"Packaging of Salon 4"

"Digital Technology and the End of Social Studies Education"

During this salon session,one quote from the article that we spent some time discussing was: "In each of these situations teachers are using technology to slow down learning, to focus on thinking, to help students deal with more complex primary materials and more meaningful problems, to foster democratic skills of dialogue and debate." The confusing thing about this quote is that when most people think of technology, they think of high-speed and moving faster. So why is Bill Tally saying that technology is being used to "slow down learning?" I found this to be extremely interesting and in some ways, very true. As a high school math teacher with a packed curriculum and a regents exam to prepare for, each minute of my class is precious. Technology provides me with tools that can manipulate images to support theorem's and formula's I teach in math. Do I have to use technology to teach my students these skills? The answer to this question is no. Do I want to use technology to better my students understanding of the topic? The answer to this question is yes. This is where the struggle lies. Technology allows us to show and do things that otherwise would not be possible in a classroom. The problem is, technology takes up time. For me to visually show my students that the three angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees or that the sum of the squares of two legs of a right triangle equal the square of its hypotenuse on a program such as Geometer's Sketchpad would take a few minutes of time. Worried about the only 42-minutes I get to see each class a day,I could just give my students the formulas, ask them to memorize it, and hope they can recall it when the test comes up. However, the learning taking place for my students is very limited. Although technology will "slow-down" the learning by taking up more time, in the end, it will prove to be more beneficial because my students will understand the concepts rather than store it in their short-term memory. Either way, isn't it good to sometimes take a step back and slow down??

The Museum Box Project is a really good tool to use to teach Social Studies. The inspiration for this tool was by a man named Thomas Clarkson who would carry around a box of items to illustrate his arguments during his anti-slavery campaign. This is the perfect educational tool in that you can actually make your own box of items by adding Word documents, images, and captions. It's the perfect way to integrate technology into your classroom by allowing students to create a Museum box of a historical person of their choice. It is definitely more engaging and interesting than having students write a paper or create a timeline on oaktag. Technology allows students to do the same amount of work and research but in a more fun and exciting way. The learning taking place by using technoloy is immeasureable and in my opinion, long-term.

Thoughts on "GLEF" articles

I'm not really big on reading long articles and books (I'm a math teacher--I'm better with numbers!!) but the articles from the GLEF website were so informative and interesting I couldn't stop reading. I was particularly attached to the "Caring Schools and Emotional Intellgience" article giving ten tips to creating caring schools. The one I like the most is on "Character Atheltics," which talks about students awarding cerftificates to players of opposing teams for showing good character throughout the game. Nowadays, everything in life is a competition--who has the better clothes, who finished the test first, who scored the most points in a game, etc...We always celebrate and cheer for those who end up on top that we forget about everyone else. This article talks about acknowledging the students who may not have played the best game, but played with the best spirit. The students who truly have dignity, respect, and heart. I think that this is an amazing idea and has the capability of changing the actions of students everywhere. Every student likes to be in the spotlight and get an "award", why not give them one for solely having great character. This idea basically urges students to be better, more caring, and act as mature adults.
I really enjoyed reading this article and the affect it had on some kids already.

Blogging in Itself

I finally have my blog looking normal!! Only took me about 1 month into this program!! Now that I'm getting the hang of it, I guess it's kind of nice to have a place to write things it. I've been taking a look at some of our other team members pages and I must say I'm a little jealous at how fancy they all look! Good job everyone!

Hopes for the Future in TEAM

I am walking into this technology program with basic computer/technology skills. I am a mathematics teacher at a high school on Long Island and I am hoping that I can use this program to bring technology into my classroom. I want to learn ways to differentiate learning for all of my students, keep my lessons interesting, and bring something new to their lives. Overall, through this program, I am hoping to open myself up to a new world that I've been intimidated by--the world of technology. In the end, I know that this program will make me a better person, as well as educator.