At our school, we have an internet usage policy. It states all the things that I feel is important for students and parents to understand. Problem is? I don't feel the students or parents fully appreciate the dangers that are out there. Our students today feel more "bulletproff" than ever. They have been so over-protected in their lives, they don't fully comprehend the dangers of our world or how the world is always out to get you.
The internet to our students is one giant sandbox where other "kids" come and play. While this is a simplistic point of view, I believe it is completely accurate. I have spent dozens and dozens of hours discussing this issue with others who work with young people and I have yet to be swayed from this perspective.
Here's the other kicker to this who debate, there is virtually NOTHING we can do about it. Controls or filters? A virtual waste of money in my opinion. Our students have gotten around every barrier put in front of them. Generation "Google" will always be one step ahead of us. Their means of communication compared to ours is light-years ahead of us. We can't compete with the speed at which they find out things.
My solution? Relationships. I try to build the type of relationship with my students that allow me an opportunity to communicate with them on issues that are sensitive, such as "putting themselves on blast" on the internet. We have done some worships at our school that have had this issue involved and it makes some impact, for a week or so. I fear this issue is one in which we will continue to fight, but not have a chance of winning. Sigh.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
"Google"-izing my docs
This project is helping me eliminate my fear of Google docs. I must admit, I have known about it, used it somewhat, but never "embraced" this like I should. I am seeing more and more applications that can be readily used in my classroom, my professional development, and in my personal life.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Collaborative Headache?
I love collaborating with individuals that I believe are competent and knowledgeable. There is almost never a time when I don't learn something valuable about how I go about things when I have these interfaces. Now, the second part is this: I hate collaborating with individuals who honestly bring nothing to the table that is useful, or are completely benign in the process or they only like to hear their own voice. Those experiences leave me frustrated and sometimes even upset.
That being said, I am sure students feel the EXACT same way often times when thrust into these types of situations by us teachers. I know every time I say we are doing a group project, there is about 20% of my class that are holding their breath in virtual pain to see who "they got stuck with". Why? Because we as "good" teachers like to try to pair up our "good" students with our "not-as-good" students. The looks on their faces is both priceless and sad at the same time.
Case in point: Last week I did this exact thing again for my Life Science class. Typically in the past, when I would "randomly" pull names out to put them in groups, I would always be sure that the top students were split up and that I didn't have close friends together in the same group. Why did I ever do that? That was completed ridiculous on my part. In theory it makes sense, but the reality, it is a humongous headache for the teacher, a drain on the achievers, and a relatively un-engaged free ride for the loafers. I put the groups together the way I wanted them this time (under the guise of, ahem, randomness) and I put achievers together and friends together. The reaction was stunning. Instead of frowns and eyeballs looking at the ground, I had huge smiles and quick discussions on what type of activity they were going to do.
I ask myself, "self, what does this do for the underachievers?" It forces them to be responsible for their own work and I, as the educator, will be able to devote more of my time with them to have them feel engaged and responsible for their work and not get the free ride so many have had before. The higher achievers will have an opportunity to work with A) someone they like and B) someone who shares their desire to put forth something excellent. This is a win, win in my book. I can't believe it took me 13 years to realize this.
I also believe that blogging will help with the monitoring of said projects as well. This gives an opportunity for me to engage with the group as a whole and on an individual level as well. I can gauge how students are doing within the parameters of the project. I believe a timeline of events needs to be present as well with clear guidelines by the group who is responsible for what that will be available for all to see (blog, google, etc). Again, I believe this is another means for helping all students involved in the process.
I believe this can be an unbelievable breakthrough for me in my classroom. Group assignments in the past were dreaded by students and also yours truly. Yes, I did them because I believe in the concept of them, but the execution usually fell flat. As I move away from this course and into the beginnings of summer, I can see clearly now how my classroom will be vastly different next year. I am already planning on doing things differently than I have ever done before, but I believe for the better. There will be intentional opportunities for a more collaborative classroom and a more harmonized working environment for the students. I look forward to this.
That being said, I am sure students feel the EXACT same way often times when thrust into these types of situations by us teachers. I know every time I say we are doing a group project, there is about 20% of my class that are holding their breath in virtual pain to see who "they got stuck with". Why? Because we as "good" teachers like to try to pair up our "good" students with our "not-as-good" students. The looks on their faces is both priceless and sad at the same time.
Case in point: Last week I did this exact thing again for my Life Science class. Typically in the past, when I would "randomly" pull names out to put them in groups, I would always be sure that the top students were split up and that I didn't have close friends together in the same group. Why did I ever do that? That was completed ridiculous on my part. In theory it makes sense, but the reality, it is a humongous headache for the teacher, a drain on the achievers, and a relatively un-engaged free ride for the loafers. I put the groups together the way I wanted them this time (under the guise of, ahem, randomness) and I put achievers together and friends together. The reaction was stunning. Instead of frowns and eyeballs looking at the ground, I had huge smiles and quick discussions on what type of activity they were going to do.
I ask myself, "self, what does this do for the underachievers?" It forces them to be responsible for their own work and I, as the educator, will be able to devote more of my time with them to have them feel engaged and responsible for their work and not get the free ride so many have had before. The higher achievers will have an opportunity to work with A) someone they like and B) someone who shares their desire to put forth something excellent. This is a win, win in my book. I can't believe it took me 13 years to realize this.
I also believe that blogging will help with the monitoring of said projects as well. This gives an opportunity for me to engage with the group as a whole and on an individual level as well. I can gauge how students are doing within the parameters of the project. I believe a timeline of events needs to be present as well with clear guidelines by the group who is responsible for what that will be available for all to see (blog, google, etc). Again, I believe this is another means for helping all students involved in the process.
I believe this can be an unbelievable breakthrough for me in my classroom. Group assignments in the past were dreaded by students and also yours truly. Yes, I did them because I believe in the concept of them, but the execution usually fell flat. As I move away from this course and into the beginnings of summer, I can see clearly now how my classroom will be vastly different next year. I am already planning on doing things differently than I have ever done before, but I believe for the better. There will be intentional opportunities for a more collaborative classroom and a more harmonized working environment for the students. I look forward to this.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Totally Sweet Storytelling
I absolutely loved this project. It was so easy and fun to do and I can't wait to create another one. Going into this, I was nervous that it would be challenging, but wow, so many different options are available right at your fingertips. Beyond school, I can see many applications for this. I certainly see it as a marketing tool for our school. It can also be used in a church setting. Thanks for the assignment Prof. Wallace. I loved it. I hope you all enjoy it.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Digital Storytelling
This is another example of finding something that I truly love and would love to do more of in my classroom. One of the largest obstacles I see is the time element. To produce something of quality and informatively accurate (to prevent even minor mistakes like the one on the Pythagorean Video at 5:21), time is going to be needed. This is where working together with other teachers and their curriculum is critical for having the ability to implement all these ideas within a curriculum. By collaborating with other teachers within a school (and I believe Adventist schools have the ability to do this more than public schools), one may be able to incorporate more of this inter the overall curriculum.
In terms of math and science, I could see many different uses and applications for digital storytelling. Newton, Pythagoras, Archimedes, and Mendel could all be tackled over the course of a school year. Like so many other topics covered in this class this year, this excites me greatly, but also makes me feel a bit overwhelmed. I can't help but think, "OK, how am I going to make this work?"
This video on Geometry in Art and Architecture is one that I plan on using in my Math Lab class. As I was watching it, I was coming up with ways I could utilize this for my class. So many of my students have difficulty with concrete relationships with the concepts that are presented. This type of project may appeal to those artistic types within my group. We could even do it with an incentive of sorts by going to the mall and checking out the geometry there. They could have lunch at the food court as a "reward" of sorts.
The video on the History of Mathematics is a perfect example where a collaborative effort between myself and the History teacher could come into play. One aspect could focus on the historical relevance and the other aspect could focus on mathematical concepts from those historical figures. It could be a fun endeavor in which to try.
The other aspect of this that I can't help but think about from my other "role" as Principal is this would be fantastic for my lower grade teachers to utilize as well. I can easily see some of my 5th/6th graders just "rocking" this type of project. My 3rd/4th graders would have a blast. Even my 1st/2nd graders would be more than willing to take something like this one for their classroom. Hmmm, I see this being a topic of discussion at a staff meeting soon. :o)
In terms of math and science, I could see many different uses and applications for digital storytelling. Newton, Pythagoras, Archimedes, and Mendel could all be tackled over the course of a school year. Like so many other topics covered in this class this year, this excites me greatly, but also makes me feel a bit overwhelmed. I can't help but think, "OK, how am I going to make this work?"
This video on Geometry in Art and Architecture is one that I plan on using in my Math Lab class. As I was watching it, I was coming up with ways I could utilize this for my class. So many of my students have difficulty with concrete relationships with the concepts that are presented. This type of project may appeal to those artistic types within my group. We could even do it with an incentive of sorts by going to the mall and checking out the geometry there. They could have lunch at the food court as a "reward" of sorts.
The video on the History of Mathematics is a perfect example where a collaborative effort between myself and the History teacher could come into play. One aspect could focus on the historical relevance and the other aspect could focus on mathematical concepts from those historical figures. It could be a fun endeavor in which to try.
The other aspect of this that I can't help but think about from my other "role" as Principal is this would be fantastic for my lower grade teachers to utilize as well. I can easily see some of my 5th/6th graders just "rocking" this type of project. My 3rd/4th graders would have a blast. Even my 1st/2nd graders would be more than willing to take something like this one for their classroom. Hmmm, I see this being a topic of discussion at a staff meeting soon. :o)
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Utilizing RSS to the Max
Sometimes in life, you do things you had no idea that you were doing them. This has certainly been the case with me and RSS. For many moons, I ignored the orange RSS button on pages for two reasons, I didn't really know what it was and I really didn't care. Or, so I thought was the case. Fact is, with my personal MyYahoo account, I had in fact been using this technology without really knowing it. Frankly though, the MyYahoo account has been getting less and less "airtime" from me in the past few months. I spend almost all my time getting fully indoctrinated into the Google ranks (when I am not using GoodSearch to raise money for my school). With that, I figure now is as good a time as ever to dive headfirst in with Google Reader (pictured above) Initially, I can say to you that I love it. I do see pitfalls though. First off, I don't have a lot of time in the course of a day and when I go to sites or blogs that I love, I tend to want to stay there. Whereas before, I had to take an extra step or two to get to these sites for my personal reading pleasure, now, it is all right there. Ugh, not sure I absolutely love or loathe this fact.As I am thinking about this further though, it excites me when it comes to my students and there classroom (of course there are issues, but I will have to figure those out, such as # of computers, over-digitalization of students, etc) Up-to-date interactions with science on a daily or quasi-daily basis would be fantastic for my students. I am able to pull from the Life Sciences, Physical Sciences as well as just about any other kind of science I can think of very easily and thus allowing the students to parcel out what areas within those sciences interests them most. Integrating this technology to the curriculum does sound a bit daunting, but I feel it can be done in a meaningful and powerful way.
I'm going to admit, initially, I didn't see much use in podcasts. Most of my students along with myself are visual as well as auditory learners and podcasts seem like they could be a bit boring. Then I listened to some 60-second science from the iTunes podcast center and they are interesting. Short, sweet, interesting and to the point. I could easily have my students listen to one of these a day and give them a short "quiz" over the material to be sure they are paying attention and then go about my day. I love this. As I was searching through the podcasts center though, again I said to myself; "uh oh, this could be real dangerous". This is the type of thing that I can easily get caught up in, especially if on a topic that I am hyper interested in at the moment (i.e. NFL Free Agency). My productivity could be crushed in a matter of a few podcasts. But, if I am able to harness my self-control, these are amazing vehicles for my own personal professional development. There is so much out there that I have just a scintilla of knowledge about that I could learn on my own time. Extrapolating further though, I do have substantial expertise in areas in which I could create a podcast that could prove to be useful to someone else out there in the big bad world.
I'm not sure how I feel about Delicious just yet. Having just tinkered with it for an hour or so, I'm not sure how I feel about the "features" of the site. Do you really want people "all in your business" like this? Hmm. Need to explore more to see if this will be used by me. My students? Oh my, I am sure a large group of them would love this type of "sharing" among themselves. It is remarkable how "unconcerned" they are about their privacy on any issue. Is this a good thing? Wait, that is a question for another day.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
SAMR Model
Wow, this was awesome. There are times when I come across something that inspires me that I have just got to stop and say "Wow". Peuntedura's SAMR model has done just that. Why is that? I am glad I asked.
I view myself as a fairly "willing" teacher in many cases. If I can see the benefit in something for my students, I am willing to give it a try. Technology is a "can of worms" though. Every piece of technology out there is supposed to be "the tool" to improve every child's education. Fact is, that is not the case. Coming to grips with that has been hard for me because I want to push my students academically, while pushing both myself and my students technologically. This has been stunted by my realization that now all technologies are created equal and I need to come up with methods to use the technology available to enhance my student's education further. This has been brutal to find traction with. Every time I start to feel "comfortable" with something, I am already passed by. What have I learned from this presentation? I was trying too hard.
I love how the model is broken up into 4 labels divided into two sub groups. These sub groups are Enhancement, which includes Substitution and Augmentation and Transformation, which includes Modification and Redefinition. I believe I have delved into all four labeled areas in my teaching without really realizing it (of course not, because this term is new to me).
Substitution is an easy one to identify. While assigning "projects" (because the word term paper is too daunting) to my students, I would encourage them to find information about whatever their topic was on x number of sites and also find information in x number of non-digital sources. Of course the adage "when I was a kid" would come up from me, then I would push and push them to not lose sight of the analog world and its importance. Why? All I was doing is having them substitute information that they could have more easily and readily gleaned from the internet and incorporated into their final project. With the news this week of Encyclopedia Brittanica stopping the presses for the first time since the 18th Century, it has become even clearer to me that I was/am behind the times. Has the written word in good old fashioned books passed us by? I fear so. If that is true, I need to be ready for the next challenge.
An example of Augmentation would be when I have a science class and I am going over certain material and we head to the computer lab. While there, the students will have an assignment/task that takes on the material that is in the chapter from other sources that bumps up the understanding of the material. The task is more of a dig approach where students are presented with Q&A's they are to glean from their books and website.
Modification and Redefinition are certainly areas in which I need to direct my focus. I believe I have done some Modification though. For example, I have done in the past a project where I would give the students a picture of the human body from a 4th or 5th Grade science book/copy sheet. We would then build off that sheet. We would develop the body into a more complex organism with details added along the way. When students would have a new steam of information they were exposed to, they would develop their bodies more. Eventually, entire systems were created, entirely by the students.
I believe I have an example of Redefinition as well (which as I am thinking about this, I want to use this again, but now in the technological age, it could be so much better). I wrote a one-page story about a man in his kitchen. The story took into account light steaming into the window, cooking on the stove, oven on, water boiling, refrigerator running, salt on food, etc. The students were to take that story and apply all the different Physical Science applications they could come up with. They were able to use any resources they wanted (book, people, internet, etc) to have them complete this task. While a bear to grade (took forever), it was one of the best assignments I ever came up with.
Point is through all this though is that I believe that my chapters/units can take on a whole new engagement level by incorporating these 4 teaching practices, while focusing on Modification and Redefinition (because this is where I believe there is more "bang for the buck").
I view myself as a fairly "willing" teacher in many cases. If I can see the benefit in something for my students, I am willing to give it a try. Technology is a "can of worms" though. Every piece of technology out there is supposed to be "the tool" to improve every child's education. Fact is, that is not the case. Coming to grips with that has been hard for me because I want to push my students academically, while pushing both myself and my students technologically. This has been stunted by my realization that now all technologies are created equal and I need to come up with methods to use the technology available to enhance my student's education further. This has been brutal to find traction with. Every time I start to feel "comfortable" with something, I am already passed by. What have I learned from this presentation? I was trying too hard.
I love how the model is broken up into 4 labels divided into two sub groups. These sub groups are Enhancement, which includes Substitution and Augmentation and Transformation, which includes Modification and Redefinition. I believe I have delved into all four labeled areas in my teaching without really realizing it (of course not, because this term is new to me).
Substitution is an easy one to identify. While assigning "projects" (because the word term paper is too daunting) to my students, I would encourage them to find information about whatever their topic was on x number of sites and also find information in x number of non-digital sources. Of course the adage "when I was a kid" would come up from me, then I would push and push them to not lose sight of the analog world and its importance. Why? All I was doing is having them substitute information that they could have more easily and readily gleaned from the internet and incorporated into their final project. With the news this week of Encyclopedia Brittanica stopping the presses for the first time since the 18th Century, it has become even clearer to me that I was/am behind the times. Has the written word in good old fashioned books passed us by? I fear so. If that is true, I need to be ready for the next challenge.
An example of Augmentation would be when I have a science class and I am going over certain material and we head to the computer lab. While there, the students will have an assignment/task that takes on the material that is in the chapter from other sources that bumps up the understanding of the material. The task is more of a dig approach where students are presented with Q&A's they are to glean from their books and website.
Modification and Redefinition are certainly areas in which I need to direct my focus. I believe I have done some Modification though. For example, I have done in the past a project where I would give the students a picture of the human body from a 4th or 5th Grade science book/copy sheet. We would then build off that sheet. We would develop the body into a more complex organism with details added along the way. When students would have a new steam of information they were exposed to, they would develop their bodies more. Eventually, entire systems were created, entirely by the students.
I believe I have an example of Redefinition as well (which as I am thinking about this, I want to use this again, but now in the technological age, it could be so much better). I wrote a one-page story about a man in his kitchen. The story took into account light steaming into the window, cooking on the stove, oven on, water boiling, refrigerator running, salt on food, etc. The students were to take that story and apply all the different Physical Science applications they could come up with. They were able to use any resources they wanted (book, people, internet, etc) to have them complete this task. While a bear to grade (took forever), it was one of the best assignments I ever came up with.
Point is through all this though is that I believe that my chapters/units can take on a whole new engagement level by incorporating these 4 teaching practices, while focusing on Modification and Redefinition (because this is where I believe there is more "bang for the buck").
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