My first thoughts when reading this article were about teaching internet safety by instilling fear.I agree with the article that this is not an effective way of teaching internet safety, or really the best way to teach anything. Many people in this country try to teach about drug and alcohol safety, and sex education by instilling fear in the students they are teaching. This seems to actually backfire when working with students. It is more important to be honest with students and tell them the actual information that will benefit them. A possible result of trying to instill fear in children is having them think we were lying to them once they start to gain their own experiences.
Cyber bullying is something that needs to be taught a lot more. This is an area where the law has not been able to adapt yet. Students should know how much they can hurt others by being mean online. I remember when I was in high school, I had a live journal account. There was a point where someone started anonymously leaving really mean comments on all of my posts. This really hurt me and really made me doubt myself as well as the validity of my thoughts and feelings. This was a pretty long time ago and I have recovered from this experience, but I do not wish for others to go through it. Especially at a point in their lives where they are so unsure about themselves.
The only way to actively change how internet safety is taught is to come up with innovative new curricula The truth is that many students are more tech savvy than their teachers. Teachers must be educated themselves about the internet and its realities.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Transliteracy: New Library Lingo and What it Means For Instruction
This article got me thinking about my own reading habits. I love to read books, but I spend much more of my time reading on the internet than I do reading a book. That is where I get all of my current news, media, and sometimes just funny pictures. I am guilty of many things that this article points out. I will skim an article for two minutes and decide if it is worthwhile or not. It is important for me to remember to occasionally slow down and read articles thoroughly before I decide if I can use them or not.
In the past I have thought that it is important to read things in print. Overtime I have been shown that this is less important than I once thought. With the invention of pdf readers, such as the Kindle, you can now easily read books on electronic devices. Most scholarly journals are now archived online, so it is not necessary to actually read the print copy. In order to help students become transliterate we as teachers must embrace technology and show students how to use it correctly for research. We must teach students to question things they read on the internet, to see if it is a valid source.
In the science education classes we discuss inquiry based teaching. Students are taught to ask and answer their own questions. Students learn to find answers on their own, either by working through the problem or researching an answer. Inquiry based learning will help students question the validity of sources and find articles or books that will give them a good answer to their question. It is important for us as teachers to embrace technology and teach our students how to use it effectively, not only in their educational careers, but in their every day lives as well.
In the past I have thought that it is important to read things in print. Overtime I have been shown that this is less important than I once thought. With the invention of pdf readers, such as the Kindle, you can now easily read books on electronic devices. Most scholarly journals are now archived online, so it is not necessary to actually read the print copy. In order to help students become transliterate we as teachers must embrace technology and show students how to use it correctly for research. We must teach students to question things they read on the internet, to see if it is a valid source.
In the science education classes we discuss inquiry based teaching. Students are taught to ask and answer their own questions. Students learn to find answers on their own, either by working through the problem or researching an answer. Inquiry based learning will help students question the validity of sources and find articles or books that will give them a good answer to their question. It is important for us as teachers to embrace technology and teach our students how to use it effectively, not only in their educational careers, but in their every day lives as well.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
I Can’t Think!
I found this article to be incredibly informative. I was surprised at how bad our brains are at processing lots of information. When I then looked back at decisions I have made in the past that contained large amounts of data, I remember having trouble processing it and making a decision. My natural inclination is to stop looking at it when I feel overwhelmed and take a break. If it is late at night I will usually just go to bed, in order to make the decision in the morning. I have found that I will process the problem in the early morning when I am half awake and half asleep. I will wake up with either a decision or a good idea of how to come up with one. According to the article this would make me a 'sufficer', being able to say, "enough is enough".
The article concludes that it is better to go with your 'gut' instinct, or first idea. This process takes into account emotions. If emotions are left out there is a possibility to over think the problem and come to an incorrect conclusion. For this I liked the example of people rating various strawberry jams. First, just by trying them and saying which they thought tasted the best. Then, they were given specific criteria to rate the jam. People ended up giving great ratings to jams they did not like and bad ratings to jams they really enjoyed. This is a prime example of peoples ability to over think problems and come up with a solution they do not actually agree with.
The best piece of advice that I received from this article is to break up the amount of email I read. I receive emails for work and school almost constantly on a daily basis. In order to make better decisions when responding to them I should read them in groupings. I should not read too many at once and not read them the second I get them throughout the day. A good idea would be to sit down a few times a day and respond to a few emails at a time. Something I should do is not check my email constantly on my smart phone. This article has really helped me reconsider the way that I make decisions and process information.
The article concludes that it is better to go with your 'gut' instinct, or first idea. This process takes into account emotions. If emotions are left out there is a possibility to over think the problem and come to an incorrect conclusion. For this I liked the example of people rating various strawberry jams. First, just by trying them and saying which they thought tasted the best. Then, they were given specific criteria to rate the jam. People ended up giving great ratings to jams they did not like and bad ratings to jams they really enjoyed. This is a prime example of peoples ability to over think problems and come up with a solution they do not actually agree with.
The best piece of advice that I received from this article is to break up the amount of email I read. I receive emails for work and school almost constantly on a daily basis. In order to make better decisions when responding to them I should read them in groupings. I should not read too many at once and not read them the second I get them throughout the day. A good idea would be to sit down a few times a day and respond to a few emails at a time. Something I should do is not check my email constantly on my smart phone. This article has really helped me reconsider the way that I make decisions and process information.
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