Week 8 Reflection

I have a difficult time facing the fact that the children that I am currently teaching will be the future of our society. I think this is due to the fact that they seem so young and naïve with regards to societal issues that face the world today. However, when looking at the abilities of these children with regards to technology, it is no wonder that they hold the future. My students, made up of a diverse population of students ranging in socioeconomic statuses, all have an intense desire to use technology in addition to a strong knowledge base of how to use various technologies both inside of and outside of the classroom setting. Thus, it seems that with the integration of technology and content areas, students can be engaged and enthusiastic about their learning.
“Preparing Disadvantaged Youth for the Workforce of Tomorrow” is an article that focuses on the use of technology with disadvantaged students and how it can positively impact their futures. According to this article, the use of the Internet is increasing across all socioeconomic categories and families with children and more than likely to own computers. This increase in technology use in the home setting has contributed to the awareness that young children have with how to use technology and the endless possibilities that are available when learning with technology. In my classroom, my students are able to use the internet to find new games and information that they find to be interesting. Though these students have not received direct instruction with using computers, they are able to effectively find new websites and programs that they find to be interesting. The article states, “Not only do they [youth] comprise the next generation of workers and citizens, but they are uniquely able to make use of technology” (p.20). Their creativity with technology provides students with the opportunity to be creative in the classroom setting. I feel that if teachers give students the chance to use technology in the classroom setting, their creativity and knowledge with technology can shine through. It is important to give students guidelines for a project, but the opportunity to be creative with the use of such technology is extremely important and good for the self esteem and success of students.
Of key importance to technology use in the classroom is teacher training with it. The authors state, “Among the key challenges [to advancing the agenda of e-inclusion]: creating partnerships, encouraging training and integrating with existing youth development programs” (p. 22). It is imperative that both teachers and students receive the proper training with using new technologies so that is can be used appropriately. The proper balance between training and allowing for creativity is difficult to maintain, however. I find myself in a struggle with how much leeway I give my students when using technology as far as their creativity goes. As I previously stated, students can be creative with technology use and should be able to express such creativity in the classroom. However, where do I draw that line? When teaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds, it is important to set standards for technology use and make sure that students are both appropriate yet creative simultaneously.
Striking a balance between allowing for creativity while maintaining standards and boundaries with technology use is difficult. It is my hope that with proper training with the use of technology, teachers can help students to become efficient users of it. This would mean that teachers are able to teach students how to use technological tools in the classroom appropriately, while letting the creativity of all students shine through. By maintaining a balance, disadvantaged use can take full advantage of the positive effects that technology has to offer and apply such benefits to their career fields in their futures.

Annotations

Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) (2009). Retrieved from: http://www.ccsso.org/
This is a website about the non-profit organization, CCSSO, made up of public officers from around the country who head elementary and secondary education in the United States. The website has a list of available projects for teachers to read about. Also, there are many articles about the CCSSO in the news. I think the goal of the organization is great, but the website is a bit difficult to navigate.

Foreign Policy Association (2009). Retrieved from: http://www.fpa.org/
This non-profit organization tries to educate American citizens about world issues that affect the lives of everyone. The site focuses on secondary and college level topics and themes and provides blogs, videos, articles, and various updates about world issues such as Human Rights, Cuba, Global Food Crisis, and many others. This site seems very useful in a higher education classroom.

SPICE (Stanford Program On International And Cross-Cultural Education). Retrieved from the Stanford University website: http://spice.stanford.edu/docs/about_spice/
This a program sponsored by Stanford University that provides resources for teachers in K-14 schools that focus on international themes across all discipline areas. Teachers can purchase different curriculum materials or take advantage of free videos and information about various international topics on the website. Videos and other resources are available with a focus on many different age levels.

Week 7 Resources

Annotations
Global Education Partnership (2009). Retrieved from: http://www.discoveryglobaled.org/who.html#oldtab1
This site, run by Discovery Education, provides information about the Global Education Partnership. This program provides underprivileged countries with information about educating students, using mediums such as TVs, and providing teachers with training about how to use television as a learning tool. I think that this program is an excellent way for the U.S. to help countries in need. This site can be used in the classroom to help students understand the differences in education across the world.

CISV International (2008). Retrieved from: http://www.cisv.org/index.html
This site is an organization of a global community of volunteers who create opportunities for children to interact with children from other areas of world in the programs that they offer. Programs include camps that promote global friendship and range in age groups, from age eleven through twenty-five plus. The programs offered seem like a great way to get students to interact with students from many different countries in person. The only information that I couldn’t find was where these camps are located.

The Choices Program. Retrieved from: http://www.choices.edu/index.php
This is a program, through Brown University, that has a mission of empowering students with the skills and knowledge based to become global citizens who are able to address international issues through dialogue and other means. There is a great wealth of information for teachers to use in their own classrooms, in addition to professional development opportunities.

Week 7

“The Web and the Plow”, chapter two from the book, Breaking Down the Digital Walls, presents the revolution of technology in a very interesting way. The analogy that was made between technology and a plow in the fields was very interesting and true in my eyes. As the text states, technology comes so fast that we never feel fully confident about what we’re doing. This is the same with the case of the plow and the farmer in his fields. Before the use of plows on farms, Louie—the farmer—gave animals names, which demonstrates the ideas that the plow is not just an ends to a means. Similarly, teachers should treat technology with the same respect. It cannot simply be used as the ends—it needs to have a higher purpose. Technology needs to be used as the medium to achieve content learning, not as the end in and of itself. However, this task is often difficult because technology is always changing. I see the constant changes in my own classroom with the availability of new technology that exists on the Internet and within varying computer programs. For example, in my school, we recently learned how to use a website that serves the purpose of allowing teachers to create and edit Individualized Education Plans. Shortly after learning how to use the web-based program, they revamped it and changed many of the important ways to work on documents. Though this program is not for use in the classroom setting with students, this example stills goes to show how after learning something, it changes shortly thereafter. This makes it extremely difficult to keep up to date and to be able to effectively use technology in the classroom setting.
An important point that the authors make in this chapter is the fact that skills with the tool (technology) doesn’t imply that comprehension of the material has occurred. I believe that technology, when used correctly, should cause students to understand the material. If students do not comprehend the content of the lesson through the use of technology, then it is a good indication that the technology is not used effectively or to its fullest potential. Furthermore, the idea that computers can distance people from learning is not correct in my eyes. Again, if teachers seek out and use technology correctly, then computers can achieve quite the opposite. Websites such as E-Pals help to connect students from different areas of the country and even the world. Programs such as these serve the purpose of closing the gap between cultures and helping to create global citizens in the classroom setting worldwide.
Chapter two concluded with the idea of telecollaboration. This term refers to an activity that is not simply technical. Rather, it is a type of activity that helps students to search for opportunities for growth. Chapter four, “Utopian Visions, Dystopian Worries”, continues to discuss this idea of telecollaboration and the differences between it and telecomputing and telecommunication. The authors state, “Telecommunication was too ambiguous a term to describe it [the work that they did with their students]” (p. 63). Telecomputing refers to the general activities that can occur online. Telecollaboration, however, implies collaboration between human beings and human interactions through the use of some technology. Telecollaboration was the emphasis of the project carried out by Monke and Buddy, across seas. The first project—Project Utopia—focused on a comparison between Asian students and students of the Midwest. After carrying out the project, Monke realized that the project needed to have more of a concrete topic/focus in order for students to reap the most benefits possible.
The importance of having a focus/theme before planning a unit is great. Before I began to plan my unit that I will design for the final project of this course, I came up with a theme that I wanted to carry out with my lessons. For me, the theme is to highlight the similarities and differences between young students of Venezuela and young students of the United States.
Another obstacle that they encountered through their work was the lack of physical presence between students. This created communication that was impersonal. It seems that in today’s world, however, this might be different. Programs such as Skype can allow for more of a personal communication between people across the country or the world. In my final project unit, I plan to incorporate the use of Skype so students can have a more connected experiences with those that they communicate with in Venezuela.
The South African’s Elections Internet Project of 1994 was the project that was planned after implementing Project Utopia. Because Monke and Buddy had learned from their “mistakes”, they were able to make this unit more engaging for students. This is a common way to teach and plan units. After teaching one unit, teachers are able to learn from their mistakes and make necessary changes. This is the way that I have experienced teaching. As a third year teacher, I feel that I have improved my lessons and unit plans every year. The South African project had a focus from the start, which helped to engage students and give them a purpose for their learning. Especially with older students, it seems that setting a purpose for learning is a necessary step before teaching. By doing so, students can understand why they are participating in various activities and focusing their learning on a given topic.
One thing that I found interesting about this project was the fact that they were struggling to find people around the world to participate in the project. However, within a short period of a time all of a sudden, this changed. There was a huge influx of messages to Monke about participating. What caused this sudden change?
An important part of this project that I really liked was the fact that students weren’t graded on what they learned. Rather, they learned from the experience of communicating with others about a specific topic. In today’s public schools, it seems that it is quite the opposite. Grades are always focused on what they learn and how much progress they make as far as testing goes. No Child Left Behind has put such a strong emphasis on testing, that often times, experiences such as collaborating with others are often left on the backburner. It is my hope that the focus will shift yet again and students will be given opportunities to engage in activities that promote global citizenship rather than focusing on testing procedures.
Even though this project was successful, there were, of course, still some problems. One of the problems faced is something that many teachers face today. Because the teachers were faced with the fact that AP exams were coming up, they were forced to end their project and focus on preparing for the test. Again, it seems that these activities, which promote teamwork, global communication, and hands-on activities with others, are put on the backburner for testing across all age levels. This is a sad reality that, as I had said, I hope will change in the near future.

Week 6 Reflection

While reading chapter 1 of Breaking Down the Digital Walls, by R.W. Burniske and Lowell Monke, I recalled the conversation we had in class a few weeks ago about this topic. Because this collaboration took place in 1987, I found myself very intrigued by the differences in type of communication that occurred throughout the collaboration between teachers. The internet in 1987 was barely available, which caused collaboration then to be very different than how it could be in today’s classroom settings. Furthermore, the standards and values that people had were very different, which also contributed to the wide differences in collaboration that occurred.
Lowell and Burniske’s meetings in the Manabi Hut served the purpose to inspire students to become engaged in open minded inquiry. However, it was noted that they, themselves, encountered difficulties in engaging in such discourse. This brings up an extremely important point when collaborating and planning lessons for the classroom. I believe that teachers must be open minded and eager to guide their students towards discussions in which the students are genuinely interested and engaged. If teachers are not able to engage in such discourse on their own, it is very likely that students will not be eager to do so either. Thus, in order to ensure that teachers provide positive models for engaging in open minded inquiry, it is important to use resources in the classroom that provide students with varying opinions on a given topic. In the chapter, the authors discuss how the purpose of a text is to inspire dialogue rooted in the belief that “truth was found in dialogue” (p. 10). I think that this refers to the idea that because language was the only way to convey ideas, what we read is based on the truth of such language. This idea is extremely important, but it is equally important to note that in today’s world, there are multiple ways of conveying information and ideas, including video, radio, and other forms of media that can convey meaning without using spoken or written language. Though the media has changed the way we tell stories or information, such information has not changed. Technology has provided us with news means to the ends; not new ends.
I found the story of the lion and the man very interesting. The man claimed to the lion that he was stronger and because the lion didn’t believe him, he proved it to him by showing him a statue of a man defeating a lion. Though this statue may been a source of proof for the man, it is important to note that the man made the statue. Thus, what is the truth? This story can be translated to the classroom setting by telling students that there is truth in specific articles or textbooks. The truth that is spoken in such resources may be skewed to convey the ideals of one particular viewpoint. In one of my undergraduate classes, I read a book titled, Lies My Teacher Told Me. This book discussed history that is taught in classrooms across the country and the problems that lie within such teachings. Because we read from textbooks made in the United States, we often do not get the entire truth about negative aspects of our own country. The book discusses the fact that these lies are purposefully kept from students so that they see our country as superior. Though I am not quite sure I believe this text completely, I do believe that it is important to use resources that vary in opinion so that students can see multiple perspectives of a situation, and therefore FIND the truth on their own.
Another point that was made in this chapter was the fact that as teachers, we need to move beyond the technique of students answering questions that we present. Instead, students should gather background information about a given topic and then create their own questions to answer. I feel that this would make learning meaningful to the lives of young students. Elementary school children are often interested in only what revolves around them. Thus, if they are able to create questions that they feel are important (with the guidance of teachers), the learning that will occur will becoming meaningful to them and therefore make a difference in their lives.
The chapter concludes with two important questions that teachers should ask themselves when planning lessons. “What might students gain from this? What might students lose from this? (p.13)” These questions are extremely important and can absolutely help to guide teacher instruction and student learning. When using technology or other resources to plan lessons, teachers must look for the student benefit as far as content gain. If the technology is simply used as the ends of purpose of the lesson, then it may not positive impact student learning. If, however, the technology is used to deliver the content, then there may be more of a positive impact on learning outcomes. These two guiding questions can help teachers to create and teach lessons that have as much of a positive impact on learning experiences as possible, thereby enhancing overall student learning outcomes.

Annotations

Heifer International (2008). Retrieved from: http://www.heifereducation.org/site/c.lwL0KlN1LvH/b.3993181/k.BDA8/Home.htm
This website, run by Heifer International, provides teachers with information and resources to help achieve the organization’s mission of ending poverty and caring for the Earth. The resources vary from lesson plans to online games and activities that help students learn more about hunger around the world. In order to access resources, teachers must create an account with a username and password.

Nobel Prize (2009). Retrieved from: http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/
The Novel Peace Price website provides individuals with information about the history of the Nobel Prize and also provides various educational games online that are based on the works of a specific Nobel prize awarded throughout history. Though the site is based on the Nobel Prize, I don’t feel that the activities make a true connection to helping to create global citizens in the classroom setting.

Explore Africa Today (2009). Retrieved from Discovery Education from: http://africatoday.discoveryeducation.com/
Discovery Education provides teachers with lessons and activities that explore the country of Africa in depth. Teaching guides include vocabulary, writing prompts, and interactive media including videos. I think it’s great that students are able to compare their own culture to cultures of different children across varying African countries. Furthermore, the website breaks down the topics covered so that students are able to directly compare facets of American life, such as the environment and culture, with those of life in Africa.

Brave New Schools Chapter 4

When reading the chapters on the collaboration that has occurred between schools around the world, I found myself shocked at the fact that global collaboration has been going on for nearly one hundred years. Chapter four in the book Brave New Schools highlights the history of collaborative exchanges between classes from different parts of a single country. The importance of such exchange is discussed in the text Educating Citizens for Global Awareness.
The communication that occurred between students in different parts of Italy helped students to hear the difference in dialect in the Italian language. The same realization occurred among students in New Haven and San Diego with the differences in the Spanish language. The fact that the students were able to hear each other speak is extremely important in helping the students to truly understand the differences between the same spoken language. If students were simply taught that in different areas of one country, people speak slightly different, the students would not have gained the same understanding of the differences that exist. Because, however, the students were able to hear others speak in an audio tape, they came to that realization on their own, which becomes more meaningful, as a result.
The “cultural packages” that were sent by the two classrooms in France seem to be an excellent way to give students an experience seeing important items from a culture firsthand. Items that were sent, such as flowers, food, perfumes, etc. serve to teach students about important items in their cultures so students can see and compare differences. While reading about this exchange, it caused me to wonder whether such packages would be acceptable today. It is sad to think that we live in a society where we have to worry about what is sent in closed packages. Students are required to carry clear backpacks, so that all items inside are in clear view. Knowing about rules such as this makes me nervous that sending packages to and from different schools would pose a risk to students within the school systems. It is my hope that such worries would not be thought about, but sadly enough, safety and interaction with others is of huge concern with young students today.
The emphasis on safety and threats today leads me to the next important idea that was discussed in the text, Educating Citizens for Global Awareness. The example of the high school student whose jacket was stolen off of his back is an event that is concerning, but important for students to be aware of. Because the students were able to discuss the situation, they were able to commend the boy on his ability to resist using violence and walk away. Furthermore, the students were able to problem solve and help the student to be able to purchase another jacket. Because the students came up with the idea of donating money on their own, the purpose became meaningful and real. Though students often participate in fundraising activities, they often fail to realize the real meaning of the fundraising. With a personal connection to the purpose of donations, students understand and learn from such experiences.
The example of the murder of the Pakistani boy who came to Massachusetts to discuss his experiences as a child laborer prompted the students in this country to start a campaign to raise money to try to start a school in Pakistan to give all the chance to an education. The students in Massachusetts wanted to start the campaign on their own because they had the personal connection and memory of the boy’s story. If the students had simply learned about the injustices in Pakistan, they may not have cared to go as far to raise money for a good cause. When looking back on my personal schooling experiences, I do not remember ever feeling connected to an unjust situation enough to want to make a difference. If schools help students to connect with others around the globe, they may feel compelled to make a difference. If enough students feel such a desire to make a difference, then a difference can be made and voices can be heard. Giving students a voice in the global community can make important changes for the best of all individuals.
Global collaboration has been going on for many years. Today, it seems that it is only made easier with the use of technology. When used correctly, technology such as the Internet and many available websites can help students become global citizens in an ever changing world.

Annotations

Free Rice. (2009) Retrieved from: http://www.freerice.com/
This free website gives users the opportunity to learn new English vocabulary words for a good cause. Users are given a vocabulary word and are required to choose the correct definition for the word. For every answer that is correct, Free Rice will donate ten grains of rice to help end hunger through the UN World Food Program.

Panwapa. (2009) Retrieved from: http://panwapa.com/panwapasplash.php?intro=no
This website is designed for students in grades kindergarten through second grade to learn about becoming global citizens. It was created by the same people who created Sesame Street. Students can watch videos, play games, and learn about different countries from around the world. It is a great site that is geared for young students and is very interactive and engaging with catchy songs, cute characters, and engaging games.

Let’s Say Thanks. (2009) Retrieved from: http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html
This program, sponsored by Xerox, provides teachers, students, and families with the opportunity to thank soldiers who are currently serving in the United States military. Users select premade postcards that were designed by children from across the country and then select from a menu of message options. The postcard is sent electronically to a soldier. This is a great way to give students a personal connection to soldiers and teach them about the importance of a soldier’s duties in our country.