Welcome to EDCI 271 Summer Class! I am excited to be your professor and hope I can help you understand how to better use technology as a teacher in the classroom.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Technology for At-Risk Students
Click on the 'Technology for At-Risk Students' link under week 2 on the right. Read the article and respond by reporting the three most important reasons why technology used with at-risk kids is so important!
6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
First of all, in k-6 I attended an elementary school in Lake Station. The school didnt even get a computer lab until after I went on to 7th grade. This area had a lot of lower income families and at risk children. At this school the teacher stood there and lectured and we sad there bored silly until it was time to do the same boring worksheets we did everyday. Learning wouldve been so much more exciting if some of the goals in this story were met. Collaborative classrooms are a must! I can totally see the need for big projects and real world connection. We as students would sit and wonder how our work was going to help us after we were done with school. Teachers need to give examples of how the lesson can be used outside of school. Maybe go one step further and take the students somewhere and show them how to use the knowledge outside of the classroom. By working on big projects or connecting assignments to the real world children will be more interested in the material. Big projects use higher level thinking, theres all kinds of interaction going on, and chilren see their strengths and weaknesses. They need to be challenged or they wont see a point in coming to school.
** Teachers are concerned about attendence problems and drop out rates in chicago public schools right? I think the reason these students dont come to school is because nobody is challenging them. If a child is at risk they need a challenge and something to be interested in besides getting into trouble. These students arent coming to school because they dont want to sit in a school 8 hours a day 5 days a week and listen to the same boring voices all year telling them the same things over and over again.
I think three reasons why technology is so important for at-risk students are that it can be more meaningful, provides cooperative learning opportunities, and is more authentic than other types of work.
Technology can offer students practice with skills that test higher order thinking instead of just memorization tasks. Students need to do this to actually learn something, especially at-risk students. They need to be able to connect new information with old information and there are several ways technology can assist with this through games and other media.
Technology can also be cooperative. The students can work together to accomplish a task. These groups should be heterogeneous and all students should have a task. Students can then learn not only from technology but also from each other. At-risk students might also get the short end when it comes to groups, but they might just be able to take over and contribute more when it comes to technology.
These activities are also more authentic than other activities. The students might work with something like a word processor, which is something that they will probably use in the real world. It is also what other people use now, so the student is learning a skill that several people need in order to work. This adds meaning to the lesson and more can be accomplished this way than with other paper/pencil work.
I would have to agree with the points both jill and katy made. The use of technology in the classroom is such an incredible tool that often times goes misused if even at all in schools. The use of technology actively engages the learner through nearly every learning style simultaneously. It also lends itself nicely to real world connections with the use of the internet. Students who are classified as "at-risk" already have enough chips stacked against them. They may not have the support some other students have at home with regards to education. Their mental and physical needs may also be undernourished due to the lack of food, shelter, or parental and peer support these students may not receive. The three points I pulled out of the readings were:
1. "narrow curricula, rigid instructional strategies, tracking, and pull-out programs hinder the academic achievement of many at-risk students. Recent findings indicate that by not challenging at-risk students or encouraging them to use complex thinking skills, schools underestimate students' capabilities, postpone interesting and meaningful work they could be doing, and deprive them of a meaningful context for learning and using the skills that are taught (Means & Knapp, 1991)."
2. "Teachers can draw on technology applications to simulate real-world environments and create actual environments for experimentation, so that students can carry out authentic tasks as real workers would, explore new terrains, meet people of different cultures, and use a variety of tools to gather information and solve problems." (p. 43)"
3. "word processing is a real-world technology that can help students develop writing and thinking skills. Using the computer, students write longer, more complex sentences and are more willing to revise and edit their work; they are able to concentrate on the thoughts they want to express rather than the mechanical skills of penmanship, spelling, and grammar (Hornbeck, 1990)."
Using technology effectively engages the students to use higher level thinking skills that relate to real world applications. These students need rationale behind their learning; they need to know that their learning can actually benefit their progress in the real world. Learning practical programs can also provide another avenue for student expression as well as provide job qualifications for the students.
As I read the article, I came up with the same beliefs as Katy.
I believe that technology is important for at-risk students because they are involved in cooperative learning, they can use it as an educational tool(learn how to use Microsoft Word), and they are involved in authentic tasks.
*Cooperative learning -It enables at-risk students to work together while they research and create presentations. They are able to HELP one another out. *for example, if a student, who is not at-risk, can help the at-risk student learn how to research. At-risk students benefit because they can do computer-based activities that are different then what they are used to. It not only engages them in learning, but it is in a FUN WAY!!!
*Able to use technology tools At-risk kids get the opportunity to use applications such as: wordprocessors and spreadsheets. *They are able to perform real world tasks such as writing and analyzing. By having this opportunity, they can concentrate more on the thoughts they want to express, rather than the mechanical skills such as grammer.
I liked the quote in the article that said, "When technology is used as a tool, the cirricular content resides not in the software but in the instructional activity for which tool is used."
*Authentic taks* Students at-risk have a varitey of opportunities that they can apply to real world (such as the work place)
The first quote in the article stated that technology can be used to simulate real life applications. This would be really helpful for any student. It helps the students explore and expand their horizons to new things they never knew existed. It can be really motivating for an at risk student because many at risk students don't have the same oportunities to go places and see new things. Seeing a simulation of something can really motivate that student to work hard. It can give them hope to go somewhere or do something.
Another positive idea is to use technology for collaboration. This will help students with their social skills and learning to work with one another. It is a great opportunity to get to know your peers and to teach one another your skills and knowledge. The students can be placed in smaller groups of two or larger groups. Either way, it is still rewarding.
Using tools on a computer such as a word processor can help better a students skills. Using a computer can be both motivating and fun. The student will have more complex sentence structures and in depth thinking because they won't be worried about their penmanship, spelling, or grammar.
*I agree with the authors about the importance of teaching students (especially the high-risk ones) the authentic tasks such as developing a business plan, making decisions about land use, and designing and producing a program for the school play. *Not until my college years I’ve experienced collaborative learning, and I have to admit that it took me a while to get use to this kind of learning. I felt uncomfortable to get involved and share my ides, as I felt inferior and unsure of myself. However, I see many benefits that children gain though such learning. Children learn well from sharing their own ideas with each other, and gain confidence as their learn that each of us have a lot to offer. *I also agree with authors that students learn better, when the teachers act more as “facilitators than as lecturers” *Prof. Soloway in his article supports my previously mention points about instructing with the help of technology. Teachers need to be trained how to effectively implement technology into their instruction. Teachers that are technology savvy but have never an effective way of instructing, they will remain ineffective instructors. *I thought that it was also important to point out that one of the pitfalls of using technology is using too much time on activities that are fun and interesting, instated of learning oriented. *Collaborating with other teachers. I think that such collaboration can have positive and negative effects as well. We are continuously reminded about this wonderful new theory of multiple inelegancies {Kate’s Bloom :o)}, yet no one has even mention that we as teachers also have multiple inelegancies. Sharing ideas with other teachers can be beneficial for the ones technology not-so-savvy, even despite a good training. The other side of the issue is that can lead to relying too much on someone’s expertise, just because someone might be quicker on the computer or better at designing Smart Board templates. Each teachers should follow their own talents and develop their own tactics in technology use, and follow their own “gut feeling” what works for them.
6 comments:
First of all, in k-6 I attended an elementary school in Lake Station. The school didnt even get a computer lab until after I went on to 7th grade. This area had a lot of lower income families and at risk children. At this school the teacher stood there and lectured and we sad there bored silly until it was time to do the same boring worksheets we did everyday. Learning wouldve been so much more exciting if some of the goals in this story were met. Collaborative classrooms are a must! I can totally see the need for big projects and real world connection. We as students would sit and wonder how our work was going to help us after we were done with school. Teachers need to give examples of how the lesson can be used outside of school. Maybe go one step further and take the students somewhere and show them how to use the knowledge outside of the classroom. By working on big projects or connecting assignments to the real world children will be more interested in the material. Big projects use higher level thinking, theres all kinds of interaction going on, and chilren see their strengths and weaknesses. They need to be challenged or they wont see a point in coming to school.
** Teachers are concerned about attendence problems and drop out rates in chicago public schools right? I think the reason these students dont come to school is because nobody is challenging them. If a child is at risk they need a challenge and something to be interested in besides getting into trouble. These students arent coming to school because they dont want to sit in a school 8 hours a day 5 days a week and listen to the same boring voices all year telling them the same things over and over again.
I think three reasons why technology is so important for at-risk students are that it can be more meaningful, provides cooperative learning opportunities, and is more authentic than other types of work.
Technology can offer students practice with skills that test higher order thinking instead of just memorization tasks. Students need to do this to actually learn something, especially at-risk students. They need to be able to connect new information with old information and there are several ways technology can assist with this through games and other media.
Technology can also be cooperative. The students can work together to accomplish a task. These groups should be heterogeneous and all students should have a task. Students can then learn not only from technology but also from each other. At-risk students might also get the short end when it comes to groups, but they might just be able to take over and contribute more when it comes to technology.
These activities are also more authentic than other activities. The students might work with something like a word processor, which is something that they will probably use in the real world. It is also what other people use now, so the student is learning a skill that several people need in order to work. This adds meaning to the lesson and more can be accomplished this way than with other paper/pencil work.
I would have to agree with the points both jill and katy made. The use of technology in the classroom is such an incredible tool that often times goes misused if even at all in schools. The use of technology actively engages the learner through nearly every learning style simultaneously. It also lends itself nicely to real world connections with the use of the internet. Students who are classified as "at-risk" already have enough chips stacked against them. They may not have the support some other students have at home with regards to education. Their mental and physical needs may also be undernourished due to the lack of food, shelter, or parental and peer support these students may not receive. The three points I
pulled out of the readings were:
1. "narrow curricula, rigid instructional strategies, tracking, and pull-out programs hinder the academic achievement of many at-risk students. Recent findings indicate that by not challenging at-risk students or encouraging them to use complex thinking skills, schools underestimate students' capabilities, postpone interesting and meaningful work they could be doing, and deprive them of a meaningful context for learning and using the skills that are taught (Means & Knapp, 1991)."
2. "Teachers can draw on technology applications to simulate real-world environments and create actual environments for experimentation, so that students can carry out authentic tasks as real workers would, explore new terrains, meet people of different cultures, and use a variety of tools to gather information and solve problems." (p. 43)"
3. "word processing is a real-world technology that can help students develop writing and thinking skills. Using the computer, students write longer, more complex sentences and are more willing to revise and edit their work; they are able to concentrate on the thoughts they want to express rather than the mechanical skills of penmanship, spelling, and grammar (Hornbeck, 1990)."
Using technology effectively engages the students to use higher level thinking skills that relate to real world applications. These students need rationale behind their learning; they need to know that their learning can actually benefit their progress in the real world. Learning practical programs can also provide another avenue for student expression as well as provide job qualifications for the students.
As I read the article, I came up with the same beliefs as Katy.
I believe that technology is important for at-risk students because they are involved in cooperative learning, they can use it as an educational tool(learn how to use Microsoft Word), and they are involved in authentic tasks.
*Cooperative learning
-It enables at-risk students to work together while they research and create presentations. They are able to HELP one another out. *for example, if a student, who is not at-risk, can help the at-risk student learn how to research. At-risk students benefit because they can do computer-based activities that are different then what they are used to. It not only engages them in learning, but it is in a FUN WAY!!!
*Able to use technology tools
At-risk kids get the opportunity to use applications such as: wordprocessors and spreadsheets. *They are able to perform real world tasks such as writing and analyzing. By having this opportunity, they can concentrate more on the thoughts they want to express, rather than the mechanical skills such as grammer.
I liked the quote in the article that said, "When technology is used as a tool, the cirricular content resides not in the software but in the instructional activity for which tool is used."
*Authentic taks*
Students at-risk have a varitey of opportunities that they can apply to real world (such as the work place)
The first quote in the article stated that technology can be used to simulate real life applications. This would be really helpful for any student. It helps the students explore and expand their horizons to new things they never knew existed. It can be really motivating for an at risk student because many at risk students don't have the same oportunities to go places and see new things. Seeing a simulation of something can really motivate that student to work hard. It can give them hope to go somewhere or do something.
Another positive idea is to use technology for collaboration. This will help students with their social skills and learning to work with one another. It is a great opportunity to get to know your peers and to teach one another your skills and knowledge. The students can be placed in smaller groups of two or larger groups. Either way, it is still rewarding.
Using tools on a computer such as a word processor can help better a students skills. Using a computer can be both motivating and fun. The student will have more complex sentence structures and in depth thinking because they won't be worried about their penmanship, spelling, or grammar.
*I agree with the authors about the importance of teaching students (especially the high-risk ones) the authentic tasks such as developing a business plan, making decisions about land use, and designing and producing a program for the school play.
*Not until my college years I’ve experienced collaborative learning, and I have to admit that it took me a while to get use to this kind of learning. I felt uncomfortable to get involved and share my ides, as I felt inferior and unsure of myself. However, I see many benefits that children gain though such learning. Children learn well from sharing their own ideas with each other, and gain confidence as their learn that each of us have a lot to offer.
*I also agree with authors that students learn better, when the teachers act more as “facilitators than as lecturers”
*Prof. Soloway in his article supports my previously mention points about instructing with the help of technology. Teachers need to be trained how to effectively implement technology into their instruction. Teachers that are technology savvy but have never an effective way of instructing, they will remain ineffective instructors.
*I thought that it was also important to point out that one of the pitfalls of using technology is using too much time on activities that are fun and interesting, instated of learning oriented.
*Collaborating with other teachers. I think that such collaboration can have positive and negative effects as well. We are continuously reminded about this wonderful new theory of multiple inelegancies {Kate’s Bloom :o)}, yet no one has even mention that we as teachers also have multiple inelegancies. Sharing ideas with other teachers can be beneficial for the ones technology not-so-savvy, even despite a good training. The other side of the issue is that can lead to relying too much on someone’s expertise, just because someone might be quicker on the computer or better at designing Smart Board templates. Each teachers should follow their own talents and develop their own tactics in technology use, and follow their own “gut feeling” what works for them.
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