How Much Choice Do Teachers Have?

Do we need to rethink top-down decisions for placing technologies in schools? Does it make sense to purchase the same hardware and software for all Grade 10 English teachers, for example? Do all teachers need to use technologies in their teaching? Are some master teachers best at lecturing or other methods that don’t involve tech?  That doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t accept digital assignments or encourage online research; it simply means that they don’t use tech in their classrooms. Would some teachers make better use of some technologies than others? How much choice do teachers have about what hardware and software is available for them to use with their students and whether they use technologies or not? One size fits all doesn’t work with teaching.

Digital Age Early Childhood & Primary Teacher Preparation

More and more young students are coming to school with skills in using technologies. The eSchool News article, How to Teach Young Children in the Digital Age notes that more than half of children between the ages of five and eight have used mobile digital devices, and that children consume up to seven hours of media each day. The Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council’s report, Take a Giant Step, emphasizes that teacher programs should include more research on how children learn and how to teach children who are tech-savvy. Some of suggestions of the council include restructuring time and staff, making use of digital media in learning, creating teacher collaboration communities, providing public media for teachers, giving teachers “robust” preparation, and creating research and development partnerships suited to the digital age.

What Makes an App Right for Children?

The president of Scholastic Media Deborah Forte was interviewed in New York Times Bits: Tech Talk Podcast (11/10/11) about the creation of apps for children. According to Forte, apps for children should be both educational and entertaining. Scholastic believes that parents and teachers should monitor student use of apps and control the time students spend on them. Young children, for example, should spend no more than ten to fifteen minutes on an app. Forte says that Scholastic aims to provide apps that parents and students will value for their children. Note: The podcast contains information on several topics besides apps for young children. If you want to listen to this podcast, start about half-way through to hear what Forte has to say. Some of the other topics are about tablets and earbuds.

Don’t Chew on Cords!

In a recent survey Califone, maker of excellent school headsets, asked teachers if they’d seen their students chew on the cords that attach to headsets. Sixty-eight percent replied that they had.  Apparently, chewing on cords by students has been a problem dating back to the 1950s.  Besides the issue of sharing headsets and health issues that may arise, there’s the problem of damage to the cords and cost to schools. Teachers find it impossible to keep students from chewing on cords, for they can’t always see what every student is doing. The only answers to student chewing may be: continuing to remind students not to put the cords in their mouths, supervising as carefully as possible, and purchasing equipment that can stand up to “repeated and frequent mistreatment”.

How Loud Is Too Loud?

In an online survey, Califone’s Media Blog, asked participants if they agree with this statement: “since younger students haven’t yet learned what too loud is when using personal audio equipment, technology should help prevent student hearing loss.” Eighty-four percent of respondents either answered “Strongly Agree” (58%) or “Somewhat Agree” (26%) making it clear that teachers believe young students don’t realize that loud sounds can damage their hearing and that audio equipment that can control volume is important. Young children, used to loud sound at movie theaters and on digital devices used by older children, think that’s the way sound should be. With teen hearing loss increasing, Califone, which markets volume-restricting devices, is working with ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association) on the Listen to Your Buds safe sound campaign. You might want to introduce your students’ parents to this campaign and have them take the pledge to save their children’s hearing.

It’s Philadelphia for ISTE in 2011

Unlocking Potential is the theme for ISTE 2011, the International Society for Technology in Education Conference and Exposition to be held in Philadelphia, June 26-29 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.  You can do a custom program search to find sessions, papers, workshops, social events, field trips, round tables, birds-of-a-feather groupings, and more. Super Early Bird registration ends March 31 with Early Bird Registration ending May 1 and online registrations closing June 17.  If you don’t get a chance to sign up online, onsite registration will be available at the conference.  Conference themes for 2011 include: school improvement, technology infrastructure, professional learning, digital age teaching and learning, and virtual schooling/E-Schooling.

Language Lessons Help with Math Skills

In “Studies Find Language Is Key to Learning Math” , Education Week  (Feb. 17, 2011) Susan Goldin-Meadow, University of Chicago, explains that “profoundly deaf adults in Nicaragua who had not learned a formal sign language could not accurately describe or understand numbers greater than three.” When Goldin-Meadow tested adults who could hear or knew formal sign language, they were able to count without difficulty. Although the study didn’t involve students or young children, the results directly link math and language skill, meaning that intervention for math difficulties must include language help as well. Goldin-Meadow suggests that number lines, rather than fingers, would be better for early learning of math. Knowing how to count, like young children do, doesn’t mean they understand, for example, what  “seven” means.

Muppets, Health & Superfoods

New Muppets called the Superfoods—a banana, low-fat cheese, whole wheat bun, and a stalk of broccoli—join the Muppets cast of wonderful characters to emphasize healthy eating. The Superfoods debuted December 2010. In the shows, Elmo takes on trying new foods. According to an article in Time Healthland, U.S. Department of Agriculture “stats show that 17 million kids in this country—nearly one in four—don’t eat food that meets basic nutritional needs” and most of those kids are less than six years old. Sesame Workshop also provides Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget to help families with tips about providing good meals for children.

Reading Eggs & Study Island

The folks at Study Island have added the online Reading Eggs program to their list of resources. The courseware, designed for students ages 4-8, focuses upon online computer-based reading skill fun through a mixture of lessons, activities, animations, songs, and repetition.  Children receive golden eggs and other rewards while they’re going through the program. They learn skills, read books, and take tests to get to the rewards levels. Take a look at the sample lessons and/or sign up for the free four-week trial. Definitely looks like fun.

Sing and Learn Languages

Recorded Books K-12 now offers Sing and Learn, a unique series of books and CDs designed to make foreign language learning easy. The products ($20.75 each), which feature languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, French, Italian, and German,use pictures and songs to make learning fun. The Sing and Learn Arabic!, for example, teaches through pop and jazz with the Arabic instruments oud, qanoun, and ney and includes the following themes: colors, greetings, animals,  parts of the body, seasons, foods, Arabic countries, and Arabic musical instruments. After working with these recorded books, your students may want to make their own audio or video recordings using the target language.  With a flip video camera or a recorder, they can input their work into the computer and share it in digital format.