Edublogger...

So as the end of the semester nears, I figure that I better post about an edublogger. For me, this has been one of the most difficult tasks when it comes to blogging...

Let me explain: I am fine to put my own thoughts out there on my own blog, I am fine to respond to classmates' blogs, but I feel kind of creepy about commenting on a strangers blog. It is like friending someone that you have never met on Facebook. That being said, it was sort of a big step for me to comment on a complete stranger's blog.

The first blog that I commented on this summer was Watson Common http://watsoncommon.blogspot.com/. I think I felt comfortable commenting on his blog mostly because his name is the same as my dog's name. (I hope if he reads this he is not offended!) And because he was in Hawaii at the time, and I was about to go there for vacation... Anyway, it was a good start to commenting on random people's blogs.

Since then though, I guess I lost some momentum... I tried to follow some blogs, namely http://www.huffenglish.com/?p=819 and http://lightinthewoods.edublogs.org/ on my Dashboard. However, I guess that once the semester got going, it was hard enough to follow my own life, so I didn't really keep up on looking at the other blogs.

My boyfriend's brother does have a cool blog that I did comment on, but I don't know if that really counts! He went to Moorea, an island near Tahiti, and did research there. He had a blog, where he would communicate with elementary school kids to tell them what life was like as a scientist. I thought this was pretty cool! But I guess I am biased. Here is the blog in case you are interested: http://mattinmoorea.blogspot.com/2006/04/hello-ms.html

Today, though after reading Cristi's blog, I felt inspired to go to this edublogger:
http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/nine-reasons-to-quit-teaching-and-ten-reasons-to-stick/
Anyway, if you are feeling down about teaching, it is a pretty cool list!

In a final reflection about commenting on edubloggers, I think that the more I do it and the more I look at other people's blogs, the less I will feel like an education stalker and the more I will feel like I am in some sort of edu-community.

Ok, now I have to get back to working on papers for my finals... :(

A snow storm

Here is a cool Web 2.0 tool. Perhaps it could be used to draw something and then to create a poem about it?



Learn how to draw cartoons, comics, and anime at Sketchfu!




Learn how to draw cartoons, comics, and anime at Sketchfu!

Check out my wiki!

For one of my cognate classes, I had to make a German wiki. Here is the link: http://oesterreichischemusik.wikispaces.com/

Culture Shock and Colored Paper...

Last week, my school was on strike, so I decided to go to Community High School for the day. The school was really cool in many ways, but I suppose more than anything, I felt shocked and a little bit defensive of my school. The shock and defensiveness didn't stem from the fact that there weren't any school bells or the teachers were called by their first names, but from the fact that the students knew so much. They seemed to enjoy learning, and in fact, when class was over, many stayed to continue discussing the subject at hand. It seemed that their prior knowledge gave them a huge advantage over many of the students with whom I work. It just didn't seem fair and made me want to defend my students and say that if they had this kind of learning opportunity maybe more of them would be coming in at lunch to discuss biology. Moreover, the amount of technology and supplies that they had was overwhelming.
But for me, the thing that somehow epitomized it all was the color paper. One may ask, so what's the deal with color paper? Well, my school doesn't have it or at least I haven't seen it yet. In fact, it was even an ordeal at the beginning of the year to find paper for the bulletin boards. Anyway, Community had it and used it arbitrarily for almost every worksheet that I saw. Each bright sheet of paper seemed to flaunt the unfairness in my face. The bright pink paper wasn't just paper, but it represented the laptops, the well-paid teachers, and the exuberant faces of kids learning. My school is a bit more faded and so the paper is bland and white. And the schools in Detroit don't even have paper.
Why is it that only 30 minutes away, we have to be careful about the amount of copies that we make? And that only 45 minutes away, there is no paper at all?
I know that money isn't everything, but it seems that where one grows up shouldn't effect the kind of paper and everything that goes along with it that you get.
Lastly though, I must say that I am very happy to be placed at the school where I am now, and I could not think of a better fit for me...

Death by PowerPoint?

This last week, we watched a very interesting presentation on PowerPoint. First of all, I want to say that while I said that there was no use for PowerPoint, I may have been a little bit wrong and I probably shouldn't make blanket statements... I think sometimes I do that in class just to get myself reengaged (but I think that is a personal problem).
Anyway, I guess I think that a lot of people use PowerPoint as a crutch, so that they don't have to be that entertaining. Anyway, that presenter, however, would probably be boring no matter what... I guess I have just seen a lot of that or a PowerPoint being used for an hour lecture. That just gets tedious! Students are not sponges to just absorb information. It is not a constructivist approach at all in those situations (look at me using cool ed school terminology, hopefully in the correct way).
Anyway, after attacking users of PowerPoint in class (sorry about that again) and then reconciling with at least some of them, I have come to the conclusion, while I am often heading off on a snooze cruise during PowerPoint presentations, perhaps there is a time and a place for PowerPoint. Gren told me how she would label things about the math problem on the board, while the PowerPoint was demonstrating the math problem. Brenda often gives fantastic PowerPoint presentations by incorporating really cool pictures! Additionally, Dan used it to play a game that was really awesome. I think that the frequency of its use and interaction within the presentation is the key to a successful PowerPoint. When PowerPoint is used as an interactive tool to give the information and the presentation is enhanced and not hindered by PowerPoint, then I will use it! However, I hope to never use it as a crutch, because that is just boring! And please, never make me sit through 6 hours of PowerPoint presentations again... It just makes me cranky and it makes me cringe when I hear PowerPoint!

Follow Up on No Tolerance on Cell Phones...

After my initial shock, I started to actually think that this policy was good, because it meant that my school was not dealing with the distraction of cell phones in the classroom. This is something that I heard some of my colleagues struggling with in different schools, so it is nice to have the administrative support against the use of cell phones in class. Furthermore, because the punishment is so strict, cell phones are mostly not a problem.
However, when they are a problem, I think, in the end, the punishment is too strict. I don't like the underlying idea of suspending students from schools anyway, so I think that a better solution might be for only 1-day suspension or taking away the student's cell phone.
Today, a student was suspended for the second time for using his cell phone. Six days out of school suspension for the two incidences is only setting up the student for failure, in my opinion. Moreover, no tolerance policies don't allow for special circumstances either...
I do agree that students shouldn't be using cell phones in class unless if the use is for an educational purpose, and I do agree that the policy about it needs to be strong enough to be effective, yet I still hold to my opinion that 3 days is too long to be suspended.
Also, I am curious to know what other people think about this who are at WMHS?

Saying hello in German

This is a cool resource that I learned about in my German class! You can find out more at http://www.clip2go.com/
I think that this would really useful if I ever do teach German...

My (and Jennifer's) cool educational video!

No Tolerance Policy on Cell Phones

Some schools have a no tolerance policy on cell phones. This means that if a student's cell phone is seen or heard during class, they are automatically suspended. Even if the student is completely on task, and their phone rings in their bag, it is automatic suspension.

At first, this policy shocked me for several reasons. First of all, it seemed really harsh, because I don't know how I feel about students missing school for perhaps an honest mistake, particularly when it seems that sometimes even teachers can not keep their cell phones from ringing at inappropriate times. Secondly, it made me realize how the possibilities of using cell phones for educational purposes in a public school would not be an easy task. I think that using technology for educational purposes is something that most teachers would agree is a good thing, however I don't think that many teachers are in fact acting on it.

On the other hand, cell phones can be a huge distraction for students and perhaps if it keeps them from being distracted that is a good thing. I know that I can definitely be distracted by having a computer in front of me during class. That being said, I often think that even if I didn't have a computer, I would still probably be distracted by something else. When I was in high school, hardly any one had cell phones, and I don't think that most phones could even text. That being said, that definitely did not stop me from communicating with my peers in class by passing notes :)

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out once school starts. Yet, I could understand a harsh punishment for a student blatantly using their cell phone in your class, but if it just happens to ring while in their bag, who can say that they have never made that mistake?

Reading and Technology

Yesterday, in our Literacy class, we discussed the pros and cons of reading online, which stemmed from the New York Times artice: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?. I had watched the video A Family of Readers mostly, because I enjoy the New York Times videos, and it was easier than reading the article... (Uh-oh! What does that say about my online reading.)

Anyway, in class I thought that a really good point was made that any reading is good reading, especially if it is making reading more enjoyable for young people. Also, I think that reading online can help to expose the reader to many different sources on many different topic with relatively little effort.

However, that being said, I am wary sometimes of reading online, because the source could be totally whack or it could encourage bad writing. Working in a school, I encountered several papers that were written as if they were texting the essay to a friend. Yet, perhaps with the exposure to both online reading and hardcore literature they can hopefully better determine what is good writing and what is a valid source.

On a side note, how do I post a video on my blog?

Row or Not to Row

This April, I started a new sport... Rowing! I was never the athletic type (sometime I would skip PE in high school to go to the library). Anyway, it has been both really fun and challenging. I forgot how hard it is to learn something totally new. It has also introduced me to some really cool people. This weekend I will be rowing in my first race! I am really excited....

Anyway, that being said, I have to decide whether I am going to keep rowing this year once school starts. I really can't decide... I won't be able to row during the evening practices because we have class, which means that I would have to row at 5:30 am. (And only on days when I am not going to Wayne Memorial High School, because I have to be there even before practice is over). In addition, it is a pretty big time commitment and I am not really what one would call a morning person.... However, rowing does make me feel really good and energized, which would be a reason to give it a try. Yet I don't want to be over committed, with school and boyfriend and friends and dog and rowing, oh yeah and sleeping!

Well, I guess I don't have to decide for a month... so we will see!

Not a fan of Chatzy

Today I witnessed why I don't think high school students could handle Chatzy, because we couldn't. Maybe it would be useful if strict ground rules were laid out, but for me it has only been distracting. First of all, it is distracting to witness students typing away while in class and to wonder what they are laughing about. Second of all, it is distracting because I am tempted to join or to know what everyone is talking about.
Not only do I think it is disrespectful to be chatting away while a professor is speaking, I also think that the way that people are using it right now is upsetting. Additionally, I think it punishes the students who are trying to pay attention, because they are not part of the in-crowd who is on Chatzy.
This for me is difficult to write, because I am sure that some people will not be too happy about these comments, because they see Chatzy as a relief from paying attention or a way to connect. However, right now, I feel pretty cheated that the conversation in the class is being hindered by people's lack of attention. Furthermore, I just keep thinking about when I am in the classroom, and how I am sure that sometimes students won't think that poetry is the most interesting thing, but I at least hope that they will give me more respect than this.

Thoughts about technology in the classroom

After class on Friday, I began to think about how I would like to see technology used in my future classroom. On the one hand, technology is cool and I think that it can get kids excited about learning. Plus, they already use it so well that incorporating it into their learning could enhance their learning experiences. Moreover, the use of technology has become more and more important for the work world, thus fostering it in schools seems pretty natural.

However, on the other hand, I think that using technology can cause some problems in schools as well. First of all, if you have students of varying abilities in the use of technology that could create problems. Along those lines, I think that it is often students who are from a lower socioeconomic statues that do not have access to technology, and so the use of it might highlight their lack of a computer at home. (But then I suppose that makes it even more important for them to have exposure...) Also, I think that the use of technology can cause problems because students will sometimes steal or vandalize it. Stealing the mouse ball :) was a huge problem at a high school, where I worked.

Additionally, I am compelled by the idea that all you need to make learning happen is a great, energetic teacher, and technology might just be a distraction. However, that being said, I am very intrigued by the idea of using blogs in English classes or giving the students the options to use a blog instead of a paper journal. Also, I have recently learned how to use DreamWeaver, and I think that there is huge potential for having students create websites about the topics from class. Here is an example of a student compiled website from an English class that I took at Michigan: http://www.umich.edu/~ece/

Overall, I am unsure of the exact role that technology will play in my future classroom, and I am going back in forth between the view that technology will enhance learning and that it will just over-complicate it. However, I am really excited to learn about the different types of technology that one could use in a classroom and to see the positive effects of using this technology!