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mary heuer

Blogging helps encourage teen writing | Top News | eSchoolNews.com - 9 views

www.eschoolnews.com/...g-helps-encourage-teen-writing

shared by mary heuer on 07 Jul 10 - Cached
  • Blogging is helping many teens become more prolific writers.
    • Michelle Krill
      Michelle Krill on 09 Jul 10
       
      Wow! What a statement!
    • janae kauffman
      janae kauffman on 09 Jul 10
       
      I know!
  • it and revise their writing on a computer, the report says. Nearly six in 10 students (57 percent) say they edit and revise more frequently when they write using a computer. Teens who use a computer in their non-school writing believe computers have a greater impact on the amount of writing they produce than on the overall quality of their writing. Yet, there is a great deal of ambiguity with respect to the impact of computers in each of these areas. Among teens who use computers in their non-school writing, four in 10 say computers help them do more writing, and a similar number believe they would write the same amount whether they used computers or not. In comparison, only three in 10 teens who write on computers for non-school purposes at least occasionally believe computers help them do better writing–and twice as many (63 percent) say computers make no difference in the quality of their writing. Parents are more likely than teens to believe that internet-based writing (such as eMail and instant messaging) affects writing skills overall, though both groups are split on whether electronic communications help or hurt. Nonetheless, 73 percent of teens and 40 percent of parents believe internet writing makes no difference either way. Most students (82 percent) believe that additional instruction and focus on writing in school would help improve their writing even further–and more than three-quarters of those surveyed (78 percent) think it would help their writing if their teachers used computer-based writing tools such as games, multimedia, or writing software programs or web sites during class. The telephone-based survey of 700 U.S. residents ages 12 to 17 and their parents was conducted last year from Sept. 19 to Nov. 16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. Link: "Writing, Technology, and Teens" survey var a2a_config = a2a_config || {}; a2a_config.linkname="Blogging helps encourage teen writing"; a2a_config.linkurl="http://www.eschoolnews.com/2008/04/30/blogging-helps-encourage-teen-writing/"; Comments are closed <script language=JavaScript src="http://rotator.adjuggler.com/servlet/ajrotator/173768/0/vj?z=eschool&dim=173789&pos=6&abr=$scriptiniframe"></script><noscript><a href="http://rotator.adjuggler.com/servlet/ajrotator/173768/0/cc?z=eschool&pos=6"><img src="http://rotator.adjuggler.com/servlet/ajrotator/173768/0/vc?z=eschool&dim=173789&pos=6&abr=$imginiframe" width="300" height="250" border="0"></a></noscript> Recent Stories with Comments Kentucky offers cloud-based software to 700,000 school usersNo access for bad guysU.S. court weighs school discipline for lewd web postsParent video protesting state budget cuts goes viralEditorial: Threats to innovation <SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N5621.125531.9553987353421/B3794502.5;abr=!ie;sz=300x250;click=;ord=996778?"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N5621.125531.9553987353421/B3794502.5;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=300x250;ord=996778?"> <IMG SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N5621.125531.9553987353421/B3794502.5;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=300x250;ord=996778?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Click Here"></A> </NOSCRIPT> Educator Resource Centers Computing in the Cloud How technology can help with language instruction Communication and Collaboration for More Effective School Management Expert Blog: Security Insights Boost Student Achievement with Connected Teaching Private: Testing ERC Page Solving key IT challenges with virtualization Online Learning: One Pathway to Success Re-imagining Education One-to-one computing: The last piece of the puzzle Recent Entries Customers question tech industry’s takeover spree New rules bring online piracy fight to U.S. campuses Judge orders school newspaper to delete stories Ed-tech grant program aims to boost college readiness Lawmakers tra
  • Michelle Krill on 07 Jul 10
     
    "Survey reveals that student bloggers are more prolific and appreciate the value of writing more than their peers"
  • mary heuer on 09 Jul 10
     
    I am trying to get rid of this but cannot delete because it has been annotated by others....that's what I get for playing around ...
L Butler

Four Pillars of Technology Integration | nashworld - 0 views

nashworld.edublogs.org/...lars-of-technology-integration

web2.0 blog education

shared by L Butler on 10 Aug 09 - Cached
  • Think transformation of the way teaching and learning is done in your district, as opposed to integration into it as it exists.
    • L Butler
      L Butler on 10 Aug 09
       
      The success comes when new lessons are created creatively utilizing the technology. It feels awkward when technology is just tacked on to an old lesson - just so there is technology.
  • Learn what they learn.
    • L Butler
      L Butler on 10 Aug 09
       
      Unless people learn / play with the technology, they can not possibly understand the potential power in the classroom.
  • don’t filter the very usefulness out of the web
    • L Butler
      L Butler on 10 Aug 09
       
      Love the wording of this ... sadly it is so true
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The fourth pillar of “instructional model” is more than a quick soundbyte allows.  I see three levels of this notion with increasing value as follows:  1) You have thought about and encouraged good instructional practices in your building/district.  2) You have a well-articulated plan for effective instructional practice that is building or districtwide.  3)  You have a true learner-centered instructional model in place in grades K-12 that credits the constructivist nature of human learning.
  • At this point, the vast majority of school systems are behind the curve in this area.  Being this far behind might just have one distinct advantage.  If there is no way to see any of the individual trees in a forest, you are likely going to be forced to start your mission with a whole-forest view to begin with. 
  • You don’t need a flashlight.  It’s not that dark in there anymore.  Trust that there are others who have proceeded down this path before you, and they have learned many important lessons.  Collaborate.  Learn from their successes and failures.  Do not go it alone. 
  • Ask yourself: what can we do with these new tools available today that we couldn’t do before?  If we could remake our curriculum any way we wanted, how would we do it? 
  • All systems need what I will call an “innovation engine.”  Whatever the system, whatever the setup, schools and school systems need pockets of sponsored innovation.
  • Soon after access is all around you, it doesn’t even feel like “technology,” it just feels like the way things are done.  This is a good thing, for when technology becomes invisible, we can finally focus on the value added from new uses of these tools. 
  • So where does all of this leave you?  How many of these pillars have been already constructed around you?  What have you done to help in that construction? 
  • L Butler on 10 Aug 09
     
    Interesting blog which addresses technology integration from the perspectives of all the parties involved - admins, technology coaches, teachers, students, etc. Worth the reading.
jan Minnich

Instructional Strategies Online - 0 views

olc.spsd.sk.ca/...index.html

instructionl strategies

shared by jan Minnich on 08 Aug 12 - Cached
  • jan Minnich on 08 Aug 12
     
    Liked the way this site organizes 5 core tactical approaches for instruction. Can help one visualize and identify the approach that he/she may take to achieve learning objectives. Instructional methods are used by teachers to create learning environments and to specify the nature of the activity in which the teacher and learner will be involved during the lesson.
anonymous

Educational Leadership:Teaching for the 21st Century:21st Century Skills: The Challenge... - 0 views

www.ascd.org/...lls@_The_Challenges_Ahead.aspx

shared by anonymous on 07 Sep 09 - Cached
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      This will come as a shck to a lot of folks, eh? Not new?
  • But in fact, the skills students need in the 21st century are not new.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      Not new, eh? Then what's all the fuss? Read on.
  • What's actually new is the extent to which changes in our economy and the world mean that collective and individual success depends on having such skills.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      Ah! So THAT's the difference. Yes, I would agree. You?
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • This distinction between "skills that are novel" and "skills that must be taught more intentionally and effectively" ought to lead policymakers to different education reforms than those they are now considering. If these skills were indeed new, then perhaps we would need a radical overhaul of how we think about content and curriculum. But if the issue is, instead, that schools must be more deliberate about teaching critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving to all students, then the remedies are more obvious, although still intensely challenging.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      I like this paragraph. We need only be more deliberate with our intent to focus on these skils. It's not a complete overhaul, then. I think schools would be more likely to accept this perspective, don't you?
  • To complicate the challenge, some of the rhetoric we have heard surrounding this movement suggests that with so much new knowledge being created, content no longer matters; that ways of knowing information are now much more important than information itself. Such notions contradict what we know about teaching and learning and raise concerns that the 21st century skills movement will end up being a weak intervention for the very students—low-income students and students of color—who most need powerful schools as a matter of social equity.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      Some folks even go so far as to say that we don't have to teach the times tables any more. I cringe when I hear that.
  • What will it take to ensure that the idea of "21st century skills"—or more precisely, the effort to ensure that all students, rather than just a privileged few, have access to a rich education that intentionally helps them learn these skills—is successful in improving schools? That effort requires three primary components. First, educators and policymakers must ensure that the instructional program is complete and that content is not shortchanged for an ephemeral pursuit of skills. Second, states, school districts, and schools need to revamp how they think about human capital in education—in particular how teachers are trained. Finally, we need new assessments that can accurately measure richer learning and more complex tasks.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      Do you agree with his three points? Is his missing any?
  • Why would misunderstanding the relationship of skills and knowledge lead to trouble? If you believe that skills and knowledge are separate, you are likely to draw two incorrect conclusions. First, because content is readily available in many locations but thinking skills reside in the learner's brain, it would seem clear that if we must choose between them, skills are essential, whereas content is merely desirable. Second, if skills are independent of content, we could reasonably conclude that we can develop these skills through the use of any content. For example, if students can learn how to think critically about science in the context of any scientific material, a teacher should select content that will engage students (for instance, the chemistry of candy), even if that content is not central to the field. But all content is not equally important to mathematics, or to science, or to literature. To think critically, students need the knowledge that is central to the domain.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      I like this, too. Having a firm grip on basic knowledge (times tables, for example) is a MUST for the higher order ideas we're after.
  • Because of these challenges, devising a 21st century skills curriculum requires more than paying lip service to content knowledge.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      Hear Hear!
  • Advocates of 21st century skills favor student-centered methods—for example, problem-based learning and project-based learning—that allow students to collaborate, work on authentic problems, and engage with the community. These approaches are widely acclaimed and can be found in any pedagogical methods textbook; teachers know about them and believe they're effective. And yet, teachers don't use them. Recent data show that most instructional time is composed of seatwork and whole-class instruction led by the teacher (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2005). Even when class sizes are reduced, teachers do not change their teaching strategies or use these student-centered methods (Shapson, Wright, Eason, & Fitzgerald, 1980). Again, these are not new issues. John Goodlad (1984) reported the same finding in his landmark study published more than 20 years ago.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      This is important, I believe, if we're to promote these ideas.
  • Why don't teachers use the methods that they believe are most effective? Even advocates of student-centered methods acknowledge that these methods pose classroom management problems for teachers. When students collaborate, one expects a certain amount of hubbub in the room, which could devolve into chaos in less-than-expert hands. These methods also demand that teachers be knowledgeable about a broad range of topics and are prepared to make in-the-moment decisions as the lesson plan progresses. Anyone who has watched a highly effective teacher lead a class by simultaneously engaging with content, classroom management, and the ongoing monitoring of student progress knows how intense and demanding this work is. It's a constant juggling act that involves keeping many balls in the air.
  • Most teachers don't need to be persuaded that project-based learning is a good idea—they already believe that. What teachers need is much more robust training and support than they receive today, including specific lesson plans that deal with the high cognitive demands and potential classroom management problems of using student-centered methods.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 07 Sep 09
       
      TIME! And RE-training. Where is this truly modeled? It's VERY difficult to teach in a model that yo've never experienced either as a teacher or a student.
  • Without better curriculum, better teaching, and better tests, the emphasis on "21st century skills" will be a superficial one that will sacrifice long-term gains for the appearance of short-term progress.
Ryan Donnelly

Capture lessons on your iPad and flip your classroom « - 0 views

the8blog.wordpress.com/...r-ipad-and-flip-your-classroom

ipad flip classroom web2.0 lessons

shared by Ryan Donnelly on 06 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Ryan Donnelly on 06 Jul 12
     
    Another great idea to help #1 flip your classroom or #2 just help personalize instruction, or #3 work with small groups and individuals through Screenchomp and your Ipad.
L Butler

From Distraction to Engagement: Wireless Devices in the Classroom (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) ... - 0 views

www.educause.edu/...ent-wireless-devices-classroom

distraction engagement devices

shared by L Butler on 25 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • From Distraction to Engagement: Wireless Devices in the Classroom
  • devices in the classroom threaten to distract student attention but also offer opportunities for student engagement
  • creative options for making wireless devices part of instruction
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Mobile phones, for instance, are considered distracting because of problems with ringing during class, cheating, or multitasking,1 and the camera that comes with many phones can raise privacy issues as well. Similar complaints might also be made about laptops in the classroom.
  • a whole spectrum of methods for dealing with such distractions, ranging from technical control to pedagogical innovation. In this article, I discuss these methods with a special emphasis on engaging students to minimize the negative effects of distraction by laptop computers or other wireless devices.
  • laptops and smart phones do not cause more distraction than windows through which students look at birds and flowers, “yet you don’t seal the windows just because of that
  • Whose fault is it if distracting activities are going on in the classroom? What caused the distractions other than the availability of technology? Will alternative distractions occur if the technological tools are removed? Without implying that students are always right, I would say that the issue gives educators a reason to reflect on their own teaching or, rather, the instructional process as a whole.
    • L Butler
      L Butler on 25 Jul 12
       
      Good reflective questions for figuring out why something is a distraction and how to remedy the situation.
  • Another method for engaging students is to deconstruct a traditional, 50-minute lecture by breaking it up, re-mixing it, and redistributing it in a variety of formats and settings.
jan Minnich

Marzano Center - Teacher and Leadership Evaluation - 0 views

www.marzanocenter.com

instructional strategies reflection

shared by jan Minnich on 06 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • jan Minnich on 06 Aug 12
     
    This site is for educators looking for any resources/ideas to enhance their instructional strategies.
Michelle Krill

Assessments, Homework, Lesson Plans, Videos, Games. Over a million resources aligned to... - 0 views

www.opened.com

flipped assessment oer

shared by Michelle Krill on 11 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • Michelle Krill on 11 Jul 15
     
    "Assessment to Instruction with the World's Largest K-12 Resource Library The Right Assessments, Videos, and Homework for Each Standard and Each Student "
anonymous

Home (GoogleApps E-Portfolios) - 0 views

sites.google.com/...Home

e-portfolio google googledocs

shared by anonymous on 02 Sep 09 - Cached
  • anonymous on 02 Sep 09
     
    This Google Site has been set up by Dr. Helen Barrett to focus on the use of Google Apps to create ePortfolios. On this site, there are instructions on how to use the different elements of Google Apps to maintain e-portfolios.
Amy Soule

dianne's bio | a whole new dianne - 0 views

diannekrause.edublogs.org/about

techtips web2.0

shared by Amy Soule on 20 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Amy Soule on 20 Jul 09
     
    Dianne is an Instructional Technology Specialist and CFF Coach in the Wissahickon School District. Her energy and her ideas abound!
Emma Clouser

TeacherTube - Teach the World | Teacher Videos | Lesson Plan Videos | Student Video Les... - 0 views

www.teachertube.com

education technology web2.0 teachertube

shared by Emma Clouser on 24 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Emma Clouser on 24 Jun 09
     
    Our goal at TeacherTube.com is to provide an online community for sharing instructional teacher videos. Upload your lesson plan videos or watch student video lessons at our website.
Michelle Krill

The Disruption of Blended Learning -- THE Journal - 2 views

thejournal.com/...ption-of-blended-learning.aspx

blendedlearning elearning onlinelearning

shared by Michelle Krill on 11 Jul 11 - No Cached
  • Michelle Krill on 11 Jul 11
     
    "Blended learning isn't like other technology-driven movements in education. It isn't about supporting current instructional models. In fact, just the opposite, according to researcher and education analyst Heather Staker: It's about eliminating the "monolithic, factory-based architecture of today's school system" altogether."
anonymous

Mail Merge from a Google Spreadsheet | Teacher Tech - 0 views

www.rylice.com/teachertech

mailmerge

shared by anonymous on 28 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 28 Oct 11
     
    Mail merge from a Google spreadsheet. Picture it: students complete a google form for a quiz. Teacher goes into the spreadsheet and adds comments to another column. Then, the teacher uses these instructions to email custom feedback to each student.
N Butler

UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf (application/pdf Object) - 0 views

www.ascd.org/...UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf

Understanding by UbD Instructional Design

shared by N Butler on 21 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • N Butler on 21 Oct 12
     
    Understanding by Design - A simple guide to help with understanding.
jan Minnich

Share My Lesson - Free K-12 Resources By Teachers, For Teachers - 0 views

www.sharemylesson.com

technology web2.0

shared by jan Minnich on 09 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • jan Minnich on 09 Jul 12
     
    This seems to be a tremendous collaborative resource where one can gain feedback from others on his/her own lesson approaches....as well as gather instructional ideas from other educators within any particular subject/grade level. Seems to be a broad and expansive warehousing location for ideas/lessons/strategies.
jan Minnich

ALEKS -- Assessment and Learning, K-12, Higher Education, Automated Tutor, Math - 0 views

www.aleks.com

math tech integration alt ed

shared by jan Minnich on 06 Aug 12 - Cached
  • jan Minnich on 06 Aug 12
     
    We have used this program at our school and specifically in our Alt Ed program to meet some of our program's unique needs. Since math is a little different curricular animal, being incrementally comprehensive, it has become a valuable tool. We use it to meet remedial and even for direct instructional purposes. It is not free however, as licencing is required based on projected student enrollments.
jan Minnich

How the Flipped Classroom Is Radically Transforming Learning - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smar... - 0 views

www.thedailyriff.com/...-transforming-learning-536.php

flippedclassroom

shared by jan Minnich on 07 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • jan Minnich on 07 Aug 12
     
    Pursuant to one of our class discussions last week on the "flipped classroom" in HU's LTMS 600 this is an excellent article on the history of Bergman and Sam's philosophical shift in their instructional strategy.
jan Minnich

Free Technology for Teachers: Favorite Resources - 0 views

www.freetech4teachers.com/...e-projects-with-web-tools.html

technology resources instruction

shared by jan Minnich on 08 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • jan Minnich on 08 Aug 12
     
    This list of (popular) resources is already a year old, but nonetheless is still quite pertinent and can be useful for many of us.
Melissa Wilson

Magazine - Is Google Making Us Stupid? - The Atlantic - 10 views

www.theatlantic.com/...6868

shared by Melissa Wilson on 13 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • By Nicholas Carr
    • L Butler
      L Butler on 13 Jun 12
       
      Nicholas Carr also wrote The Shallows an entire book about the effect the Internet is having on our brains - I highly recommend it. http://www.theshallowsbook.com/
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 14 Jun 12
       
      I know that we used online sources mainly for my Bachelor Senior Thesis compared to going through stacks of books and papers in the library. Google has made research a lot quicker for all of us.
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 14 Jun 12
       
      I can relate. I have the Google application on my phone which I use almost daily to check something such as a bus schedule, movie time, game score, etc.
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      I am the same way on my phone. On car rides, dinner, you name it with my wife and one of us will say, "I wonder..." and the phones are out and we're finding answers.  Sometimes I want to just wonder though...
  • ...47 more annotations...
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 14 Jun 12
       
      I would be interested to see a study done like this in the United States. In my one undergraduate class on politics and media we talked about "info snacking" which is the idea that people look for small bits of information at a time instead of reading the entire article. This is exactly what Carr is talking about here.
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      I agree Charles. However I would suggest that I think that people will have to develop a way to info. snack and be able to do conventional reading too. It seems as though there is something lost when all you are able to do is skim and scan. 
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      The other thing that I wonder quite a bit about this entire article is does "info snacking" stem from the internet or does it stem from being a generation that was raised on frequent tv, video, video games, and the internet altogether. It would seem to me that those other factors would have to have something to do with it as well. 
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      Let's also not forget the constant stream of data to our mobile device(s) as well when thinking about that.  Should this make us better, not worse, at multi-tasking. 
  • ity,” hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. Th
  • sortium
  • that provide access to journal articles, e-books, and other sources of written information. They found that people using the sites exhibited “a form of skimming activ
  • As part of the five-year research program, the scholars examined computer logs documenting the behavior of visitors to two popular research sites, one operated by the British Library and one by a U.K. educational co
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 14 Jun 12
       
      This is the point I read until I got distracted. The ads on the side are distracting to me, and I also needed to get going because of the time.
    • Melissa Wilson
      Melissa Wilson on 20 Jun 12
       
      I am finding the sticky notes to be distracting. I keep skipping from the article to the notes.
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 20 Jun 12
       
      That is a very good point. I personally find it easier to read articles on paper instead of the computer screen because there are less distractions.
  • My mind would
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      My mind wandered off here, because of the picture to the side. 'I was thinking I wonder if this is the author?' and then I saw the caption and thought, "I wonder what those words are?"
  • Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      A friend of mine and I are going to soon put this to the test by reading the Infinite Jest, which is a very long read if you are unfamiliar with the book. I anticipate it being a difficult task. I wonder if it would have been less difficult before the net.
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      What a good analogy. Before when you swam and simmered in the information and had to take time to digest, now we can just move from one thing to another quickly. 
    • Matthew Rogers
      Matthew Rogers on 20 Jun 12
       
      Do you feel that this style allows for anything further than "In one ear, out the other"? How do you best capture the features of the web?
  • It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.
  • “We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. “We are how we read.”
  • Nietzsche’s friends, a composer
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      Wagner, I believe. 
  • Nietzsche’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style.”
    • Ryan Donnelly
      Ryan Donnelly on 14 Jun 12
       
      I wonder if Nietzsche would think of the Internet as Good or Evil, or even if he would consider it being part of the Overman. 
  • The advantages of having immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information are many, and they’ve been widely described and duly applauded. “The perfect recall of silicon memory,” Wired’s Clive Thompson has written , “can be an enormous boon to thinking.” But that boon comes at a price. As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.
    • jan Minnich
      jan Minnich on 19 Jun 12
       
      This segment pretty much summarizes that Carr believes that we are losing our ability to sustain deep cognitive thought. He acknowledges the tremendous benefit of the internet, but cautions that it might be coming at a price...that we have yet to fully realize.
  • Thanks to the ubiquity of text on the Internet, not to mention the popularity of text-messaging on cell phones, we may well be reading more today than we did in the 1970s or 1980s, when television was our medium of choice. But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps even a new sense of the self.
    • jan Minnich
      jan Minnich on 19 Jun 12
       
      Carr's argument is that although we are perhaps reading more than ever...due to text messaging, social media sites, etc we are not taking the time to really delve into what we read and contemplate. Moreover, this premise seems plausible to a degree, as it seems generally that much of what is sent through social media may be trival or meaningless information.
  • The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case.
    • jan Minnich
      jan Minnich on 19 Jun 12
       
      Although I didn't read it (how appropriate - LOL = ) ) Carr's book on "The Shallows" alludes to this concept...in that our brains may in fact be coming re-wired, due to the common every day distractions that cause us to lose focus on thought-provoking topics. His argument is that the collective human attention span is becoming reduced, essentially due to our environment of perpetual distraction- spawned by the internet.
  • With the approval of Midvale’s owners, he recruited a group of factory hands, set them to work on various metalworking machines, and recorded and timed their every movement as well as the operations of the machines. By breaking down every job into a sequence of small, discrete steps and then testing different ways of performing each one, Taylor created a set of precise instructions—an “algorithm,” we might say today—for how each worker should work. Midvale’s employees grumbled about the strict new regime, claiming that it turned them into little more than automatons, but the factory’s productivity soared.
    • jan Minnich
      jan Minnich on 19 Jun 12
       
      I enjoyed learning of this story. Personally, i'm always looking for ways to be more highly efficient when I observe human systems or partake in a job or task sequence. Taylor obviously laid much of the ground work for "industrial efficiency."
  • The idea that our minds should operate as high-speed data-processing machines is not only built into the workings of the Internet, it is the network’s reigning business model as well. The faster we surf across the Web—the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements. Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the better. The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction
    • jan Minnich
      jan Minnich on 19 Jun 12
       
      I believe this segment is akin to "data mining" where companies look at human tendancies to advertise and create greater opportunities to feature their products by the locations (physically or virtually) of their prospective customers, clients or buyers. This idea (data mining) is relatively new to me, but there is no doubt that it will be a prevalent part of marketing in the future. During the reading of this article I received 5 text messages (responded to 2), but was disciplined enough not to check my email until I was finished. What portion of today's younger generation is disciplined enough to stay on task...until an assignment is completed?!?
    • Melissa Wilson
      Melissa Wilson on 20 Jun 12
       
      This paragraph lost my attention.
    • Melissa Wilson
      Melissa Wilson on 20 Jun 12
       
      If adults are noticing a change in reading attitude, what about children who have grown up with the internet?
  • We can expect as well that the circuits woven by ou
  • r use of the Net will be different from those woven by our reading of books and other printed works.
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 20 Jun 12
       
      I never really thought about this. Our brains are adapting to the net earlier than ever before now thanks to web tools that are being implemented earlier in the classroom. I do not remember using computers on an active basis to at least fourth grade, and I know they are starting much earlier with them.
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 20 Jun 12
       
      It is much easier to type things out because of time and speed. I think this could be a good and bad thing. I don't remember the last time I wrote out by hand a letter or something long.
  • tual technologies is reflected in the changing metaphors we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. When the mechanical clock arrived, people began thinking of their brains as operating “like clockwork.” Today, in the age of software, we have come to think of them as operating “like computers.
  • al of Gutenberg’s printing press, in the 15th century, set off another round of teeth gnashing. The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectua
  • manist H
  • laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds.
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 20 Jun 12
       
      The world would be so different without all of the great technology advances. I think back to when I had my first cell phone and it became easier to stay connected with my friends through phone calls, and now with smart phones we can be connected to the world at all times. Some people may fear change, but I think it is good to embrace it.
    • Charles Black
      Charles Black on 20 Jun 12
       
      Overall, I do not think Google is making us stupid. I think it is our society as a whole has become so fast paced, and we need information quicker so online resources are the first thing we go to. I think as long educators keep students focused on analyzing and deep thought, we won't let Google or other web tools make our society less intelligent. 
    • Jenn Wilson
      Jenn Wilson on 20 Jun 12
       
      The idea of not being able to sustain attention to a lengthy article or book makes me think about how difficult it is more and more kids to sustain attention to tasks in class. It seems to get worse as the years go by and I feel like more and more kids are being diagnosed with ADD. Perhaps that type of attending "problem" is going to be the norm.
    • Jenn Wilson
      Jenn Wilson on 20 Jun 12
       
      This is the point where I scrolled down to see how much further I have to read and thought "I don't think I can make it!"
    • Jenn Wilson
      Jenn Wilson on 20 Jun 12
       
      I find this to be very true in the computer age as well. It is so easy to type something and change it multiple times now. I wonder if we actually give as much thought to what we are typing as we once did when changing a line meant getting a new piece of paper and starting over causing minutes or hours of extra work rather than seconds.
    • Matthew Rogers
      Matthew Rogers on 20 Jun 12
       
      I would agree with this statement. I feel that as I have gone through my education, I was taught all of the skills to read and analyze appropriately. Now that I have mastered those skills, I am only expected to recall information. If I can gather the information in a quicker/more efficent way, I will use it. But am I really learning?
  • The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.
    • Matthew Rogers
      Matthew Rogers on 20 Jun 12
       
      The question is, what skill do we focus our teaching on? Locating and accessing, or not being able to cover as much information but analyzing it further?
    • Matthew Rogers
      Matthew Rogers on 20 Jun 12
       
      I find myself struggling to make it all the way through a longer blog post or video file. I need quicker gratification. Books are quickly sliding out of the picture
  • I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has change
    • Matthew Rogers
      Matthew Rogers on 20 Jun 12
       
      The skimming strategy gives students the false sense that they are really reading. Actually, they are just finding the words that they know in a story and piece the parts they understand together.
    • Matthew Rogers
      Matthew Rogers on 20 Jun 12
       
      At this point in the reading, I have found myself loosing focus on the article
    • Matthew Rogers
      Matthew Rogers on 20 Jun 12
       
      Even when I have full intentions, I find myself bookmarking more pages and never end up actually going back and exploring them.
  • Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings
    • Melissa Wilson
      Melissa Wilson on 20 Jun 12
       
      Interesting, I didn't realize that reading wasn't a natural skill. Does that explain why some people have so much trouble becoming good readers.
    • Melissa Wilson
      Melissa Wilson on 20 Jun 12
       
      The internet has certainly taken over my life. When the internet goes down at school I find myself thinking, "Now how am I going to teach."
    • Matthew Rogers
      Matthew Rogers on 20 Jun 12
       
      Although it is a different language, I am intrigued that the Chinese process of reading follows a different neural path than the English language
    • Melissa Wilson
      Melissa Wilson on 21 Jun 12
       
      This sounds very similar to the grumbling I hear from teachers when they complain that standardized tests are taking all of the creativity out of teaching. Interesting that the complaints started so long ago.
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