Melissa+Panasci

April 1, 2008 Response to article __We Are the Web__ by Kevin Kelly In his article __We Are the Web__, Kevin Kelly presents an interesting perspective of the internet. Through his historical examination of the internet, as well as the analysis of the internet in its present form, he presents a controversial view of the topic. The initial dismissive attitude of the internet by the media in 1995 that Kelly refers to was surprising to me. I was shocked to hear about the initial lack of enthusiasm and skepticism of the internet by many companies. I recall being first introduced to the internet in 1995 when I was a freshman at Duke University. Although drastically different that it is today, I was still in awe of it and enjoyed learning about its possibilities. The statistics pertaining to the internet in 1005 that were presented by Kelly in the next section of his article were amazing. The summary of the breadth of the internet was equally incredible. The information about E-Bay, our global flea market, was astounding. Essentially, it’s simply a new medium for an age old tradition of buying and selling goods. His comments about blogging were also interesting. It seems as though the old belief that the consumers would never produce was incorrect as the consumers began producing entertainment via blogs. His predictions about the future of the “Machine” seemed a bit unbelievable to me. His notion of the megacomputer becoming our memory and taking our identity seems to be extraordinary. While I do appreciate the power of this tool, I do not agree with his arguments pertaining to these concepts. At the end of the article, I did think it was interesting that Kelly proposed that this point in time is a “pivotal era”. The creation of the web that he claims will be recognized as “the largest, most complex, most surprising event on the planet”. The development of what Kelly refers to as a “grand network”. Although Kelly was often grandiose in his ideas and concepts, I can, to some extent agree, with him on this point. I do believe in the enormity of the web. Any bit of information you may need or want at your fingertips with the click of a mouse. Although Kelly seemed a bit pompous in the article, I did appreciate his opinions and views. I agree with Kelly in that we are here in the midst of a historical turning point. I am thrilled to be here, part of this digital revolution, watching the "Machine" develop from its birth onward!

April 8, 2008 Response to __Literacy in the 21st Century__ Literacy in the 21st Century is drastically different that it was long ago. While the basic ideas remain the same, technology is changing the way in which students need to use literacy, resulting in the need for a change in the way teachers teach literacy. Not only do children have to know how to read, write, and comprehend, they now must be able to apply this knowledge to a variety of online and technologically based assignments. These include reading online (test preparation, online newspapers such as "Time for Kids", online research, blogs, etc. They children need to be able to collaborate with other students on group projects online using Google Docs or wikispaces. Additionally, they need to be able to actually produce writing online. This includes learning how to type. Another, even more in depth skill that students need is the ability to assess the validity of websites that they are using and assess the information that is presented. As teachers it is our responsiblity to recognize this change and subsequently create lessons that teach the students these new skills. I am excited to stay on the cutting edge of educational technology so that I can assist my fourth graders in doing just that!

April 15, 2008 Voice Thread-4th Grade- Simple Machines and a funny cartoon! Click below to see my Voice Thread!

http://voicethread.com/share/108214/

May 13, 2008

Hello again! This week, we went on Classroom 2.0... explored the site, responded to postings, and created our own posting. Here's what I did during that time... 

[|Integrating Technology in the Social Studies Curriculum] 2 Replies
Hi! I'm a fourth grade teacher in New York and I was wondering if anyone had ideas about integrating technology into the Social Studies curriculum. Our standards include New York State History from... [|Continue] Started this discussion. Last [|reply] by [|Gerald Logan] 22 hours ago. 

[|K-5 Computer Education Programs - What are you doing?]
My district seems to be quite different than yours. We meet once every other week (alternating with library). The teachers are expected to come up with the lesson to be taught on the particular mee... [|Continue] Tagged: [|education], [|office], [|computers], [|inspiration], [|elementary] Added a post 1 day ago 

[|Elementary tech curriculum]
I taught first grade for nine years and now I teach fourth grade. I've found that in first grade, it's really important for them to become familiar with the mouse and how to use the keyboard. After... [|Continue] Tagged: [|curriculum], [|technology], [|elementary] Added a post 1 day ago 

[|Elementary 2.0 ?]
Hi. I've encountered the exact same problem with my fourth graders. There's so much to do with them, but their typing skills definitely get in the way. We've been using a new typing program in our ... [|Continue] Tagged: [|elementary] Added a post 1 day ago 

[|Examples of elementary blogs]
Hi. I've struggled with similar problems in my fourth grade class. The way the we've achieved success is to have "Book Clubs" online using our blog. The kids respond to postings regarding the books... [|Continue] Tagged: [|elementary education], [|blogging], [|blogs], [|wesley fryer], [|elementary] Added a post 1 day ago

May 27, 2008 Hello! Today I explored two great sites by two of the leaders in Education 2.0. I found many of their postings interesting... Here are 2 that I found particularly insightful and to which I responded:

__**BLOG #1:**__

[|Another Naysayer Stirs the Pot]
Mark Bauerlein is a tenured humanities professor at Emory University, and he has just published a new book, [|The Dumbest Generation]. In a [|podcast interview], conducted by Texas educator, Tim Holt, for [|Intended Consequences], Bauerlein said that the thesis of his book is simple, that,

..teenagers and young adults, in America today, are drowning in a tidal wave of teen, youth, stuff, delivered through digital tools, and the adult realities of history, civics, foreign affairs, politics, and fine arts can’t break through.

I couldn’t agree more, though I don’t blame the technology. The author, himself, says,

When we talk about the Internet, we have to acknowledge that this is a miraculous resource. It contains knowledge and art, works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, old documents, maps, definitions, Wikipedia, historical sources. It’s all there, and we can access it in ways we never could before.

He continues, though, that this is not where the teenagers are going. Referencing a Neilsen survey, Mark said that 9 of the top 10 web sites that kids go to are for social networking — contacting each other. Well, no surprise here, as both Bauerlein and Holt mention. Kids are going to access what kids are interested in. What’s happened is that, through technology, kids are able to immerse themselves in the social experience, in bedrooms that are often a multimedia center.

Top Ten Search Terms from Students using Nettrekker in Schools I don’t think the answer, though, is to not bring the technology into the classroom, as Bauerlein implies. According to [|Thinkronize], makers of the [|NetTrekker] child-safe Internet search engine reportedly used in 20,000 schools world wide, the top five search terms entered by students in school are games, dogs, animals, Civil War, and George Washington.[|1] See the right for the top 15 searched terms. Again, the fault is not the technology. Certainly when he and I were young (Mark’s only a half-dozen years younger than me), we played in the neighborhood with friends until dark, then came home where we read books, did homework, spent time with parents, watched a little TV, etc. Aside from spending more time with parents, I don’t really see the difference. I knew kids back then who spent hours on their Princess phones, and I remember educators complaining about the junk kids were reading. Bauerlein is painting a picture designed to envoke fear and provoke caution. It’s not that different from the stories that I tell to envoke fear and provoke investment in modernizing classrooms. If I were to challenge him when he says, that bringing blogging and podcasts into the classroom is a strategic mistake, he’d acknowledged, as he does several times in the interview, that there is huge potential. I’m often challenged, “Are you saying that we should throw out this, that, and the other?” No! Our enthusiasm reaches a boil, and we all have to work hard to temper it. Bauerlein questions all of the claims about jobs becoming obsolete, and I have to agree that we’re taking statistics and twisting them to support our arguments. I recently researched the “10.2 jobs before you turn 38″ claim, and found that it was based on citizens born between 1957 and 1964, and that half of those jobs happened before we turn 22. Before I graduated from college, I’d worked as a short order cook, played in bands, washed cars, waited on tables, played guitar in coffee houses for tips, loaded freight cars, and worked in a machine shop. Nothing new! I questioned the 55th among IT using industries claim in a blog entry the other day ([|Another “Aha!” Video]). Yet, I still believe that we are preparing children for a future that we can not clearly describe that being a lifelong learner is perhaps the most important skill we should be teaching today … learning-literacy. Finally, I continue to question the research complaint, that there is no research to show that technology improves achievent. First of all, there is. But that’s beside the point. I don’t think that we should be investing (much) more in providing convenient access to digital, networked, and abundant information to students and teachers to improve test scores. I think we should be doing it because today’s information environment is digital, networked, and abundant. Computers and the Internet are the pencil and paper of our time — and insisting that our children can learned to be ready for their future by scratching and stamping text on paper and reading published textbooks, is like saying that children could learn with clay tablets, long after paper was widely used. Computers and the Internet have changed how information works and how we work it. Kids can’t learn this in five-year-old textbooks and spiral notebooks. Nobody guaranteed that we’re going to learn how to make this work in one year, ten years, or even twenty-five. It’s going to take time, freedom, inventiveness, collaboration, caution, and time time time.

__**MY RESPONSE TO BLOG #1:**__ I thought that this topic was particularly interesting. I think that David Warlick makes a great argument within this blog. The truth of the matter is that in years past, kids did go outside and play socially with their friends, read books about topics that interested them, as well as. We can’t expect that just because the miraculous resources of knowledge and art are available via the internet, that kids are going to somehow suddenly look up the MET online. It would be the same as if a child went into the local library years ago; they would most likely look for books that were interesting to them… pursuing books about sports in the card catalogue rather than a biography on Picasso. That said, I thought that the most interesting point written was that about literacy. During our first EST 567 class, Bill had asked us to write about what we thought was the most important thing in education and I subsequently wrote literacy. I believe that if we are encouraging children to read and write, they are becoming lifelong learners. If we can spark a child’s imagination by using blogging and podcasts in the classroom, then we should utilize them! That’s not to say that kids don’t need to explore all aspects of knowledge and art, but I think that if kids are motivated and excited, then they can and will learn!


 * __THE LINK TO THE BLOG AND ALL OF THE RESPONSES:__** http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/archives/1459

__**BLOG #2:**__ [|Connective Writing] 20 May 2008 12:46 pm [|Engaging Writing in the Classroom] So here is the money quote from “[|Turn Teen Texting Toward Better Writing]” from the Christian Science Monitor last week:

Our student bloggers and digital writers of all backgrounds are part of a journaling culture which America has not seen since the great age of diarists during the Transcendental movement, when Thoreau and Emerson recorded their daily lives for eventual public consumption. Failure to harness that potential energy would prove a terrible misstep at this junction in American education.

The author of the essay, Justin Reich, a Ph.D. student at Harvard, makes the case in a pretty interesting way, weaving in research, classroom observations and personal experience in a way that I find pretty compelling. Especially because he seems to really understand the “connective” or network aspect of the writing process.

Or, we can embrace the writing that students do every day, help them learn to use their social networking tools to create learning networks, and ultimately show them how the best elements of their informal communication can lead them to success in their formal writing.

I agree that that is the choice. No one is denying that much of what students (and adults for that matter) are writing wouldn’t be worthy of publishing under traditional standards. But the fact that kids are writing and publishing in a variety of texts, traditional or not, is, I think, a wonderful reality, one that if we know how to leverage it gives us great opportunities to help kids get better at all types of writing.

__**MY RESPONSE TO BLOG #2:**__ I thought that this was particularly interesting as well. I believe that kids definitely do need to be exposed to a variety of types of writing not just simple, short pieces. The interesting point here is that we need to utilize what they enjoy most and do best...their "social writing", to help them become better writers. Teachers could create a class blog where students could post their poetry, newspaper article, book reviews, etc. and subsequently the students could offer positive responses to their peers' work. As a teacher you may encounter a few issues if you attempt to carry out an idea like this one...One issue is that teachers don't embrace these social networks due to either their lack of knowledge about the sites or their refusal to believe the sites' potential for learning. The other issue is that often times, these websites are actually blocked from school networks due to the potential content. We need to keep up with the technological revolution and in doing so, we must embrace the use of technology and how we look at teaching and learning. Students are excited about using technology and might be more motivated to complete projects such as the one mentioned above on the internet.


 * __THE LINK TO THE BLOG AND ALL OF THE RESPONSES:__** http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/engaging-writing-in-the-classroom/

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dc9mkvrm_21s3zj25cn
 * __FINAL TECHNOLOGY PRESENTATION:__**

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