Week 11

Field Experience

During this week’s field experience a few kids did their normal routine of listening to the CD players read a book aloud. I went to my host classroom on a different day this time and saw them go to their library session. I haven’t seen this class ever go into the computer lab before. I wonder if they are too young to use the computers because it would take a lot of one on one instruction to help each child. Yes, if it was a small group this would be manageable but as a whole group of first graders it could be troublesome. They are still learning the basics of reading and writing and it would be difficult for them to comprehend even the most basic steps of starting up a computer. If I were the teacher it could be feasible to send a letter home to have the guardians encourage and help the children with basic activities like we practiced for the “Come to the Edge” project. 

Technical Skills

A technical skill that I recently learned was how to use a digital camera when doing the IMovie Project. It was great getting an opportunity to use a video camera because I am used to using a regular camera for taking pictures. After we got the opportunity to film our story, we hooked the camera up to the computer and did a ton of editing. The program had some awesome features like editing music and special effect noises. It brings some comedy to each and every movie. As a group, we all learned how to create an IMovie with special effects and it was a fun activity to do!

Weekly Reading

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/11/02/more-states-look-to-online-learning-for-students/

The article I found came from eschoolnews.com was about states were looking into mandating students to take at least one online course before graduating from High School. The first step is seeing if online courses will prove to help education for students. A key problem with this is that teachers aren’t available inside the classroom to help guide and assist students. Another thing is that the students may not be the actual ones completing the assignments. For example, they can have a smarter friend doing the assigned work online and no one can prove them wrong. As of now there are three states that require students to take an online course in order to graduate. These schools are: Michigan, Alabama, and Florida. I could understand if students were required to complete a class on technology, but I disagree with the fact that they must complete an online course because of the reason I previously stated.