Week_13 The End Is Near

The snow outside is finally and it looks like together with it the discovery of so many fascinating new tools that Avraham has taught us is winding down, but that doesn't there is no room for one last of interesting new toold and discussions. 

I would like to begin with sharing my opinion on two tools I am a little less fond of, one from this week and one from last. The first tool is ClassDojo (in this link there a short video that explains about the site). Before raising the problem I have with the site I would like to point out that I do appreciate the attempt to integrate teacher feedback (positive and negative reinforcement) in such a fun way. The main problem I have with this tool connects to the point that I have raised in the past, and that is human interaction. I have already discussed the dilemma of how much human interaction in the classroom should be replaced with technology, and the difficulty of finding the right balance. To me ClassDojo is already way over crossing the line, the one I can not even imagine giving up to technology is my personal feedback with my students, if a student did something I want to give him a high five or a hug not click on a "+1" on my iPad!

The second thing I would like to discuss is from last week, and also connects to crossing the line with technological replacement of human interaction. I felt that the video about Katy school district's project showed a lot of really amazing things, but it just felt like like too much technology and not enough human connection.

Okay, on to the good stuff. Here are a few tools I bumped into that really appealed to me:

1. TED-Ed (this link has a video explaining hoe to use the tool) - I very much like simplicity, and this epitomizes just that. It's a tool that helps create very effective and productive lessons online, and it is very simple to use.

2. Collaborize - This is a great tool that is exactly it sounds like - it integrates collaboration in a fun way. It gets students to discuss and share on interesting topics that the teacher wants to bring up. It gets students to open share on an even playing field (as the video explains).

3. Educreations - A nice tool that can be used by T or S to create presentations that include voice thread, image and animations such as underlining a piece of information you are discussing.

Research Tools

It's been a while, but we're back.

This week we delved into the world of research. Personally I always felt that google was enough for me, if I had trouble searching for something on Google I probably would have trouble searching or it anywhere for the very simple that the only time I have trouble finding what I'm looking for on Google it is whatever I am attempting to find is very vague. If I know what I'm looking I usually find it on Google. It is for this reason that I, personally, did not find so much use in noodletools. That is not to say that I see no merit in the site, I do think the site can be very useful for some people, it is very organized and the interactive tool seems like it could be useful.

Simple Wikipedia is a very nice website - whether for looking into complicated topics or for ESL students. Sometimes when I look something on Wikipedia to get a quick summary I will click on the simple English option in order to pick up the pace.

Week_6

I hope it is ok to bring a bit of criticism to a tool as well as speaking about the toold we like and why we like them so much. I assume that if we can do one (as requested in the assignment) we can do the other as well, if I am wrong I apologize. The tools I am referring to are voice chat/thread. I have one very simple cautionary piece of advice that I want to give myself and anyone else who plans on using these tools, and that is simply to be aware of the lack of human interaction that my generation has experienced, all the more so the following generations. Enough aspects of our lives have already been taken over by social media and non-frontal interaction, maybe the classroom is specifically a place where we should think twice before letting the takeover happen. By nature I am unable to only represent one aspect of the equation and therefore I would like to mention two things that I am well aware that strengthen the option of using these media: 1. I have neither attempted nor succeeded in undermining using social media with students, I am sure that there are fantastic ways for these toold to effectively be used in the classroom, I just felt it important to bring another point of view. 2. I said that the classroom should not be taken over by social media. Of course, we can't ignore the fact that social media is so common nowadays, and that no one can (and possibly should not attempt to) escape its wonders. With all that said, I think the international nteraction possibility has a lot of potential for various reasons: 1. This highlights one of the best aspects of all the social media nowadays - worldwide interaction. 2. Worldliness - this could really open up the students to a "whole new world" (literally and figuratively) it can show them that there are things out there besides their city and family. 3. Authentic conversation is the best way to work on language and what better way to do that than with someone in your same situation.

The second tool I would like to discuss is the debating tool, a fantastic form of interaction for the classroom, and using the top 100 debates website with the pros-cns pages is a great way for high school students to prepare for their in-class debates.

The third tool I would like to use is the spelling tool. This website is a great way to help students practice spelling the words you have learned in class (you put the words in) in a simple and effective manner. I also thought that this website is very useful in that it has all levels(I dare you to try the 11-12 grade texts, see if you succeed). Another point I thought was useful is the fact that the first site i referenced uses audio and the second uses visual (texts), meaning that different sites can be used for different students based on their preferred form of learning.

This website seems to be a wonderful website for planning a text. It can be used by a teacher and by a student to plan out texts they wish to write, and for people who might have trouble with the initial stage of brainstorming. Besides formation and organization, I think another underrated  positive of this site is that it forces you to decide once and for all what you are going to write about, it helps narrow down and focus on the exact points you wihs to tackle.

Lastly I would like to discuss assorted tools that were brought in the unit this week that I think can be very for the teacher as well as the student. The first one is this which is very useful in giving the perspective of the reader (to a certain extent) that can be so lacking. I think this tool is a very fun and creative tool to spice things up a bit with a tool that is familiar to the students. And this tool is great for projects that students will be doing during the year, I know how much I would have enjoyed having something like this back when I was struggling with all sorts other programs that made me want to finish my project and shut off the computer as quickly as possible instead of genuinely enjoying a project that is supposed to be fun!

WEEK 4 Human Touch Over Technological Dependence

The first blogpost I would like to respond to is The Innovative Teachers "When tech teaches, what do teachers do?" I find this fascinating, and it very much reminds of a very complicated dilemma that halachik Jewry is dealing with nowadays as well; If all the books are available to everyone, what is the job of rabbis nowadays? And I think the answers to both questions are very similar.

To answer these a lead up question needs to be asked first, what do humans bring to the tables that books or electronic devices do not? And the answer to this is so simple, it's the same reason technology will never take over the world and humans will never fall in love with robots - technology can not show love. Technology brings all the existing information to anyone who requests it, but is thast really the goal of education? If the only goal of education was the acquisition of information then yes, all teachers can be let go. This is where i would like to bring in Cool Cat Teacher's blogpost "How we can stop teaching to the test and start empowering learning (for a change)" The point here again is that the point of education is not just information gathering and test taking, when our chuldren will go out to the real world, their ability to testtake will not help them anywhere. Again, the idea is to "empower learning" to teach the next generation the powers of knowledge and creativity. There are messages and techniques that can not be passed over through a text written in a book or on a computer. Do we really want our children to learn manners and communication skills from machines? The job of a teacher is not to give over technical information (for the most part) but rather to empower the next generation to make a difference, to be interested and connected to the world outside the classroom walls, to want to make the world the best posible place.

I think this is a very owerful message!

P.S. this does not in anyway mean that technology should not be used (in fact, I wrote about thsi in my previous post) the tools we are learning here are fabulous and cna make a huge difference in the classroom environment. Today was a bit of a reminder to not forget the real reasons I am going into education.

Week 3

Some thoughts after reading Lisa Nielsens insights into the use of media amongst teens and tweens. Lisa is attempting to quell the knee-jerk reactions parents had to the results discovered by the Common Sense Census. The Common Sense Census "is a large-scale study that explores young people's use of the full range of media and technology", and its results were startling to some. I would like to focus on one point raised by Lisa in her blog "The Innovative Educator"

One section in lisas blogpost is titled "Restrictions are ineffective". in this section she attempts to argue that not only are restrictions ineffective but rather are counter intuitive. Basically she is trying to argue that each form of media can be used for good; teens can interact with the outside world through social media, gaming systems can be used for exercise when the weather outside is unfavorable to natural forms of exercise. I have no problem with this, Lisa is making a totally truthful point here. But regardless i feel the need to interject here.

It seems that there are two sides of the spectrum being represented here; the parents knee-jerk reactions representing the side for restrictions and Lisa opposing that. I think we need not fool ourselves, and some sort of middle ground here, a point which Lisa mentions as well. Before restricting chidren from using media, we need to check how they are using it and what purpose it serves in their life. if they are rotting away in front of the TV 8 hours a day, isolated in their room, plauing video games, some restrictions might very well help. On the other hand if someone really found some sort of community online that is a place fo them to express themselves and is filling some sort of void in their life, why restrict them?! The point I am trying to make here, and this is very important for our course as well (especially in a Jewish environment) is that no rules should be made here, media can be used in extremely useful and productiv on one hand, and very wasteful nd harmful ways on the other. this same thing applies for the classroom, and we always have to be checking ourselves, if we're adding good to this world or not!

"A Whole New World"

I never saw myself as a blogger, so here goes.

My name is Yishai Walk, I am in shiur ה in Yeshivat Otniel besides my studies in Herzog. I am failry excited for this course, I hope it will give me new ways to broaden my spectrum of relating to the world and teaching my students in the future. I don't exactly know what I will be learning in this course, but I sincerely hope it will be interesting and useful moving forward.

good luck to everyone, and most importantly, let's enjoy!