Blog Assignment #3

Peer Editing

Before viewing the video What is Peer Editing? and the slide show Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial, I thought I would try to avoid using peer editing as much as I could when I became a teacher. I hated peer editing when I was in high school because I always felt like I was hurting someone's feelings, and I was always nervous when someone else would read my work. I also felt like my teachers would always use peer editing as a sort of embarrassing scare tactic to get the students to do the work. For example,"Tomorrow we will be doing peer editing, and if you don't have your work or if you did a bad job, then the whole class will know." However, now I realize that peer editing can really benefit not only the students but also the teacher as well. When done correctly, peer editing helps create classroom community. The students learn how to interact with each other and how to give and take constructive criticism. Peer editing also saves the teacher a lot of time with helping each student on their work.

This is the first time that I have ever had a teacher focus on teaching the class how to properly peer edit others. Teachers in the past have always expected us to already know how to do it. I believe that getting the students to understand the proper way to peer edit is crucial in order to get positive results. The teacher needs to make sure that the students know to stick to the three main rules-complimenting, suggesting, and correcting.


Assistive Technologies

Before watching Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Children, I had never thought about the possibility of having to teach students that are blind or deaf. If I have to in the future, I would be sure to do my best and make all the preparations necessary to give them the best learning environment possible. Children with these disabilities are at a major disadvantage when it comes to being in a classroom trying to learn. Thankfully, technology makes it much easier for these students and their teachers.

Technology is supposed to make everyone's life easier, but sometimes the creators of the new machines forget about the people who are blind or deaf, however the creators of the iPad have not. After watching the video iPad Usage For the Blind , one can see that the iPad is one of the few machines that now have special features for the blind. This is a huge step for someone who is blind, because they have never before been able to use things like the iPad. Another machine that is changing the lives of blind people is The Mountbatten, which helps them learn math. With technology advancing as fast as it is, hopefully new machines will continue to be created to make learning for the deaf and blind much easier.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

The video Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts really proved to me how important using technology in the class room is. I am from a very small town and we do not have the funding that most schools do, and I never thought my school would be able to have all of the computer equipment so I could teach my students using technology. Now, I see that the woman in the video,Vicki Davis, is also from a small town too, and she has started this whole new way of teaching.

Ms. Davis reminds me of the way my teacher, Mr. Strange, likes to treat his students. She does not feel like it is necessary to teach the students everything, but instead let them figure it out on their own. From first hand experience I know that this is a very effective way of teaching, because it forces the student to take action and really try to figure out how to solve their own problems, and once they do that, the student is less likely to forget what they have learned. Even though it is harder on the students, I think that more teachers should use this type of teaching.