Hi class!! I must start out by saying how excited (and scared) i am about this semester. I do not consider myself tech savvy, but know how important it is in todays classroom.
Just the other day i read an article about the literacy rate vs proficiency rate in the United States school age children. The US has a 95% literacy rate, but only 34% pf thoes students are considered proficient. I couldn’t believe it. Only 34 percent of our students are prepared to succeed in our global economy.
Some of the solutions news week suggested included smaller class sizes, so teachers could do more one on one (not realistic with all the budget cuts,in my opinion), more teachers aids(again, expensive), so students could receive more one on one, and lastly, a computer software program that could aid the student in guided oral reading.
From what I understand, the student sits at a computer and reads a loud the words on the computer screen into a microphone that is attached to a headset, if the student says a word incorrectly or skips a word, the computer corrects the student. This too was expensive, $1500 dollars annually per student but much less compared to additional staff, an annual salary of an aid, which is about $20,000
This is a perfect example of how technology has helped the students in today’s society and this is exactly why I feel this class will be extremely beneficial to my future career as a teacher.
3 comments:
I am also a little nervous about taking this class. But, as you know, there's no way around it :) Hopefully, we will learn a lot and have fun while doing it. I agree that many of the suggestions to help our students achieve seem a little out of reach. I guess it will be up to us to come up with effective and inexpensive ways to teach.
Leah, I agree that its amazing how not proficient students are. I think that teachers get so caught up in "teaching for the test" that some students get left behind. Teachers want their students to score well on these tests because if they don't, it will look bad on the school and the school district. If students don't pass, it is often brushed under the table and the student is allowed to advance in their schooling. This only hurts the student because then they fall further and further behind. It seems as though no matter what suggestions are made, there will always be a reason as to why that suggestions is out of reach.
Wow those numbers are a bit scary. I did not know those stats! I definitely think that a computer based program can assist teachers in our fuller classrooms and will help students. In regards to the aides vs computer cost... Aides are more expensive, but also do not have the ability to track the students progress as well as a computer program can.
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