Blog Post #10

Adventures in Pencil Integration, by: John T. Spencer

I'm a Papermate. I'm A Ticonderoga.

On my first look of the cartoon, I believe the cartoon was making a comparison of generic products verses name-brand products. I have always been told that "You are crazy if you pay double the price for that name brand, the generic brand is just as good". Both characters have cheapish looks on their faces. From the looks on their faces, Papermate realize his product is inferior to Ticonderoga, but he has to support it because this is what has worked for years. Ticonderoga, on the other hand, she knows her product is superior, but probably not worth the high price it costs. She also realizes the type people who will be purchasing her product and the cost has to be more. If I had to compare the two characters after reading the blogs and fitting the cartoon into our class, I would say that Papermate looks like and old school conservative style of teaching. A teaching situation that works, but not moving forward; a teaching style that is being left behind. On the other hand, you have Ticonderoga, who appears 'new age', and trendy. Ticondoraga's users will write more on a PC or laptop than with paper and pencil. This was my first take on the cartoon.


Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?

In this blog, Mr. Spencer describes a situation that happens between he and his principal. The principal is concerned only with student's standardized test scores and how the school looks. The principal wants Mr. Spencer to follow the model of a teacher who follows boring rules. He does not want Mr. Spencer to roam outside of the box. It seems as though anything taught with student interaction is considered 'playing games'. He wants him to teach only what is on the state tests. On the other hand, Mr. Spencer is teaching his students real life situations,that will help them through life. Mr. Spencer is not only teaching his students course objectives, he is also teaching his students information that will help them be productive citizens in society. When I was in grade school, I definitely learned best when my teachers had us engaged in collaborative and cooperative learning. I remember these lessons a great deal more than the teacher who simply lectured to us and we memorized/(burp-back)the information. Learning while having fun; this is the kind of teacher I hope to become. Mr. Spencer wants meaningful learning to occur, while his supervisor wants instant/quick learning to occur. The principal does not seem to care if the information is learned for a long period, just the time it takes to pass the test. Again, Mr. Spencer wants his students to learn behaviors that will take them throughout life.

Why I Am Not Neutral

Mr. Spencer's blog, Why I am Not Neutral speaks volumes about the kind of teacher Mr. Spencer is. Mr. Spencer places his students first, no matter what the situation is; he believes it is his job to teach and care for his students. This article deals with immigration, but more than anything, it deals with what's right and wrong. Mr. Spencer points out that it is our jobs as teachers to teach a child. He says that he cannot be neutral to the situation of immigration; he believes it is our responsibility as educators to educate. We do not assume the political role and teach only students who are American. He lets the reader of his blog know that as teachers, we do not know the circumstances and just should assume that the child needs to be taught; excluding political right and wrong. Mr. Spencer points out that immigration was sparked by the demand from the United States. Juan, his student, is merely an innocent bystander, who is simply trying to deal with the cards he has been dealt. In each blog I read of Mr. Spencers, he is always trying to do what is right for his students; no matter what status-quo may be. After reading several of his blogs, he was criticized by some of his readers, but he always stood behind what he believed to be true. Great blogs!


Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? by: Scott McLeod

Dr. Scott McLeod is one of the nations leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. He is director of Innovation for Prairie Lake Areas Educational Agency 8 in Iowa. This information was taken directly from his bio page. The blog on Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?, was a blog showing how the na-sayers view technology. The blog uses much sarcasm to emphasize how people who are negative about the new wave of technology, are being left behind. I have heard so many times from my grandmothers, how technology is going to make our brains explode and how they got along just well with paper and pencil. I have heard, with my own ears, how the Internet is used for all the wrong reasons. My little brother, who attends high school in a county that has computers for all their high school students, says that discipline is down since the computers have been given to all the children. Sure, there are some students who will misuse the computers, but these are students who were probably going to do it no matter what. The benefit of these computers out-way the few students who will misuse them. My younger brother is able to use his computers to download assignments, research for projects, communicate/collaborate with his peers,learn more about current events, and most of all stop asking to use my laptop. Being able to sync information from IPads, IPhones, IPods and my laptop has made life wonderful for me. I think you put your blog in perspective in your last paragraph, where you said “cause I’m doing all of it with my children, can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two, can you?" What I believe you were saying, is will you and your family/child be left behind because mine will not. I love the sarcastic tone of the blog; makes you want to continue reading the blog. Thanks for sharing your blog with us.

Project 10

Finding the Right Tool

Project 10 challenged me to find new tools and tell how I would incorporated them into my classroom when I become a teacher. I did not realize when I began my research on this project, that I would come across so many different tools that will benefit me when teaching. What I have to learn, is how to incorporate technology into physical education. I thought this would be a hard task, until I did the research for this project. I found the materials I will need, straight from the Internet. I will be teaching physical education to grades K-12. Although I would like to teach secondary physical education, I have been told by many people, that I should take any level position offered to me while trying to gain employment with a school system. I'm assuming I will also teach a co-ed. physical education class.

While researching this project, I came across some amazing resources/tools. The websites I think I will incorporate into my lessons are: Electrikids for Teachers (www.electrikids.com/teachers.html) and PE University (www.PEUniverse.com). Electrikids for Teachers provide teachers, parents and students, free fitness related activities to download and use. The website also provide other websites related to physical education. Electrikids include activities I intend on incorporating into my lesson plans. Some of the activities listed included: Traffic Cop, Body Map, Applauding Heart-rate and Bean Bag Hockey. All of these activities include helpful tips and demonstrations on how to keep our bodies healthy and fun ways to enjoy physical activities. PE University is another website found while researching this project. PE University provides PE video activities, demonstrations on how to use weight-lifting equipment properly and social media websites exclusively designed for the physical education professional. The social medial component is compared to YouTube and Facebook.

Although the tools listed above, is more than sufficient to improve my classroom objectives, I did come across another tool that I plan on incorporating in my physical education class. The tool is the Wii Gaming System. The activities on this game is directly linked to the physical education classroom. This will be a most useful tool in my class, especially on rainy days. I learned that physical education should always include teaching that will promote good health, but also include learning that is enjoyable and fun. This is turn, will hopefully help my students become life-long lovers of physical education.

I will share this information with my students and parents in their course syllabus.

"Autism"

Learning about Autism

After reading Ms. Lentine's website Wretches and Jabberers,Learning about Autism and watching the video on Tray and Larry, I learned a lot about autism in 30 minutes. After viewing the trailer, I thought that both men had the disability of retardation, not autism. I have a couple of friends and a cousin who has autism, and they look and talk, what I consider "normal". They are totally different from Tracy and Larry in appearance. When I completed the video, and looked through the website, I found that even though they look different, or "normal", Tracy and Larry may be smarter than me, my friends and my cousins. However, one of my friends are very intelligent.

What was interesting about the website, was when I visited the Larry and Tracy part of the site. I was amazed at how well both men were able to put their words and meaning together when they typed them. Also, if you look at Tracy with shades on, you cannot even tell there is anything physically different about him. However, without shades, you are able to see a difference. It is very interesting to me how two men with this disability can make such a difference in life and we "normal" people whine about a headache.

I was wondering, does autistic people have a vast range of intelligence like a “normal” person? Also, are there different levels of autism; if so, how many? Last question is autism the same as Asberger’s Syndrome? Again, thanks! I’m glad we have people out there like you making a difference and 'schooling' people like me.

C4K Summary for the month of March

C4K #6

Maggie

C4K #6, Comment #1

The student I commented on this week is Maggie. Maggie is a 6th grade student from Adelaide, Australia. Maggie calls her blog A Learning Blog. Her subject this week is Cyber-bullying 2. Her first post dealt with cyber-bullying and what cyber-bullying is. Maggie is keeping a log on cyber-bullying. This week, she tells us that she is learning how to stand up for others when they are being bullied. In my comments to Maggie, I told her that any type of bullying was wrong and that I was proud of her learning about how to handle bullying.


C4K #7, Comment #2

The student I commented on this week is Juliana. Juliana is a student in Ms. Lentine's class. This week, Juliana was learning about a man name William Kawkwamba. Mr. Kawkwamba is a determined man who early in life worked to better the living conditions of his village. Mr. Kawkwamba built windmills/turbines for his village. The challenge was not having materials, so he built it out of scraps from the junkyard. Juliana thinks that Mr. Kawkwamb is a very smart man and so do I. Juliana said that if she was able to invent something, she would invent a portable wifi. Good idea. In my comments to Juliana, I told her that her invention is a great idea and would be very useful when we are in a dead zone and need to use our laptops. I told her that I would invent a time-machine because I spend so much time on this class, that I need more. I also suggested to her that she continue to learn as much as she can about computers, because it will help her in the future.

Blog Post #9

What I Learned This Year - Volume 4 2011-2012

Mr. McClung has a wonderful perception about teaching. He states in his blog that teachers work for the students. I love this because when we work for someone, we always try to do a good job. I guess instead of the children paying us with money, they pay us by learning. Mr. McClung's goal is to ensure his students are enjoying themselves while they learn. What I took from his first theme, was work with who you have. The students are who we teach and have all day, so worry and take care of them; everyone else will/should be happy and respect a person for this. His theme is Dance with who you came with. I believe my take on his theme is on target with his words. If his students are learning and happy, his peers should be happy for him.

By writing and keeping a blog, teachers can do a self-assessment on themselves each year. The blog will allow a teacher to reflect on good things that happened within the year and improve on things that went wrong. Other peers and students reading the blog may offer their opinion and also help better my teaching skills.

Mr. McClung's second theme was Challenge Yourself. This theme tells how a teacher can get bored with themselves if they do not change it up sometimes. As a future teacher, this is something I worry about a lot; How will I keep my students excited about learning? What kind of skills will I teach as a physical education teacher, that will keep my students excited about good health. Mr. McClung used words that helped to express his feelings; the words were suck and funk. I have sat in classes that were so boring, I hated to go to them each day.

After reading this blog and even having these thoughts before reading it, I probably need to consider a minor in another area in education,just to have a choice. Mr. McClung will always be a good teacher because he will always try to make his class enjoyable for his students.


What I Learned This Year 2008-2009 I chose to read Mr. McClung's latest blog first. After reading his first one last, it seems as though Mr. McClung grew as a teachers. Maybe he didn't grow so much, but had different things to learn as a new teacher. Even in this blog, Mr. McClung realized he had to change the group he was trying to please. He learned in that first year, his goal had to be focused on the students. As a new teacher, I do plan on having good communication skills. I also hope I am placed with a good mentor, who will help guide me through my first year. An important point made by Mr. McClung is for us to remember that we are dealing with children. He suggests we don't go crazy and to be sure to make our expectations attainable for our students.

This blog definitely helps me to feel more comfortable as a future educator. Mr. McClung's suggestions is to realize we are not perfect and we will make mistakes; this takes a lot of heat off the rookie teacher. The last point made by Mr. McClung was for us to always be willing to learn. This is a statement that has been made throughout this class. With technology always changing, we should always be willing to learn.

C4K # 5

C4K #5 - Jessica R.

The student I commented on this week is Jessica R. Jessica lives in Iowa and is an 8th grade student in Mr. Boylen's Language Arts class. Jessica's teacher asked his students the question, what do they think is gained from blogging with other students outside their school. Is it worth the time? Why or why not? Jessica states that she believes blogging is worth it. She believes that blogging helps to bring the shy student out of their shell. She also believes that by blogging, students are able to learn different things about people and places. The last thing Jessica mentioned in her post, was how blogging can help students be better writers, by using correct punctuation.

C4T #2 Summary for February

Heidi Siwak

http://www.heidisiwak.com/2013/02/feedback-and-uncomfortable-moments.html#comment-form

Feedback and Uncomfortable Moments

In this blog, Ms. Siwak was teaching her students about Feedback and Uncomfortable Moments. This lesson was similar to the lesson we learned in peer editing. In this lesson, Ms. Siwak had the students to create Linoit boards for class presentations; first time I had ever heard of a Linoit board. The Linoit boards could be designed however the students wanted. After one student begin his feedback with I didn't like, it led into an entirely different lesson. Ms. Siwak gave a question to the students asking should a person be blunt and honest or avoid being critical when giving feedback to a person's project. Since all of the projects were so different, feedback was also different. A student name Ben stated it best "People think differently and the design will reflect their approach to thinking". I totally agree with Ben. I was always afraid to make my projects look different than my classmates, even though I wanted to. In my class, we had 20 or 25 projects that were almost the same. If I had thought like Ben, my projects would have all been different and unique. I was too afraid my classmates would think of me as being weird and different, so I stayed with the norm. When giving feedback, I believe in what we learned in this class. I believe feedback should be honest to the point of not hurting. I think feedback that is too critical can cause a person not comfortable with giving presentations to hate the process even more, if they are embarrassed.





C4T #2, Comment 1

Ms. Heidi Siwaks Blog http://www.heidisiwak.com/

My comments are for Ms. Heidi Siwak's blog for February 20th, 2013. Ms. Siwaks's is a top teacher in Ontario, Canada who has wone many awards for her work in creating new learning models. Her blog for February 20th dealt with a lesson on where good ideas come from. Ms.Siwak's blog helps the reader to understand that the job of the teacher is to question. She does not believe it is the teacher's job to teach content and concept. Ms. Siwak believes this should be figured out by the students, with her guidance. The teacher used Integrative Thinking in this lesson. Students came up with many ideas as to where good ideas are generated. Again, the teacher's role in this lesson was to question, guide and give instructions. Ms. Siwak's method of teaching is definitely for the 21st Century Classroom, according to what we have learned so far in previous class lessons.