Diana’s blog

I haven't posted anything on Vox in a while, and while that is largely due to the fact that I started this blog as a requirement for an online course, I really liked using Vox.  So I think I will start using it again!

So it is now Summer, and school is out for the year.  I am keeping busy doing some small home renovations.  My to do list:

1. refinish cabinets in the upstairs bathroom

2. paint upstairs bathroom

3. paint upstairs kitchen

4. paint dining room

5. (possibly) paint my room

I just painted my room last year.  I did this whole elaborate vertical stripes thing, using the colours blue & green & black, and while it is lots of FUN... it is starting to feel a bit to LOUD for me.  I have a whole new elaborate plan for my room, but I will only do it if I have time after all the other painting I have to do.  The upstairs bathroom is looking a bit messy right now.  I have taken off the cabinets, cleaned, sanded, stained & varnished them.  Now I need to do the same for the actual cabinet structure...  The bathroom is going to look so good when it is done!  I will probably put up some before/after pictures when it is finished.

This summer, we are also going on a road trip... 3 more weeks!  I am so excited!  Adriano & I are heading down to the states.  Our plan is to drive through Niagara into the states, stop in Schenectady NY, stay 1 night in Manhattan.  Drive down to Wildwood NJ and stay there 4 nights.  Then head back up to Atlantic City for 1 night.  On the way back we might stop 1 night in Niagara... depending on how tired we are, & how much money we have left! 

Other plans for this summer: Running, working on speed, and on getting my endurance back up!  Last summer I could run for an hour straight & feel terrific!  My goal for this year is to run 11 kms in an hour. 

Other than that, I am tutoring, and relaxing!  :D 

Before I started reading this chapter, I thought it would be all about virtual reality video games, & how they could be useful as a learning tool.  I would have been interested in reading about that, because I was really into video games like The Sims when I was younger (& if I had more time for video games, I probably would still play The Sims), and also really liked Role Playing Games (RPGs) like Dragon Warriors & Final Fantasy.  So, as I started to read this chapter with assumptions that it would be all about video games, I was really surprised to learn about microworlds.  According to our text, the four essential characteristics of a microworld are:

• they are simple to understand
• they reflect generic characteristics that can be applied to many areas of life
• they present concepts & ideas that are useful to learners in the real world
• they allow learners to relate prior knowledge to the current phenomenon being studied

(Jonassen et al., 2003)

If you look at the four essential characteristics the text provides, you will notice that it does not indicate that technology in the sense of computers or video games are considered essential to the creation of a microworld.  In fact, the text provides the example of skiing lessons as a microworld!  I realized that skiing lessons do in fact meet the four characteristics listed.  To a certain extent, perhaps technology is playing a part in skiing lessons; the design of the skis, and how different designs will have an impact on your speed or ability to balance, the relation of the angle of the ski slope to the speed of the skier, and how making turns also impacts your speed - I guess these are all technological aspects to skiing.  However, technology is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about skiing (or at least, it is not the first thing that comes to my mind). 

Once I got past thinking that virtual realities and microworlds must be directly related to technology, I began to see how skiing lessons would be an ideal example of a microworld.  I started to think about the concept of microworlds in my own life, and immediately I thought about how I like to go running.  I started running last March, and as simple as it is to run (anyone can do it), it is something you need to work at and learn about to improve on.  At first, I could not run longer than four minutes without feeling completely tired.  I practiced every day, and there were things I learned on my own about how to get better at it.  For example, instead of trying to run as fast as you can, start slower, and think about endurance before thinking about speed.  Eventually, I was able to run for over an hour without stopping.  There were also things I learned from other sources, like the internet about how to get better.  For example, changing your speed or incline from fast to slow throughout provides more of a challenge than running the same speed at the same incline, and this challenge makes you better at running.  There are always more things you can do when running, there are always new challenges, and so you are constantly learning and improving.  The RunnersWorld website is a good example of how something as simple as running can be a huge learning experience.

Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Moore, J., and Marra, R. (2003) Learning to Solve Problems with Technology: A

     Constructionist Perspective. Pearson Educational. 

In our textbook, chapter six provides information on hypermedia, multimedia... But it also shares information on how students as "Hypermedia Authors" have used these tools to create work in an online environment, and techniques to improve students online experiences.  In the examples provided, educators appeared to let the students lead their own learning & make decisions about the direction in which their project would go.  Students were given a unit (poetry or biography) and were taught about how to use multimedia & hypermedia to lead learning in the assigned unit. 

Creating a website as a group project is not necessarily a new concept; I remember working in a group making a website on the different political parties in Canada when I was in high school.  However, for this group assignment, we were given a very specific list about the information we needed to provide, but we were provided with little direction on how to use the internet to build a website.  As a result, more time was spent trying to understand how to build a website than on the actual content of the website. 

The teaching technique outlined in our text suggests doing exactly the opposite when assigning students a website assignment; Provide students with knowledge on how to build the website, but with less direction on the content.  This is so significant to me, because it really reflects how much education has changed from being teacher directed to student lead.  Immediately after reading about this technique, I thought about the Reggio Emilia philosophy of education.  In this philosophy, art is believed to be the medium through which children express themselves.  Children are provided with knowledge of artistic techniques and terms, and given real art materials to work with.  However, children are to lead their own learning in regards to how they will use these techniques.  I felt that our text was encouraging learning from a Reggio Emilia philosophy standpoint, but instead of art, technology is the medium being used.  

I also feel that collaborative, open ended projects like this are beneficial because not all students excel in typical classrooms with a typical curriculum.  In an open ended group project like this, a variety of different talents and experiences are brought together, the students learn from each other.  Everyone can make a different contribution, and each individuals contributions can be a valuable part of the experience. 

Finally, the teaching technique also explains how privacy issues limit the online experience for students.  For example, most schools prevent students from putting up pictures of themselves, or displaying their names or email addresses.  There are too many risks involved in allowing students to display personal information like this.  I completely agree that for student's safety, this is necessary.  However after reading this chapter, I have realized there are pros to allowing students to display this personal information.  For instance, students can take more pride in an assignment in which they can put their names on, it can be used as an opportunity to teach students about the dangers of the internet, and what to do if a stranger does attempt to contact you... and very simply... students like to put up pictures of themselves!  I am still wary about allowing students to put up this information, but I do have a better understanding of the issue from a different perspective now! 

Having grown up in the 80's and 90's, I remember the educational videos that were brought into the classroom to be used as a teaching tool.  I particularly remember Telefrancais, a television program used to teach French.  My French teacher loved those videos, and we watched them frequently.  As much as I remember the faces of the characters, and the theme song, I do not remember what I actually learned from watching this show.  In the text, Jonassen explains that the use of television in the classroom was not found to be effective when teachers did not implement activities to provoke thoughts on the videos being watched.  While this is true for the videos we watched in French class, I think another problem with watching videos like these in language classes is that the characters speak to quickly for the students learning the language to understand what is being said. 

Even in situations where teachers plan on implementing activities with educational videos, I believe these activities need to be hands on.  Asking students to write notes while watching the videos, or pausing the video at intervals is not effective in my opinion.  The action in a video moves too quickly to take good notes, and pausing the video to talk about what is happening is frustrating for students watching, because what they are seeing keeps getting interrupted.

So how can we use television as an effective teaching tool?  I think it is important that teachers have knowledge of the videos being shown.  If teachers have knowledge on the subject matter, they can introduce it to their students before watching the video.  Some concepts from the video can then be carried into the classroom on a regular basis.  For example, as a Kindergarten teacher when I was working for a private school, there was a huge emphasis on teaching children their letter sounds.  In the mornings, we would sing letter sound songs, and think of different words that start with certain letters.  I used the Leap Frog Letter Factory video to help support this concept that was already being discussed in the class.  After the video, I continued to use the songs and themes from the video in the classroom on a regular basis.  The video was short, had lots of music, and lots of repetition, so it was easy for the younger children to watch, and to follow along.  I am sure there are more things I could have done to make the video even more effective, but it was important that activities were implemented before and after the video was shown. 

I do not think television is extremely bad for children to watch.  I think it becomes bad when children watch television with all of their free time.  They still need to go outside & play, and talk with people.  A good balance of activities is important.

Hi Pink Team!  I thought I'd put up a note about some of the "exciting" technical difficulties I have been dealing with this week,

Moses

When Microsoft had released the beta version of Vista, I was eager to try it out.  It was lots of fun, it was very colourful and had lots of fun extras, like a side tools bar with the weather, an analog clock, and a "Post-It" note section.  The downside was not being able to use some of my old programs, but it was new & exciting, so I made due. 

As I am sure the whole world knows, Vista is now available in stores.  The day that this new opera

ting system was released, my fun, colourful beta version started to go downhill.  I kept saying I would make it through the semester & format my computer in April... No such luck.  By Tuesday this week, I could not even start Windows without the Vista Beta CD, everything was so slow, and things were spontaneously not responding. 

So yesterday I formatted my computer.  It took all night, & I am still not finished.  I am back to using XP (for now).  I  miss how colourful Vista was, but I am glad that everything (including my Norton Antivirus again!!!) is working again. 

Have any of you bought Windows new Vista program yet?  What do you think? 

I have always thought of the internet as being a useful tool for individual learning.  Even through online courses that I have taken where there is some group work, the majority of the work is individual.  Throughout module 3, I have come to see that the internet can be a valuable tool in collaborative learning experiences. 

In our Wiki Labs we were challenged to learn about wikis.  This was a very different experience for me than our last Lab, where we looked at Google as an educational tool.  While I did learn so much more about Google, it was already something that I was using on a daily basis, and had been using for years.  I have read many articles on Wikipedia, and understood that it was an encyclopedia that was open for anyone to add to, but I didn't realize exactly how widespread wikis were used, or that they could be used as educational tools.

In reading chapter 3, I came across some information on Thinkquest.org.  It is a website that allows students in classrooms to work collaboratively to create a website.  The website could be on anything that the class chooses.  The websites are entered into a competition.  I spent some time looking around the site, and looking at some of the websites created by classes.  This is an amazing tool to teach not only about the subject matter included in the website being created, but also to encourage teamwork, learn about technology, and gain some experience with writing.  I am impressed that it provides opportunities to bring all the subjects that students are required to learn about in school into one project.  This follows the idea that subjects do not necessarily need to be broken down into specific periods throughout the school day, such as math time or English time.  Students gain more when they are able to use the skills needed for each of these subjects interchangeably.  I realize that this is one of the reasons that "real" learning experiences are more interesting to students, and offer a richer learning experience.  It is interesting; I always thought that using the internet prevented real learning experiences.  Children sitting at a computer screen looking at things does not exactly seem like a hands on learning experience.  However, seeing how the internet can be used as a collaborative tool in which students are creating something useful has made me realize that the internet really can be used for real learning experiences.

Even  though technology is now used in many ways to encourage learning, I do not feel that physical schoolhouses will ever disappear.  I believe that aside from the curriculum students are required to learn, school is important because it teaches children social skills which cannot be learned through the internet.  Children still need to interact with each other in person.  

We are engaged in problem solving situations every day.  While some of the problems we face are very simple, such as deciding what you will have for breakfast, other problems obviously require more thought.  In schools, teachers provide students with problem solving situations in order to encourage learning.  Problem solving situations are presented in a variety of ways, from simple arithmetic questions, to more complex situations, such as designing a science project.  From my own experiences working in a school board, I have seen that educators recognize that deeper thinking is involved in setting up more complex problem solving situations, as opposed to presenting students with simple questions where all the information is given to them (for example, presenting an arithmetic question phrased in a paragraph rather than in standard form requires students to understand which mathematical calculation will be needed to solve the problem).  This makes sense; more thought is obviously needed to solve a problem in context.  However, questions that are presented in context are not necessarily interesting to students.  This raises a question for educators: Will students have a more enriched learning experience if they are interested in the problems being presented?  When I think about my own experiences in school, I recognize that I remember more from the problem solving situations that were interesting to me.  I believe students are more likely to look into and learn more about something they are interested in as opposed to something they are required to do but have no interest in.  How do we raise the interest level of students in a classroom?  Most educators can agree that “The most interesting problems come from the nonschool world” (Jonassen et al., 2003).  It is far more interesting to learn about something real, and current as opposed to a fabricated learning experience.  That being said, there are some good and some bad ways to bring real life experiences into the class.  My grade 7 teacher, in an attempt to bring real life situations into the class, had us keep a “news” journal.  Each day for homework, a different student had to find three news articles; one local, one national, and one global.  The next day, the student had to write their summarized versions of one of the articles on the blackboard, and submit the other two to the teacher.  The whole class had to copy the article written on the board.  At the end of each week, we had a test on the articles.  In my opinion, this was a poorly planned strategy for teaching students current events.  It is really the same thing we did in every subject; copy notes off the board.  While we were copying real events, we were not affected by it.  We were not given opportunities to explore what we were copying.  In retrospect, I think it was a wasted opportunity for this teacher to challenge her students. 

I think involving students in actual life experiences should not be a separate subject that is taught by keeping a journal.  I think it should be something that is mixed in with the subjects being taught.  Last week, we were assigned our Google Labs.  I am sure many of you came across Google Mars.  This is a more hands on way to incorporate technology with science, math, language, and real life experiences.  Learning about planets as a kid was interesting, but it was pretty cut and dry.  We were given facts, and we looked at artists renderings of the planets.  Google Mars is completely different.  It uses satellite images, shows mountains, and links to a website that gives information about the images being seen.  For me, this program took something that was simply “common knowledge” (yeah, there are other planets out there, we all know that) and made it seem so much more real.  Which made it that much more interesting!

Jonassen, D., Howland, J.,  Moore, J., and Marra, R. (2003). Learning to Solve Problems with Technology: A Constructionist Perspective. Toronto: Pearson Educational.

How can we be certain that students learn important things?
This is an interesting question... And one that has weighed heavy on my mind from the first moment I started working with children.  I have so much to say on this topic, it is going to be difficult to keep it short!  These are my thoughts based on the text reading (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003) and my own experiences. 

In order for learning to take place, students must interact with their environments.  Without interaction, whatever is being taught is simply a matter of trying to understand second hand what others have experienced.  How enriching can that be for students?  This has always been an important part of teaching for me.  My very first ECE job was a nanny for a one year old girl.  I tried to take her out every day to experience things.  I know this sounds crazy, but one of our "trips" was to the grocery store.  We walked down the produce aisle, and I let her feel different fruits and veggies (of course, it was stuff we were buying).  Was that meaningful for her?  I really think it was... For adults we are so used to going to the grocery store, we have seen apples & peaches a million times.  We have already experienced that.  It is easy to forget that something as ordinary as a visit to the grocery store could be full of learning experiences. 

I remember studying for tests both in elementary & high school meant a lot of memorization.  One day, as I sat there, trying to cram facts into my head for a big test (I was making acronyms to try & remember things quickly), a friend who had been sitting there watching me study told me that the only way he can actually memorize facts is if he actually understands them.  What a concept!  I had grown so used to being fed information that I stopped trying to understand what I was being taught, and was only thinking about memorizing stuff long enough to get through the test.  I did well on the tests, but what did I actually gain out of it in the long run?  I started trying to understand what I was reading, and not surprisingly, studying was easier if I actually understood what I was reading.  As an educator today, it is important to me that children understand the underlying concepts of what they are learning, and not just memorizing.

Learning doesn’t just happen for any reason at all… There has to be a reason that a person wants to learn something.  From my observations, young children who show an interest in learning how to read also start to read sooner than children who are not yet showing an interest in reading, regardless of the child’s age.  Even at a young age, there are intentions behind children’s desire to learn something.  Children learn more from real experiences than from artificial, oversimplified experiences.  This is one of the reasons that I really like the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching.  Reggio Emilia programs encourage real experiences in as many aspects of children’s lives as possible.  In an authentic Reggio Emilia setting, children are given a variety of real artist’s supplies to create artwork, are given real cutlery & flatware at lunch as opposed to plastic, and are placed in real situations when undertaking projects.

Finally, it is important that students are given the opportunity to work together.  Many early childhood education philosophies recognize this, but the Montessori approach to sticks out in my mind.  Children of different ages are put in the same classroom because it is believed that the peer relation is unique, and children have the ability to learn from each other in different ways than they learn from adults.  I also think students should be given the opportunity to work together because socializing is a skill in itself that should be developed in school settings.  It is sad that many teachers insist on quiet classrooms and stifle social interactions at an age where it should be encouraged. 

I tried to pick out attributes of meaningful learning that were the most important to me, but realized that they are all equally important, and collaborative.

Jonassen, D., Howland, J.,  Moore, J., and Marra, R. (2003). Learning to Solve Problems with Technology: A      
    Constructionist Perspective. Toronto: Pearson Educational.

There are so many interesting things happening every day in my Kindergarten classroom.  Everything is a learning experience; from taking off winter coats & boots, to talking with friends, to working in one of the centres in the classroom.  What may be a regular routine for adults can be a learning experience for young children.  Furthermore, what may be a meaningful learning experience for one child may not be for another child.  

My priority at work is making sure my student is learning in an environment that is safe for himself & his classmates.  My student (I will call him Mike) is a six year old boy with autism.  Because he has autism, he does not always experience things in the same way as his peers.  He also has interests that are very different from his peers.  That does not mean he cannot learn; it means I need to think about what he needs to learn to be successful, and I need to find ways to accommodate his learning.  While some children struggle with remembering numbers and letters, Mike can recognize and write numbers to 100 with ease.  He knows letter sounds, and uses this knowledge to write words.  He also has many sight words, and has little trouble learning how to read and write new ones.  While these are wonderful accomplishments for Mike, there are other learning challenges he faces.  Mike wants to have friends.  He has demonstrated this through naming certain peers and sitting next to them during circle time, or through following and imitating them during gym time.  As much as he wants to have friends, and makes attempts to interact with others, he is unable to independently engage in appropriate social interaction with his peers.  In Mike’s situation, meaningful learning really has more to do with providing opportunities for appropriate social interaction, and less to do with academic achievement.  Therefore, there is more focus on setting up simple games for Mike to play with his peers, or encouraging basic social interactions such as greeting peers when arriving at school. 

The video The Children Must Learn (1940) was a view of education from a very different perspective than I have been used to.  Right now there is so much focus on standardized education – the same learning outcomes for each grade across the province – that it is easy to forget why education was not always standardized.  A standardized curriculum has benefits.  It will ensure a cohesive transition from grade to grade.  It will provide teachers with concrete guidelines to which they must plan lessons around.  However, watching the video, and hearing the narrator talk about how the textbooks used in the are the same textbooks used in cities caused me to think about some of the disadvantages to a standardized education.  Children throughout are living in different communities, and therefore leading different lifestyles.  Will they all benefit from learning the same curriculum?  In the 1940’s when this video was made, it appears as though there was a movement away from standardized education.  Children living in the poor mountain community could not relate to the ideas in the textbooks they were reading.  Poems about which candy to buy were far from reality for these children.  The solution to this problem was to bring in resources that actually reflected the needs of the community.  Books about farming and nature were introduced into the small one room schoolhouse. In the in the 1940’s, this was encouraging a more meaningful learning experience than standardized textbooks.  From my own school experiences, I remember using some textbooks that were made in the , and how some concepts or ideas did not apply to us, because we lived in a different country.  While the difference across is not as great as the difference across , there are still differences that should be taken into consideration.  Today with such a movement towards standardized education, I feel it is important that while educators do need to ensure that the Ontario Curriculum is met, they still need to take the time to ensure what they are teaching actually applies to the interests and lifestyles of their students.