identity, and sense of belonging. Yet because of exposure to multiculturism, not in immediate community perhaps, but so nearby, there is also a tolerance and appreciation for people of other cultures. Many students in my class acknowledge close friendships and interactions with others from many other countries, races, and cultural backgrounds and feel comfortable with the relationships.
My students also feel that access to the internet is becoming ubiquitous. Everyone has access, whether by computer or cell phone. It's almost as common as a TV (or several TVs) in the home. They are concerned about the quality of information their students are accessing and the depth of their research and quest for knowledge. Good issues and good discussion.
Are you all having similar discussions with your classes participating in this project?
We also used a blog for class lecture and discussion. We went in and out of talking about the content (diversity, millenials, how children learn, and their preferences) to how the blog works. How they could add posts and comments, difference in blog and web site, creating their own blog, inviting participants, etc. They were fully engaged with a very interactive class discussion as well as interactive on the blog. We ended class with looking at our blog for this project and creation of their own blogs. Hope we are on track :)
We also played the game Atiya Cost of Life. Interesting reactions! They kind of got the point but did not like the feeling of no control over the situation - lack of money, sickness etc. I have a student in the class whose native country is Haiti and he was polite, but a little offended. He said the whole country is not like that, everyone in his circle of friends and family were educated and not poverty-stricken. He thought the game give the perception that all Haitians are in the same situation as protrayed in the game. I encouraged him to share his concerns with others, so hopefully you will be hearing from him. When asked to compare and contrast this simulation to their own students some said 'no connection' and others said 'very parallel', so we had a very lively discussion of the plight of students in schools in NYC.
We talked too about the characteristics of Millennials, those born since 1982 and whether students in my students classrooms can be identified in the millennial mainstream. Since NYC schools are a huge inner city urban school system with 1.1M students, children have greater opportunities to experience multiculturalism than those in other parts of the country, yet the identity remains with their racial, ethnic, and cultural community. Affiliation with gangs are prevalent for those whose have additional needs for connections, identity, and sense of belonging. Yet because of exposure to multiculturism, not in immediate community perhaps, but so nearby, there is also a tolerance and appreciation for people of other cultures. Many students in my class acknowledge close friendships and interactions with others from many other countries, races, and cultural backgrounds and feel comfortable with the relationships.
My students also feel that access to the internet is becoming ubiquitous. Everyone has access, whether by computer or cell phone. It's almost as common as a TV (or several TVs) in the home. They are concerned about the quality of information their students are accessing and the depth of their research and quest for knowledge. Good issues and good discussion.
Are you all having similar discussions with your classes participating in this project?
Saturday, March 3, 2007
My students were excited, motivated, and engaged! ~Hui-Yin~
Hi all,
My class started the project yesterday (Friday). It went very well, except a few technical errors caused by the blogger.com itself. My class meets every Friday in the computer lab, so it makes the implementation a lot easier. I was very lucky to have ShiangKwei come help me out and demonstrate all the ICTs application step by step in class. Students created their gmail accounts, started their clues and defnition writings collaboratively. They were so excited, motivated, and engaged! With google documents, they had the impression that everyone could work on the same document at he same time, but then they realized that one person would have to wrok on one document and then the next person could add to the revisions. It took us about 90 minutes to set up our preparation work, but it was a good start. One of the student even printed out a copy of his blog and made a comment with pride: "you've got to take this home and show it to your family members like you were an elementary student!" Apparently he was very proud of himself and couldn't wait to show off his blog to his family. One student looked at me and asked, "So we are going to talk to teachers from other countries? How cool is that? I really can't wait to meet them online." Next week I will help my students put things into perspectves by explaining the framework and rationale of our global project, which will also help them relate to the learning objectives in this course. Once I have more stories, I will continue updating. To be continued... Good night, Saturday Night LIVE from Long Island.
My class started the project yesterday (Friday). It went very well, except a few technical errors caused by the blogger.com itself. My class meets every Friday in the computer lab, so it makes the implementation a lot easier. I was very lucky to have ShiangKwei come help me out and demonstrate all the ICTs application step by step in class. Students created their gmail accounts, started their clues and defnition writings collaboratively. They were so excited, motivated, and engaged! With google documents, they had the impression that everyone could work on the same document at he same time, but then they realized that one person would have to wrok on one document and then the next person could add to the revisions. It took us about 90 minutes to set up our preparation work, but it was a good start. One of the student even printed out a copy of his blog and made a comment with pride: "you've got to take this home and show it to your family members like you were an elementary student!" Apparently he was very proud of himself and couldn't wait to show off his blog to his family. One student looked at me and asked, "So we are going to talk to teachers from other countries? How cool is that? I really can't wait to meet them online." Next week I will help my students put things into perspectves by explaining the framework and rationale of our global project, which will also help them relate to the learning objectives in this course. Once I have more stories, I will continue updating. To be continued... Good night, Saturday Night LIVE from Long Island.
Dear all:
I am Mengping Tsuei. I am teaching at Taipei Municipal University of Education.
My specialist area is in ICT or E-learning especially for elementary education. I am really exciting about this project.
The teachers participated in this project are not from a class of mine. They are post-graduated students from our master or bachelor program. Most of members in our groups are in-service teachers in Taipei. Some of them are student-teachers. They are all excited to participat in this project. We have prepared the google document this week.
I am Mengping Tsuei. I am teaching at Taipei Municipal University of Education.
My specialist area is in ICT or E-learning especially for elementary education. I am really exciting about this project.
The teachers participated in this project are not from a class of mine. They are post-graduated students from our master or bachelor program. Most of members in our groups are in-service teachers in Taipei. Some of them are student-teachers. They are all excited to participat in this project. We have prepared the google document this week.
A question about life map
Dear all,
We were using PowerPoint or Concept map (or whatever tools available) to create life map last year. Participants need to map locations in which they had significant experiences and share with others. This year I found Google Earth is a great mapping tool we can use for this activity because:
1. It's free
2. It's easy to use
3. There are lots of possibilites to use it in the classroom across disciplines (example: http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dherring/ge/googleearth.htm)
Can you suggest some questions we can have our students to practice Google Earth and share with other groups of participants? I'm thinking maybe:
1. The most memorable travel experiences you had in a city or in a country
2. Which city were you born? What is the most serious educational problem (or global issue) it is facing now?
Thanks for your input!!
Shiangkwei
We were using PowerPoint or Concept map (or whatever tools available) to create life map last year. Participants need to map locations in which they had significant experiences and share with others. This year I found Google Earth is a great mapping tool we can use for this activity because:
1. It's free
2. It's easy to use
3. There are lots of possibilites to use it in the classroom across disciplines (example: http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dherring/ge/googleearth.htm)
Can you suggest some questions we can have our students to practice Google Earth and share with other groups of participants? I'm thinking maybe:
1. The most memorable travel experiences you had in a city or in a country
2. Which city were you born? What is the most serious educational problem (or global issue) it is facing now?
Thanks for your input!!
Shiangkwei
Friday, March 2, 2007
Greetings from London
Hi All,
So far we have made good progress. The students are completing the tasks on Google documents. It is an interesting project which is benefitting the students - not only in their knowledge of ICT but also in their percpetions of globalisation. We have eight students participating (some are more active than others).
They will be undertaking an extended school exerience very soon so this may be a little disruptive in terms of their input- apologies in advance if this is the case.
So far we have made good progress. The students are completing the tasks on Google documents. It is an interesting project which is benefitting the students - not only in their knowledge of ICT but also in their percpetions of globalisation. We have eight students participating (some are more active than others).
They will be undertaking an extended school exerience very soon so this may be a little disruptive in terms of their input- apologies in advance if this is the case.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
another comment
I just thought of something else -- when one of my students was completing the survey with the locations - he couldn't find his country. He's originally from the Phillipines so that's where he still associates as where he is from. I had to tell him to put USA.
In NYC we have a very international pool of teachers in our graduate program. They are all teachers working for permanent certification. Not only are the children in NYC schools diverse, so are teachers. I only had 8 in class although 5 more were supposed to be there. Besides Phillipines I have 1 from Ecuador and 1 from Jamaica. I also had 7 men and 1 woman who teachers kindergarten. All others are middle school or high school teachers, one special ed., one physical ed, 3 math, 1 dean of students, one music. The dean said that most of his job is with discipline problems. It's an interesting mix.
In NYC we have a very international pool of teachers in our graduate program. They are all teachers working for permanent certification. Not only are the children in NYC schools diverse, so are teachers. I only had 8 in class although 5 more were supposed to be there. Besides Phillipines I have 1 from Ecuador and 1 from Jamaica. I also had 7 men and 1 woman who teachers kindergarten. All others are middle school or high school teachers, one special ed., one physical ed, 3 math, 1 dean of students, one music. The dean said that most of his job is with discipline problems. It's an interesting mix.
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