Quote - Page 32: "What mattered most to him were not the programs he wrote or the games he played, but his engagement with others." I choose this quote because while I was reading Sam's story about Scratch I was sure he was going to say that creating games was the reason why he was creating a Scratch computer program but what he liked most was the responses he received from fellow animators on Scratch. He craved that authentic response from people who shared the same interests as him.
Question: What matters most to you? What you create and post online or the responses you receive based on your product?
Connection: I see a connection between this chapter and our 20% project. I as unsure about my project until I received feedback from my peers. They not only gave me the encouragement to continue on with my sewing project but they all commented about how great it was I was completing the project with my daughter. I loved receiving this feedback and now every time before I post about my sewing progress I think about my peers and if they will continue to enjoy my progress with my learning something new.
Epiphany/Aha: I do not provide my students with enough opportunties to receive feedback not only from their peers but also from students beyond our classroom. I'm going to create time after spring break where my students have to grade each other's homework responses, including feedback as a way to provide more peer-peer communication within my classroom. In addition to this, I would like to create a classroom blog on my website. I would like to create more opportunities for my students to share and receive feedback from their peers. I believe this is definitely missing from my classroom.
Chapter 2
Quote - Page 37: "In the new culture of learning, the classroom as a model is replaced by learning environments in which digital media provide access to a rich source of information and play, and the processes that occur within those environments are integral to the results." I choose this quote because to me it sums up the new culture of learning as a way in which the internet is integrated in a way to provide our students access to new and unique ideas, opinions that extend their knowledge base beyond the classroom walls.
Question: In this chapter it talks about the classroom environment as being an integral part of the new culture of learning. How do you think culture emerges from the environment? This aspect of the chapter has me thinking okay this sounds great but what does this look like in a classroom?
Connection: This chapter I definitely see a connection with the shift in education from transferring information (teacher) to student to the student exploring and discovering the information to make it meaningful to them. We, as teachers, seen as the end all be all of information...because ultimately we have the internet and even we have become accustomed to saying, "Google it!" Embracing our changing world because of the internet is the first step to changing our classrooms. There is a connection between what I'm learning in my classes at CSUSM to what this chapter is about. Through discussions with my fellow teacher candidates and professors I have been exposed to a new way of teaching. This student centered, student lead way.
Epiphany/Aha: Before reading this chapter I never looked at the traditional way of teaching as being a programmed way of teaching students to follow specific directions and everyone in the class come to the same product or output. This test based approach to cramming as much information as we can to our students as quickly as possible so they can pass a test and get measurable results. This way to teaching is not motivating and meaningful to our students. We need to create a more authentic environment where students expectations are set not by the teacher but by the motivation within each student.
Chapter 3
Quote - Page 47: "Children use play and imagination as the primary mechanisms for making sense of their new, rapidly evolving world."
Question: This chapter talks a lot about Wikipedia: Do you as an educator allow students to cite Wikipedia as a valid source? Why o why not?
Connection: This chapter, the focus around play and imagination really was eye opening. I cannot imagine my young daughter's life without play...so why don't we continue that play based learning through all of our schools K-12 and beyond. As children grow up they are constantly learning through play. They imagine, pretend, create, get dirty, and ask a ton of questions all the time. Unfortunately, there comes a point we we remove the play aspect from learning. There comes a point where we believe that memorizing facts and information become more important than playing and discovering. I definitely see a connection with this chapter and what we are learning in our technology class about the importance of reaching out and discovering educators that can offer something to new for our classroom and students. Through these new authentic relationships, we can as educators, have an opportunity to expand our views and ideas about teaching. We now have a tool (the internet) that has the ability to change the way our classrooms look today. Scary, no not really, it sounds fun, energizing, and there will probably be a lot of playing and discovering by both teachers and students.
Epiphany/Aha: I need to implement more opportunities for my students to learn through playing in my classroom. After all hasn't some of the greatest inventions and creations come from people that were just playing around, having fun and discovering. I need to have a bit more fun in my classroom!