Technology and Early Child Development

The article I read was titled Technology and Early Child Development and was written by Mary Eming Young, Senior Public Health Specialist, the World Bank. It stresses the importance of technology in the early childhood classroom.

Although this article was written 10 years ago it still contains some important ideas to think about.

The author was very interested in how important it is for all children have the opportunity to use technology in the classroom. She discusses how important it is for all children to have access to computers. I think this issue is very important and with many public schools now;housing preschools, preschools have easy access to computers. With access comes the question of how computers are used today. Computers should not be used for excessive drill and practice activities, or color book activities, but more open ended activities that allow the user to think and make decisions should be used.

This article also highlights the four major areas of development and discusses how technolory can be used in each area.

Social and Emotional development is the first area. Children form and sustain relationships and they learn to gives meaning to educational experiences. Computers can serve as a catalyst for social interaction and conversation, however computers and the such cannot replace human interaction. Children can listen to taped stories, or watch a program, but there has to be interaction woth others. Nothing can take the place of someone reading a story to a child while they are sitting on their lap! This creates interpersonal relationships! Certain computer software can be used as long as thers is immediate feedback with an adult. This creates interpersonal relationships Children learn how to interact with others.. Computers can help invite learning and encourage the connection to learning as long as it is done with adult intervention in some form.

The second area discussed is language. Language empowers children in both the cognitive and affective parts of education. Children need experiences in both written and oral communication in order to interact with others. Children need to see print in relationship with language. This article states that computers encourage language by promoting more complex speech and the development of fluency. Children can engage in high levels of spoken communication. They can hear a variety of language and learn from it. An extra benefit would be learning to take turns and cooperation with others. This may elicit more interaction than activities such as puzzles. There are many language rich software programs that promote language sevelopment.

Physical development and motor development are also mentioned. This is not only physical activity, but the promotion of health, as well as motor skills. A healthy child is able to focus and actively engage in learning. Active play cannot be replace with technology. Children need to move. Following a taped activity can provide ample opportunities to move. Children can also practice fine motor skills by learning to use the mouse and the keyboard.

This last area covered is cognitive development. This includes general knowlege. Activities should promote problem solving, knowlege of patterns, and understanding relationships between objects and events. Computers can introduce positive elements of children's play and learning as they explore and experiment. If technology is connected to what the child is doing it can lead to motivation and self direction. Children need to use programs that allow them to be creative, providing opportunities to discover, make choices, and find out the impact of decisions to foster creativity.

Compupters are best served if they are in the classroom, providing easier access. Computer labs hinder the opportunity for use when the device is needed. Labs also lead to more drill and practice activities instead of tool-oriented software.

Other technology like cameras, tape recorders, and TV/VCR are also effective in the classroom when used appropriately. They can lead to open ended activities. Children can see themselves, and hear thier voices in activities. This is evident in many of the programs I used in this technology class.

The two key questions that need to be addressed with the use of technology are--Is it developmentally appropriate? and--Will the activity benefit the child? This, along with balancing the use of technology with other activities will lead to many exciting learning experiences that will benefit the child for years to come

The Internet and the Early Childhood Classroom

As an early childhood preschool teacher I am always searching for new ways to keep the interests of my students. We use the high scope curriculum in our preschool so technology does not play a key role. However, this curriculum is based a lot on student interest. With the world and technology changing everyday I find my students being more interested in the computer and other forms of technology. This article confirmed my belief that technology can be integrated into the preschool classroom if it is used appropriately.


When using computers or the internet in the classroom you need to have an appropriate balance and make sure that students are using it to enhance their learning experiences. Using websites to enhance literacy and math activities are most helpful to students of this age. There are also many digital manipulatives that can enhance student learning.


As they state in the article you need to make sure that the website you are using is age appropriate as well. The article also states that when using websites with preschool children to make sure they are auditory. This will make it easier for students to use. Teacher support is also a big part of using the internet with such young children as the author states.


Another key part of using the internet with young children is to use real world experiences and models. As many preschool theories suggest, the article also says that you need to use real world models that are relevant and meaningful to children's lives.


I found this article very useful. It gave me a basis for reasons why I should include technology and the internet in my preschool classroom. The conclusion to this article really says it all:

"As with any technology, use of the Internet in the early childhood classroom is most effective when matched with appropriate teaching methods. The key to using the Internet with young children is to make sure their experiences are interactive and integrated into their other learning experiences."

The Internet and the Early Childhood Classroom, by Lisa K. Schanen

The 21st Century Learner

The 21st-Century Digital Learner

How tech-obsessed iKids would improve our schools.

BY MARC PRENSKY

http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-digital-learner-technology-2008

I read the article, the 21^st-Century Digital Learner: How tech-obsessed iKids would improve our schools. The title caught my attention right away. The author of the article, Mark Prensky, conducts panels about improving schools for other educators and administrators. What is unique is that he does a question/answer panel with students from area districts. He asks the students questions such as: What experiences in school really engaged you? How do you use technology in school as opposed to outside of school?

The article points out that our educational system does a poor job getting input from students about how their schools and teachers are doing. It is suggested that students hold the key as to what helps them learn the best while we as educators struggle in this area. The author suggests to us that technology has become a driving motivator and a daily activity for children today. Lectures and Power Points no longer keep students attention and many find themselves shutting down or not listening. A common statement that students shared in the panel was that they were bored in school and didn’t feel teachers were engaging enough. With today’s students being raised on computers and technology, teachers and those in the educational system need to realize that technology is a huge part of students lives and possibly a great way for students to stay engaged and learn while in school. One of the students on the panel stated that technology is a “foundation, and the basis of everything we do.”

I found this article to be very interesting and relevant to incorporating more technology into the educational system. I feel that there is a huge push for technology to be used in all classrooms and across all districts. I agreed with the author when he stated that we don’t listen to our students enough. Only the students know the key to what will motivate them to learn the best. We, as teachers cannot make those assumptions for them. Maybe this means we push to change up the curriculum to incorporate more technology as a means to engage the student’s better. The article points out that students today have been raised on computers and cell phones and incorporating technology maybe a much-needed change. Perhaps this may require more trainings or continuing education for teachers to keep up with times, but I for one am always interested in learning more about the advances in technology today.

We as educators need to step back and listen to the voices of our students. If technology is the key to better education and engagement then I think we need to do whatever we can as educators to take that step. Ultimately our goal is to get students to learn and students won’t learn if they are not engaged. Overall this article shed some new light on the issues and concerns of technology with the children raised in the 21^st century. I’m started to see that technology can be the key to helping our students enjoy education more, instead of them dreading going to school. I would recommend all people in the educational system to read this article and think about how technology can impact and change a student’s learning.

-Alissa Holland

The Digital Whiteboard: A Tool in Early Literacy Instruction

The Digital Whiteboard: A Tool in Early Literacy Instruction

I read an article called, "The Digital Whiteboard: A Tool in Early Literacy Instruction". I chose this website because I am using my whiteboard daily in my classroom and I wanted to see if the article had any new ideas to use the whiteboard. For those of you who do not know a digital whiteboard is an electronic version of a dry-erase board. It is a digital whiteboard connected to a computer. The whiteboard can be written on with regular dry-erase markers. The markers are virtual in that they contain no ink, and they function by responding to their movement on the surface of the board. The virtual markers are activated when you lifted the pen from the tray and then put on the digital whiteboard frame. Only one marker can be used at a time and there are different colors.

The whiteboard engages students through kinesthetics as they use markers or their hands to respond to the text, highlightning with color or drawing boxes and circles with the tips of their fingers or the palms of their hands. You can also write with your finger when you lift up one of the markers. This is also good for motor skills.

The digital whieboard works with other software on your computer by opening up a file and then being able to write on whatever is open. It also makes website more visible for students to see and interact with. This helps creates meaning, make connections, and develop understanding during literacy lessons.

Overall whiteboards are amazing and I cannot go a day without using mine. If you do not have one in your classroom or school building, apply for a great because they are wonderful!

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/29204/

Kati Larson - Technology in the Shakespeare Classroom

I read an article entitled "Technology in the Shakespeare Classroom." This article caught my attention right away because when I think of Shakespeare, I do not immediately think technology.

Throughout the article, the author gave valid examples of how technology could be integrated into the Shakespeare classroom to enhance both student learning as well as the curriculum itself. One positive point for using technology to teach Shakespeare is using it to reach all learner types. Not all students learn the same way and as a teacher, it is my job to try and teach to various learning styles. Using audio and visual clips as well as the various internet resources for historical backgrounds, reviews, and online dictionaries in helping with vocabulary, can all be helpful in enhancing Shakespeare for all learners. Students can choose different technological resources for research as well as video creation. Shakespeare is best understood through performance. Using different video creation sources is a great tool for students to perform, record, and present parts of Shakespeare's plays to their fellow students.

As in much of classic literature, hooking student interest is key to both teaching and student understanding of the material. Using various forms of technology to enhance the Shakespeare curriculum would allow me another way to get my students excited about literature.

Link to article.
http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators/technology/indepth.html

Virtual Fieldtrips

I read an article about virtual field trips. This article mentioned how easy it is for teachers to share science themes with students through the internet. A lot of national places are creating websites that have virtual field trips that share infomration with students. It allows for students to explore these places with out paying money to go visit them. What teacher would not be up for that, especially with all of the budget cuts we all face. They get to see photos, videos, interactive parts, listen to people talk, etc. Everything they would get if they actually visited the place.

By using this new type of technology students are able to just explore places and learn more then they would get out just reading a textbook. Teachers are also now having to always update their notes and information that they take from the textbook, because these virtual field trips are easy to update compared the the textbooks that always get out dated.

I think that this is a great new way to teacher students by using technology.

check out the link to the article and it also explains how teachers can modify these field trips for all ages.

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/42383/

Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many

I got this article from Edutopia. The article was written by Edutopia Staff. The website is http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction

I related to this article so much because it seemed to speak about my school. The article states that technology needs to be more than just teaching computer skills and software applications in a computer class. The article states that technology needs to be taught across the curriculum using projects. The projects keep the students more engaged and allow for students to collaborate on ideas, much the same as an active office. The integration of technology connects the students to real world learning as they meet the curriculum goals. As the students collaborate on these projects, they are using higher level problem solving skills.
In addition, the article states that the integration of technology across the curriculum helps teachers reach a diverse group of students. Teachers can use technology to meet the demands of a variety of learners. The teacher becomes more of a coach to the students as they are learning new meaningful information rapidly.
I relate to this article because my elementary is very blessed with some nice technology. The upside is that we have interactive whiteboards, the downside is that very few teachers know how useful they can be. The boards were installed, but the training has been pretty much on your own. The same goes with the computer labs. Now I am lucky that I teach fifth graders, and we do many projects using both. My students are not afraid to experiment, and I let them. The reciprocal learning is tremendous. I learn a great deal from them as we complete the projects. I design the projects based on my standards and benchmarks, but my students are always adding new things to the projects that I had not anticipated. I know some other teachers have more fear when doing projects. I think this fear stems from lack of knowledge and younger students. They seem to be overwhelmed just getting the students logged in. So the frustration takes over, and teachers go back to their old comfortable ways of teaching. I am often told that there is no way their students could do what my students do. That baffles me. Who knows what our students can do with technology unless we give them a chance. I know that integrating the technology into my curriculum with projects has decreased my behavior problems and increased engagement. That is a win, win situation!!!

EDU636 Fall 2011

A post is just like this one. Post your website address and short reflection of the article. I left a few previous posts on this site for you to review. Please, look at them to give you an idea of how and what to post for your reflection.

Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom

I got this article off of the Educational Leadership Website http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov09/vol67/num03/Teaching-with-Interactive-Whiteboards.aspx


 After reading the article Teaching With Interactive Whiteboards by Robert Marzano, many of my thoughts and opinions were reaffirmed. Since I have started my teaching career in Gretna there has been a lot of talk about technology and there has been a big push for it district wide. This article stated that there has been a big push all over the country. People are finally beginning to realize how technology driven this generation of kids is and that if we want to reach them we have to be technology driven as well.

            I was not surprised by the results of the study. It showed some increases in student achievement and participation. If used correctly, I think technology such as interactive whiteboards can have a huge impact on student learning. One thing that interactive whiteboards provide is a huge visual for the visual learners in the classroom. I teach kindergarten so our communication with them is so strongly visual, especially at the beginning of the year since they cannot read. After sitting in class only one day, I have thought of many ways I can use the whiteboard to visually enhance activities we do daily. One part of our daily routine I could see the whiteboard being very beneficial for is calendar. Calendar is flashy and fun at the beginning of the year but it starts to wear on the kids AND the teacher halfway through the year. It becomes so routine that they do not get the learning components out of it that they need to. I think by having the calendar on the interactive whiteboard it would be less monotonous and activities could easily be switched up or added depending on what we are focusing on at the time.

            The study also showed that some classrooms did not benefit from the interactive boards. I can see this happening to any teacher first using technology if they do not take the time to really plan out their lessons. There are going to be growing pains with new technology, just like there are growing pains with any new curriculum you get in your school. I think it is all about the attitude teachers have about the technology and the collaboration that occurs. Teachers need to be willing to ask each other questions and to share ideas. We had a select few teachers at our school with some great technology this year and one of them was great about sharing ideas, he even offered clicker trainings afterschool to interested staff. The other teachers were not as open. I truly believe if it is made into a collaborative effort the transition into the world of technology will be much smoother and enjoyable.

I won’t lie; I have been scared to use technology in my classroom. I have felt like my first two years I have just been trying to get my feet set and really understand our curriculum. I had no time to even think about incorporating any crazy technology. Our district got a large technology grant in the middle of last year and asked all the teachers what kind of technology they would like to have in their classrooms for the 2011-2012 school year. At first, I was hesitant to request anything. I felt that I was not comfortable using it and it would just be a waste to have it in my room. After talking to a few other teachers, my principal and registering for this class my view changed. You have to start somewhere and I had to take the first step to learn more about this technology because I didn’t want my students to fall behind or miss out on the great things technology can do for them. So instead of being scared I am ready to embrace the ups and downs of having new technology and I look forward to having my smart board in my classroom next school year!

A)     

Podcasts in the Classroom

This article focused on a school that promoted reading by using technology. In this elementary school, students competed in the “Race to 500” which was a challenge for every student in the school to record a podcast about a favorite book. Students used flip cameras, purchased through a grant, to create their podcasts. They also incorporate the use of Audacity, an audio recording program, and Movie Maker to finalize the product. These are all available for PC users, and for Mac users, all of these thing can be completed in Garageband or iMovie. Flip cameras aren’t always necessarily needed either because many computers already come equipped with a built in web camera.

Most students love to record themselves on the computer, or create some sort of product that they can call their own, and show to others. By creating podcasts, students are able to practice presenting, reading fluency, and so many other skills, and will have a final product to show for all of their hard work.

Podcasts can be used for several things in the classroom. Creating a podcast about a book is one of several ideas. Students can create podcasts about current events in the world or classroom, final projects for a unit. In the past I have had students create podcasts advertising their own business they created while studying economics, to create a radio or television talk show to show their understanding of critiquing art, and to create an advertisement about a specific artist they have studied explaining that their most famous works of art will be on display for a limited time at their local art museum. This year I hope to incorporate podcasts into student Glogs as well. The options are endless when creating podcasts in the classroom.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech252.shtml

Social Media At Work

Hall County board OKs social networking policy

Many businesses are challenged with employee recruitment, retention, training, and benefits, but now that technology is such a prevalent part of our everyday life, businesses are now facing the social networking explosion in the workplace.

The City of Grand Island was recently faced with something they hadn't prepared for, employees using social networking while on the city's clock. "With social networking technology such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and LinkedIn, virtually every employer is dealing with the same types of issues that Hall County is regarding using time and resources or disclosing inappropriate information about or from the workplace, he said. " (Grand Island Independent) The bottom line, is the board decided that employees shouldn't be accessing social networking sites during company time or on company equipment.

"Young said the technology does allow for better connectivity and communication and can even improved productivity. He cited multiple times when deputy county attorney's have used teh county's electronic infrastructure to research cases at home or prepare legal work for the county at home after hours." (Grand Island Independent) However, he continued to say that he feels that technology can drain productivity in the workplace.

It is clear that most of the time, digital citizenship is not being used when accessing the internet. It is important that we teach our students the where, when and how's of technology as we incorporate technology into our classrooms to teach content. I feel strongly that if students learn this now, they will be better workers in the future.

Jill Blaylock-Teaching the iGeneration

The article I read was titled Teaching the iGeneration from Educational Leadership February 2011. This article talked about how each of the different generations living today has specific characteristics that they are categorized by. The example in the article were the Traditional or Silent Generation which were people born from 1925-1946. This group believed in common goals and respected authority. The Baby Boomers are known to be optimistic, idealistic, and communicative and they value education and consumer goods. The next generation was generation X which was a generation that was hard to categorize. Then came Generation Y and the World Wide Web, which has influenced this generation since birth. These people have always known what the World Wide Web is. In this article, any person born after 1990 is known as the iGeneration. The “i” stands for the “i” in iPhone, iPod , Wii, and any other thing you can think of related to technology that has an “i” in it. The article states, “Children and youth in this new generation are defined by their technology, and media use, their love of electronic communication and their need to multitask.” Students of this generation believe there can be an app created to do anything, and if it is not created, it will be created soon. Students today are using technology and media any chance they can get. This generation uses Facebook, instant messenger, texting, and Skype to communicate, unlike the previous generation who communicated face to face, and used a telephone connected to a wall to communicate.

Students today are mulitaskers. They can text, surf the net, and watch television all while working on their homework. No wonder students are bored in school when they have to sit and listen to a teacher lecture or watch a PowerPoint presentation. How can we change this so that students are more interested in school? Technology needs to be incorporated into the class; however, technology does not teach the class. The technology can be used to make the learning more powerful and connect to the generation that is in the classroom.

Several websites were suggested to help enhance the learning that is taking place. These were Discovery Education’s Lesson Plan Library, Teachers Helping Teachers, TeachersFirst, and Thinkfinity. These sites can help enhance the technology in your classroom.

One of teachers complaints about technology is that they do not have enough time to research and put all the pieces together for a unit they may be teaching. A suggestion in this article was to have a high school student come to your class and tell them what you are looking for and more than likely, they will come back with more than plenty of information for you to share with your class about this topic using technology. The teacher then would have to only go through the information that was collected and narrow it down to what you can use in your classroom.

This article was very interesting to me. I would have never thought of the different generations and how technology has evolved since the 1900’s. The teachers that are teaching today need to make sure that they are connecting with their students by using technology. Yes, finding the correct technology that is available for you to use while teaching takes time, but the amount of time it takes to learn the technology and figure out the correct type of technology to use for your lesson will benefit the students more than you know.

http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.proxyweb.doane.edu/hww/results/getResults.jhtml?_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.35 I found this article on the online database from the Doane Library.

Technology in the Elementary Classroom

The article was written by a teacher of first grade who was trying to incorporate technology into math for her students. She discussed how students even at a young age can be using excel and other programs to calculate data and make graphs and charts. Being in sixth grade this should be easily accomplished by the students, but the same principal exists. It would be a basic way to teach students how to use programs that will be used in everyday life.

I also enjoyed her thoughts about we need to see math in real life. She gave her students a camera to go around and document math taking place in real life situtations. Then she had her students post the pictures in the classroom. This would be a fun way for students to realize the importance of math.

At the bottom of the article there were several links to games, worksheets, and activities to do with the students. I think these will be very helpful items. Some of which I am going to put on my website that I created.

The Article was called: Using Technology in an elementary classroom by Marilyn Western

www.edzone.net/~mwestern/elemath.html

Ten Ways to Get Smart with SMARTboard

http://www.techlearning.com/article/6106

This article gave tips on ways to use the Smartboard in the classroom. It was from the perspective of an Instructional Technology Resource teacher. She talked about how it was hard for the teachers she worked with to begin using the Smartboard because they didn't know what to do with it or how to get kids involved. Through her research and working with teachers, she compiled a list of ten ways that we as teachers can use our Smartboards with students. She discussed things that are appropriate for different grade levels. I really like the idea of using my Smartboard as an interactive flannel board for the nursery rhymes and other stories. I think the students would really enjoy this. The article also discussed using it for games and interactive websites, which is a lot of what we use now so it was great to get some more links to websites that I could use. I definitely agree with the author that we need to know what we can do with our Smartboards before we can use them efficiently. Along with giving us the Smartboards, school districts also need to supply the training that will help us know what to do with them and our students. Technology is a great asset in the classroom if we are given the tools to know how to use it!