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?