Mr. Mellott’s Weblog

So, I was reading web 2.0:  new tools, new schools last night.  In Chapter 2, it gets into students and learning.  I love how it talks about just how ingrained information technology is in these students.  I am 30 years old and consider myself very comfortable with technology.  I can work with hardware and software.  I know how to use the social networking sites and I know the benefits and disadvantages associated with them.  I also know that I do not really use them that much.  I am much more comfortable with face-t0-face interaction.  I don’t even like to leave messages or talk with the automated answering systems with banks.  I really just prefer to talk with people.  The point is that while I grew up on the eve of the information age and have, somewhat, embraced these new technologies, students today cannot remember anything else.  Companies like The Disney Channel have websites designed for children under the age of 5.  I have to stop myself from thinking, “what on earth is a four year old doing on a computer?”  That, however, is the age in which we are living now.

I enjoyed reading about Anderson and Krathwohl’s study.  I first read that study last semester when preparing for a presentation about writing objectives.  In order for students to embrace inquiry learning, they need to have some background, or schemata, from which to start.  I firmly believe that ideas are more powerful than facts, but some facts are worth knowing (it’s hard to appreciate the Revolutionary War without knowing about the events that led up to it, but the ideas that came out of the War are still applicable today).  When we are planning out lessons, we need to keep in mind not only the content to be learned but the dimension of knowledge and the manner in which they learn it.  In alot of ways, taking advantage of these newer technologies can help us to do all of this.

I have a new Twitter account and a site chock full of some of my favorite bookmarks. Check them out!

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Web 2.0 is an interesting concept.  Not only can students use the web to gather information, they can use it to interact with information, collaborate with others, and synthesize projects in new and exciting ways.  As I was reading Chapters 1 and 7 in web 2.0:  new tools, new schools the cogs in my brain started churning.  Why not create group documents using Google Docs or some other online utility?  Why not create a class wiki?  What if we were to revamp the curriculum to focus on skills and introduce content using those skills?  While knowledge of Azerbaijan may be important to those who create the SOLs, I believe that the knowledge of how to find out about Azerbaijan supersedes the need for rote memorization.  As it stands, the education establishment is designed to perpetuate itself.  We focus less on preparing students for the real world in lieu of preparing them for the next level of education.

If we are going to focus on preparing them for the real world, part of that preparation must include readying students for the dangers of the web as well its benefits.  As the web becomes more collaborative, online security becomes more crucial for our students.  As teachers we cannot assume that students, even in the information age, know how to appropriately use the web.  Growing up, our parents told us not to talk to strangers.  On the web, everyone is a stranger.  We can’t see the malicious grin and leering eyes to warn us of potential danger.  We must teach students to be incredibly wary.  In addition, because information on the web is so incredibly easy to come by, students may believe that the information is meant to be used by anyone.  They may not be copying information out of a book, but the theories behind intellectual property still hold true in electronic form.

As for myself, I intend to incorporate technology into every facet of my classroom.  During the first days of the school year, I will introduce them to many of these concepts and continue to reiterate them throughout the year, both through my words and through my actions.

My new wiki is up at https://mellott.wikispaces.com/. There isn’t much up there yet. Check it out and let me know what I can do to make it better.

According to the American Library Association, “to be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.”  That’s quite the mouthful, isn’t it?  What this means is that the concept of literacy is moving beyond the simple ability to read and write.  For educators, this means that we cannot be content with teaching our students facts, figures, or even concepts.  We must now possess the ability to not only answer our students questions, but, more importantly, to teach them how to find the answers to those questions.

In the days when I was going to high school, teachers would have relied on the school library and teaching students how to decipher the Dewey Decimal system and use the card catalog to find books on a particular topic.  While I still feel that these skills are important, we must accept that, in the digital age, students will obtain most of their information from the internet.  Whereas we can generally trust information found in a library to be of some merit, the internet is a quagmire teeming with mis- and disinformation and teaching students to wade through the marshy wetland that is the World Wide Web is of the utmost importance if we want them to succeed beyond high school.

Promoting information literacy in the digital age presents educators with a number of new and exciting challenges.  The students may know more than you when it comes to technology.  If you promote information literacy well enough, their knowledge may exceed yours in other areas as well.  Embrace it!  Give those students the opportunity to shine.  Their successes should not pose a challenge to your authority.  They should speak as a testament to your own successes.

I am a big believer in allowing students to express their opinions.  This is a tool that they will take with them for all of their future endeavors.  However, opinions without backing and organization are often considered moot when young people express them to parents, professors, or bosses.  Since I believe that, I feel it incumbent upon me to teach these students not only the social studies subject matter for which they are responsible, but also how to express their opinions about that subject matter in a thoughtful, intelligent manner.  The concept mapping tools that I looked at this week appear to offer some organization of thoughts as well as some degree of flexibility in their use.  In this way, any student can shape their use to his or her needs.  These tools may also be useful to teachers in that they may provide some insight into the thought processes of their students.  This insight may allow us the opportunity to direct their thoughts or their expression to more accurately reflect their final opinions.  If we are really trying to prepare them for their future, isn’t this the direction that we should be looking in?

This evening I attended an online discussion on TappedIn.org about web tools that can be used in the classroom. While the discussion itself was disorderly at best the moderator, PamB, did provide some excellent tools for future use. One tool that seemed to grab a great deal of attention was Animoto, a site that takes your pictures and music and turns them into a sharp looking video that would be great to introduce a unit or to reflect back on the class at the end of the year. Students could also create wonderful videos to reflect some learning that they have gathered over the course of a unit. She also introduced us to a newspaper generator, that could be used for a host of applications. JeffC, one of the site administrators, introduced us to www.snurl.com, a URL shortening site that saves your longer URL’s as shorter easy to remember URL’s that you can provide to your students. That could prove very convenient.  As for the discussion itself, I guess the nature of this type of forum is quite disorganized.  The moderator for the discussion did not seem to control the conversation as much as I would like to have seen.  Many individuals apparently did not feel the need to read all that was typed and constantly missed URL’s and instructions.  The discussion could easily have taken 20-30 minutes, but the interruptions and repeated instructions necessitated a full hour’s time slot.  Perhaps I expect too much.

I think of interactivity as the relationships between people and each other as well as with their environments.  In the modern educational environment, the relationships between our students and the technology/information available to them is something that we, as educators, must take into consideration.  Students today have so many distractors and are so accustomed to multi-tasking that, particularly at the high school level, we must often create multi-media, interactive presentations just to keep students attentions focused on the content that we wish to address that day.  So, not only must the content be stimulating on its own merit, we must involve some moving parts or sounds or videos to keep their minds from wandering.  Even more helpful is when we can get the students involved in a “hands on” manner.  That, however, becomes increasingly difficult to accomplish as they add increasingly specific requirements to the curriculum.  I digress.

As we consider layouts, graphics, etc. for our presentations, we must become more acutely aware of the effects that visual design may have upon our students.  This goes well beyond the aesthetics of our presentation.  Visual designs include the amount of information that we make available at any given time as well as the organization of that material.  Does a two-sided note taking system work better?  What about outline form?  Should all of the information that you wish to address be present on the digital copy of the presentation or should the presentation simply “reflect” your lecture notes?  These are all questions that we must answer to create effective presentations for our students.

While I will not argue the merits of or research behind “Visible Thinking,” I will note that we must be careful when approaching any system that addresses the learning needs and thinking styles of students.  “Visible Thinking” might be an excellent addition to a teacher’s toolbox, but should only be used when it fits the learning styles of your students.  Frankly, most people would likely be quite frightened to see a map of how my mind processes information.  Visually tracing my thoughts will not help me understand anything more or less than before (trust me, I have tried).  However, I would hate to limit this option to a student who may benefit from the process.

I love to use online databases, particularly those that allow you to search for articles or THOMAS, which allows you to search congressional bills and find statuses, authors, cosigners, etc. Many of these databases are becoming necessary when teaching Social Studies. When searching for databases for my web-based lesson on Ancient Rome, I found it to be quite difficult to find an accessible, appropriate database that students could use to help them with their endeavors. One that did stand out was Godchecker, an online guide to the Gods and Goddesses of numerous civilizations and faiths. Students could use the section on Roman Gods to help them with both their research and newspaper articles. I would expect the “official” papers to have a God “spot” or article about one of the temples or in some way involving Roman mythology. I would expect the “subversive” papers to involve Christianity or Judaism or some other faith contrary to the official faith of Rome at the time. This site would offer students some insight into the mindsets of people at the time and aid the students in creating the most authentic product possible.

I have logged on to United Streaming and have found it to be full of incredibly useful videos that would be difficult to find elsewhere. What I like most about the site besides the videos themselves is the fact that most of the videos are accompanied by a teaching guide. These guides are full of useful information, discussion questions, vocabulary, and even a sample lesson plan. What an excellent resource for a teacher! As a social studies teaching candidate, I am particularly interested in those videos that will support the content of history, government, and geography classes. Videos about the ancient world, civic responsibilities, and world regions can break up subjects that many students find dull or uninteresting. I hope that many teachers make it a point to visit this site and take advantage of this wonderful resource.