Investigating a Website using the 5W's

When it comes to incorporating technology into our classrooms we need to be extra careful. Our main priority is the safety of our students. We never want them to have to enter any personal information in order to gain access to a website. So, as an educator it is important for us to do research on a website before allowing our students to use it. The best way to do this is to utilize the 5W's system.

The 5W's are basic tools we learned in elementary school in language arts. We would use these to get more information on a story to determine its credibility. I will be doing the same thing with a website that I have found off of Porta Portal. To pick a site I had to think of what interests me. Well, I want to teach algebra to middle school students which lead me straight to 8th grade math. 

The website I wanted to research was Free Training Tutorial. This site has a ton of free games for children for all subject areas. Right away I noticed the flashy animations and graphics that would easily catch the eye of any student. So, I implemented the 6 click rule to get a but more information. First I wanted to find out who created the website, so I clicked on About and Contact Us. 

Right away I find the author of the page, his name is Barak Sofer and his email is listed right there for any feedback that a viewer may have for him. He goes into detail about the history of the website and why it was created. The author created this site because after years of teaching and his experiences with his own child, he wanted to create something for other educators to use as a resource tool. He spends hours a week updating it and trying to create the best user-friendly site possible.

My next step, was to play a few games of course! What better way to know if this site will be appropriate for my students other than to test it out myself? The big Farm game that was the first thing you could see on the site is suitable for an 8th grade class but the students do need to create an account to play, this keeps track of their particular farm. This is also a game that would need to be played over a long period of time as it has an upkeep to it.

Next I played Rags to Riches; it is very similar to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. This game would be good in a classroom as practice for lessons in algebra. No log in or sign up was required for this game which is very beneficial and safe for the students. I highly recommend educators using this site as a resource. I do believe it is credible and will be saving it to my own Porta Portal.

Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Clouds

In today's world, technology is everywhere. The younger generations are far more advanced than the older ones. My oldest daughter was able to fully function a computer, playstation, and television by the age of 3. My youngest two are only two and three and can practically any device given to them; they do struggle from time to time though. Over the last few years we have increased the amount of technology in our home greatly.

Technology in the school is no different. I observe a classroom for two hours every week and the teacher uses an iPad in their everyday routine. My daughter's classroom has an iPad and an interactive smart board. When I was in elementary and middle school, I did not have the luxury of using this type of technology. The most we had were over head projectors and TV's with VCR's on a rolling cart.

The "Build a School in the Clouds" video was inspirational. I liked the idea of having someone use a video cast program, such as Skype, to give the students the opportunity of learning from a highly experienced teacher. I would use a tool like this to teach students a subject like a foreign language. I struggled in Spanish classes even though my family come from Venezuela and Portugal. I wish I had the opportunity to spend one hour a week learning from someone who lives in the environment everyday.

Dr. Mitra discussed how people of wealth believe their children are smarter because they have the funds to expand their child's knowledge. Dr. Mitra has spent a lot of time traveling to various areas of high poverty to do a case study. This study is known as The Hole in the Wall. He believes that if children of poverty decent are given the opportunity to have a computer they will teach themselves.

This picture represents a hole in the wall. The children flock and line up for the opportunity of a lifetime to use a computer. This is something many of us take for granted on a daily basis. We witness similar interest when new technology comes out. There are lines of people at midnight who wait for a new game, game system, or even Apple products to come out.

Vision of Technology in the Classroom

Sorry for the delay, I am finally almost completely back to feeling normal. 

As a future teacher, I know how important it will be to keep up-to-date with the latest technology to keep the students intrigued in the content. I also believe that technology should not take the place of the teacher. Technology can have its advantages and disadvantages and it will be important as the teacher to maintain balance.

Students today can be so distracted by technology that most of them do not care to get fresh air. Students have so much uncensored access to technology through applications such as snap chat, Facebook, and Instagram.

I think technology should be integrated within the classroom curriculum on a daily basis without over doing it. The classroom I am currently observing in uses an iPad instead of a chalkboard or whiteboard. This integrates the interest of the students with technology but is also equivalent to just using the tools every classroom comes standard with. Now personally, I enjoy using whiteboards it gives us plenty of space to work out the problems step-by-step allowing the students to easily follow along. The iPad used with a projection screen creates a larger view so the entire class can see it but does not give the students enough space to work out their problems. 

I'm a bit old fashion when it comes to teaching math though. I struggle to find a usable connection between math and technology. I am sure there are things out there that in time I will find that I will use in my classroom.