Facchinei,+Elena

Elena's Delicious Site

Journal #4: Copyright is pretty confusing. Though this is a little embarrassing, I wasn't familiar with any of these cases or examples prior to taking this class and starting our projects. Some things that didn't surprise me, though, were that teachers could use copies of art in their instruction as well as written material (I didn't know there was a length requirement). All throughout school I always thought that if you used someone else's materials everything would be fine as long as you gave them credit, and I never thought the news could commit copyright infringement. That is what surprised me most in these readings (the case where the news played a film of a beating in Los Angeles). I always looked at news stations as kind of a transmitting point; just a place to relay information they found. Another thing that surprised me is that, as a teacher, the TEACH act only protects the material you copy and use in the classroom and not for any other use. I know that I will have to make myself more and more familiar with the act because I'm sure it is subject to change considering how fast advancements occur.

Journal #3: The only Web 2.0 tools I can see myself using for school right now is the flash card one. This I'm hoping will help me study for my classes, but I haven't started yet. I am not fully engaged with any Web 2.0 tools yet, but I'm hoping they will make my life more efficient by "cleaning up" my study/writing habits. Hopefully,http://www.delicious.com/elenafacchineitools such as these will keep me organized as well as on top of my work and grades. However, this is just a hope. These tools could very well make my study habits less efficient as I will always need to be carrying my laptop around or in a place with internet access. I enjoy having hard copies of my material, especially when writing essays or studying. The best way for me to study is actually re-writing a summary of all my notes. It is time consuming but afterwards I've absorbed the material. I've tried typing my notes back up and it doesn't work as efficiently because I can't spread my ideas all over the page and I think the motions in writing helps trigger my memory. Also, if I am writing an essay I absolutely cannot organize my ideas on the computer I need to spread papers all over my desk and scribble everywhere. Of course the computer will help me in the long run, but I NEED to have hard copies. Hopefully, I can integrate these tools in my classroom so my students won't run into the problem I do (provided they all have access to the internet). As an English teacher, I plan to use software that organizes students ideas for essays and lets them collaborate simultaneously. Classroom technology in the next decade is going to do nothing but increase at a faster rate. Pretty soon I can see some students out-sourcing the teachers in their technology skills. I babysit for elementary students that use and learn Web 2.0 tools without even knowing the extent of what they're doing. They're making animations and sharing them with friends just for fun. I went to the same school as these children and had the same teachers they do. I am positive the teachers aren't aware of these capabilities. That's why I think it is important to have extracurricular activities concerning this 21st century socialization process as well as frequent workshops for teachers to stay updated.

Journal #2: Up until this semester, my experience with educational technology has been limited to powerpoints, blackboard, and videos. I see that these tools have become a safety net for some teacher, and I can already see the effects. I too am more inclined to make a powerpoint presentation before contemplating anything else. It seems natural since I've been exposed to/ using them since freshman year of high school. Thought I think this software is overused, I still encourage their use because there are always new advancements/ ideas (such as pecha kucha) and teachers usually require students to make their own, which forces them to engage with the computer and use their computer skills. However, I've had some teachers that literally read of different information while showing the slides which are packed with as much information as possible. This caused confusion, frustration, and honestly was ineffective. My plan is to incorporate as much technology into the classroom as possible while encouraging the students to use the same tools that I do. However, I think I need to hold on to the traditional way of teaching. I will not discard natural, face to face class discussions. With this technological boom, the younger generations are adapting their communication skills. I would like to enforce technology-free interaction to keep the traditional ideals. So, in conclusion, I want to equip students with technological skills AND old school communication skills. I will use technology and encourage the students to do so everyday, yet I plan to have a certain time slot devoted to not being interrupted by the digital world.

Journal#1: We are in the middle of a technological revolution. Going into professions such as teaching, it is extremely important for us to be technologically friendly and knowledgeable now more than ever. The classroom is a place for learning and technology (especially computers) is becoming more common as a classroom tool as it is very helpful in both teaching and learning at home and at school. I am not very tech-savvy. For this reason I am going to use an easy example: PowerPoint. In high school I found powerpoint instruction very helpful. It was not boring, it was visually engaging, and it provided for quick escapes to other links and videos. I never got bored of this approach to teaching. It was a European History class so the slides included many paintings or works of art as well as links to European news sites or short videos by historians. The teacher did not read right off the slides which contained very little text, he spoke conversationally about the photos or topics which allowed the main points to sin into our memory while we were exposed to the details. Powerpoint provides for a mix of learning styles to be reached at the same time very quickly and easily. Although there are many ways a powerpoint can me misused such as an overload of information or an incomprehensible color scheme, I hope to use it successfully in my classroom.