Course Review: Cheesy

My motivation for taking this course is tactile. I spent many hours in grad school theorizing and discussing issues in education with an abstract and pensive approach. I didn't take this course to postulate and speculate on the pros and cons of using technology in the classroom, I took this course to become literate (as the course title suggests) in an increasingly digital world. I know I want to use technology in my class, I know that technology has the power to increase student engagement. I know that if student engagement is enhanced that learning is a likely result. I know that as a teacher I want that result.

So the question is, has this course increased my information and technology literacy and by extension student engagement and learning? I'll use my favorite subject to help answer this question- that subject of course is food. When I came to ISB, my technology skills were at about the goat cheese stage (aged for less than 3 weeks...I could email and surf the web). Before taking this course I was at about the swiss cheese stage (aged for 6-14 months... I knew how to use a smartboard, voicethread, notebook. Six months at ISB produces a pretty tasty swiss). After course 1 of COETAIL I'm happy to say that I'm entering the stage of a parmigiano reggiano (aged up to 7 years... I can use an RSS reader, I can embed links and video in my blog posts, and I can use use search syntax to find resources) I'm probably on year 1 of the aging process as I write this. At this rate, with 4 more classes left, I should age another 5 years by next spring when we finish the certificate.

I wanted practical skills from this course. You can't get more practical than cheese. I look forward to maturing, technologically speaking, into a very 'sharp', saavy, and literate 21st century teacher.

iPad vs. Kindle

Stephen Colbert gave the iPad some airtime on the Grammies in January. In an interview afterwards he said the iPad was "awesome". Now he has an one on his show. He pointed out that the iPad made the cover of Newsweek and that kindle was on the back page of Newsweek. He then mocked the kindle by saying "oh, look the screen has both black AND grey". He gave viewers a demonstration of the capabilities and features of the iPad. The most useful of which is making salsa. My kindle can't do that.

E (español) books...

Last week during independent reading, I watched a group of students fight over one specific book. The book that has inspired so much attention (and tugging) is "Quién Salta". It's a prized possession in our classroom library. I'm not sure I entirely understand the appeal of this book, but students love it. And they all want to read it...all at the same time. As I watched students vying for this book, I thought about how my life as a teacher would be easier if each student had their own copy of each book in our library. The great part of the school I teach at is that I could probably order a copy for each student. But, then, there is always the inevitable question of space. Teaching grades K-5 and providing a library of interesting books for each grade level has it's own challenges, then add the question of space in there and things get sticky. Where do all of these books go? The courtyard? Seriously. There is not enough room to house them all in my classroom. The solution is simple. E-books. The benefits are clear. Each student carries around an entire library in one convenient little pocket sized "book". According to the Horizon Report, the length of time it could take to adopt and implement e-books into the classroom is two to three years. Hmmm.... I'm ready for them now. Please?! And so is little Johnny who hasn't had the honor of reading "Quién Salta".

Until our e-books arrive, I'll teach my students to play "piedra, papel, tijeras (rock, paper, scissors)" with their classmates to decide who gets the best book.