Matt Britland is for social media in classrooms. The article not only explains how schools use this for advertising colleges and universities, teachers also use this to connect with students in order to send them information on what they're teaching the students in class.
I think this is a good idea because many teachers already use social media in the classrooms and it makes it easier to connect with the students since we are the technology generation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/2012/jul/26/social-media-teacher-guide
Jason Koebler gives examples of different ways teachers use cellphones in class. He uses Willyn Webb as an example and says that she allows students to use cellphones for a large amount of reasons: "to poll students in class and send homework reminder text messages to students and parents. Students also use a Google text-messaging service that allows them to look up a variety of facts."
I think this idea could have advantages and disadvantages at the same time. On one hand it would be helpful to look up facts with cellphones and use it for other things but at the same time many students would only use cellphones to text and it will distract them from the class. Overall I think it wouldn't hurt to use cellphones in class at Thomson because students will use them regardless and you might as well have it contribute to the learning process at the same time.
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2011/10/26/teachers-use-cell-phones-in-the-classroom
Susannah F. Locke shows us how games can help teach students. The New York Department of Education teamed up with the Institute of Play. Their game designer created video games that taught school material which included, "Codeworlds (math/English), Being, Space and Place (social studies/English), The Way Things Work (math/science), Sports for the Mind (game design), and Wellness (health/PE)"
I think this is a great idea to have at Thomson because a great number of students are familiar with video games and are probably more educated in that department than they are in school. I believe this would help them learn alot better.
http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-amp-gaming/article/2009-12/new-school-teaches-students-through-videogames
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Friday, 5 October 2012
Minecraft
Joel Levin decided to divide his class into teams. Instead of letting them do what they want, he told them a story and gave them a task of making house made out of different materials. He set up the world before hand and gathered materials before hand so they wouldn't have to go off to look for them themselves.
In class we played Minecraft. My group mainly focused on building a shelter and crafting weapons. My job was to find wood and bring it back to the base in order for the others to make different objects out of it. They used the wood mostly for building houses. I spent the majority of my time in the woods looking for different supplies so I could bring them back for the rest of my group. I think this played to my strengths because I was new to the game and I didn't know much. When I mastered cutting down trees and hunting animals, that is what I mostly stuck to. With me gathering supplies and the rest of the group each having a different job, we were able to have good teamwork and the game ran smoothly.
This game bettered our teamwork skills by working towards the same goal. We all had to work together in order to build houses and find food. We all listened to our team leader (Jason) and followed his orders. Some of us worked in groups while others worked alone. This exercise will help us with future assignments. In the class we will have to work together or alone to complete different tasks but we will all be working towards to same goal to accomplish something. This is a great preview of what the class will be like during this semester.
Even though this was a good team building exercise, I noticed that I can improve on communicating more with my team instead out going out on my own. This will make out team stronger in the future.
In class we played Minecraft. My group mainly focused on building a shelter and crafting weapons. My job was to find wood and bring it back to the base in order for the others to make different objects out of it. They used the wood mostly for building houses. I spent the majority of my time in the woods looking for different supplies so I could bring them back for the rest of my group. I think this played to my strengths because I was new to the game and I didn't know much. When I mastered cutting down trees and hunting animals, that is what I mostly stuck to. With me gathering supplies and the rest of the group each having a different job, we were able to have good teamwork and the game ran smoothly.
This game bettered our teamwork skills by working towards the same goal. We all had to work together in order to build houses and find food. We all listened to our team leader (Jason) and followed his orders. Some of us worked in groups while others worked alone. This exercise will help us with future assignments. In the class we will have to work together or alone to complete different tasks but we will all be working towards to same goal to accomplish something. This is a great preview of what the class will be like during this semester.
Even though this was a good team building exercise, I noticed that I can improve on communicating more with my team instead out going out on my own. This will make out team stronger in the future.
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