I had a very interesting conversation with one of my 6th Graders today. With a new cohort, I always have to introduce to the idea of Geography and the three components - Human, Physical and Environmental. This is not a criticism of the American system teaching Geography - but by 6th Grade my students are often very unaware as to just how much Geography is in their daily lives. In fact, one of my Inquiry Questions is a debate - "Is Geography the MOST important subject?"
I always give the students National Geographic's from the year of their birth during one of the initial lessons. I ask the students to go through the magazine and cross reference with a website with links about the year of their birth (http://www.infoplease.com/year/2002.html). They identify things that have changed from their year of birth and categorize in the three branches of Geography.
One student raised his hand and called me over and pointed to an advertisement for a 2001 desktop bundle, not unlike the one in the picture above. He pointed to the CPU box and asked, "What's that?"
Really?
Twelve year olds not having seen a desktop? Is this possible? But in honesty, he did not know what it was! I explained that the box did the same thing as what was under the keyboard of the MacBook Pro sitting in front of him. The child's eye's widened - and then I had a flashback moment to 2004 when a student in North Carolina asked my why the tape Walkman would not work - and I asked him if he had turned the tape over. When I extracted the tape from the Walkman to do this, his eyes widened - he had not seen that technology before! He did not realize there was a moveable object in there that "played".
Technology is moving so fast! Five years ago we did not have touch technology - a colleague of mine in school who has done a similar course to this in the UK reminded me of that recently! When she trained - she did not have to handle iPads, iPhones and iPads. Every five years, it would seem, I recreate myself as a teacher - and now as we move rush headlong into the 21st Century Classroom to address the birthers of the new millennia, we as teachers need to take pause, breathe and realize that the technology that we embrace today may not be relevant in five years time. Our careers cannot and will not be stagnant in the classroom - the shift is happening and we need to energize and take risks!
One of the other students looked at the picture later in class - and said his Grandma had that kind of computer in her house. Enough said!
Even as all of these transitions in our world change, online and blended learning from these machines to the handheld devices today have become educational reality for our students. It opens their world to flexible learning and the possibilities to engage with material just about anywhere there is a wi-fi or cell phone signal (and even with satellites our earth is becoming more covered!). This opportunity to learn about what makes an excellent standard in planning a unit for blended or online learning using the iNACOL Standards for Quality Online Learning gave me the insight into the front loading that goes into this kind of education - but truly the rewards await both student and educator in terms of the access.
I always give the students National Geographic's from the year of their birth during one of the initial lessons. I ask the students to go through the magazine and cross reference with a website with links about the year of their birth (http://www.infoplease.com/year/2002.html). They identify things that have changed from their year of birth and categorize in the three branches of Geography.
One student raised his hand and called me over and pointed to an advertisement for a 2001 desktop bundle, not unlike the one in the picture above. He pointed to the CPU box and asked, "What's that?"
Really?
Twelve year olds not having seen a desktop? Is this possible? But in honesty, he did not know what it was! I explained that the box did the same thing as what was under the keyboard of the MacBook Pro sitting in front of him. The child's eye's widened - and then I had a flashback moment to 2004 when a student in North Carolina asked my why the tape Walkman would not work - and I asked him if he had turned the tape over. When I extracted the tape from the Walkman to do this, his eyes widened - he had not seen that technology before! He did not realize there was a moveable object in there that "played".
Technology is moving so fast! Five years ago we did not have touch technology - a colleague of mine in school who has done a similar course to this in the UK reminded me of that recently! When she trained - she did not have to handle iPads, iPhones and iPads. Every five years, it would seem, I recreate myself as a teacher - and now as we move rush headlong into the 21st Century Classroom to address the birthers of the new millennia, we as teachers need to take pause, breathe and realize that the technology that we embrace today may not be relevant in five years time. Our careers cannot and will not be stagnant in the classroom - the shift is happening and we need to energize and take risks!
One of the other students looked at the picture later in class - and said his Grandma had that kind of computer in her house. Enough said!
Even as all of these transitions in our world change, online and blended learning from these machines to the handheld devices today have become educational reality for our students. It opens their world to flexible learning and the possibilities to engage with material just about anywhere there is a wi-fi or cell phone signal (and even with satellites our earth is becoming more covered!). This opportunity to learn about what makes an excellent standard in planning a unit for blended or online learning using the iNACOL Standards for Quality Online Learning gave me the insight into the front loading that goes into this kind of education - but truly the rewards await both student and educator in terms of the access.