Ms. Daly's kindergarten

What does Mike Wesch believe about how students learn? Dr. Wesch believes that students are disconnected from education. Learning is defined in a specific way, "dumping information into people's heads" . He believes that asking questions is where the real learning happens. " Asking questions, making connections and taking chances took us down from the trees and took us to the moon " It was interesting to watch Dr. Wesch compare students to his own son learning to walk down stairs. He brings up an interesting point about students when he suggests they (we) are programmed to think more about the grade or the "right" answers than the process of learning. While his son found failure to be fun and entertaining, students are often penalized by the grading systems in education. Colleges look at SAT scores and class rank to determine the worthiness of a student. So much of education is about teaching to the test in a way that Ken Robinson suggests that more s...

What do you make of the divergent positions of Boyd and Prensky? What do you hear them saying about who youth are? Where do you stand on the term "digital native?" When I reflect on the term digital native, and the readings I am struck by two things. One is that we know that kids are engaged digitally for significant amounts of time. In this respect, it seems to make sense that we as teachers would want to leverage that natural interest and experience with technology in our classrooms.     "Our students today are all "native speakers "of the digital language of computers, video games and the internet." The notion that "digital natives" move more adeptly and with speed seems to be anecdotally accurate in my household. My children are also far more likely to use digital terms as verbs and tease me when I sound "old".   However, Prensky seems to assume that experience with technology equates to a certain knowledge, while Boyd suggests th...

Hi, my name is Eileen Daly.  I first graduated from RIC in 1994 with a degree in psychology and early childhood education. I am a mom of five; Alyssa 25, Emily 23, Ben 21 and Christopher and Connor 18. I was a stay at home mom for many years and as my children entered elementary school, I volunteered in their classrooms. I often consider that experience some of the best professional development in which I have participated.  After many years at home with my children, I was hired to teach in South Kingstown. Currently I teach kindergarten at  Peace Dale elementary school  in the dual language immersion program.I love working with children and families as they begin their journey in school. Since school ended a little over a week ago, I have been spending time at Sand Hill Cove beach  and hiking with my nieces.  In addition to the beach I love to listen to live music, although given the current pandemic, I do not expect that will happen this summer. I am...