Week Nine: Blog Question

- How is tutoring going
- What you normally do with studets (who is he? what subjects do you cover?)
- Questions or concerns you have at this point?

Week Nine: Blog Question

What is the most important things to keep in mind when developing brain-compatible Lessons?

With this vast amount of knowledge I learned throughout this course and with the assistance of How the Brain Learns, its hard to bring it all together into a lesson plan and keep in mind the large amount of information.
Unfortunately there is no answer to this question. There are several components to keep in mind when developing brain-compatible lessons but one component is not as important as the other. They are all important. Not every lesson plan can address every aspect of every possible teaching method but we can come very close.
We should keep in mind:
- Learning engages the entire person.
- The human brain seeks patterns in search of meaning.
- Emotion affects all aspects of learning, retention, and recall.
- Past experiences always affects new learning.
- The brain’s working memory has a limited capacity.
- Lecture usually results in the lowest degree of retention.
- Rehearsal is essential for retention.
- Practice does not make perfect.
- Each brain is unique.
While teaching we should set a strategy that captures attention, tell the students what you expect, state why they should know this, inform them of the knowledge they should know, clear and correct models, check for understanding, provide immediate feedback, and provide the opportunity during closure to attach sense and meaning to new learning.
Teachers can only hope they help all their students but they should also know that sometimes this does not always work. With the necessary knowledge, we can correct this and hopefully help all in some way.

Week Eight: Blog Question

How do emotions affect thinking?
What teaching have you observed that promotes higher order thinking?

Emotion plays an important role in the thinking process. Emotions play a role in long term memory, take precedence during cerebral processing and can impede or assist cognitive learning. When we like a topic, we are focused and interested and question the material. If we don’t like the topic, we spend the least amount of time as possible with the material.
Learning a new topic, students feel neutral. Challenging them with activities and higher-level thinking sparks an interest and therefore positive feelings towards the material. With positive emotion, students broaden their scope of attention and their critical thinking skills are enhanced. Students solve problems for themselves rather than wait for the answer.

In order to promote higher order thinking, we can refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy.


The lowest complexity is remember where students are able to define, label, recall and recognize where material is already learned and all that is required is bringing knowledge up. They don’t need to be able to comprehend it, just know it.
Understand allows students to summarize, discuss, explain, and outline concepts and describes the ability to make sense of the material in some fashion.
Apply is the ability to practice, calculate, apply and execute learned material in new situations.
Analyze is the ability to contrast, distinguish and deduce. The learner can organize and reorganize information into categories and understands the content and structure.
Evaluate allows the learner to appraise, judge, assess and critique the material by using their knowledge. This level usually has more than one answer but students use their knowledge to back up their perspective and are more receptive to other answers as well.
Create is the highest complexity and refers to imagining, composing, designing, and inferring material. It involves the production of creativity, forming new patterns and structures, and using divergent thinking. You refer back to all information, understanding, and application to produce this product.

Teachings that I have observed that promotes higher order thinking includes projects that opens students to do anything they please relating to the field. One project I did my sophomore year was relate Henry VIII’s six wives to the Desperate Housewives. Not only did I need to know background information on Henry VIII and his wives but relate them to tv characters and make connections and show evidence. Not only was it fun, but I put a lot of effort into it because I liked the topic and my teacher allowed me to be creative and not follow a strict structure.

Week Seven: Blog Question

What impact does hemispheric preference have on learning style?

Both left and right hemispheres of the brain are engaged in complex tasks but approach it in much different ways. Left brain monitors the areas for speech. It recognizes words, letters and numbers. It is analytical, evaluates factual material in a rational way, and detects time and sequence. The right brain gathers information more from images than words, looking for patterns, recognizes context of language, specializes in special perception and recognizes faces, places, and objects. These functions are rarely exclusive, and students use both sides of the brain while learning but one side is preferred. Their preference affects student’s personality, abilities, and learning style.

Teachers often teach the way they learned and use their own hemispheric preference. It is important to incorporate both hemispheric preferences for all students to truly grasp the context.
In society today, schooling seems to be left-brain dominated. They are run through time schedules, favor facts and rules and offer verbal instruction. Girls, who have been proven to be more left- hemisphere preference, feel more comfortable in this type of environment. Those who are right-hemisphere preferred, such as boys, feel more hostile towards schooling and prove to be more difficult in the classroom with discipline problems.

We need to teach the whole brain, and the entire classroom. One way to approach this is to deal with concepts verbally and visually. You can achieve this by writing key words, using diagrams showing the main ideas and their relations, or using a small excerpt video presentation and discussing the meaning. By using both visual and verbal techniques, students are more likely to understand the material.
Another approach is to design effective visual aids. How we position information should follow a pattern or a relationship with other concepts.
After teaching students the facts such as events in history ask students to think out of the box, become creative, and ask them thought-invoking questions like what if’s, or take a different approach with situations and have them make it their own.
Avoid conflicting messages and make sure your body language is in tune with your language.
Give options in testing and in completing assignments. Get out of the box and away from paper and pencil and creatively assess their knowledge using simulations, projects, and models.



What are the arguments for teaching the Arts?
How does art education develop cognitive growth?

Not one culture on this planet doesn’t have art. Art is a necessity for human experience and survival, therefore we should incorporate art into our educational curriculum.
- Art enhances the growth of cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor pathways.
- Schools are obligated to expose children to art.
- Learning the arts provides a higher quality of human experience.

Art develops cognitive competencies that benefit learners in every aspect of their education and prepare them for the demands of the 21st century.
- Perception of relationships: creating their own art, students recognize how parts of work influences each other and how they interact.
- An attention to nuance: The arts teach students that small difference can have large effects.
- Good things can be done in different ways and there are multiple solutions to questions and problems.
- Work in the arts help students recognize and pursue goals and can change goals in the process.
- In the absence of rules, you must use personal judgement and make a decision according to the situation.
- Art enhances the use of imagination and to visualize situations.
- Art allows students to invent ways to exploit constraints properly.
- Art helps students frame the world in new ways from an aesthetic perspective.

Art teaches life lessons in the classroom without defined structure or organization. Arts and science may seem like polar opposites but work hand in hand and only improve these abilities. The arts have proved to help SAT scores, reach students that were not otherwise being reached, improve self-concept, connects students, transforms the environment into a positive climate, challenges successful students, and connects learning experiences to the real world. Art is therefore essential to education and an important factor tying in all subjects and the student body.

Week Six: Blog Question

What is meant by the statement " Today's learning is tomorrow's transfer?"

Transfer gives us the ability to learn in one situation, and then use the learning in other situations. Transfer is the core of problem solving, creative thinking, and all other higher mental processes, inventions, and artistic products. Transfer during learning refers to the effect that past learning has on the processing of new learning. If you miss one step, most likely you won't be able to complete the other steps. Transfer of learning refers to the degree in which the learning is applied in future situations. Transfers can either be positive or negative. When past learning helps new learning, it is positive. If it interferes with new learning, its negative. There are several factors that affect transfer such as the context and degree of original learning, similarity, critical attributes, and association such as emotion.

Transfer depends on the quality of original learning prior to new learning. If we struggled with one subject, furthering with that subject will always seem difficult for that student. What we teach now will affect their future learning and makes a difference between a student who is discouraged, and the student who is ethusiastic to learn.

For me, I always struggled with fractions because I never understood it in grade school. I got so frustrated I would tune out the teacher who would teach fractions to me. I couldn't add fractions so therefore I felt I couldn't multiply fractions. Working with my student, Faisal who is brilliant in math, he told me we were working on fractions and I think I might've groaned because I always struggled with it when I was his age.

In order to prevent this, we need to make sure everything you teach will make it easier for students to build on these primary concepts. Make every lesson a positive experience by retaining the attention of students, helping them make past connections especially with emotions, and help them understand to the best of your ability new knowledge.

Week Four: Blog Question

Does "Practice make perfect?"
How will the current view of intellegence impact you teaching and learning?

I'd like to think practice makes perfect but sometimes people's perfection doesn't get them as far as they'd like to go. There will always be obstacles to hold you back. Practice does however make permanent. I learned through a mini lesson i presented, information and memory, known as engrams, will decay and be thrown out by the brain if it is rarely used.
However in order to create perfection, learners need to repeat this skill overtime. The skill memory is then recalled and additional practice follows until it becomes almost second nature.
This current view of intellegence will greatly impact my teaching as wel las my learning. I remember back in high school how much I despised math and science. What i would do is study the material, memorize it for a day, take a test, ace it, and then kick out that information because I never used it again. Somehow, I want to take History or English and connect it to the student's life somehow. I want to form this giant puzzle that overlaps and combines with other subjects so the kids really know and understand the information rather than just memorize. My teacher was helping me one day as I was struggling with tests and I said ok ill go home and memorize it and he said No! I want you to know it. There's a difference. That teacher really taught me so much because I didn't just memorize it, I knew it and his activites have stucked with me to this day.

Week Three: Blog Question

What metaphors could you use for an information processing model?
What are teaching implications in regards to the capacity of working memory?


My favorite metaphor for an information processing model, such as the brain, would be a network of highways. I think the kids can really visualize a network of speedways rather than neurons racing from one side of the brain to the other sending messages.

Some teaching implications in regards to the capacity of working memory should include some visual, lecture, and hands on activity that will engage the student. That student can then use that knowledge later and apply it to their everyday life. It's extremely difficult trying to find a way to engage such a large group of students and keep them involved and all have them understand. Students all learn different ways therefore you should always apply some techniques using visual, auditory and hands on.

Week Two: Blog Question

Why is it important to include novelty in a lesson.

The world has become completely different in the past fifteen years. Teachers may feel students bore easily or have shorter attention spans. But children are growing up in different environments. Family units are unstable. Kids are surrounded by media. Their sleep deprivated. They get information from other sources and not just school. They spend a lot of time indoors. Their diet isn't the best either. I grew up kind-of sheltered. My parents had some problems but not severe. I was always athletically active and ate well with a low sodium diet. I only learned about drugs in health class and not the streets. These concepts have enhanced the use of novelty.

It is important to include novelty into your lesson for students to really remember information. New and unique techniques will help students actually know and recall information rather than memorize it. If you create a fun way to educate, students will retain information not because they need to but because it was a fun activity in the classroom.
Technology is probably the easiest way to educate students in an easy environment. As a high school student, I would have loved using technology in the classroom because its a new and unique way. Being unique allows students to remember it easier in the future.
We can use novelty by using humor, movement, multi-sensory instruction, quiz games and music. It's important to incorporate fun and these ways for students to react to material and remember it as well.


PS. My mom works as an assistant in the classroom in lower level classes. She's there to motivate students to do their work. At first, my mother thought students were lazy, as did the teachers. The teachers would ask why isn't your homework done, why aren't you getting sleep, what's holding you back? It wasn't until a student came up to my mother to vent. He doesn't do homework because he does not have a place to do it. He isn't getting enough sleep because he has no bed. What's holding him back is he's actually homeless. He doesn't have a desk or table to do homework. He goes to school to actually get some food and stay warm and seek comfort. He doesn't do well because he lacks everything I take advantage of and not many teachers know that kids have problems that are completely unrelated to schooling. My mother has heard things from their parents abuse them, their parents smoke weed or do much worst, and they fight and yell all the time. One kid whos parent was going through a heavy divorce came into school to talk about her son's grades. She responded, "I don't have time for my son. I have other problems like my divorce. My son can take care of himself," while he was in the room. Sometimes I think teachers don't know half the problem.

Week One: Blog Question

How do you define your intelligence? Do think your attitude towards your own learning would have changed, if you had taken part in the Stanford Universty experiment when you were in middle school? Explain Why?

The definition for intelligence is different for almost everyone. I believe intelligence is a result of learning something whether good or bad. It's a mental capability which involved the ability to comprehend, make decisions, learn, and form personality traits. You can apply intelligence but I believe it's not necessary.
I don't think my attitudes toward my learning would have changed if I had taken part in the Stanford University experiment in middle school. In middle school and high school, I had a strong attitude towards my academics. I think this may have been from the pressures made by my parents who wanted the best for me. I also needed amazing grades to stay in athletics. I thought of myself intelligent. If my grades were not above average, I would make myself work harder and focus more in that subject. I was self-determined. Sometimes, I don't think it's student's mindsets but actually just laziness. Students don't try hard enough in academics and they make excuses saying their too dumb. Over time, they believe they are dumb and therefore create the mindset of stupidity when really the problem is laziness.

Week Five: Reading Reflection

Listen to some examples of student created podcast from http://www.epnweb.org/ and reflect on the learning that took place to create it. Post to your blog and comment on two of you peer's.


I thought it was absolutely amazing how much information a fourth grade class could learn about Jamestown and with that information create their own stories of history that are fairly realistic. The technology didn't distract them but made them even more intrested and involved in their historical subjects and research. From the research they gathered on their ipods, tape recorders, notebooks, camcorders ,and cameras the teacher gave them a broad variety of podcast projects they can incorporate what they learned. I feel that since the teacher gave them so much liberty, students wanted to do their projects even more. It was flexible and was interesting making the Jamestown project into a talk show. Each project is then collaborated into an even bigger podcast and then put onto a website where anyone can download the podcast. The different voices gives more character to the project and people pay more attention to the different voices and characters than a lecture. Its always important to keep the attention of your classroom. If a lecture bores them, then podcasts are perfect for them to work with.
Later on, I listened to the podcast and the kids seemed absolutely entertained and ethusiastic talking and communicating with each other. They seemed to have different theories on Jamestown and they each discussed their own ideas and questioned each other to further explain their reasoning. It was extremely educational. The kids definately had fun with it.

Week Five: WBQ

Think about the last time you created something original (a song, video, literature, idea, etc.) Talk about the process and what you learned from it.


I feel original is a brand new idea and not in the sense of "Oh I wrote a paper," because really your teacher came up with the idea, you are just elaborating on that subject. I feel original is a totally unique idea. When you come across it, your like "Oh I wish i thought of that!"
The last time I created something original was decorating my bedroom wall. I hate staring at the same white walls dotted with little pushpin holes. I stare at my walls alot because they slant and overhang my desk and bed. So, to cover up the bland and trashed walls, I bought scrapbook paper from Michaels in an asortment of colors and began to tape them around the room as if it was wallpaper.
The first thing I discovered was that the tape wasn't strong enough to hold my scrapbook design. I had to make a second trip, this time to Staples, to buy heavy duty scrapbooking/poster tape. It seemed to do the job, but I later realized some papers fall so they need more tape then others.
I then used stickers to decorate where papers met. This not only holds them together but it made my mural look better. I used dots, flowers, and other unique stickers to scatter around the paper. After that I looked up black and white pictures from the internet. I went for an old hollywood theme which was inspired by my roommate's Marilyn Monroe painting. Currently some are falling because the tape again isn't strong enough so I bought glue sticks to glue them down but haven't got around to it.
Another difficulty i had to encounter was my darn corner. My corner seems to have a wall to itself thats so skinny but big enough that you can't use a scrapbook paper to cover it. I figure I may cut the scrapbook paper by using a ruler and scissors to cut excess paper that covers over the corner. I then will outline the edges with ribbon because some of the paper is not even or my wall is uneven.
Not only was I extremely proud of my work but my friends found it unique and wished they had that on their wall. It was extremely tiresome but well worth it. I now come home to a vibrant wall rather than a dull white wash.

Week Four: Reading Reflection

This week I would like you to explore for two hours and learn about one new Web 2.0 tool. You may want look at the the top rated sites on SEOmoz's Web 2.0 Awards , Web 2.0 Magazine: Top 100 Web 2.0 Sites, The Best Web 2.0 Sites - Computer Shopper. Sign-up, try it out, write a review (include how you would use it in a classroom), and post it on your blog and add it to the websites on the website page of our wiki.


Pandora is a web-based music streaming service. It works for both macs and pc's. It's an amazing tool to discover new music by typing in bands you already like. Not to mention, it costs NOTHING!! So it's free music radio. There's a children's privacy too which is nice for parents. Personal information is completely secure. I signed up when I was younger, and I never heard from them again until this assignment.
As far as I know you cannot download the songs; but I'm sure you can use limewire for that. I didn't like how you can't skip back to the previous track. Theres tons of advertisements too! When I typed in a band too, there would be a song that may meet the criteria of the band that i would never think of and couldnt stand!
I'm not sure how this tool can be used for education purposes. It's more for entertainment so perhaps just to listen to during classes. If were studying a time period which includes Beethoven and were trying to find other music similiar this might be helpful. Perhaps there might even be music in present day that is alot like Beethovens.
Overall, Pandora is nice for occasional listening when you're sick of all your stuff and trying to explore newer music. However, I found it sometimes incovenient and frustrating when I found a song and couldn't listen to it again.


http://www.pandora.com/

Week Four: WBQ

How is the course going so far? What has been most valuable? What are your concerns or fears? What would you like to see more (or less) of?


This has to be my favorite class because I find it extremely useful for my future. We have learned things I could never figure out on my own such as blogs, podcasts, and other 2.00 tools which I can incorporate into my lesson plans. I feel as if now I truly have the tools and knowledge to teach students, reach out to them, tend to their every needs and disabilities, and have fun at the same time with them.
What has been the most valuable in this class is setting up and tagging all these websites that will help my students with research, homework, and classroom activities. The blog has been extremely helpful and the networking so that everyone can see each other’s ideas and no one is left out. It’s important to me that everyone works together and branches off each other’s idea. The blogs are a way of classroom communication and it’s extremely easy to see what my students are thinking, what their struggling with, and what else their looking for.
Another thing I found extremely useful is the websites where you can find primary source documents. My favorite subject is history so having that information to help me not only with my classes but just for fun is very handy. My high school teachers used several primary source documents and they have influenced my lesson ideas so having these websites will gather information for my students to read and analyze. I also love the documentaries for students. I sometimes find myself watching them because their so interesting and I wish my teacher assigned homework like this instead of always reading and writing.
My concerns for this class is the time we may have to put in for our projects. I’m not sure how lengthy this project will be or other details such as in-class time, topics, finding information, ect. I’m still not as good as I want to be using sites that we have worked on. Another concern is the microphone we may need for podcasting. I have a macbook so I have a built in microphone but I don’t know how well it works or how to plug it in. Another fear is how am I going to be able to incorporate everything I learned into lesson plans for high school students. By the time I’m teaching will everyone have the technology to follow with my projects?
I would like to see more websites with tools to use as research such as videos, primary sources, and other formats to help teach history. I’m not sure what else I should look for cause I would never think of any of these tools to use for teaching. This has been a pleasant shock and I’ve learned so much from this class that I’m sure I will be using in my classroom in the future.

Week Three: Reading Reflection

How might you use the letters in a humanities class? What has your experience with primary sources been? Can students be historians?


By using the letters in humanities class you can teach your students the evolution of culture and people's minds and the way they thought an developed over time. They’re interacting with people from foreign nations. They’re bound to learn something. You can learn all about their society, their government, their way of life, culture, religion, perspectives, language, and the way they socialize. These differences can broaden their views on social and economic issues. Not only that but this generation can bridge peace between nations in the future.
My experience with primary sources is definitely better than most. I took AP European and American History, which deals with Document Based Questions (DBQs). These timed essays must incorporate not only background information but primary source documents that are included in a packet. My history teachers also pulled out background information from excerpts of books, the Internet, or their family history and personal experiences as well. Primary sources got my head out of all the boring factual textbooks and helped me learn a lot more about that time period. I also retained more information using primary source documents during tests because it was like reading a diary or a letter and not just a paragraph of historical knowledge.
Students can indeed be historians. By using these primary source documents, students can get excited. They’re rediscovering history. It’s like reading someone else’s thoughts and getting in the minds of important historical figurines that were living in that time period. They can learn what was acceptable, their customs, and the way they lived, worked, and socialized.

Week Three: WBQ

How did you spend your time on the WWW last week? Was it productive? What does it mean to be productive?


The New WWW was not my favorite article just because I didn’t agree with th author's point of view. His examples were pushing the limits sometimes. However, I understood his theories but I could not relate. My theories were completely different which you can read in my previous blog. Maybe this is because I grew up with technology always at my fingertips. Technology will only help children, not hurt them and force them into insanity.
Throughout the week I have learned several methods to incorporate the new WWW into my teaching and lesson plans. It was BRILLIANT!!! I learned so much. Again, I think the new WWW will only help education. It will give more information, tools, and options for our students. Students can communicate with their libraries, their friends, their peers, and their teachers through blogs, instant messaging, and other networks. Kids will want to do their homework because its accessable. If they have trouble reading or they don't want to read an article you can reach out to them through a movie or documentary on the internet and still keep their attention and focus which will keep them on target. It will even help kids stay organized [such as social bookmarking] which will make them that more productive.
Productive is when you thoroughly take your time and make a complete effort on a project or assignment. I think by using the new WWW you can be productive. You can complete your assignment in a orderly fashion. You can keep your stuents all on the same page through different methods that suit their own individual needs. Productive I feel is going beyond what is being asked. Therefore using the new WWW you can go deeper and express things that maybe you would have never thought of and expand.

pro·duc·tive [pruh-duhk-tiv] –adjective
1.having the power of producing; generative; creative: a productive effort.
2. producing readily or abundantly; fertile: a productive vineyard.
3. causing; bringing about (usually fol. by of): conditions productive of crime and sin

Week Two: Reading Reflection

The author expresses concern over the unlimited media gratification that our youth have. He is essentially talking about you! Respond to his concerns.


I don’t think the author should be concerned. With the new faster technology we are indeed being spoiled and we are happy over it. So why would this ever be a problem?
Child stars are getting everything they want but they also have the publicity and rumors that may drive them half insane and into rehab. Having technology isn’t having the ability to have everything you want. Technology is just an efficient tool to help ease stresses in life. It provides a link to media, news, entertainment and social networks. Therefore we don’t get upset because of all the stresses in life and its easier for work to be done and communication to vent.
Children may commit suicide because they are depressed in school and may often be bored or distracted. Let’s use that as an excuse to toughen our curriculum and use technology to make assignments fun and perhaps entertaining. With technology you can have that communication between students and professors to know if a child has a psychological problem or dilemmas in classroom. Then they can talk to their parents, incorporate them into his studies and make sure he doesn’t need help and gets the treatment he deserves. No student is neglected.
I think the main thing we should be concerned about is making sure children are educated and not really the techniques we use to educate.

Week Two: WBQ

Imagine how your life would change without access to a computer or cell phone for a month? Describe the process of writing a research paper without the internet.


My life would be impossible without access to a computer or a cell. Just a day without these technological tools makes me want to cry. The computer and cell are my favorite communication devices. It’s how I call my family, text my friends, email my boss, complete my homework assignments, and keep me from going insane from long days of boredom.
I hate leaving the house without a cell phone. If a family emergency came up I want to make sure I can be there as soon as possible. When my car breaks down I make sure I have my cell phone so I can call my parents or AAA. Without access to a computer I cannot play computer games, escape boredom, talk on AIM, and use the internet.
The first thing my mom used to take away from me was my internet connection and even that alone is torture. Without the internet, you have only the library as a research tool. The internet is amazing because you have all the information in the world at your fingertips. Now although some sources are unreliable, you can always check. Without the internet, you would have to use the card catalogue, buy books to lookup proper research paper format and spend several hours in the library researching.
Writing a research paper without the internet is almost as impossible as living a normal life without a cell phone and computer.

Week One: Reading Reflection

- In your opinion, what technology tools should we be teaching students today?
- What expectations should we have of students and what should be done to help students meet those expectations?
- Were your schools stuck in the 20th century?
- What was most compelling about the article?


I believe the most useful technology tool we could be teaching students today is the power of the Internet. It has so much information, opinions, and research. There are also important tools on the internet such as blogging, analyzing, reporting, buying, selling, socializing, and even learning which could not only be useful for the classroom, but at home and in the future as well. Using the Internet can make kids interested in doing homework by typing it into a blog or participating in classroom discussions by relating it to the web.
We should expect students to participate and socialize in groups more often while using technology. We should make it as easily as possible for them to feel comfortable, socialize, and adapt with technology. By doing this we can prepare students for the outside world where they need to cooperate and work with others. I also expect my students to be more open to me and comfortable to talk to me if they are having difficulty understanding material or other issues. They can also help me out with what they would like to see or learn in the classroom.
My school was partially stuck in the 20th century. When I entered middle school, my teachers were just beginning to use computer labs to help students with research papers. By my junior year of high school, we used a program called Power School, which was a program that created student’s schedules and organized grades. Although it was helpful for parents and students to know where they are at with their grade, a computer does make mistakes. A computer cannot acknowledge that a student has a learning disability such a hearing loss and needs loud teachers. A computer cannot tell that a student can't comprehend math in the morning and English after lunch, therefore computers are not extremely helpful in all scenarios.
What was most compelling about this article is that teachers are starting to realize ways to draw technology into their lesson plans and realizing students are changing as well as technology therefore learning methods need to be revised. It's extremely important to learn and talk to your students and not just teach them material. Technology incorporated into lesson plans will only expand possibilities to educate students.

Week One: WBQ

Is it possible to learn without engaging in some activity: that is, is it possible to simply learn by thinking about something? Can you think of an example?


It is possible to learn without engaging in some activity but not preferred by students. In my experience, people learn with different techniques whether it is through sound, sight, or by physically doing. It is possible to learn by thinking about something. However, what will always stick in students' minds are classes with some activity incorporated into the lesson. Not only are students feeling included in the lesson but they are having fun as well as comprehending material easily. During lectures, students’ minds may drift away from the lesson. Physically including them would help them less likely to drift away and keep their attention throughout the class.
Technology therefore is a useful tool to engage students. Games on computers keeps students on a more personal level and helps the teacher understand their learning abilities. Teachers are on a more personal level with students using technology. They are able to understand allowing students to feel comfortable, ask questions, and be willing to learn.
From personal experience, I remember my sophomore history class in which we were studying a time period from western civilization. The video would stop randomly and a popular comedy skit or song would play signaling to my classmates to pass objects. The person left with an object after the song stopped playing had to deduct points from their paper. The person with the most questions answered correctly, and the least points deducted won extra credit points awarded to their projects or quizzes.

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