Critique of Chapter 7

After reading chapter 7, I feel that the learning technology is interesting, yet I am a bit skeptical about learning from home. While I think it is possible to gain a wide variety of knowledge, I also feel that the level of socialization that students receive in an actual classroom is essential. It is also important to have interhuman connections. I think that a web chat system would be inadequate because students need to connect with other human beings to learn. We learn so much from body language, voice tone/inflection, and the questions that other students have that I don't think online learning can be compensated for. Overall, I appreciate chapter 7, and I feel like it discusses both positive and negative aspects of learning, but overall, I believe that unless it is a last resort, distance learning is a poor choice.

Teacher Tube

This is a beautiful winter landscape that I think is wonderful!
(http://www.dreamstime.com/winter-landscapes-image2971214)

Teachers who use Technology

My AP Calculus teacher always used power point to teach in class. One day, we were learning about volume, and he showed us this website that actually filled in the volumes of each graph, and it showed us an animated rotating model of the volumes filling in in its various forms (by circles, triangles, squares, etc). It was a very difficult topic that was made significantly easier with technology.

Digital Story Concept Map

Interesting Instructional Software----Scratch

Scratch is a free, engaging, and interesting piece of instructional software technology. It was created at MIT, but is available for anyone and everyone to use. In Scratch, you can create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web. This program is fit for anybody to use as it is very user friendly.

I would evaluate it as very successful because of the options that one has for using it. It is a great resource for those who may not have the time, resources, or motivation to create their own project. As a teaching resource it is excellent. Teachers can use this to create programs for their students, or have their students create programs for class assignments.

Overall, Scratch is a wonderful resource and could aid many classrooms in fun, creative, and engaging learning of all kinds.

Successful Practices

I was interested in the Tom Snyder Production mathematics software. It is really interesting because students (grade 2 and up) will take a pretest, and from there, they will receive a personal math program with daily sessions. This will help students learn basic math skills and understand basic concepts. It also provides aids to teachers to create lesson plans and evaluation methods. I am not sure how good of a program it is after basic math is learned, but it can be a great way to build individual skills and help to make a concrete foundation in math.

I was most impressed by the Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE ) math page because it covers all of the content standards of math and goes much deeper into more advanced mathematics. For instance, the Algebra page offers interactive programs for exploration, resources for teachers, and learning modules. This website is a fantastic resource for all mathematics topics and it is certainly worth using regularly.