Journal #9

"A New Bloom",
Jane Cochran and Jack Conklin
February 2007
This is an article discussing a great multicultural experience for her students. Sussanah Modin had her students learn about Finland Culture before they wrote to some students their, through a pen pale system. Here students had virtual tours of Finland and learn neat aspects of Finland culture. IT gave them the opportunity to learn web site tactics and also learn about different cultures. What method did Modin Use to maximize students learning? She used Blooms Taxonomy. Here, teachers can focus on students behavior, cognitive learning skills to reach their students More effectively. Blooms taxonomy gets teachers to ask deep questions making sure that students are thinking at a more profound level. What questions do students learn to ask themselves through Blooms Taxonomy? When you hit a road block what tactics do you usually use to help stay on track, again working with cognitive learning methods. What did you learn about your way of thinking that will help you in future lessons? again a way o teaching kids to learn through self reflection. This article was posted because it promoted multicultural activities and used 21st century technologies.

Journal #8

Virtual Schooling", by Niki Davis and Dale S. Niederhausen. This article discusses the changes that occur during the shift to virtual schooling for teacher and students. Why choose virtual schooling?It helps schools meet the standards presented in NCLB. Each student and teacher get connected with E-Learning material to become familiar with technological aides. Virtual schools have helped in crisis situations such as Hurricane Katrina, where displaced students were able to attend school through the web. Online learning is great because it gives children in remote areas the opportunity to get great lectures and projects through the internet. What are some examples of the Virtual School capabilities? Web CT provides access to a number of comrehensive Learning Materials, everything from syllubus to student produced resources and communication tools such as email. Also , virtual video confreences are available at most virtual schools, allowing students to have virtual office hours with their teachers. There are also projects that students are able to complete via the internet. I think that the virtual school is a great opportunity; however I wunder about the personal aspect of it. CHildren hardly being able to interact personally with their teachers. I think the persoanl face to face aspect of school is a great contribution to teacher students relationships. My teachers were my role models, and wanted to be around them and learn from them.

Journal #7

Project Based Learning Around the World
Kristen Weatherby
This article starts off by exciting the reader to take a tour of two distant Tallinn, Estonia and Hong Kong, China. In Estonia the govenrment made it a law that everyone had access to computers. As a result, the "Tiger's Leap Forward" was created to create a influx of computers into the shcools. What did "Tigers Leap Forward" do for public education in estonia? This gave them the opportunity to give each student access to project based learning programs via technology systems. It also begin a trend to get teachers more familiar with web resources for their students. Then, the journey continued to Hong Knog, 30 % of the population speaks English and all of the material in the education system has to be typed in English. Why do public schools in Hong Kong have to compete for students enrollment. Because students in Hong Kong have the choice of what school they awant to go. As a result, schools try to more desirable and make all their teachers IT savy.

Journal #6

Social Justice: Choice or Necessity, By Colleen Swain and David Edyburn
This is a great article that helps educators realize the potential danger when they do not allow all of their students to have full access and availability to the many forms of technology. Should funding for technology be distributed to all schools, making it a requirement to have these services available to all students? I strongly agree. The school environment should always be geared to helping students to become prepared for the interactive working world. Now more than ever professions are demanding their employees to know how to effectively use technology to lighten work load and usually help the company make larger profits. We are setting students up for failure if we do not make “Technology 101” as a class in the school setting. These courses should be held as mandatory not as electives, and within the curriculum the teacher should continually show the importance of learning these technology aides. I also believe that as the President Bush has endorsed the focus on Math and Sciences we need to focus our attention technology.
What is the effect of hindering some students from being able to learn or practice all the benefits of technology? This article showed how higher level school standards and almost all future employers will require the student to be proficient in technology use, so they are at a huge disadvantage when these technological resources are not taught or available. .
I also liked this article because it gave information about resources to help aides in technology and how it can better aide students with disabilities. This goes along with the section of the article which emphasizes ways teachers can use technology to be more effective in the classroom.