School 2.0 Reflection Tool (NETS 5)

NETS T 2 - Design Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments; I chose this Standard because I firmly believe learning through experience is easier to retain.

http://thejournal.com/Articles/2008/05/01/21st-Century-Teaching-and-Learning-Assessing-New-Knowledge.aspx?sc_lang=en&Page=1  The article is titled, 21st Century Teaching and Learning: Assessing New Knowledge, by Ruth Reynard

In the same way autumn turns the green leaves gold, the 21st century turns knowledge virtual, meaning a constant cycle is always changing.  From what I understand after reading Ruth Reynard's article, 21st Century Teaching and Learning: Assessing New Knowledge, the practice of learning constantly evolves.  With the constant change a record is desired to assess the learning function.  The teacher must assess the methods derived from student learning.  In the process of digital learning, a digital lineage of learning is illustrated.  With technology allowing surveillance, the complexity of learning can be followed; thus the process to assess learning has become easier.

The student living along the frontier of technology can explore new routes to learning, that is to say students can work together digitally and teachers can oversee the development of technological proficiency; such as student web logs.  Reynard expresses the value and recognition of the digital student.  Along with technology’s ubiquity, the students and teachers have advantage of the digital world and implement it into the classroom.  Taking advantage of the digital world allows the assessment process to be illustrated digitally and gives the instructor a chance to oberve and learn from a lineage of class work researched throughout the web.  The resources are endless among the web.  The turn of the century calls for a turn in education and with technology innovating education, teachers and students are exposed to new tools to assess learning and new fashions that lead onward to knowledge.

Journal 1 (NETS - T 5) Taking Laptops Schoolwide: A Professional Learning Community Approach - Learning and Leading with Technology, Vol. 38 No. 1

Green, T., Donovan, L., & Bass, K. (2010). Learning and leading with technology. Taking Laptops Schoolwide: A Professional Learning Community Approach, 38(1), Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201008#pg1

The International Society for Technology in Education examined the practice and habit of elementary and middle school level students employing laptops.  While the ISTE research team covered the array of student grade levels K-8, they came upon a discrepancy that struck them hard.  The research team became aware of a disparity and decided to dig further.  The striking difference that took most of their attention was why some schools incorporated technology much easier than others in the same district.  The ISTE team was impressed by the smooth continuity some schools had uniting their students to their laptops and were dumbfounded by the realization of failure that plagued the other schools.  As the ISTE research team explained a successful school was the result of an omnipresence of technology, a practical approach indicating main features to computers and technology performance - the curriculum imbued with technology - and the cooperation of educators.  The ubiquity of technology plays a giant role in the student's capability of adapting to technology.  The ISTE research team gave little credit to this god like trait of technology required for success within the schools and gave little to no information about the unfavorable or failing schools.  What they did credit was "the district adopted Richard DuFour's Professional Learning Community (PLC) approach to planning: a focus on learning rather than teaching,.." (Green, Donovan, & Bass, 2010)  The research team could not stress enough the success of the PLC Approach.  The research team gave many examples of teacher collaboration and student success resulting because of the PLC approach.  The PLC Approach developed a congregation of educators and gave rise to an environment where ideas were to be unfolded and synthesized upon by colleagues.


 Question #1.)  Is the PLC Approach everything that it is hyped up to be?

Yes, The PLC Approach is the driving force motivating the educators to assemble and better understand their established relations with their colleagues, students, and school objectives.  The students could not become proficient in technology without the educators creating a curriculum saturated in technology.  The successful schools with the technologically imbued curriculum made for technology proficient students.


Question #2.)  Would the PLC Approach have any effect in a school lacking the ubiquity of technology.

I think not, although the PLC Approach would have an effect it would have to be geared towards something already in place.  With the absence of technology in a school, the collaboration of a curriculum with technology would simply be theory; pure speculation.  Although, the cause of educators collaborating for a technologically fused curriculum could effect the students outside of the schools, inwardly the students would be lacking the tools for practical use.

Much ado about Mario

Mucho gusto

How-d'ye do! My name's Mario I am from the foothills of North County, San Diego.  Fallbrook to be exact, although kinder to fifth I was at Central school in Escondido.  Afterwards, I attended Potter Junior High and bridged my way to Fallbrook High School.  In high school my main interest was agricultural education, meaning I was part of FFA - Future Farmers of America!  I raised a lamb, germinated beans, and potted plants.  I really enjoyed the Ag department.  Later, at Palomar community college I began to cultivate myself with literature.  From Palomar I transferred to the University of California Irvine.  The campus is gorgeous and the Humanities Department is great.  I left with a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature.  After graduation I wanted to teach English but finding no luck I held a series of odd jobs in Fallbrook; I painted homes, washed windows in high places, walked dogs and later I was a host at the Benihana's off of Poinsettia in Carlsbad.  I'm Back at school at last satisfying prerequisites.

As for my position in the technology continuum, I'm a novice so this is my first blog.  My experience with technology is basic.  I love MP3s.  My sophomore year in high school I was exposed to MP3 file sharing with Napster, it made life great to find music at the touch of a button.  But that all came crashing down.  Now I'm back to buying albums and compiling playlists.  I use Microsoft Office constantly and currently learning to use FileMaker Pro and the 4D client at work.  I'm a data entry clerk for the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education, we too are part of the San Diego County Office of Education but we are located at the North Coastal Regional Education Center in San Marcos.

The College of Education Mission Statement stands out in the courses offered by the California State University San Marcos; such as with the technology tools course.  The COE Mission Statement expects us to work together through the practices it promotes.  I believe the course is the driving force that joins and outfits the considerate learner.  For example the blogs unfold an area to join efforts and rally ideas.  I believe the CSUSM will expose us to many other ideas reflected in the Mission Statement.  I also really like the idea of building "educational equity" I yearn to learn and to build my "educational equity."