Reflections+for+Tuesday

Reflection

Rachel's Homework I have been skyping my daughter for the past few weeks and it is quite fascinating the level of interaction that we can reach. We play hide and seek. We feed each other "snacks." We give each other "kisses." I read her books or we paint pics together. All of this I had seen her do previously when skyping her grandparents but it has increased since she is closer with me and skyping on a more frequent basis. Its interesting that she knows this is virtual play but it doesn't dampen her enjoyment of it. [ The technology creates an opportunity to embody a way of being in the world that includes "virtual kisses" and "virtual play". Your daughter accepts this because she doesn't know differently or rather her history as a human being does not include a world view of the "virtual" as being a less satisfying substitute for face to face interaction.]

Ellen's HW Sat with my 7 yr old son. Asked what wanted to do- immediately wanted to show me some games on the computer. I asked if we could do something new- so he said we could chose a new game. asked if he still wanted to investigate dog types (he wants one but is still deciding which one!) Research is new for him- but he deftly typed in www.thedog.com. he just made it up on the spot and it actually worked. He made do without knowledge of the search option! Read around, tried to be an authority, explaining everything he saw. quickly got distracted after not finding anything recognizable in terms of the word "kinds" or "types". I showed him the word breed and asked him if he knew it- he remembered it from "Best of the Breeds" went to and immediately clicked. still unsure so again got easily distracted by overwhelming amount of available info- some on, some off topic. with some guidance from me, finally found a website with pictures and info- he then aptly maneuvered his way around that website. I struggled with how much guidance,if any to give. I could not fight my instincts to just sit back and observe! I must ignore the need to control and facilitate, keep focused and on track. Its as if I learned nothing from class today! Did we really need to go all the way through with our goal- or more correctly my goal? What would have happened if I had just simply observed? I was surprised at his level of knowledge and comfort on the computer with browsing, highlighting, memory of websites, need to explain everything to me. I wonder where he will take me next, if I just let him go.... .[Yes that's the question...and it's been my experience that at some point his question will emerge and your answer will be timely, relevant and pretty well received. In the event that his question stumps you...then you've created the wonderful opportunity to learn something together and he will experience you as a learner.]

Dawn' Homework It was awesome when a thirteen years old school dropout became interested in a computer embedded on a wall. He somehow able to browse on it even though he did had any previous knowledge about computers. I think he was now interested to go back to school to learn more. It was interested how other children joined him and they and they became a learning group who were self constructing their knowledge to use the internet and computer. How were they able to figure out the E nglish language vocabulary for computer, when they were not in literate in English? I think they were eager and enthused to learn and therefore pushed themselves acquire new knowledge. I do believe we can learn anything if we put our mind to it. [What does it mean to "put the mind to it"? The phrase gives the impression that we can learn if we work at it, which may well be true. It may also be the case that we learn if we "play at it." My impression of the children's activity in the video was that they were playing together at something, and that play activity did engage many minds.]

Linda's Homework Student: Nachelle McCrimmon

Situation: Surf the web to purchase an American Girl Doll. Nachelle suggested that we go to the American Girl website so she could look at some dolls she would like to have as a birthday gift. My granddaughter then took the laptop typed in americagirl.com and begins to scroll through the different dolls reading the descriptions. Then she stated she would like to look at the Toys R Us website to look at similar dolls. She then clicked the top tab to open a new window for Toy R Us. Again she went to doll tab and picked three dolls that she read about. Nachelle proceeded to toggle between both websites until she made her final choice. One thing I noticed is that she did not continuously open and close the windows. At one point she had both windows open at the same time. I watched her with the laptop and she was as comfortable as I am with my pen and notebook. [The activity featured comparative analysis which is considered high order thinking, and the opportunity and responsibility for making a choice gives the child the practice at being what is currently beyond her current level of development, a full grown consumer]

Cynthia's Homework I have noted on many occasions that if you put technology in the hands of children they will automatically figure it out quickly. [Why?] They also surprise you in that they try things that adults wouldn't think of trying. [Why do you think that is?] They rarely stay on the page or app originally presented to them. They discover things, tire of them and quickly move onto something else. Or, if it's a game many of them STAY on the game and hate to give it up. There is a toddler at my church who on Sunday, walked around with a cellphone busily playing football on it. His mother was concerned about the safety of the phone, but the person who gave it to him wasn't. They knew that young children are facile with technology and usually don't destroy them in a short period of time.

What I found interesting about the students was their ability to learn English while manipulating the computer. I wasn't surprised at their curiosity. I am taking a course in teaching young students to learn to read. It's interesting to see that they can do this on their own when motivated by technology. [ And not supervised by adults]

Minnah

Children are very curious and very resourceful. When they truly want to do something, they find a way to get it done. I was not surprised that the children were able to become computer literate on their own, even though the language programmed for the computer was not their native language. There was no adult to intervene and say "don't do this or that" or "you can't do..." So, the children had the freedom to explore without limitations. Too often, I think we tell children what they can't do rather than what they can do, thereby limiting them. I also think that this has to do with our beliefs and our values as individuals and as a society.