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With starting kids off young have we caused a new problem with laptops in the classroom? Kathy McManus blogged on August 14, 2008 about the banning of laptops from university classrooms. Within her blog she mentioned that "The laptop--the favorite in-class tool for college and university students across the country-is coming unplugged." Have we been abusing our laptops in class? I am not going to lie when I bring my laptop my browser ends up on facebook, or youtube checking out the newest funny stunt that some kids posted. The blog talks about how when used correctly the laptop can be a wonderful resource for a classroom but teachers cant monitor every laptop all the time.

The chapter "The Computer and Active Learning" from the book The Vitrual Classroom by Starr Hiltz really grasps the use of computers in the classroom. "Whether in CIA or in the Virtual Classroom, the student is forced to actively participate" this is one of the main ideas to this book and especially this chapter. Students who use the computer to learn are actively participating by answering questions after they are on the computer. The chapter also develops the idea that computer education works, but teacher and student communication is important, "it appears to be effective only if there is also significant communication between teacher and student". The article holds computer to a high standard by defining computer use as "an active learning situation", instead of taking a quiz later on what a student learned, they get to take a quiz right after they read it online. They response as they go, making computer use active learning. It also develops the idea of the computer as a social process; "this social process of developing shared understanding through interaction is the "natural" way for people to learn". The author believes that responding to peers work creates a process of learning that is never seen in the classroom. All of the ideas are great examples of why technology in the classroom works, and can be used to our advantage as teachers.

In the Chapter "What Should We Teach? Rethinking Literacy" from the book Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, by Henry Jenkins with Ravi Purushotma, Margaret Weigel, Katie Clinton, and Alice J. Robison, it contemplates what to do about new literacies. The book talks about how it is just as important for students to learn old literacies, like reading and writing, than it is to learn new literacies as well, digital media. They describe the new literacy culture as participatory culture.

This article by Amy Garmer, talks about how society is all about digital literacy and improving test scores and every thing through text but how this is a big problem because many students with parent who lacks in knowlegde with technologies aren't able to help their students study. So instead they go online and use computers for entertainments instead. She comes up with an idea about having gov. funded institutes for parents to learn and become skilled with digital literacies so that they can, therefore, help their kids do better in school and on tests.

From the NYTimes: "Last week we asked readers to submit questions to James Paul Gee, an expert on how video games fit within an overall theory of learning and literacy, in response to The New York Times Magazine article "Learning by Playing." It featured a public middle school where every aspect of learning is designed to be game-like."

In the article "Serious Games: Incorporating Video Games in the Classroom", Leonard A. Annetta (and other writers) write about Generation N, "N" standing for "net". Annetta claims that this generation has grown up with computers, technology, and the Internet to the point were its just normal to have it around; they have never known a time without it. This creates a generation gap between student and teacher. The students (especially k-12) are becoming more and more interactive with computers and can relate to learning better through the use of technology. However, the teachers often lack this technological knowledge that the students share, leaving the teachers in a game of catch-up. But according to Annetta this is a game well worth playing.

As I was looking for articles to do more research on my topic, I came upon an article that seemed to have a good amount of information that could be helpful to my research. A question that was asked in the article was whether or not all this technology that is being used in classrooms could be giving kids anxiety.

In "The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption" by various authors, the authors discuss that 21 states are reviewing the textbooks usage in schools.

In the book, In Mind in Society, Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, a Soviet psychologist in the beginning of the 20th century, talks about the role of play in child development.

This very short article gives you four classic ways that technology can be used. It gives one or two examples for each type of technology used about how it can be used. It also talks about how participation and being able to follow along with the teacher's instructions is very important when it comes down to helping kids understand a concept easier. Technology is a way that we can keep students engages and interested in school today.

This article is about video games and the beneficial aspects of video games as teaching implements. This article also addresses the criticisms of video games as teaching implements (will kids become more violent/will kids get less school work done).

Standardized testing has swelled and mutated, like a creature in one of those old horror movies, to the point that it now threatens to swallow our schools whole. (Of course, on "The Late, Late Show," no one ever insists that the monster is really doing us a favor by making its victims more "accountable.") But let's put aside metaphors and even opinions for a moment so that we can review some indisputable facts on the subject.

The article I chose talks about how our learning strategies developed, and how there was more of a need for "hands on" learning. It goes on to say how one of the first objects that were used for more visual learning was the chalkboard; the chalkboard was one of the only technological advancements in classrooms for over 100 years. Because our technology has advanced so much in the last decade, things like Ipods and mobile phones are now being useful tools in the learning process also.

I found a short outline from presentation slides on The National Writing Project and it talks about the importance of using participatory media in schools. It has a lot of information about what teachers can do with the media along with some positive input from teachers themselves. It gives a few standards that need to be met by the teachers and then the response they are getting from incorporating those results.

this video is of Joel Burns talking about how he was bullied and how its a serious matter with the recent deaths that have been happening and his message of 'it gets better' just speaks volumes to those who are being bullied and those who can stop it.

In the online article Zero- Thumb Game How To Tame Texting, written by Sara Bernard, directly focuses on how to use texting as a tool in the classroom. This article doesn't look at texting as a horrible thing that needs. Another main topic in this article is how comfortable students are with text talk, that it creates an atmosphere where passive students feel as if they can participate. This directly shows how students feel more comfortable to participate because they are more comfortable with the technology. So maybe this idea of text messaging in the classroom isn't such a mad idea after all, it creates a comfortable environment for almost all students, and creates a new form of teaching when to use the text talk and when not to.

This is not the link to the actual chapter, but a link about the book. I got the book from the library... In Chapter 8, Testing, Trying, and Teaching, John Bruer argues that standardized testing is not a fair way to test students. He mentions that putting a student into a percentile based on the score they get on a single test does not give a fair representation of the students learning and understanding of the material.

This aritcle examines the realtionship between music and learning in the classroom. Shows the benefits of integrating music with students learning.

This article describes what the Language Immersion Program is (specifically talks about spanish), how it is beneficial, what the drawbacks are, research studies, and how children are effected by using the program. The author's opinion is clear, so in her whole article she has a slightly persuasive tone and she makes the program look and sound amazing to probably everyone who reads it. There is some good information about the program and some research studies, and the benefits/drawback are very interesting.