Reflection on Dr. Zhao's Podcasts

It is overwhelming to think of all the changes that need to be made to our educational system in order to keep up with the pace of things. I think the change really needs to begin in colleges where teachers are educated. Classes need to be devoloped for teachers that will help them meet the technology needs of our students. Also, nationally we need to look at how we can provide access to technology in the classroom. We all know that technology is a priority, but it also has taken a hit through budget cuts. Maybe eventually we will have a computer for each student, but that would be a tremendous cost to school districts/parents. I'm not sure that is feasible. I guess what we do is try to infuse these things slowly. I worry that we are not moving fast enough in comparison to other countries and I know that is a concern for many other people as well.

Collaborative Project

I am thinking abou how I can have students do a collaborative project using some of the ideas from this presentation. I think that this would work well with The Giver. I could put students in groups and have them create their own virtual community. We would look at the problems in our world now and talk about how we can do away with those problems. They would do research and look at some communities in our world now that are structured differently and also the community in which Jonas lives. I would have them create their own government, education, housing, laws, ect. for their community. I have seen other teachers do a similar project, but it was more pen and paper or draw a poster kind of a project. What if we had each group create their own website for their community? Other students could then spend time looking at the ideas of their peers and evaluate the different communities. Would these changed communities create new problems to be faced? This is a great starting point for me to look into for next year.