Journal #4: It's Time to Trust Teachers with the Internet: a Conversation with Meg Ormiston” NETS-T III

Schaffhause, D. (2010, December 1). It's time to trust teachers with the internet: a conversation with meg ormiston. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/12/01/its-time-to-trust-teachers-with-the-internet-a-conversation-with-meg-ormiston.aspx?sc_lang=en

In “It’s time to trust Teachers with the Internet” Dian Schaffhause is interviewed with question that basically ask for the truth on white social networking sites such as facebook are being blocked in schools. I found it very interesting that she revolves her answers around the fact that teachers are not aware of social networking sites. She continues that if teachers knew how to incorporate these websites into their curriculum there wouldn’t be this problem. The issue is not being seen from the aspect of protecting children but rather seeing a way that students can learn with websites such as facebook and youtube. YouTube contains so much good stuff, but the argument also arises that with so much good there is so much bad and that is where teachers are losing control. Teachers fall behind on technology that they are unable to keep up and find it easier to have these websites blocked, but rather it is the students who are suffering because we are taking away an aspect of learning. If a teacher knew these websites very well then these websites would not be blocked because Teachers can incorporate them into the learning part of the classroom environment.

Q1: Do you believe that this article is the real reason these websites are blocked from school?

A1: I am not going to question Dian Schaffhause because she see's things around these issues that i don't. However, I believe that the real reason facebook is blocked on campuses is that these social networks can be used for non learning and seen more as a distraction father than learning.

Q2:Do you agree that trusting teachers is a valuable excuse for blocking websites such as facebook?

A2: I don't agree that trusting teachers for blocking facebook and other websites like this should be blocked. pornography sends a wrong message to students, but facebook doesn't. facebook disrupts students learning and anything disrupting learning needs to be blocked. 

Journal 2: Join the Flock! (NETS-T I-III & V)

Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock!. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Join_the_Flock.aspx

The article brought up many issues in not just learning from those around us or those that we work with. Computers now allow educators to go online and see what others are doing in their classrooms. The proper use of twitter is a good example of this. An emphasis with getting a good deal from a twitter account is to make sure you are committed to participating and engaging yourself in what others have to say. Creating an account is easy, but finding the right people that have the same interests as you is up to you as an educator. The process is then taking that information and putting it to work in the classroom. It’s interesting that as a teacher and I want to get into creative writing I can easily go on twitter and look up high school creative writing teachers to see what tools I can incorporate in my classroom. Then I use that information and retweet it so my followers can see what I got. The information and ideas are going around and their not full proof but it’s good to stay connected with others in other parts of the world. Commit oneself to using ideas that are your or from others to express what works for you as a teacher. The point of tweeting is not to make friends, but rather enhance students learning and the classroom environment.

Q1: How does twitter tie back to a classroom setting? Can students use tweet as well and in what ways?

A1: Taking what I've read about twitter I can say that any class can have their own twitter where students can talk with a professor in or to answer questions from students especially the ones that pertain to certain assignments. also a teacher can use twitter more when he expands it to more than what he is learning from other educators, and now students are also being included in teaching the teacher. 

Q2: Would Twitter be a good way of communicating with parents of the classroom?

A2:I strongly believe it would be the best way. Parents need to take a priority in their child's education. Twitter can make the commitment of parents into education by reading tweets, and a teacher could ask for volunteers through twieets with parents. this is a great way of getting parents to be more involved through twitter. 

Journal 1: Do Web 2.0 Right (NETS-T I-IV)

Light, D. (2011). Do web 2.0 right. Leaning and Leading with Technology, 38(5), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-february-march-2011.aspx

 I find it very interesting that as technology advances so does the ideals of teaching inside a classroom.Technology has changed the aspect of learning through technology in the classroom. There is much research being done to get better answers. The author of the article has done research looking at how teachers are incorporating their web 2.0 skills into the classroom. It was discovered that implementing technology wasn't enough. Careful planning needed to be involved in order to get all students to participate. To get technology involved it is important to remember stick with small assignments and don’t just focus technology around projects. The article also proved that although blogs are a good way of communicating between all students and teachers the issue of showing of one’s work made some students feel uncomfortable which was for many reasons not just one reason. Blogs seemed to have worked much better when it was only between student and teacher. The use of wikis didn't work as the teacher would have liked, but there is still the issue that it wasn't well planned out. The article also made clear of ways of getting students interested and one of the ways Light sees in one of the schools he researched was the a teacher allowed students to first tell what they knew of a subject, and it was the beginning that got students interested before even beginning the unit. To adapt web 2.0 technology into the classroom there has to be work done both on and off line assignments. It was also a top priority for teachers to specify to all students in leaving feedback that wasn't harsh towards students. Then there was also the idea of filtering all comments before students could read them so a teacher could oversee the assignment overall.

Q1: How would a teacher that has been teaching for over three decades be informed of web 2.0 or be incorporate something that their not familiar with their teaching method?

A: Education is ongoing and as time goes by the education system will also eveolve. when I was in public school i did't have a cell phone to talk to. six year later students in public schools don't just have cell phones they hjave cell phoines with the ability to text and go online. this is a great way of incorporating students to learn. In adition a teacher also has to be kept up to technology and everything that deals with education because students are learning about this technology in record numbers.

Q2: there is the argument of having students comment on one another's blog. How important is a parent taking a look at his or her child's blog as well as others classmates blogs?

A: I find that parents come from different perspectives. parents will not always care what their kids do on their blogs, but the parents that do pay close attention might be overprotective especially if they misinterpret anything that is in the blog that was written by another student. a parent should be able to see their work and the work of others up to the point that any concern should be brought up to the teacher so that she could manage the situation or have a clear explanation for it.

Technology Self-Assesment: School 2.0

Nets I: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Reason: My dream classroom is that of teaching a creative writing class in high school. The first nets deals with inspiring creativity, and I can apply this to my class through creative writing and getting creativity with technology. I thought that as a teacher I would like to incorporate creativity as much as I can into my classroom.

Link: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

I took the time to watch a twenty-minute video on Ken Robinson who says that schools kill creativity. The title itself got my attention so I decided to take the time to listen to him. I learned teachers are educating people out of their creativity capacities. It really did make sense because all children are born artistic or rather in my point of view able to express themselves creatively. So why is that adults can’t be any more creative as they grow up? The problem that Ken Robinson states is that as we educate ourselves we are becoming less creative. When I heard this it really saddened me because its true it is happening not all of my classmates are creative writers. So what can we do to prevent education to lessen an individual’s creativity? I learned that as teachers we need to do more than just challenge students academically. Academics are just one component in learning. The second part I feel that creativity can develop academics when we get creative with our knowledge. I like what Ken Robinson says about creativity and what we can do begins with rethinking the view of intelligence and have students take the academics and incorporate them creatively so our knowledge can be expanded revolutionized. I learned that as a teacher there is more than just preparing students for the high stakes tests, but it also shows the importance of out arts/music classes because they promote creativity in a whole different manner that brings a whole different aspect to students. Thinking creatively can be interactive for all students.

 

 

Journal Three: 100 things I love

1. Smallville
2. Chow mein
3. Literature and writing
4. Creative writing
5. Talking with Sara Connelly
6. Working at San Dieguito Academy
7. Educating
8. Tower of terror
9. Csi Miami
10. CSI New York
11. Cheese Cake
12. Going to the beach
13. Talking with friends
14. Going to class
15. Shopping
16. Doug (cartoon series)
17. Cooking
18. Being a leader
19. Dreaming
20. Freedom writers
21. Writing in my journal
22. Facebook
23. Being at Disneyland
24. Being with the family
25. Holidays
26. Paydays
27. Working with high school students
28. Imagining my next story
29. Working with blindsided
30. Working in groups
31. Buffets
32. Reading
33. Browsing Barnes and noble
34. Going to the beach
35. Movie theaters
36. Kristen kreuk
37. Meeting people
38. Editing
39. Solitaire
40. Poker
41. Friends
42. The Mandarin
43. Eating
44. Walmart
45. Pokemon
46. Gameboy
47. Iphone 4
48. Jurassic park
49. Harry Potter
50. Emma Watson
51. Hermione Granger
52. Oceanside High school
53. WWE
54. Stand and deliver
55. Percy Jackson
56. School
57. A.V.I.D
58. Black Berry
59. My Parents
60. La Raza
61. Prezi
62. Working with imovie
63. Toy story
64. Uno
65. Scrabble
66. TGI Fridays
67. Mac
68. Analyzing literature
69. Swimming
70. Running
71. Going to class
72. High school
73. Learning
74. Day dreaming
75. Microsoft word
76. Tough enough
77. Social justice
78. Diversity
79. Winter
80. Fog
81. Books
82. Driving
83. Communicating
84. Flashpoint
85. Cross cultural center
86. Women’s center
87. Student life and leadership
88. Swimming pools
89. Working out
90. Cross country
91. Thinking
92. Free will
93. Pink
94. The dark knight
95. Blackberry
96. Macs
97. Christoper Golden’s Body of Evidence books
98. Walker Texas Ranger
99. Chuck Norris
100. Jogging

psa movie