tech-savvy kindergarten

5:00 PM Edit This 1 Comment »
A New Hampshire Kindergarten teacher is using technology in her classroom. I think the way she uses it is very smart, and as she puts it, "Our kids are going to using these tools and sites anyway. Don't we want to educate students about them at school?" 

And as Antero Garcia, a L.A. teacher, added, "Sooner or later someone is going to expect my students to be able to quickly and effortlessly post to a blog, add to a wiki, or collaborate via some sort of social-networking protocol. And once again, my school will have failed to prepare them for such a task."


1 on 1

5:18 PM Edit This 0 Comments »
While looking for information about MLTI, Maine's Learning Technology Initiative, I came across an interesting quote from Seymour Papert, former Governor King's technology go to guy. When asked about possibilities that reduce computer-to-student ratio to 3 to 1 Papert responded, 

"It's only when the ration is 1 to 1 that something powerful happens."

If it weren't for Seymour Papert, Governor King's vision may have been taken in a different direction. Who knows where Maine would be in this technology initiative.

Seat belts?

5:19 PM Edit This 0 Comments »
I just found a blog that opened a discussion about why school buses don't have seat belts, and she raised a good point. 

"Car seats and booster seats are required by law whenever you transport a child, in a car, under the age of eight and the weight of 80 pounds. Why then, are not even seat belts required on school buses that carry children as young as five for kindergarden, or in the case of special services and private preschools as young as three?"

I found this interesting, I only remember one school bus throughout my entire elementary experience with seat belts, and it was only in the front most row. To add on to the authors statement, the state of Maine has a required seat belt law, that every individual must be buckled, in addition to car seat/booster seat laws. If the law is effective for cars, trucks, and so forth shouldn't it also be effective for school buses?

Students teaching Teachers

5:06 PM Edit This 0 Comments »
I thought the article, Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First Century Digital Learner, showed exactly what students are looking for. The panels are a good tool to improve teacher's classrooms and allow the students to actually learn the required material, if the teachers listen. If I had had a teacher or two (or three) that asked us for feedback on their teaching and whether or not we were engaged, and took the time to change their approach, I think I would have learned a lot more. As the author stated not all teachers are "boring" or disengaging to students but all teachers should aspire to have an engages classroom with active learners.

Early Childhood Education is KEY

10:10 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
Not to get political, but I found what Senator Obama said about Early Childhood Education to be very true. If you missed it here's the clip. 
He stated "Early Childhood Education... closes the achievement gap so every child is prepared for school," which in turn leads to improved scores, diminishing drop out rates and less delinquency.

Mega Schools

10:11 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
I found a blog about "The Dangers of Megaschools." Where a teachers discuses the effects of a megaschools. Megaschoools are schools that contain a large number of students in one building.  The teacher who wrote the article was facing the combination of the schools in her district into a "megaschool." 
There were money saving reasons for the district, but possibly education loss from the outcome. Teacher- student ratio expands making it harder for the teacher to spend needed time with each student to ensure their success, but what caught my attention was the fact that some megaschools are becoming K-12. As this teacher pointed out it would be very scary for a new kindergardener to only walk into their first day of school with who knows how many other students, but among high school students as well. High schools and elementary schools should stay separate.

Mama/Dada

11:43 AM Edit This 1 Comment »
In the blog "Early Childhood Education" the author references an article that scientifically explains why babies first words are usually "mama" and "dada." 

I found this interesting because in one of my child development classes i studied the reason why babies usually say "mama" before "dada," for similar reasons as the article states, it is simply easier for babies to say.

Honduras

11:26 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
As a part of my church group, I went to Neuvo Sacramento, Honduras in 2005 for a mission trip. The church group goes every other year. On the years that we don't go, we also go to Eastport, Maine. In Honduras we build cinder block houses, provide health care, and work with children in Bible studies. In Eastport we do various jobs that are brought to our attention by the people in Eastport, including fixing houses, painting churches, landscaping the local park. In either place it is a very rewarding experience to work in these under privileged communities, and to influence these very gracious people.

Worked to the Bone

11:07 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
I don't know about you, but I need to lighten my load. My work schedule keeps increasing somehow as well as my coursework. So far I have kept it under control... and hopefully I keep it up. 

I am the closing supervisor at a chinese restaurant. I have only one other closer, who is also a college student, who does not want to close more than one night M-TH. Which leaves ME. I go to school full time, and close the restaurant five nights a week, a total of about 30-33 hours a week. This week I also have a management meeting, adding another 2- 2 1/2 hours. How much time do I need?

email reminders

11:00 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
Someone had brought up the idea of email reminders, also mentioned in "20 Tech Habit to Improve Your Life." I also think this is too much. If you cant remember a persons birthday then either you aren't that close to that person, or you need a calendar. Its not very hard to remember the birthdays of the important people in your life, if not more than those people.

tech habits

10:36 AM Edit This 0 Comments »
From the article, "20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life," I found some interesting tips.

Remotely controlling your office computer from home. This is a very useful tool, maybe not specifically to me yet, but I can see how this would make life that much easier. I know my boss uses this tool to keep tabs on her restaurant's computer system. She can do everything I could do when Im standing in front of the computer itself.

Another interesting tool is working without a mouse, using keyboard shortcuts. I use many keyboard shortcuts on my macbook, ⌘Q for example to quit the open application, I use this all of the time. The article also gives links to keyboard launchers to help you create key commands that you need. Who will need a mouse if you can do everything with the keyboard?

One of the tech habits I found a little bit hard to follow was the self-improvement sites. If your trying to lose weight, manage your exercise, eating, and spending then why be constantly on the computer, that just limits your exercise and probably adds to your eating, spending and weight management.

crash and burn

10:24 AM Edit This 1 Comment »
I have just realized that although I am learning the many ways to learn/teach, I still very much am stuck in the few ways I know how. 

"this week the trend is to not wake up til 3pm and pick the few conscious hours that i chose to spend and slept away the rest of them." -relient k


Women's words

10:39 AM Edit This 1 Comment »
This women in one of my text books brings up a great point. She argues with a saleswoman about sizes. Sizes are dictated by those in power, forcing women to either conform to those sizes or be 'ugly.' 

young and thin is the "weapon of use against women in the West like limiting access is the weapon used against women in the East."

This was a smart woman!

Starting Out

6:15 PM Edit This 0 Comments »
First things first, I am a second year student at the University of Maine. I am an Early Childhood Education major, studying to hopefully become a preK-3 teacher. I will be posting information I encounter related to my education, and education as a whole. I will share my educational experiences as best as possible. 

For starters, check out my video bar, where you will find many interesting education related You Tube videos.

have a good day!
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