After completing this week’s reading, it is becoming more and more clear how important networks are becoming in education and today’s society. The “Network student” is an interesting idea to me. A film that I watched, “The Networked Student,” by Wendy Drexler shows a variety of useful ways that students can use technology to help with their academic success in school. This is a very intriguing video. This video is about a young boy whose use of networking helps him to succeed in his 21st high school class. He doesn’t have a textbook and is instructed by his teacher to create a blog. On the blog he posts his reflections on topics. What initially stood out to me about this video was the fact that the students at this high school didn’t have any textbooks. This made me think, with the change in technology and networking from year to year will text books soon become a figment of the past.
Networking has become more and more popular in the school system. Networks are an easy and efficient way to share videos, power point and fun activities with other teachers. Through networking teachers are able to integrate technology and tools that engage students and motivate them to want to learn. I use many forms of networking in the classroom. When introducing different topics, animals, holidays, etc., I use the internet to provide my students with information and pictures on the topics. These sites help to introduce the topics to the student and help to enhance the students understanding of the topics.
An interesting and fun idea that I want to try with my students, is to have them pick a social studies topic covered during the week and have them research the topic. They will then create a blog about the topics and share their findings with their classmates. This is a way to motivate and engage students in learning about the social studies topic and in my opinion motivation is the key. Without motivation there is no life in the classroom. It also gives the students an opportunity to teach the topic to their classmates. I believe this is something that will draw the students and engage them into learning. This is also a way to give our students the opportunity to interact and participate in networking, rather than just looking at it.
With the increase in networking we as educator are becoming more and more responsible for educating our students on the use of this new technology. By giving students the chance to interact with networking in the class through blog posts, creating web pages, and more, students will soon become comfortable with the use of these sites. Doing this in elementary school, will help the students to master and properly utilize this skill by the time they reach college.
Drexler, W. (2008). The networked student. Retrieved September 11, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwM4ieFOotA.
In your posting you said "without motivation, there is no life in the classroom." I love how you said that. I have noticed in my classroom this statement is completely true. The difference between a project/classwork that the students are interested in, and one that they are not is amazing. You can see the change in their attitudes when you introduce a project that they are interested in. Many students will even finish the "boring" project in a more timely manner as to get to this new project. As I implement more technology into my classroom, I see that the students do have a different attitude when we do spelling words on our SMART board, as opposed to our pencil and paper. It is amazing that one little change in my teaching makes spelling words so much more enjoyable to my students.
ReplyDeleteYou also mentioned networking at the end of your post. While my students might be to young to blog, I am always interested to watch them in the computer lab. They have many sites that they can visit and play educational games on. When one student finds a game that they think is excellent, they have to tell all of their friends about it, and then all of the friends try it. I know this is not quite the same, but even first graders learn from each others experiences. It is fun to watch them teach each other through these games.
Megan Hunt
Samantha,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement, “With the increase in networking we as educator are becoming more and more responsible for educating our students on the use of this new technology.” I too feel that it is so important to teach with technology at the elementary level so that they are comfortable using it for the rest of their lives.
I like your idea of having your students blog about a social studies topic they researched. I think that would be a really fun way for them to learn about the different topics. I too am planning on starting a class blog. Our blog is going to be for literacy. It is going to be sort of like an online reading log, where students can post questions and connections they have to the reading. Then their classmates can answer their questions and respond to their connections. I think they will enjoy hear comments more from other students than from me. Are you going to give them time to blog in class? I am having trouble finding a time when I can fit it in. I’d like to do it during the reading or writing block, but there is already so much I’m required to do during that time. Good luck with your blog!
-Christie
"[Providing age-appropriate engagement with networked resources] in elementary school, will help the students to master and properly utilize this skill by the time they reach college."
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that elementary-aged students need appropriate opportunities with this approach. The challenge is to take small, meaningful steps forward. It seems to me that some folks are on one extreme (no access) or the other (letting this dictate the curriculum) with a few others struggling to find their way in the middle.
I applaud you for thinking of ways to move forward! :-)