Class 10/03/2011

In the beginning of class, I found going over data analysis to be very boring because I had already taken an Evaluation and Assessment course last semester which had a large emphasis on tables and spreadsheets. However, the discussions were very stimulating and interesting. I especially enjoyed the discussions we had about MeritPay and History.

I am against MeritPay and the way Standardized Testing currently functions in PA. I believe that instead of rewarding already good schools, the money should be evenly distributed and have each school set aside a certain allowance to provide incentives for students to do well on their assessments. Schools who achieve lower on standardized tests are obviously in need of more resources to improve their methods of teaching and provide a better environment for students to learn in. MeritPay is counter productive because giving teachers paid incentive is only placing more emphasis on their salary instead of on their students. What schools need are teachers who care about each and every student, ones who genuinely care about their students' success, not teachers who care about how much money they get. Student incentive brings focus to the student, and gives students motivation to well because, in the end, standardized testing is supposed to help the student understand what they have and what they need in order to meet our society's standards to be able to achieve personal success and a good job.

In terms of what kind of history should be taught at an elementary level, it is important to teach the truth, but there is a line which needs to be defined as to the extent of the truth. History is tricky, because even the accounts that are recorded are only a fraction of the truth and only one perspective on a very short time period. I believe elementary school social studies should focus primarily on social systems and how they function. That way, as they get older, they can look at History from an objective view point and understand why bad things happen and examine possible solutions or prevention for the future. However, it is also important for parents to properly explain things like death and religion to their children as early as possible, so the students are able to have their own perspectives instead of relying on what they learned in class. If a child is too young to understand death, they are too young to learn about Western European Colonization, instead of teaching them lies about colonial relations and falsely relating a National Holiday to an event that never happened. Teaching young students about how different government systems work, teaching them geography, and perhaps examining certain prominent people is a good way to teach young students history without including societal, religious, or political biases.

Class 9/12/11

I thought learning about the Digital Immigrants was very interesting. It seems like there is this technology "gap" between generations in the U.S.
Both of my parents can do certain technology skills like type fluently on a qwerty keyboard, use all of the Microsoft Office tools, and use facebook. However, when it comes to performing certain tasks on the internet, they usually ask me to help them.
My one grandfather has a computer and can pretty much only use email. My other grandfather does not have a computer or email account, and is completely illiterate when it comes to technology. However, I never heard either of them speak negatively about technology, they just accept that they don't know how to use it.

The 21st Century Classroom

Describe the differences between the 21st century classroom and the classrooms of 10 or 20 years ago.
It seems that the biggest difference between the 21st century classroom from its predecessors is that 21st century classrooms focus on students developing multiple intellectual skills as opposed to acquiring information and studying techniques. A shift from students learning from the teacher about specific subjects, to students and teachers learning HOW to learn and solve problems using different mediums and communicating ideas/solutions creatively via multiple platforms and technologies. Due to the rapid evolution of technology during the 21st century, classrooms now have the opportunity to gather information from more than just a text book, and do more than just listen to their teacher lecture. These technologies do not just provide more opportunities and accommodations to education, but also make their implementation in education a necessity because of the demand for technology literacy and creative thinking/communication skills in the 21st century workplace.
In the 21st century classroom, students are provided with multiple ways to learn, and are required to communicate their knowledge and needs with their classmates and to the teacher. Teachers are required to be flexible, well-prepared, observant, open-minded, and up-to-date on their teaching content and methods. In past classrooms, the students were required to listen to their teacher and retain the information being taught. Now, both the students and teacher are required to be observant and respectful of each other to produce a more interactive and stimulating learning environment. Instead of being assessed on how well they retain and apply information, students of today's classrooms are also assessed on skills such as team-work and communication through group projects and class discussions.