First WebQuest

I have attached the first assignment handed in for the WebQuest Project. I am so proud of my student. The WebQuest was called Budgeting for the Future and it seems that my student learned alot and had fun doing it. I can't wait to see the other 155 of them!

WebQuest - a blast from the not too distant past!

I am proud to announce that my students are using the WebQuest that was created for this class and I have received a positive response from them. They are so excited and cannot wait to explore it. They asked so many questions last week in reference to the WebQuest - such as - "did you actually to this?" to many questions regarding careers, taxes, interest,etc - some did not know that you had to pay property tax in addition to the tax that is paid to the government and state on April 15. I know that my students will take away not only a great learning experience but this will spark many questions -some answered and some not about things they may have never considered. I am looking forward to creating three additional WebQuests which will be a summer project that my students will have to do for each quarter.

Thanks again Dr. Luongo for making us aware of this product!

CLRN

California Learning Resource Network is a great educational tool for administrators, teachers, students and parents of California and of course, anyone else, (not just Californians) who can use this tool to obtain additional information on subjects that they may have difficulty in or would like to supplement. This is an extensive database and there are many search mechanisms that can be employed to find any resources that you are interested in finding additional information on.

The California Learning Resource Network is aligned to California Curriculum State Standards -but those who are not familiar with California Standards can still use one of the many other search mechanisms to find subject matter of interest. Search results are listed in a table with a link and you can specify as many search criteria that you may have.

I have clicked on Mathematics under the Learning Resource (ELR) tab and there are so many valuable links to many - many Internet sites for many different math topics for every grade level. It would actually take about a week to go through everything this web site has to offer so that maximum advantage could be taken of all it has to offer. I think that this is a "good job" for the summer. It does not matter that the curriculum standards are not the same for New Jersey as California.

Technology-Enhanced Lesson Planning

I just finished my technology enhanced lesson plan. This lesson plan is serving two purposes - one for Dr. Luongo and the course requirements, and the other as a base for our NJASK8 review scheduled for next week, during which I will be evaluated by my supervisor. The lesson plan that I sent to Dr. Luongo, will be modified for my classes to include another objective, interest - which must be added to the existing objective of reviewing commission, sales tax, percent of earnings. These four objectives must be reviewed in one 40 minute period.

In this 40 minute period, we need to grasp our students attention, teach the material, have them do some practice work, see of they "get it" and then give them some homework so that we may further evaluate and they may have some more practice. When I see the lesson plans on paper - it seems like a really big task and sometimes it is - but somehow we get it done!

I usually use an overhead to introduce the lesson and I have a projector and a laptop - our book comes with pre-written power point lessons for those students who are more visual learners.
This time - I will introduce the WebQuest at the end of clas and my students - all of them are actually going to do this project - that I wrote during this course - as a project assignment. The project is going to be "kicked off" during their computer period by the computer teacher and me. I am very excited about this and so are they - something new and fun! This gives addtional time for independent learning - as we have to move on to the curriculum specified for 4th quarter. The WebQuest provides a way of revisiting old material and hopefully helping those who did not master the material, get a better understanding.

There was a lot of information given to us in the course - so much that it will take some time to go through it and take advantage of what will pertain to each of us individually. I know I am sometimes a little on the negative side about technology - actually the misuse of technology - but I really believe that technology does enhance the curriculum - we just have to be responsible and keep our kids in check - we need to make sure we don't become lazy and expect technology to do our jobs for us - because we know that as long as we work very hard - and make sure our kids do - we will make a difference.

Thanks Dr. Luongo for all of the great information!

Classroom of the Future

This video left me wondering about a lot of things. It made me think of the past - my past growing up and being educated, my children's elementary and high school days and what is in store for the future.

This video made me think back to sitting in my classroom in the 70's and when the teacher would bring in a movie - on the very old fashioned projector and reel and show it on any flat wall in the classroom. There would always be a clip before the movie began and the voice sounded exactly like the voice in the video - Classroom of the Future. The clip would usually be about something that was progressive - a new invention - like the "telephone" (only kidding) - but something that was being introduced to our society to make our lives easier. Now - we are getting new classrooms complete with flat screen televisions, computers at every station, and state of the art furniture. Wow - where are the blackboards, the manipulatives, the things we used to see in school - where are the children - have they been replaced with robots? Yes, I know technology has taken us to a point that we are not using slate tablets instead of paper - but we never replaced a human teacher with a video!

The video actually made me think about how obsolete humans are becoming - how "Jetson" like our world is - we no longer need to have phone operators, or speak to a human when we need our calls directed - a machine can do that for us. We no longer need to talk - we can tweet (and who really cares if we are walking down the street or washing our hands (who has the time to type this stuff in anyway), or leave a voice mail or maybe have our voice mail leave a message for a friend's voice mail. You no longer have to have "my people call your people" - you don't need people any more - the phone will do it. WHAT WOULD WE DO IF WE DID NOT HAVE A PHONE....HOW MANY PHONES ACCOMPANY THEIR OWNERS TO THE BATHROOM?
I even sometimes forget that when I use a LAN line I don't have to press SEND. We even have toilets that flush for us and sinks that the water turns on. You just wave your hand and the paper towel comes out.

I know I may sound insane - but did you really ever stop and think about all of this stuff? What are we creating in the name of technology? What kind of human beings are we molding - those who cannot exist unless instantly gratified - is it technology that excites them or is it they cannot do without it because they are incapable?

Are we creating a society that will become mental vegetables because every THING "thinks" for us and we don't have to do it for ourselves?

What will the new classrooms be like - according to the video - technology rules - will there be a master teacher sitting somewhere in "SPACE" and the teacher in the classroom -will just roam around (like the ROOMBA) making sure everyone is on task!

I just don't get where we are going - is the technology that is created by humans going to outsource the creators?

Employment opportunites through Social Networking

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 25 million experienced professionals. LinkedIn members have the opportunity to "speak" to perspective employers and employers have a large number of resumes to sort through. "Friends" can be easily connected and a job match may be the result. LinkedIn is a very valuable resource to those who have lost their jobs - their relationships made during their careers now extends from those they have met and made an impression on to all their new "friends" that they could be linked to.

LinkedIn is different than face book - although it is a social networking site - because it is predominantly used to maintain business relationships. Face Book is is strictly used to maintain social relationships. Face Book is checked by employers, however when researching hopeful employees. People should be very careful when posting on Face book.

NetSmartz.org Social Networking TIPS

This video was very informative and would most definitely appeal to the students that I teach. I teach 8th graders who are immersed in Face Book. I do not think that they are aware of all the ramifications of their postings. They are very trusting in so many ways and I am fearful that some of them will get into unanticipated trouble if they are ignorant of how "bad" people can disguise themselves are their friends. As soon as we are done preparing for NJASK and there are a few minutes "breathing" time in each period, I will show this video to them or ask the computer teacher to do it. Thanks for letting us know about this video!