Digital Blog Post #B Chapter 2 + 3

"Visual Learning and Visual Literacy" page 40

When I read this part of the text I immediately thought about the old pull-down maps of the world that were used in my elementary and middle school classrooms. In school could see the countries and the pastel colors, and I could see the words that labeled most of the oceans, but because I have bad vision and always wore glasses, I struggled to see most of the other information. Staring at flat faded maps was pretty boring too. A lot of the kids would stare out the window or play around in their desks. The teacher would use a long pointer to slap the part of the map we were supposed to be paying attention to and I would get lost sometimes. These maps were pretty much the only way for a student to learn geography at that time. Fast forward fifteen or so years and a lot of classrooms have internet access. Students can look at Googlemaps, HarvardMaps, or MapsofWorld online. These three sites that I listed are not only useful and easy to read but a teacher or student can print out the map they want to keep. The student can magnify the map images on the computer too so that they are easier to read. And kids today enjoy using computers because they feel as if they are not working hard when they get to be online.
I am a very visual person. The idea of using "photographs, diagrams, charts, graphs, drawings, musical notations, and pictures" (Maloy) in a classroom has been common for a long long time but now teachers can use modern technology to bring lessons to life. All these visual aids can be used on a Smartboard and interacted with by students. Reenactments and documentaries can be watched in a classroom. Even homework is better with technology because students can create maps, movies, online games, and online quizzes.

"Learning Assessments" page 63

On page 63 I came to the section that said assessments are "short answer tests, essays and other written tasks, oral discussions, teacher observations, class participation, and student projects, portfolios, and performances, all of which provide evidence of what students have learned..." (Maloy). I thought about how pencil and paper tests are so boring and now students have the ability to study, do projects, do homework, and now even do their tests on a computer. This must make it so much easier for teachers to check tests over and make losing individual papers an obsolete problem. I am really looking forward to having the ability to keep my student's grades and progress on a well developed program. I think it will be really interesting to be able to design quizzes and tests online for my students also. 

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Photo Credit is "Exam" by Alberto G. on Flickr

"Assessing and Evaluating Students" page 67

I wanted to continue on  with my thoughts from the "Learning Assessment" part of the text book with what I read on page 67. I thought it was really interesting to see what teachers think about assessments. Typically we just think about how students view assessments. I know that I definitely do not want to test my students the way I was tested in school. I can understand why some teachers would use methods that they are comfortable with because they are what was used when they were in school, but I think that it is important to keep up with the times and identify with what your students will be most comfortable with. 

I also looked at some of the statistics given n standardized testing. I am not a fan of standardized testing because not all students are "standard". Some students will do well on pen and paper tests and some will do better on computers. Because so many students show their knowledge in a lot of different ways, we should rethink how we give standardized tests to allow those students to show what they know in the best ways possible. 

As for teacher tests, I am a fan of teacher testing. I think that it is very important for teachers to be up to a certain level of education and be able to demonstrate that. I also think that teachers should have to do more than the occasional performance assessment because our drop out and failure rate is still much higher than I am comfortable with. 

RESOURCES:

Maloy, R. W. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.