The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men. ~Bill Beattie
The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. ~Sydney J. Harris
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. ~Albert Einstein
The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
It'll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy bombers. ~Author unknown, quoted in You Said a Mouthful, Ronald D. Fuchs, ed.
An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life. ~Author Unknown
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. ~Attributed to both Andy McIntyre and Derek Bok
It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. ~G.M. Trevelyan
To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks. ~A.A. Milne
Nations have recently been led to borrow billions for war; no nation has ever borrowed largely for education. Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. ~Abraham Flexner
Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. ~Edward Everett
Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding. ~Ezra Pound
Education should be exercise; it has become massage. ~Martin H. Fischer
The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. ~Robert Maynard Hutchins
He who opens a school door, closes a prison. ~Victor Hugo
Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog. ~Mark Twain
My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects. ~Robert Maynard Hutchins
Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. ~Will Durant
Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age? ~Erich Fromm
Education aims to give you a boost up the ladder of knowledge. Too often, it just gives you a cramp on one of its rungs. ~Martin H. Fischer
Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. ~William Haley
I read Shakespeare and the Bible, and I can shoot dice. That's what I call a liberal education. ~Tallulah Bankhead
A child educated only at school is an uneducated child. ~George Santayana
An educated person is one who has learned that information almost always turns out to be at best incomplete and very often false, misleading, fictitious, mendacious - just dead wrong. ~R. Baker
What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook. ~Henry David Thoreau
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught. ~Oscar Wilde, "The Critic as Artist," 1890
Did you know America ranks the lowest in education but the highest in drug use? It's nice to be number one, but we can fix that. All we need to do is start the war on education. If it's anywhere near as successful as our war on drugs, in no time we'll all be hooked on phonics. ~Leighann Lord
What if man were required to educate his children without the help of talking animals. ~Robert Brault, www.robertbrault.com
To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul. To Miss Mackay it is a putting in of something that is not there, and that is not what I call education. I call it intrusion. ~Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
If I had learned education I would not have had time to learn anything else. ~Cornelius Vanderbilt
Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. ~Aristotle
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. ~G.K. Chesterton
In the education of children there is nothing like alluring the interest and affection; otherwise you only make so many asses laden with books. ~Michel de Montaigne
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence. ~Robert Frost
Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves. ~Abbé Dimnet, Art of Thinking, 1928
Learning, n. The kind of ignorance distinguishing the studious. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
The modern world belongs to the half-educated, a rather difficult class, because they do not realize how little they know. ~William R. Inge
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. ~Aristotle
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. ~Mark Twain
When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course. ~Peter Drucker
If a man is a fool, you don't train him out of being a fool by sending him to university. You merely turn him into a trained fool, ten times more dangerous. ~Desmond Bagley
Education is the movement from darkness to light. ~Allan Bloom
Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. ~John W. Gardner
There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in. ~Will Rogers
Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire. ~William Butler Yeats
Education, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
A good teacher must know the rules; a good pupil, the exceptions. ~Martin H. Fischer
With just enough learning to misquote. ~George Gordon, Lord Byron, "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers"
There is only one Education, and it has only one goal: the freedom of the mind. Anything that needs an adjective, be it civics education, or socialist education, or Christian education, or whatever-you-like education, is not education, and it has some different goal. The very existence of modified "educations" is testimony to the fact that their proponents cannot bring about what they want in a mind that is free. An "education" that cannot do its work in a free mind, and so must "teach" by homily and precept in the service of these feelings and attitudes and beliefs rather than those, is pure and unmistakable tyranny. ~Richard Mitchell,The Underground Grammarian, September 1982
The regular course was Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with; and then the different branches of Arithmetic - Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. ~Lewis Carroll
Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. ~Roger Lewin
They say that we are better educated than our parents' generation. What they mean is that we go to school longer. It is not the same thing. ~Richard Yates
I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated. ~Al McGuire
The tragedy of education is played in two scenes - incompetent pupils facing competent teachers and incompetent teachers facing competent pupils. ~Martin H. Fischer
A gentleman need not know Latin, but he should at least have forgotten it. ~Brander Matthews
If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin, they would never have found time to conquer the world. ~Heinrich Heine
You send your child to the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys who educate him. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
One attraction of Latin is that you can immerse yourself in the poems of Horace and Catullus without fretting over how to say, "Have a nice day." ~Peter Brodie
The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which Archimedes would have given his life. ~Ernest Renan, Souvenirs d'enfance et de jeunesse, 1883
Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. ~John Dewey
Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent. ~John Maynard Keynes
Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know. ~Daniel J. Boorstin, Democracy and Its Discontents
I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly. ~Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
Education is the process of driving a set of prejudices down your throats. ~Martin H. Fischer
It doesn't make much difference what you study, as long as you don't like it. ~Finley Peter Dunne
Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't. ~Pete Seeger
We are students of words: we are shut up in schools, and colleges, and recitation-rooms, for ten or fifteen years, and come out at last with a bag of wind, a memory of words, and do not know a thing. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Intelligence appears to be the thing that enables a man to get along without education. Education enables a man to get along without the use of his intelligence. ~Albert Edward Wiggam
The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas. ~George Santayana
The founding fathers... provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called education. School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't take you. ~John Updike, The Centaur, 1963
You can get all A's and still flunk life. ~Walker Percy
The more that learn to read the less learn how to make a living. That's one thing about a little education. It spoils you for actual work. The more you know the more you think somebody owes you a living. ~Will Rogers
My parents told me, "Finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving." I tell my daughters, "Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job." ~Thomas L. Friedman
All the learnin' my father paid for was a bit o' birch at one end and an alphabet at the other. ~George Eliot
Education is the transmission of civilization. ~Ariel and Will Durant
The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions. ~Bishop Mandell Creighton
If you sincerely desire a truly well-rounded education, you must study the extremists, the obscure and "nutty." You need the balance! Your poor brain is already being impregnated with middle-of-the-road crap, twenty-four hours a day, no matter what. Network TV, newspapers, radio, magazines at the supermarket... even if you never watch, read, listen, or leave your house, even if you are deaf and blind, the telepathic pressure alone of the uncountable normals surrounding you will insure that you are automatically well-grounded in consensus reality. ~Ivan Stang, High Weirdness By Mail
Lesson Seven Assignment:
Read the following online articles:
http://socyberty.com/issues/video-games-can-they-be-educational/
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr391.shtml
Textbook reading and publisher’s website information:
Read Chapters 10 and 11
Chapter 10 watch the two video
Under the Web check Digital Storytelling, Lesson Planning Ideas, Teaching About Online Safety
Discussion Board Assignment:
Look at the blogs of fellow classmates. You will be given two names of fellow classmates. Your job is to go look at their blogs to this point and offer support and constructive criticism. You will post to the discussion board when you have done this.
Graded Assignment:
Pick two pieces of software that you and your students have access to or that you have seen used in classrooms. In a two- to three-page paper (double-spaced), identify each type of software and explain how you or your students use it. Please submit this paper to your instructor. Evaluate each piece of software by explaining the following:
a. The relevance of the software to your instructional objectives
b. The extent to which it matches your instructional goals
c. The ease of use
Comprehensive Assignment:
During this lesson, you have learned about online communication tools. For your comprehensive assignment, you will add a new posting (between 400 and 500 words) to your blog in which you will reflect on your learning this week.
In your blog, you will discuss educational software:
a. Pick one piece of software to use in the classroom. Identify the software and the instructional objectives and goals you will meet.
b. After using the software with your students, discuss what went well and what challenges you faced. What would you do differently if you were to use the software again?
Note: If you are not teaching yet, you will pick software that you have seen used by others, or pick one you know you will use to complete this part.
The school system in Bullitt County has spent a veritable small fortune equipping the schools with the newest, hottest software. "Newest" and "hottest," naturally, do not necessarily mean "best" or even "most effective." Only time will truly tell whether or not the software that we're using is actually working.
The program with which I have probably had the most personal experience is the MAP test.
A Tool for Teachers
Created by educators for educators, MAP assessments provide detailed, actionable data about where each child is on their unique learning path. Because student engagement is essential to any testing experience, NWEA works with educators to create test items that interest children and help to capture detail about what they know and what they’re ready to learn. It’s information teachers can use in the classroom to help every child, every day.
Adapting the Test to the Student
MAP dynamically adapts to a student’s responses – as they take the test.
Answer a question correctly and the test presents a more challenging item
Miss a question, and MAP offers a simpler item
In this way, the test narrows in on a student’s learning level, engaging them with content that allows them to succeed.
Available Assessments:
A complete set of assessments is available, each aligned to national and state curricula and standards:
MAP: Reading, mathematics and language
MAP for Primary Grades: Reading and mathematics
Science Assessment: Concepts, processes and general science
At Shepherdsville Elementary School, we used a wide variety of computer programs. The ones which we used most frequently were the MAP test, Study Island, and Success Maker. These programs all worked well, for the most part, because they enabled teachers to track their students' progress (or lack thereof.) I believe students would have done just fine had they not been using these programs. Students required to sit and read quietly to themselves or to a partner would probably have seen dramatic growth in the area of literacy, and the district would not have spent a small fortune on software licenses.
We used MAP at Shepherdsville Elementary in order to assess student progress throughout the school year. Students were supposed to show marked (significant) improvement. If students did not show improvement, then clearly something was very wrong. I believe that, because of the cost of MAP and because of its supposed effectiveness, it will be the teachers that suffer when the students fail to perform to the desired standard. I already know of several teachers at Shepherdsville Elementary that had to meet with the Principal because their students had not made significant enough improvement on the MAP in the 2009-2010 school year. The teachers cried and complained to their moms that the school system was unfair, and they were being unfairly persecuted and harassed. I guess the teachers just weren't bold or blunt enough to state sincerely, with complete honesty and no coercion whatsoever, that many of their students were just plain ignorant. They could have mentioned that many kids hate school with the passion of a thousand red suns, and most students spend their free time watching cartoons and playing video games that render them both dumb and without imagination. The teachers should have commented that their students also couldn't write, read, do multiplication without using their fingers, use their imaginations, spell, or speak properly. Some students didn't do well because--drum roll, if you please--they didn't even try to score well. Students knew that they could have free time once the MAP test was over, so they rushed through it. I happen to know, for a fact, that this is true. So, to make a long story short, the MAP test isn't quite what it's cracked up to be. It certainly isn't worth the price that the district paid in order to have access to it. Shepherdsville Elementary even had a full-time computer lab tutor that had the task of proctoring every time the students were completing the MAP assessment. This instructional tutor wasted her time, and the school was wasting a lot of money paying her salary.
Another program commonly used in Bullitt County and with which I am personally intimately familiar is SuccessMaker Enterprise. It seems as if every elementary student in the district is familiar with SuccessMaker, and for the most part, these students seem to love doing SuccessMaker on the computer. The games are not as fun as Study Island, but the questions have always seemed to be rather easy. Here's a brief description of SuccessMaker from the Pearson Education web-page:
SuccessMaker® Enterprise
SuccessMaker Enterprise individualizes learning for measurable success in grades K–8.
In one package, you get 3,300 hours of supplemental instruction in English, language arts, math, science, and social studies. It’s a comprehensive curriculum that’s on call all the time to help you teach to every student’s level. The courseware even allows you to forecast student performance on high-stakes tests.
More than 16,000 schools nationwide rely on SuccessMaker Enterprise to deliver standards-based lessons one-on-one to at-risk and gifted children, students with special needs, and English language learners. It will make an important difference in your district too.
In a recent evaluation by the What Works Clearinghouse, students using SuccessMaker Enterprise were found to score an average of 11 percentile points higher in the areas of comprehension and general literacy achievement than their peers using other digital interventions.
Another program commonly used in Bullitt County is Study Island. Study Island is designed to teach students and test them. I have personally spent hours doing Study Island, answering the questions and playing the uber-fun games.
All of the pertinent information about Study Island can be found on: www.studyisland.com:
The Study Island Kentucky Standards Mastery and KCCT Preparation Program is specifically designed to help students master the content specified in the Kentucky Core Content. Study Island's focus on the Kentucky Core Content enables students to improve their performance in all skill areas tested on the KCCT Test in grades 3 through 8 and high school. Study Island also offers Math and Reading Skills for Kindergarten through 2nd Grade, Fine Arts, Health, and Technology for Elementary and Middle School, and High School Algebra II Skills Mastery products.
The user-friendly interface allows students to move through the program step-by-step. Each section has a pre-test and a post-test, as well as topics that cover each of the Kentucky Core Content standards. Topics consist of questions, answers, explanations, and lessons that address the specific skills required in order to master the Kentucky Core Content (KCC).
NEW STUDY ISLAND ENHANCEMENTS:
On-Line Digital Writing Assignment
- New Writing Assignment module is a streamlined, paperless way to develop students' writing skills, choose from grade-specific writing prompts or create your own
- Students submit their writing assignment directly to the teacher - no paper to print out or get lost
- Teachers can grade the assignments on line, as well as make comments, highlight sections for emphasis, and send the assignment back to the student for revision
- Available for all subjects within Study Island
- A digital writing portfolio of student work can be created to document progress throughout the school year
Custom Assessment Builder
- Build your own diagnostic, formative, or summative test or quiz in minutes for all students
- Easily create and schedule customized assessments
- Assign a customized assessment to one or multiple students
- The customized assessments are automatically graded on-line and the gradebook is updated with each student's results
- Use with classroom response systems or clickers
Professional Development Toolbox
- State specific math and language arts lesson plans, instructional videos and supplemental resources required for the lesson
- Videos of master teachers showing best practice approaches to various topics provide a great coaching tool for new educators
- Teacher forums to collaborate with fellow educators or get new teaching ideas
Active Instruction
- Get a real-time view of the activities that students are currently working on with LiveView
- Interactive test toolkit provides instructional activities that mimic the classroom experience
Motivation
- Enhanced games provide motivation for students to learn the material and answer the questions correctly
- Enhanced message center allowing you to send encouraging messages to students
- Inform parents of upcoming assignments and improve the connection between school and home
- iPhone/iPod touch/iPad support for on-the-go learning
Remediation
- Special Needs Support including larger font size, text-to-speech, and multi-color highlighters
- Response to intervention (RTI) reports show student progress on specific topics over time
- Inform parents of upcoming assignments and improve the connection between school and home
- Building block topics provide automatic, built-in remediation within topics, so that students develop prerequisite skills that enable them to progress to working at grade level
Enrichment
- To ensure that students working above grade level stay engaged and challenged, Study Island offers various options such as increasing the passing parameters on assignments, or assigning students to materials from higher grades.
- In addition to Study Island's suite of core curriculum products, our Graphic Novel, Shakespeare, and Fine Arts programs can be used to enrich your curriculum while providing your students with a more complex vocabulary, a deeper appreciation of the arts, and a unique way to study literature.
View the brochure to learn more about all the new features and enhancements
FEATURES
- Built directly from the Kentucky Core Content (KCC)
- Research-based, easy-to-use, and affordable for all schools and districts
- Web-based - students can log on via the Internet anytime, anywhere
- Traditional assessments or interactive games based on the Kentucky Core Content
- State-specific lessons and questions with immediate feedback and automated instruction
- Real-time progress reports to drive differentiation and instruction in your classroom
HOW IT WORKS
- Upon subscribing to Study Island, your school will receive a welcome manual with instructions for accessing and using the program. Additionally, an in-person teacher training session option is also available.
- Students can access the program by simply logging on to www.studyisland.com, where they will find each topic organized with a lesson, KCCT assessment test questions, and explanations. The mastery of these topics will help students gain confidence when taking the Kentucky KCCT tests.
- In order to complete the program, students must take the pre-test, complete the content groups, and master the post-test.
WHY IT WORKS
Web-based Means 24/7
Study Island is completely Web-based. Students can access Study Island and learn at their own pace. There is no software to download or install; all you need is an Internet connection.Dynamic Content Keeps Students Engaged
Not only are there several thousand questions in the Study Island program, but each question constantly changes. The answers to the multiple-choice questions rotate positions, and the numbers in the math questions are chosen randomly, resulting in a deeper understanding of the concepts, as opposed to memorization of the answers. Teachers can customize printable worksheets when a paper/pencil option is more appropriate for the learner.Confidence Equals Mastery
Study Island helps students stay on track which helps students gain confidence when taking and passing the Kentucky KCCT tests.
I maintain that the MAP Test, SuccessMaker, and Study Island are all beneficial in helping teachers to help students make steady progress toward pre-determined educational goals. Each one helps students in relevant core content areas: math and reading in particular.
I would have to say that the MAP Test, SuccessMaker, and Study Island are all remarkably easy to use. It takes a few minutes to show students what to do, and then students are generally able to do the rest on their own.
I agree with the philosophy that video games can be educational. Nevertheless, students become hooked on video games whether they are educational or not--and that becomes unhealthy. My students at Shepherdsville Elementary will probably use educational video games as a gate-way drug to meth use or heroin use in the future. Mark my words: kids get hooked on the thrill. They get an adrenaline rush out of video games that heightens arousal, raises their blood pressure, and speeds up their heart rate. Video games are a drug for kids that are already drugged-up on every ADD/ADHD/bi-polar/anti-depressant medication under the sun. I'd just as soon stay away from educational video games; at a bare minimum, I can reflect on my teaching career and acknowledge that, during my time as a teacher, I actually taught. I don't ever want to look back and experience the regret of knowing that I frequently used video games to baby-sit my students just as the students' parents used xBox 360 or the Nintendo Wii to baby-sit the kids at home.
When I was growing up, my mom taught me how to type. First, she used an old type-writer that was from the 1950's, an antique relic that had belonged to my grandma. My mom taught me how to type using the same textbooks she had used when she was in high school. Then, she transitioned to a Texas Instruments computer that had a Mavis Beacon video game to teach me how to type. These methods were so much simpler than what teachers have access to today. Nevertheless, can kids today really type? No, not really. Most kids can barely spell their own names or the name of their school or the city in which they currently reside. Me, on the other hand? I can type 83 WPM, with accuracy. Score one for the technology of the early 1950's-1980's.
Many of the software programs used in Bullitt County are not intended to "teach" kids anything. They're designed as testing mediums to assess teaching and evaluate student learning. Are kids learning...what they are supposed to be learning...at the rate they are supposed to be learning it...and are they performing at/below/above the level determined to be appropriate? These are questions that are answered by educational software.
I've used a lot of technology in the classroom. I've had the opportunity to utilize various programs, most of which have proven to be highly beneficial. Students are enamored by technology, and they seem to stay much more focused on their learning.
Only time will truly tell whether or not technology will ultimately prove to be a blessing or a curse on our society.
Frankly, I think we would all have been better off had we never had the influx of technology in the United States.
The purpose of this brief graded assignment is to talk about educational technology, specifically focusing upon various online communication tools. My goal is to demonstrate that educational technology has evolved dramatically since the advent of computers in the early 1980's. I want to discuss the pros and cons of the proliferation of technology within the public school system, and point out my own theories concerning why technology has been so readily accepted by students and district personnel alike. Students like to utilize technology for their own reasons, usually just to feel more popular without having to earn the popularity. District personnel see educational technology as being a type of miracle-worker by which the schools can finally begin reversing the existing trends. Individual schools likewise seeing educational technology as being a means by which they can finally meet the standards of No Child Left Behind in order to avoid coming under increasing scrutiny of the federal government, or having the state department of education stepping in to rectify inequities, or having their educational budget reduced unceremoniously.
"Would you like to play a game?" Who can possibly ever forget those iconic words uttered in the cult-classic "War Games," wherein a very young Matthew Broderick used a computer with a synthesizer to do the most unbelievable activity ever: play chess, on a computer, against the computer. In the movie, Matthew Broderick's character is considered a bit of a computer geek, if for no other reason than he had his own computer set up in his bedroom connected to some sort of modem-type device. Sure, looking back now, it seems like the simplest, most medieval use of a computer, and it seems like a nearly uncreative use of a computer in contrast with modern times. Kids these days have their own lap-top computers in their bedrooms, and they're able to do just about anything without ever leaving their bedrooms. Thus, students in Bullitt County can complete research for written assignments without ever visiting a library; students can play video games with students in China; and, students can create their own web-page for social net-working, writing their own blogs, up-loading their own pictures taken on digital cameras, and engaging in text-messaging, VoIP, or Skype. I've known sixth graders that could do things on the computer that I would never have been able to do at their age, simply because the technology was not available yet.
Of course, some of the students that can do the most seemingly complex tasks on a computer don't know the most basic information necessary for survival in the real world: their middle names, how to spell "Zoneton" (the name of their school), or where Kentucky is on a map of the United States. Okay, it's kind of scary how ignorant many students in the public school system are, but that's a discussion for another place and time. I have to wonder if the advent of technology hasn't provided a distraction from school rather than access to information which will support education, but again, I digress. Let's get back to "War Games," back to the 1980's and how much has changed in the past 20-30 years. So what has changed, then? In a word, quite nearly everything. Back in the day, it was nothing less than unbelievable, and I don't think anyone back then could have imagined, in their wildest imaginings, the limitless potential of technology. No, technology is not the Second Coming, nor is it a modern Messiah that has eradicated all human pain and suffering. We still live with poverty, and the AIDS epidemic, and inept politicians.
Teachers teach as much as they possibly can with the time they have at their disposal, and students, in turn, prove to be capable to remaining ignorant despite the teacher's best efforts.
President George W. Bush and the late Senator Ted Kennedy co-sponsored No Child Left Behind because it was widely accepted that too many American schools are failing. Students routinely fall through the cracks, and teachers sometimes realize too late that the students may have received the intervention programs they desperately needed if only their problems had been identified in a timely fashion. Many students with learning disabilities are able to transition from grade to grade to grade before a perceptive teacher finally recognizes that a student would be eligible for special education services if only they were properly tested and referred. IDEA and ADA do much to protect those with disabilities and insure that they receive all the help the government can possibly offer, but if the student is never referred and tested, the student's disability may never be identified. All that to say this: technology can accomplish a lot, but students still require intelligent, compassionate, perceptive teachers in order to be successful. The human element is therefore essential, but technology, when properly utilized, can take human beings to infinity and beyond.
Technology may help to identify students with autism or learning disabilities or emotional/behavioral disorders, and it can certainly help in enabling those students to partially overcome these disabilities in order to be successful students who are contributing members of their own school societies, but the fact remains that technology can only do so much. Nevertheless, no matter what else might be said on the subject, one simply cannot deny that technology has made a radical quantum leap forward in terms of evolution since those nostalgic days of "War Games" back in the early 80's. With the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web, forward-thinking teachers should have realized from the on-set of technology that education would never be the same again. School districts desperate to see standardized test scores rise in order to meet the goals of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) were quick to see technology as being a form of intervention to reverse the tide of floundering students. When I first started teaching as a substitute teacher, I was still using a traditional chalk-board. Soon, I was using a white board with a variety of colored markers. Now, I suddenly find myself using every type of technology imaginable and available. I have computers, a Prometheon Board, tv/vcr/dvd combo, etc. I have access to digital cameras, scanners, and the like. I feel I should be overwhelmed with the startling proliferation of technology, but I'm not. I've learned to use each piece of equipment as it has become available, and I believe I've utilized technology to the best of my own ability.
If I am using the technology efficiently and correctly, then my students will inevitably benefit in one way or another. Standardized test scores may not reflect the plethora of benefits inherent technology, but I do believe technology is helping us make strides in the right direction. Some teachers may be hesitant to use this new technology, fearing the unknown as many people naturally do, but the newer, more adventurous teachers will learn how to use it effortlessly. When it comes to educational technology (or even non-educational technology that can have an educational application if a little creativity and imagination is inserted into the thought process), there is much to be considered when introducing the technology into the modern class-room. Students can perform activities on the computer that improve their test-taking skills; students can write letters and stories by using word processing programs; students can prepare slide shows using presentation programs such as PowerPoint; students can maintain a running record of their new learning in order to enhance comprehension by writing their own blog; students can collaborate on a project by assisting each other in putting together an on-line wiki page. The possibilities are endless, and so are the applications.
Just as Taco Bell has put together a huge list of items on their menu that all consist of basically the same ingredients, it is possible for a teacher to use certain programs for multiple applications; students will thus never become bored or feel that the learning process is becoming stale or monotonous.
My personal favorite online communication tool would have to be e-mail. In fact, I don't know how I could have accomplished nearly what I accomplished in the past few years had I not had easy access to e-mail. I write letters back and forth with people, I'm able to acquire information very rapidly by sending very clearly written questions that demand immediate answers, and I'm able to send and receive large documents, videos, and music via attachments. Technology has enabled individuals to complete their own education via on-line courses, which is an amazing concept in and of itself when you consider the fact that people like myself are able to complete undergraduate school, seminary, and graduate school without ever needing to actually set foot in a physical classroom. Within a few months, I will complete my Master's in Teaching at the University of the Cumberlands, and the only school that I will have actually visited will be the University of Louisville (where I have had to take the GRE and the PRAXIS II--and by choice, the LSAT.) By the time I am 35 years of age, I will have completed one B.S., a M.A. in Theological Studies from seminary, a M.A. in Teaching from the University of the Cumberlands, and I'll hopefully be well on my way to getting into the Pikeville College School of Veterinary Medicine or else the University of Alabama's College of Veterinary Medicine, and I will only have spent a small fraction of the past ten years in an actual classroom, receiving lectures and related instruction in a traditional classroom environment. In 1997, when I first started my undergraduate studies at Cedarville College, I never would have been open-minded enough to look into my not-too-distant future and see myself completing more and more classes while sitting in front of a computer monitor, submitting assignments as Microsoft Word attachments or else up-loading documents to a central server. It actually makes me feel a bit like Batman, sitting in front of the Bat-Computer, gathering information from a computer equipped with artificial intelligence. I may not be able to solve elaborate crimes, but I can become the best teacher I can possibly be by taking advantage of the technology that is available to me right in the quiet and privacy of my own bed-room.
The way I look at it, teachers within the same district should be able to communicate just fine without the over-use of technology; they can talk face-to-face or on the phone, though many people might think of this mode of communication as being old fashioned or out-dated. However, technology does certainly enable teachers to communicate and collaborate with others outside of the district, in other states or even half-way around the world. Teachers could always waste their time and technology's potential by engaging in meaningless, unproductive petty gossip; or, teachers can engage in a meaningful dialogue that will ultimately benefit all of their students, perhaps even impacting them in such a significant, dramatic way that their lives are forever altered.
Online communication tools may be more beneficial to students than even to teachers. Students in rural districts may find that they are trapped within a cycle of poverty similar to their own parents, and many parents in rural areas seldom--if ever--visit other parts of the country. In Bullitt County, there was a mother of a student at Overdale Elementary (in Hillview, Kentucky, about ten minutes from down-town Louisville); when the first graders went on a field trip, the mom went along as a chaperone, and she was shocked to actually see the city of Louisville for the first time in her entire life. Many students in Bullitt County know little if anything about the world outside of their own small communities, so it's nice to be able to offer them the gift of technology. Students can talk to other students around the world and realize that they are part of something bigger; they are a small part of an inter-connected whole. We can offer students much more than a challenging game of on-line chess.
Through online communication tools, we can offer them something much bigger: the world's knowledge. Online communication tools will not work any miracles by themselves, but they can certainly enable teachers to communicate and collaborate in order to become the best possible teachers. Whenever teachers are able to become better teachers, and whenever students are able to learn and enjoy learning in the process, I'd say we could say that is miraculous. The question, therefore, is no longer "Would you like to play a game?" The question is as follows: "Would you like to change the world?" There's no "Easy Button" to answer that question in the affirmative, but educational technology makes it pretty easy to make one's goals a tangible reality.
If we are ever hit by some type of nuclear weapon, an Electro-Magnetic Pulise (EMP) will be released which will basically knock out all technology. I hate to even consider it, but most Americans won't know what to do with themselves. Many that are so tech-savvy will probably revert to knuckle-dragging neanderthals or else cannibals who will kill their fellow human beings for sport and nourishment.
My heroes in the teaching profession are individuals like Laura Ingalls Wilder and Anne Shirley (of "Anne of Green Gables" and "Anne of Avonlea.") Face it: These young women were capable of teaching entire schools of children in one-room schoolhouses. They taught all grades, all ages, all genders. They didn't have any technology whatsoever, unless you consider little chalk-boards to be high tech. Being able to have your own paper and lead pencils was considered a luxury for the rich. Only the affluent could afford the simplest of school supplies (and now, seemingly everyone can afford every school supply under the sun, considering the fact that places like Wal-Mart sell pencils, note-books, markers, crayons, and glue for pennies apiece.)
I'd like to believe that I could be a teacher without the aid of educational technology. But, on the other hand, I've always believed that one should work smarter, not harder. So I'll just go ahead and keep using all the technology that's available...For now.
The bottom line is, I don't intend to be a teacher forever. Come and find me a few years from now, and chances are, you'll find me in medical school at Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine. I'm really starting to think that being a doctor (pediatrician) would be way better than being a teacher.
Until next time, take care, God bless, and may God continue to bless the United States of America (still the greatest country in the world.)
Vaya con Dios, Amigos and Amigas.
Peace Out,
Nate
"PRO DEO ET PATRIA" (For God and Country--the Official Motto of the United States Army's Chaplain Corps.)
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