Extra Post

A world where grades will be left behind

This is a piece from USA Today online about the potential future of education. Sebastian Thrun has created a free online learning program called Udacity. Udacity allows people to learn in fun ways from professors from around the world. The key word here I think is free, free education for people from real professors? That sounds pretty impressive, but what does this mean for me as a future educator? Will I even have a job? I think the idea is to incorporate the way Udacity is being used into schools. I as the teacher would guide the students through their learning experience.

The idea behind this is wonderful. Students are learning at their own pace, never getting behind, and only having passing grades. That's a teachers dream, but is this reasonable? Could this possibly happen in our lifetime? I think it could to an extent. Things like this do not happen overnight, but I think it's a definite possibility for the future of education.

Project #11 Short Movie

Blog Post # 10

Adventures in Pencil Integration: John T. Spencer

At first I have to say I didn't understand the cartoon. Then, after some research it was quite easy to understand. The Papermate is the norm; it's what the majority of people will go with. The Ticonderoga is a little more expensive and not many people will purchase it. However, the more educated person might purchase the Ticonderoga because it holds up longer and is not easily broken. If you follow the crowd you'll most likely purchase the Papermate, regardless if it isn't a quality purchase. The message I got from this was to think for yourself, and do not go with the norm. Maybe there are smarter choices you could be making if you weren't caught up with the crowd.

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?

This was a very enjoyable post to read. The principal is angry with the teacher for "playing a game" during class time. However, the teacher sees it as a fun creative way to teach his kids rather than the same boring stuff over and over again. The part I really loved was this one, "If we want students to pass the rote memorization test, we need to focus on rote memorization skills." The principal goes on to ask him if he was sleeping during their meeting about this. The teacher tells him of course he was paying attention, but he is thinking to himself that he wasn't. I think this sums up how most teachers teach, by trying to get student to memorize when we should be learning.

Acceptable Use Committee

I found a third post on Mr. Spencer's blog that I enjoyed. The committee's goal is to make kids aware of "pencil predators." The predators send notes to kids to lure them in apparently. Then a teacher speaks up and says what if that goal isn't acceptable, and what if it's about being ethical instead? He says if that's the case we need an Acceptable Use policy for everything. His point being kids should be ethical critical thinkers. The leader of the group completely misses the point and says, "I think that's a brilliant idea. I'll bring that back to my supervisor. We should have Acceptable Use policies for all subjects."

This blog has a lot of neat posts that are funny and educational.

Dont teach your kids this stuff. Please?

This is a post by Scott Mcleod where it's pretty obvious he being sarcastic. What he pretty much says is do not teach your kids to grow and learn with technology. However, I will teach mine and they will have the upper hand down the road. I commented saying I liked the way he tried to convince people or not convince them to embrace technology. I learned that Mr. McLeod is an Associate Professor and his blog is called Dangerously Irrelevant. I've commented on his blog before and I've always enjoyed reading his posts.

Smart Board Project #14

PLN Progress Report

On my PLN I'm still just trying to figure it out a little better and organize what exactly I plan to do. This is one project I'd like done right. There are a couple things I'd like to ask someone in lab about, and I plan to go there soon to do that.

Project #12 Book Trailer

Blog Post # 9

Mr. McClung's Year 4 of What He Learned This Year

First of all I like the whole idea of what he is doing. Mr. McClung summarizes what he has learned as a teacher on his blog at the end of every school year. This is a great way to self-reflect, and to also communicate with other teachers about teaching.

This post in-particular was done at the end of his 4th year of being a teacher. He says he struggled a lot during the year trying to define himself as a teacher. He was very worried of what his peers thought of him, which is something he never previously cared about. He then came to realize that he couldn't change himself for the benefit of his peers, and as long as his students are enjoying themselves and learning that's all that matters. I think this is a good example of why reflecting on himself as a teacher is a good idea. Maybe he wouldn't have been able to come to that conclusion had he not taken the time to think about it.

Mr. McClung also said that he was getting too comfortable as a teacher, and he wasn't being very creative with his lesson plans. He was depending on older lesson plans. In his words, "I was not teaching well." He was given the opportunity to teach a whole new subject. With that opportunity was the chance to start fresh with new ideas. He wants his students to enjoy coming to his class and if he does the same things over and over he will not achieve that goal. He made a good point here that teachers shouldn't get too comfortable when teaching. They should always be looking for new and exciting ideas to keep the students intrigued.

Mr. McClung's Year 1 of What He Learned This Year

Now, I'm going to summarize what Mr. McClung said about his 1st year of teaching. He says that he realized that you can't just teach the content without thinking of student comprehension. A lot of teachers get caught up worrying about their superiors they forget about their actual audience, the students. He says that in order to be effective you have to let your audience drive the instruction.

It is important to be flexible and go with the flow. Do not beat yourself up over a failed lesson plan. Things aren't going to always go as planned. Be willing to work through it and improvise. Communication is also a needed in order to have good relationships with your fellow co-workers and your students.

Do not overreact if students fail to meet your expectations. They sometimes do and sometimes don't it's our job to be there to help when they do not. Use technology to your advantage and do not be afraid of it. It is also important to listen to your students and to know them. The most important point of all, in my opinion, is to never stop learning. We as educators should grow and learn in order to be successful. I completely agree with this of course how could anyone not?