Ch. 4 of "Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Or Your first Year of Teaching"

Students these days have been raised with laptops, cell phones, ipads and high-speed internet. It wasn't that long ago (I am 24) where cell phones were HUGE and a laptop was something you would see occasionally in a Tom Hanks movie. But now, if you don't have one or all of those devices, you are considered an outcast or at least not technologically savvy. Though I am not that much older than the incoming generation, my future students are learning way faster and are WAY more advanced than I am, even currently. Seriously though, I sometimes have to call my Freshmen brother and ask him for the best websites to find music, hot topics and how to upload a picture from my ipod to my computer. I, as a teacher, need to change how I teach, because how my students learn has changed. The classes I remember the most are the ones where I was able to make collages and talk with friends about what they got out of the lecture (whether we liked it or not mostly, but what we thought was interesting). I devoured the time where we could discuss, in a safe environment, current events and political views. Nowadays, we can easily find both sides of a controversy with a simple click of a button on our computers or text CHACHA. I need to implement their passions that is why we need to make blogging, Facebooking and playing video games a part of everyday education, to keep students engaged and interested. And honestly so they can keep us up to par on the new technology, the newest high school cliques (A hipster is a clique now, what is a hipster? Really?) and who is dating who. The times have changed, so teachers must as well!

Justine Griffith’s Netiquette

For grades K-3

1. Don’t Hurt Anyone on the Inside or Outside: This means keep your hands to yourself and to your own computer workstation. Please don’t say mean things to those around you or type anything mean online...you WILL get in trouble!
2. Stay Close: Please stay on the websites that are provided for you by your teacher or that are saved on the desktop
3. Do NOT give out your information: Don’t give out your address, send a photo, your name or a family member’s name, school information, what town you live in, or your age, I mean NOTHING. Even if it is your friend who you are Instant Messaging, you will see them right after class so please wait until then.
4. Help others: Help others when they ASK for it
5. Take your time: I don’t want to see really sloppy work, so please take your time.
6. Teacher Time: If someone is hurting you on the inside or outside, FIRST tell them respectfully to stop if they keep hurting you then tell me or another teacher.
7. Cite your Work: Make sure you give credit to the person whom you are borrowing the information from (they worked really hard on it).

Jigsaw Classroom Activity

Jigsaw Classroom Activity looks awesome and I can't wait to implement one of these within my elementary classroom. For those who do not know what the Jigsaw Classroom Activity is please check out http://www.jigsaw.org/overview.htm. Although you need access to computers, I think regardless of how many computers you have available in the classroom, the students will be able to look up resources according to a time limit set by a timer. Each student will have access to the computer and with the accountability of their peers,  time and efficiency will be respected. Because the students will be divided up into groups, each looking up different aspects, if one student found a great website with multiple resources s/he could share it with the group and later on share it with the other students with the same subject content.

Advantages:

• Each student does their own work and learns about different resources available (school websites, academic searches, etc.)
• Students learn the content knowledge from not only their work but from their peers who have similar material and other aspects around the topic
• Students learn what teamwork/accountability really looks like
• Comprehension of what they are reading

Disadvantages:

• Some students may be quicker than others or may have at home access (in this case peer tutoring will be used to help other students who have the same topic)
• If one student really doesn't pull his/her weight it causes the group to suffer
• May not have resources that accurate

Overall I think this would be a great assignment for all age groups (even if you don't use computers, simply textbooks) it will help children learn the importance of teamwork, fluency and comprehension, and to have fun as a group and get to know people you wouldn't normally play with on the playground!

Classroom of the future?

More than 20 years ago a video was produced called Classroom of the Future. On this video there were a number of technological advancements that had not really been produced but could be foreseen in the near future. This technology was going to revolutionize the education system and provide a safer and more adept way of handling the classroom environment. Although not all things shown in this video have been used in the classroom, there were a number of elements that have been.

The futuristic setting is in a classroom filled with, what I call gaming chairs, (you know the ones that rock back and forth and are really low to the ground, sort of L-shaped) and the teacher not teaching in front of a chalk board but an interactive "smart board". Here the instructor displays maps and a PowerPoint slide describing what is expected of the students in the assignment due the next day. She assigns groups of two in which she introduces to us a student who had recently broken his leg and was at home healing. He was on a live feed interacting with the classroom (which could happen but I am not sure that is legal) and showing his skills of research which could be done from his bed. He uses voice recognition software which then takes him to film archives, the schools online database, and a way to electronically send his work (now email) to his course partner.

I still agree with the video that there is no need for desks anymore. Now with Ipads the children have all the tools they need for a successful education, regardless of the actual age of the student. I see schools giving students an ipad for the school year in which they can leave at school or checkout to bring home to do homework. Future technology will only tell how advanced we can go!

Introductions are in order...

Hello!

  Well I believe introductions are in order. My name is Justine Griffith and I am a 24 year old (non-traditional) junior transfer student from University of Idaho. My focus is elementary education grades K-4th with a certificate in literacy. Education has been a passion of mine since I was little, (maybe because my mother was a teacher) simply because of the positive impact of many of my primary and secondary teachers.

  My whole philosophy as a future teacher is to make education fun and hands on. I am a huge kinesthetic learner and would like to implement as many activities for students to take part in, which is why learning centers are going to used.  I believe the interactions taking place in learning centers are a huge part of their education, not only does the student get to choose what they want to get done first, but students also get peer tutoring if they get stuck and a teacher can't get to them. Both are beneficial to the student receiving the tutoring but the student who is helping gains a better understanding on the subject matter as well.

 Growing up in Northern Idaho has been very beneficial in my education. Since the class sizes were still small the teachers actually had time to help a student, it provided me with a one-on-one relationship with my teachers. This was helpful in providing the confidence I needed to succeed and put myself out there within the class when answering questions or math problems. This is just one of the many stepping stones that were used to help create my ideology of what education is all about; encouraging students to take initiative of their own education and giving them to confidence in who they are to complete the journey set before them.