- In what way might the film relate to your content area? Give a concrete example.
My content area is non-fiction reading. One thing that is important for students to realize is not everything they read on the internet is true. It is a skill to differentiate between what is fact and what is opinion. Sometimes my students will come to school to do their Sharing, and they have told me they used Wikipedia as a source. I feel like technology makes it more difficult to get factual information. People no longer go to a library and consult an Encyclopedia. The days of an online encyclopedia (like Encarta) seem to be obsolete as well. How can they practice and gain this skill which will help them throughout their life?
As a teacher, I struggle with how much to incorporate technology in the classroom, especially because I know the kids are getting a lot of it at home (though it's likely not as educational). A compromise I have come to is having them work with technology but in groups so that they are still connecting on a personal level and still connecting face-to-face. For example, my capstone project is a unit plan that eventually culminates in a group project of a non-fiction book that is made either on an iPad or the computer.
- What questions does it raise?
The film raises a lot of questions for me:
-How can I incorporate technology in a meaningful way?
-Am I using technology to further enhance my life, or is it detracting from it?
-What can I do to educate my students on the pros and cons of technology?
-How can I get my students to appreciate technology when they have known no different?
-Can I have an impact on my students' families? Meaning - can I educate them about the downfalls of improper usage of technology?
- How is your content area interconnected with other content areas?
My content area connects with a lot of other content areas very easily.
Learning about Non-fiction reading also entails learning about non-fiction writing. They can use these writing skills to make a report on, say, an endangered animal.
Non-fiction reading contains only facts, and there is usually a lot of numbers in the facts (such as a spider having 8 legs, or a building being 1,000 feet tall). They need to be able to conceptualize this and process this information in order to make use of it later on.
Non-fiction and science also connect to each other very easily. Students can learn about animals, plants, or weather.
- How does an interdisciplinary lens deepen your understanding for a "well educated person"?
An interdisciplinary lens deepens my understanding for a 'well educated person' by making sure they're educated in a variety of topics and that students are able to synthesize their information and apply it to a variety of situations. By creating an atmosphere of collaboration in my classroom it also helps students become more well rounded. They are required to work together, to listen, and to be respectful.
Commented on the following blogs:
Sarah Wilkerson
Kirsten Harper
Hilary,
ReplyDeleteYour point about students reading things on the internet and not being able to differentiate between what is true and what is not, is something I still grapple with as an adult. Technology seems to have become prevalent in the classroom only recently, therefore, I don't think people our age have any instruction on how to differentiate sources. I think that now it is important that teachers inform and teach students how to navigate the internet/computer because our society has become to tech driven!
Hi Hilary,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that you're uncertain just how much technology you can bring into your classroom, and were I a MS teacher I would have the exact same question. As a secondary teacher I feel like there is so much more you can do with technology, and that makes it easier to incorporate. But for the elementary school I just have a hard time seeing how certain, not all, technology would even be beneficial. Then there is the flip side of that, how little technology can be use in a MS classroom because students are now expected to have a level of aptitude when it comes to technology as they enter later grades.
Hi Hilary!
ReplyDeleteI have often worried about getting accurate information from the internet. Especially for academic topics and medical advice. Too often people "self-diagnose," or as you said get "quality" information from an unreliable source. I think it is wise to be skeptical in regards to how much technology should be used in the classroom. It is an excellent tool to use as a supplement. Also, while we are learning in our preparation programs that the most important role of a teacher is to help students learn HOW to learn, this can relate to technology in teaching our students HOW to check sources and find reliable information.
I also like and agree with your thoughts on the well-educated person. Synthesizing information and applying it to other situations is the ultimate goal for an educated person. Instead of just teaching our students millions of little facts to be applied to very specific situations, teachers must give students a foundation of information which they will learn to adapt to various situations.
P.S. All of the questions you mentioned are excellent ones, which I also wonder!
Hi Hilary! I was really interested in your own experiences in your classroom, and I completely agree that technology is starting to take over in the research process, predominantly in the older grades. I wonder that if we educate our students in the validity of technological resources, as well as the lack of validity, then maybe they would be less likely to use it as a source (i.e. wikipedia). I agree with you on the fact that technology is starting to make it possible for students to take the "easy" route in finding facts, thus not being concerned with going to the library and finding reliable resources. Maybe if we as teacher educated them in technology, and took our classroom to the school library ourselves.... it could help.
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