Technology tidbits

This article is a great glimpse into the classroom life of a real teacher and his advice and ideas about using technology as a boost for instruction. While identifying several major hurtles when it comes to incorporating technology in the classroom, Adam Bellow offers advice to combat each of the most common complications with technology in the schools.

Bellow does a great job with focusing on some major pitfalls of current technology in the classroom. I am relieved to see that his focus was with simpler methods and that those simpler, cheaper, and easier methods can still have a large, strong effect on the classroom. My single concern with Bellow’s article is that it does not discuss the limitations necessary with technology in the classroom. Any teacher (or student) knows the struggle a teacher has to go to in order to keep their kids from texting during a lecture. What are some methods that allow teachers to keep a leash on the technology use while still using it as a tool for instruction, presentation, and motivation?

Bellow, Adam. Doing more with less (and other practical educational technology tid bits). (2011) George Lucas Educational Foundation. Retrieved September 27, 2011 from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/education-technology-advice-adam-bellow

Monster Mash; the brilliant idea of a mad scien-er-artist?

A teacher develops a special effects class in the high school with a goal of creating a working special effects studio with students being the driving force creatively and productively. The special effects class is an art class, but with real world applications. The students not only develop their own projects, but also create special effects on a professional level; selling their work for use in independent films, sculptures, and more. Students use problem solving skills and computer programs to plan and bring to life their creations.

This article is an example of one of the incredible ways that teachers are using technology to stretch the possibilities of a classroom. Students in this unique program are doing several things at once; learning applicable skills for the real world (working with clients, working as a team), practicing problem solving skills, and creativity building. Without some of the recent technology available, this class would not have been as successful as it is. By the end of the program, students are producing professional level work, and are basically running their own small business. If this class had been anywhere near me in high school, I would have been all over it. And I am not a fan of traditional art classes.

Bernard, Sara. Monster mash: learning real-world skills in a creature-creating art class. (2007). The George Lucas Educational Foundation. Retrieved from September 27, 2011 from http://www.edutopia.org/classroom-special-effects-studio

Checking out the layout

Back down to Lake Stevens for the weekend.
What this means to me; see my fiance, Sam, my sister, my parents, my niece, my dog, my cat, my sister and parents-in-law (soon-to-be). Yay!!
The purpose of this post is almost entirely reliant on my wanting to know what the layout looks like for posts on this page. Taa-daa!