Elena D'Arezzo

  What mixed emotions I had after watching the Ted Talk Build a School in the Cloud  By Sugata Mitra.  Listening to him I’m thinking…Oh boy I’m out of a job!?! …. My students don’t need me!.... What will future education really look like?  Then as I continued to listen my anxiety eased up.   Teachers are needed.  We are needed to facilitate, encourage, raise the big questions they need to discover, and  allow for learning to happen.   A few points throughout the presentation stood out to me.   He asked the question : “ Is Knowledge Obsolete?”  I just had this talk with a coworker about how with technology at our fingertips we don’t have to remember facts about certain topics.  All we have to do is ask Siri or Google what we need to know.  At times it's as if we don’t need knowledge of things like we used to.  I found it interesting how he brought that up back in 2013 when here we are in 2022 and Siri and Google ...

  At first it was difficult to decide if Turkle and Wesch were allies or opponents. But as I went back and reviewed my notes I saw them as allies. Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk, Connected, But Alone? , discusses how she is still excited about technology but “we are letting it take us places that we don't want to go”.  Turkle mentions how back years ago we used what we learned in the virtual world about ourselves and our identity to live a better life in the real world.  Now in this day in age technology is changing the way we are.  That we are alone but together because we are controlling where we put our attention to and hide from people.  Wesch talks about technology as a resource for students to use to engage them into learning and use it as their strength since they are youths in a digital world.  I associate them as allies because both Turkle and Wesch  worry about a person's significance. Turkle wants people to connect with each other and have conver...

  Dr. Michael  Wesch’s Ted talk was so inspiring and had me thinking about how my students learn and thrive and if I act on my beliefs of learning.   Dr. Wesch believes that students learn through having a connection with students.  He gets to know them and what is going on in their lives that could be causing issues.  He believes that students learn when they ask questions and take those questions outside the classroom.  He focuses on three questions: Who am I? What am I going to do? Am I going to make it? Throughout the video I noticed that Dr. Wesch also believes in having students use their strengths to succeed.  For instance, instead of getting angry at his student that sleeps in class because he's playing video games, Dr. Wesch has that student use his talent to participate in class.  It’s like he individualizes activities for his students so they can succeed.  Dr. Wesch also believes in team work/group projects for students to learn....

      The divergent positions of Boyd and Prensky are very interesting when it comes to technology and media.  Prensky’s position is that young people are “digital natives” because our students today are born into this digital age and speak this digital language through computers, video games and the internet. They don't need the technology instructions because they know everything about it.  Prensky then positions older people to be “digital immigrants'' because these people were not born into the digital world and adopt aspects of new technology.   Boyd’s position differs from Prensky due that she believes that these terms do not represent young and older people.  She talks about how young people need to be taught how to use technology safely, be aware of bias,  and become media literate.   I can relate to both positions that Boyd and Prensky make about technology.  As a Gen X generation, Prensky’s position seems relevant...

  Ciao everyone! I am Elena.  I am a mom and wife.  I grew up in an Italian household with Italian being my first language.  My parents came from Italy for economic reasons and for a better life.  I am a second grade teacher of MLL students that are integrated.  So far this summer has been busy with ending summer session 1 class, taking this class, studying for the Praxis, and getting ready for my  trip to Italy this July.  But it’s all worth it!  I am hoping to spend time by my pool during my free time and chauffeuring my son back and forth to football training sessions.