Challenge Based Learning (CBL)

I found challenge based learning to be an extremely effective way for students to be engaged in a problem they really care about. Since motivation is key is student learning, I feel like challenge based learning is a great way to motivate students to come up with issues about real world problems that they care about.

I find CBL to be very beneficial for high school students because it gives them something to fight for. When someones cares about something it becomes that much more meaningful to them and they will argue and stand for it. The first step in CBL is to come up with a big idea, this big idea then leads to finding questions to support the big idea. Students often say "when will I ever use this in the real world" CBL helps them apply real world issues towards their projects and gets them processing ideas that they normally would not. The article mentions that education is for the students not the teachers, so what they are learning should be engaging not boring. CBL provides a fun interactive way to learn and should be used more often.

-Eric

Ipads & literacy

This was a great combination of two different yet similar things. Using ipads is becoming more and more popular and easier to do. This article talks about the advantages a teacher can have by implementing the use of an ipad in the classroom. More specifically it talks about how students can benefit from ipads and be motivated at the same time. A huge problem in the schools is students not being motivated to learn. By using the ipad you can get students to enjoy reading and get better at using technology. I feel this would be very effective in any classroom, whether it be a resource room or in a general ed classroom.

I liked the examples the article gave about students and how they really enjoy working with ipads. It puts a smile on my face to hear that students are having fun and learning at the same time. The skills that these students can possess is incredible, it is up to the teachers to capitalize on the fact that students enjoy technology. I like how the article also took the time to mention that sometimes ipads are not the best choice for some literacy activities. Technology is fun to use but if students are not learning as they should be then using ipads is probably not the best choice during some lessons.

Personally, if I was a teacher I would invest in an ipad and use it in my classroom. The way I see it is being able to teach kids through something they love is probably one of the most effective methods of learning because when students are focused and determined to pass levels and move on to new chapter then learning is occurring and that's what teachers want to see.

-Eric

The Big Bad Web

Keeping students safe should be educator’s priority, in order for a student to learn they must feel safe in the environment they are in. This article starts off talking about how students these days are the digit natives that are developing and networking online at an incredible rate. Students these days interact more with their peers online than in real life. With that kind of access comes cyber bullying, this is an immense issue that no one expected, students now have the ability to spread rumors across the web and cyber rumors compared to word of mouth spread a lot faster.

I agree with the point that this article makes about how, “no emphasis is being put on giving kids the skills that they need to sort credible from non-credible information”. I agree that the schools need to wake up and give these tools to our students because without the proper knowledge you can really hurt people or get hurt online.

Our minors are exposed to disgusting things on the web; it is up to educators to teach them how to protect themselves from predators or cyber bullies. Students love social networking sites and can often be manipulated by “friends” online that will try and to take advantage of them, we must act first and make them aware of the dangers.

I found the term “Netiquette” very interesting I have never heard this of this term but I found it very useful for a class that can be taught to students their freshman year of high school or maybe even 7th grade. The term “Netiquette” refers to appropriate online behavior including interacting with other individuals online. Students these days are jumping onto social networking sites as early as 8-10 years old. In order to protect them from the dangers we must act first as I mentioned and make an effective plan to keep them from being hurt.

In a world where you can find almost anything by the click of a button, we must ensure the security of our students and make sure they are aware of what the web possesses. I found this article to be very insightful on what the web is really like, and I feel as educators we should implement classes to teach our students what really goes on inside of the web.

-Eric

Transliteracy

I now believe my old high school teacher that used to complain about he lacked the skills to stay competent with technology. He would complain about not being able to stay level with all the new software that would come out. In this generation technology is changing almost everyday and if teachers don't stay aware of what there students are learning then soon the students will start teaching the teachers. For example I was once in a 10th grade classroom and the teacher was having trouble with the smart board luckily almost all his students new how to work it better than he did so the issue was fixed, it is just amazing how students are learning so quickly.

The article explains how reading out of a print book is more reliable and safer than reading from a computer screen. It explains how reading from a screen is more complex and you get stuck dealing with hyperlinks and   text and labels. In order to be successful students need to know how to read through all that and avoid distractions. Personally reading a solid print book is more convenient when I really want to focus, on the other hand being online makes it easier to skim and look up summaries of the reading instead of doing the actual reading.

"Literacy will always be important" was something the article mentioned which us very true, we need to stay on top of it all or else our students will leave us in the dust with a confused look like older generations give us. On a more personal note I am so surprised at how fast my little sister learned how to use a computer, before the age of 5 she learned to skype and write to me through a message now she is 10 and can do so many things. What she lacks though is interest in real print books, it makes me sad because I used to love books and thats all I had, now students don't have to read from real books they can go online.

All in all this article was an eye opener that helped me understand how valuable real books are but at the same time we need to stay tech savvy and not fall behind our students. I am glad to be in a instructional technology class where I can learn digit ways to help my students. 

-Eric

Information ...Information

This article seriously made my brain feel overwhelmed. At first I thought it was about twitter but as I continued to read I began to understand the true message and how (we) as a society currently live our lives minute to minute. This isn't the first time I've read an article discussing information like this. I once was in a science class and I was able to test the choices people made after reading magazines and watching commercials back to back.

It is very interesting to think about the brain and how out side sources really make a difference to the way we think. I personally think that our brain would make better natural choices if ads were not being shoved in our faces daily. 

A good tip from the article was to avoid reading tons of emails back to back because that will influence you in the wrong way. Grouping emails that relate to each other would work much better and relieve stress.\

Overall great article really gets the brain thinking of how easily we are manipulated. 

Eric