Liked the classroom on wheels

Last week's visit to the bus/classroom on wheels was pretty fun. Even though I was only there for part of it, it was impressive. Will this be the new standard, or will it only be available for the schools and districts with the most money? Really liked the cooperative activity and the ability for students to "vote" for the correct answers anonymously. Seems like a great way to get the kids who are shy or unsure of answers involved.

Loved the Guest Speaker

Thinking about our class about two weeks ago with the guest speaker. It was really good to hear some specific applications for what we are learning in class in addition to what our instructor is doing. Since I am very interested in the sciences, I very much appreciated hearing how much the strategies can be applied to specifically teaching science. It really is a natural partnership & the guest speaker was inspiring.

Musings

Trying to catch up on my blog assignments. Where am I right now? A bit overwhelmed with trying to keep track of all my different accounts, user names, and passwords. Wondering if people really care what I think about any particular issue. Sometimes the blog and twitter thing seem so narcissistic that I feel self conscious about posting. . . Also, how does a new teacher find the time to implement what we've been learning about? On the other hand this is opening up a lot of venues for me that I would not have pursued on my own.

Digital Nation

After watching Digital Nation, I feel like a lot of my reservations about the use (and maybe abuse) of technology and the digital world are validated. The whole multitasking phenomenon sometimes makes me crazy when my friends are doing it and I have a close family member who very well might meet the criteria for video/computer game addiction (the Asian criteria-the show indicated that the US doesn't yet recognize this addiction). While technology is great in many ways, the constant connectivity seems to make it impossible for many friends of mine to relax and truly unplug from work, even when they are on vacation. I hope that as a society we are able to find ways to truly use the digital world to serve us as people and not as ways to live in our own isolated digital worlds