Blog Review and New Technology

I was looking on the Education Week website at different blogs and I found a blog called "Why 'Washington-Driven Standardization' Is NOT Best". I found this blog interesting because of North Carolina's involvement in the Race to the Top program. This blog was written by Diane Ravitch. She is Research Professor of Education at New York University. She blogs regularly and has authored several books about the American education system.
I learned several interesting things from her blog. The main point of this blog was that she wasn't very sure about reforming our education system yet again. I have never really thought about how many times we have reformed our schools throughout the time of our nation. She quotes the Mayor of Oakland, California Jerry Brown in this blog. She is impressed with his opinion and the thought he put into the Race to the Top program. He talks about the "one size fits all" way of education. We have standardized tests and all children are supposed to pass the same test. Diversity and socioeconomic status are not taken into consideration in these tests. I read several of the comments made about the blog and I thought that they were very interesting as well. This blog provoked a very thoughtful discussion of the role that standardized testing should play in schools.
(http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2009/10/why_top_down_washington_driven.html?qs=jerry+brown)

New Technology

So far in EDU 305, we have completed several assignments using different kinds of technology. We have used Microsoft Word and Publisher, Inspiration, PhotoStory, and Microsoft Expressions. I was very familiar with Word and with Publisher so those assignments were not as difficult for me to complete. Inspiration, PhotoStory, and Expressions were all completely new to me. I was able to figure out Inspiration fairly quickly but PhotoStory and Expressions took a little while longer. I could figure out how to insert pictures, colors, and fonts on Expressions but I was unsure of how to hyperlink and then correctly save the information to my computer so that other people would be able to view my web page. I had to ask for some help from some friends that were familiar with the software when I got confused. PhotoStory was a little confusing at first but then I picked up on how to use it. Even though some of the technology was new to me, I thought it was very user friendly and I didn't have as much trouble figuring things out as I thought I would.
I am glad I have learned how to use these technological resources because they will be very useful in my future classroom. In today's world, technology is very important. Children should be comfortable using it and typically, they really enjoy using technology. I think creating websites would be a fun activity for a class to do. They could collect information and together, we could form a web page. I also think Inspiration will be a great resource. As a visual learner, I found the maps and outlines very helpful. I think it would be a good way to organize information for students. PhotoStory is also a very fun resource. Students could make their own stories in Language Arts or in any other subject. It is a neat way to have students write a story without them realizing they are doing work. I think these technological resources allow for students to succeed because they allow for all types of learners.