Blog #13 option 2

The “My Teacher is an App” article shows the pros and cons compared between traditional public schools and online public schools. Online types of homeschooling give some students the ability to play with technology and learn at their own rate. They can also get children away from peer pressuring and bullying but can they fully overtake the traditional classroom?

The truth is that fully online home-schooled students standardized test scores are much lower than traditional students. With that being said I think it goes to show that students physically need an educator there to motivate them. I also believe that it is vital that children grow up communicating with each other and adults so they can develop proper communication skills needed to function efficiently in our society. I think if people cannot properly communicate then they will struggle in the real world being unable to fully express their thoughts. Although this may not seem true to some just maybe some of the sheltered kids, which very well maybe very bright, can be deemed as somewhat socially insufficient. Which in today’s world is still very important in many jobs including teaching.

On the other hand there are schools that provide a classroom atmosphere to prosper along with a portion of the day set aside for computer work. This does give students to collaborate throughout most of the day then go and learn more about technology even if it is just playing mathematical games and so on. Some of these schools have their students scoring among the best of the national average. I believe this goes to prove that having the right balance maybe most effective. All students learn best in different ways but by incorporating all learning styles the scores show that this balance has had the most positive outcome.

Metaphors

Metaphors are away of proving a similar point without telling or giving away the objective straight forward. Metaphors allow you to get a different perspective on something from a different viewpoint to show how unfair something is using an ironic situation. As a result some metaphors can be misleading or taken the wrong way. It is important you correctly identify the objective of the metaphor to obtain the true meaning and therefore the point of it. Metaphors are hidden throughout everyday life, weather it be from songs, poems, or even just created by people to try and better explain their viewpoint on a particular subject is.

To properly identify a metaphor you must first be able to since the sarcasm. You can then relate the metaphor to the corresponding matter and see how it fits in to understand the power and meaning of the metaphor. As educators, metaphors can be a strong teaching implement. Once a student clearly understands your metaphor they will better understand the viewpoint you are trying to tell them. As a result they open their minds when they understand it causing learning, “every teacher’s goal,” and on top of that the student will often reflect back to that metaphor or viewpoint you past to them when the subject is brought up again because it influenced them. This is why metaphors are so powerful and are used in teaching today. They have the power to persuade and open student’s minds. But also encourages people to make metaphors of their own to more efficiently express their beliefs.

SmartBoard #2

Blog #11

After watching Ms. Cassidy’s class video it was obvious she is a great teacher. She was able to introduce technology to a group of very young first graders. By introducing her first graders to a blog she can share their work with other the classes and the world as well. Of course this can create some concern to the student’s safety. But Ms. Cassidy seems to understand the risks associated with this issue. She informs all parents with what goes on in her class and makes the blog very hard to exploit by not giving out very much information about the students such as full names. She has shown that technology can be used constructively by students of all ages if used correctly and carefully. As future educators we must adapt to our everyday changing lives with includes the drastic increase of technology over the years. I could not think of denying my child for any educational opportunity so it is important to learn how we can safely achieve this without acquiring any risks to the children.

Skype interview