Sep

1

School starts next week so it’s time to dust off my Web 2.0 tool kit.

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Blogging in and out of the Classroom, Computers In The Classroom, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, Learning Strategies, Reading, Special Education, Web 2.0 tools and technologies, motivating students, underachieving students | 2 Comments

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School starts next week, and it’s time to dust off my tool kit I use to engage my reluctant and struggling readers and writers. I need to remind myself that there are lots of reasons why my students are reluctant to read and write- learning disabilities, competition from other activities, lack of interest, school not valued. Some of my students have told me they don’t read and write outside of school. Of course they do. They just don’t realize it. I have to make them aware that they read and write outside of school everyday. I need to help my students make a paradigm shift and so they can realize when they text message, email, surf the net or are on YouTube they are reading and writing all the time. My students are very comfortable online. they spend hours and hours on line. I try to use that to my advantage when trying to engage my more struggling and reluctant students.

Good pedagogy states that I should start where our students are. Where are my students? The BBC reported recently that today the average kid spends 44.5 hours a week on-line. Imagine. I can hardly believe that, but when I asked my students whether they thought the statistic was accurate they seemed to think it was pretty accurate.
given that my students practically live online, I decided to build a Web 2.0 tool kit to use in class.

I’m going to share with you a slide show I used at a presentation last year to introduce the Web 2.0 tools I use and why I use them. I also give an example of how I used them. Hope you find the slide show useful.

View more presentations from Elona Hartjes.

Jul

26

It’s time for schools to stop blocking internet applications.

Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, Computers In The Classroom, Digital toys, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, Learning Strategies, Special Education, The way I see it, Web 2.0 tools and technologies, maintaining a safe | 6 Comments

I hope come September the powers that be won’t block access to internet applications like Facebook and YouTube. I think rather than blocking Facebook and other Web 2.0 tools  like YouTube because students might misuse them, we should consider access to these Web 2.0 tools  or internet applications as teachable moments. We could teach our students to use Facebook, YouTube etc. safely and responsibly. Using the internet safely is a life skill after all.

I like using these Web 2.0 tools in my classroom and want my students to be able to use them too, but in order to do so I have to find an administrator and ask him or her if I can have the password. The administrator goes on line and looks it up and tells me. Then, I have to type it in surreptitiously. I love doing that!!! The password changes about once a month without warning and sometimes I’m all set to use Web 2.0s tool in class and it’s blocked. If school boards want us to use the new digital technology and mine says it does then the powers that be need to make access to the new digital  technology more user friendly.

A quick search on line reveals all sorts of sites with useful tips for using new Web 2.0 tools or applications. I found this one for Facebook useful. It gives 50 hints on how to use Facebook safely and responsibly for both teachers and students. Although the hints are for Facebook, they can apply to YouTube as well.

Jul

23

The world wide web may be detrimental to students in a way that you might not have thought of.

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Behaviour Management, Blogging in and out of the Classroom, Computers In The Classroom, Digital toys, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, motivating students, underachieving students | 2 Comments

It just dawned on me recently that the internet enables students to spoil themselves. This is definitely not a good thing. I know my contention sounds weird, but let me explain. More and more students are acting like over indulged children. They feel like doing what they want to do and when they want to do it.  When I talk to parents about this attitude,they seem baffled by it too. They see a similar attitude at home despite trying their best to combat it. What’s going on?

What’s going on? Here’s my theory. John Dewey (1938) maintained

The effect of over-indulging a child is a continuous one. It sets up an attitude which operates as an automatic demand that persons or objects cater to his desires and caprice in the future. It makes him seek the kind of situation that will enable him to do what he feels like doing at the time, It renders him adverse to and comparatively incompetent in situations which require effort and perseverance in overcoming obstacles

I think that the internet enables students to choose what they want to do when they want to do it. That is one of the Internet’s greatest strengths- differentiation to the nth degree. If students  go to a site that does not engage them  immediately, in a nanosecond they can escape boredom with a click of a mouse. Over time, this expectation of being able to do what   when they want transfers to other aspects of their lives- my classroom for instance. So when I’m teaching something to my students, and they aren’t the least bit interested in that topic, they would like to be able to “click” me away and go to YouTube or FaceBook or wherever. But, they can’t. They are stuck in my site classroom.

Success in life depends on, among other things, perseverance in over coming obstacles.   Even though students  might not like what I’m teaching them because it is part of the curriculum I have to teach it (I might like it either, but that’s a topic for another time) , and they are expected to learn it if they want to earn that credit toward graduation.   My class might be an obstacle preventing them from doing what they want when they want to. I don’t want to think of my class as an obstacle my students have to overcome, but you get the idea.  The good thing about students not being interested in my class is that they get the opportunity to practice overcoming the obstacle of not being engaged by my class. This requires repeated effort and provides  an opportunity to develop the life skill of perseverance. They need my credit to graduate therefore they have to stick it out even if they don’t like it. I’m sure the 21st century will test their perseverance many times as adults.

School is more than about learning content, it’s also about learning attitudes.  The fact that the internet enables students to over indulge themselves by letting them control what they want to do whenever they want to do it may not be a good thing.  That expectation of being able to control what you want do to whenever you want to do it may become problematic for some students in their adult lives. Life isn’t all about “me”.

OK, so that’s my theory.  What do you think?   How can we ameliorate the negative effect of this over indulgence?

Jun

26

Cyber schooling may be a viable option for students with special needs

Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, Computers In The Classroom, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, Special Education, The way I see it, Web 2.0 tools and technologies, motivating students, underachieving students | 2 Comments

Cyber schooling  may be a viable option for certain students with special needs. What is cyber school? I think of cyber schooling as form of home schooling where students use the internet and advanced technology, sometimes called  Web 2.0, to earn credits toward graduation.

I’ve found that some students with special needs, especially those students who have social and/or behaviour problems, find it difficult to be successful in the hustle and bustle of a regular high school classroom. Usually, students with special needs who have difficulty coping in a regular classroom have the option of working in an alternative setting.  At my school,  we call this alternative setting the Contact Room. Other schools call it by different names.  Students can go to the Contact Room to  get extra help, where the pace is not as busy and chances of conflict between peers is reduced. Over the years, I’ve found that this alternative setting doesn’t necessarily meet the needs of all students.

Some students with special needs, despite everyone’s best efforts, still cannot cope in a bricks-and-mortar high school. I can think of some  students that I gave support to over the years who were school phobic, had severe anger control or  other behaviour issues  for whom the alternative setting of the Contact Room and its support didn’t help them cope in the regular high school setting.  Eventually these students either avoided school entirely by not coming to school at all or they were asked to leave school because their behaviour was inappropriate in a school environment.

Cyber schooling sounds like a promising option for some students with special needs. Of course, there could be some challenges for students who might want to access cyber schooling.   First, students would have to have access to computers as well as high-band powerful internet connections. Some of the applications students with special needs use require high speed internet to function properly.  It’s been my experience,  that not all families can afford computers and the powerful highband internet connections a cyber schooled student would need.   Second, some students are not independent learners and would need the support of an actual person.  Who would that person be- a parent, a sibling? Who has time to be there to support the student? Who feels comfortable enough with the advanced technology to help the student? We can’t assume everyone is comfortable with or able to use the the internet and the advanced technology.  What if   students’ learning styles are  such that they hate doing lessons online? I‘ve had students like that when I was giving support to students who were taking online courses.   These students were totally engaged by the computer when they were playing games, surfing the net, accessing FaceBook etc, but absolutely hated doing lessons online and actually refused to do them.

The first time a student told me he hated doing lessons on line even though he loved being on line,  I was quite astonished. Who knew? I thought because students  loved being on the computer most of their free time, they would love using the computer to earn their credits.  Boy, was I wrong.The only way these students would do a course online was if sat at the computer with them   the entire time they were doing the online course.  That one- student- to- one -teacher ratio every day isn’t practical in a high school classroom, alternative classroom or not.

I guess all we can really say at this point is that cyber schooling is another option that could be available for students.  Certainly there are some concerns that need addressing.  Who is going to pay for computers and the high speed access students need for cyber schooling if families can’t afford computers or high speed, broadband  internet access ?   Who is going to give cyber schooled students the at-home support they might need?  It will be interesting to see what happens as parents advocate for cyber schooling to help meet the needs of their children. Will cyber schooling be an accommodation that finds its way into students’   individual education plans or IEPs?  That is an interesting thought.

Reference:  Educators Weigh Benefits, Drawbacks of Virtual Spec. Ed.

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