Lyn Hilt's (2001), openly admitted in her article how small her world was until she had the opportunity to travel to other countries. Both of my parents were home grown small town people who raised us in the military. My siblings and I were used to changing schools and living in neighborhoods where English was not the only language spoken. We were encouraged to learn another language as well as to get to know our neighbors. It was sad to read in her article how teachers and parents feared having students different from them. However, that was not the end of her story. She gives example after example of how teachers led their students to flattening the walls of the classroom. Through the technologies of Skype and blogs, students were able to reach out to other students across the country or globe to connect with or help with a problem.
I enjoyed the National Geographic Website “My Wonderful World” and because it gives some very helpful ways to help your students become more globally aware. It was sad to read on their site that half of young Americans can’t locate world powers such as Japan and India. As the site states without geography our students won’t be ready for the global economy. As we introduce and push our students to learn new technologies of the 21st century we should not forget geography. With most classes utilizing SMARTBoards and the use of Google Earth this should be a fun and exciting way to get students interested in geography.
Another site I really enjoyed and could easily incorporate into my class was the Global Read Aloud. The site seems to have books for all age groups and discussing a book would be a fun and purposeful reason for Skyping with another class. Additionally, the site also links you to activities other classes have done with the featured piece of literature. One link used Smilebox to show how kindergarteners created a math caterpillar using old wall paper cut into circles.
The achievement gap, illustrated in Figure 1 from Failure is Not an Option, shows us clearly how contemporary schooling is not effective for some groups, continuing to do what we have always done further perpetuates the gap and repeated failure over time makes it difficult to erase this achievement gap. This creates generational ideas of failure and success much like I would think of, generational poverty. Last semester we visited the Gretchen Everhart School for the disabled in Tallahassee, Florida. We saw amazing uses of assistive technology and we saw students with profound disabilities functioning in ways that I didn’t know were possible. Having known one of students there for several years, I was amazed to see him performing tasks that I had never seen him do in social settings. This has helped me see the benefit of assistive technologies, not just for the profoundly impaired, but for all students. As Smith and Throne (2009) explained “we don’t need to layer new technologies onto traditional instruction practices but we need to transform our classrooms through the use of technology.” I also agreed with the article, Failure is Not an Option about our ideas of independence, fairness and our grading systems. The appropriate technology tool can give students the support and intervention they desperately need to accomplish their educational goals. I also don’t think we know the final outcome of using these supports; will the student begin to internalize material so that one day they may not need the tool? The idea of this tool somehow not being fair to other students does seem very immature like the author says, “adults’ notions of fairness are arrested at the kindergarten level.” I would argue that many kindergartners are willing to help their friends achieve goals whether it is from a friend or a tool.
Edyburn, Dave L. (2006). Failure is not an option. Learning and Leading With Technology. Retrieved from:https://kennesaw.view.usg.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer /main_frame.d2l?ou=344434tId=8592595
Hilt, Lyn. (2011). The case for cultivating cultural awareness. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from: http://plpnetwork.com/2011/10/26/the-case-for-cultivating-cultural-awareness/
Smith, G. & Throne, S. (2009). Differentiating instruction with technology in middle school classrooms. International Society for Technology in Education, 28-39.