Webinar

This was interesting. A different view of technology. I think a lot of people fear change and technology and such, including myself sometimes. But we rarely look at technology in the classroom as something that will enable students. I guess I can compare this idea of mass technology and creative technology to the real world. We always hear of all this bad scary news of crimes and unfortunate events, but we hardly ever hear about all the good people in the world, so the news makes it seem like it's a scary world. The same with technology, we don't really hear much about the creative technology that can be utilized to do wonderful things.

I certainly appreciated the point where they asked to reminisce about their school experiences. But then again, like anything else, it can be positive or negative. But the point is that empathy was involved, and I think that's the most important quality for a person to have and to exercise. I appreciated them asking to ponder and think critically and objectively about what we want for our children and future generations. It's important that we don't hold them back because "that's not the way it was when I was growing up."

To Be Continued…

It doesn’t feel like the last day of classes. I still have so much to do! Today’s class was helpful. As we were sitting in the freezing classroom, we heard 5 past MACers talk about their experiences. It’s nice to hear from teachers from all different types of schools: public, private, charter, other. The “other” was interesting. It was interesting how all these schools vary. I wonder what school type of school I’ll end up in, and I wonder if I’ll have much to compare it to. I really liked the idea of using cell phones for taking polls in class, although I don’t know how I feel about cell phone use in class at all. I’ll have to set some expectations right off the bat. What really surprised me is the way they spoke about technology. A couple of our guest speakers talked about teaching students how to use the technology. I never thought about that. In a way, I figured they’d know how to use it, and we were being taught technology to keep up with them. It’s not that they don’t know how to use the technology, it’s that they might not know how to use it for the purpose of the assignment that is given. I didn’t grow up with Google, it came after I was already in college. So I was old enough to learn how to use it for what I need, as well as anything that it gives me, I know I can read. It’s just something to think about, something to plan for. Mental note stored. 

The second part of the class was… uncomfortable. We were in a cramped room, and the discussion was, well, not productive. I was surprised at how critical people had been of class. I’m not sure if I just haven’t talked to those people, or my blog cohort doesn’t post about it, or what. I was just surprised to hear that people were being harsh. It scares me. What will my students think of my teaching and my choices? I put a lot of work into what I’m doing, so if I work hard on something, and I’m being judged negatively, I don’t know how much of that I could handle. I don’t mind skepticism or questioning my methods, but… I don’t know. I guess that’s not the way I wanted this class to end. However, I do look forward to continuing this class in the fall and learning more techie things. 

Small World

I read an edublog not too long ago, and oddly enough, it was something we were discussing in class, thanks to Alex (who posted it on Diigo). It was about the NYT article is algebra necessary. I happened to stumble upon a math blog (Mr. Meyer comments on NYT algebra article) just about that. It was a very short blog, and it seemed to be written in frustration, but Dan Meyer brings up a good point: “The more interesting question is, “How should we define Algebra in 2012 and how should we teach it?” This really struck me. There are so many people quick to find faults in everything around them, but never bother to suggest improvements or even ask questions how to improve something.

I also see how technology has really brought the world together. This information is everywhere, and everyone talks about it. Like how we talked about it in our class, and someone blogged about it, which I’m sure others will read, and I’m sure other math gurus are all over this. I think it’s great how technology can reach everyone, making the world that much smaller.

The other blog I read was 10 things in school that should be obsolete. I thought  it was interesting to see this perspective, for schools as a whole, as buildings, as functioning mini-societies. I’ve never thought as corridors, bathrooms, or gyms being something that could be improved upon. I definitely agree, or at least relate to the multi-use spaces and classroom environments. Add it on to our list of challenges! 

System Overload

Class started out great. There was a lot of cool stuff being introduced here. What really resonated with me was when Kristin warned us about not calling something stupid, and not to immediately dismiss the things that they are teaching us. I had to stop and think whether I did that. I hope I didn’t, but I do recall in one my blogs, or perhaps one of my comments to another blog mentioning that what we’re learning here are tools that we put in our toolbox. It’s good to know what’s out there and what our options are, and then we can decide for ourselves what we want to use or what is helpful to our situations. That being said, I was introduced to a lot of cool things today. I really wish had more time to play with it and really get familiar with it that it can be more helpful, and quick. It’s kind of like work, where you need help on a project, but it’ll take more time to train someone and inform them of all the project details than it is for you to just do it yourself. Catch22. Time is what’s killing me. The time we’ll have in August is quickly dwindling. I digress. 


My group was great. I really enjoyed working with people outside of my cohort. They were all so nice and so helpful. Chelsea was a sweetheart and held my hand through the fast paced lecture while my computer was trying to keep up. My computer is old, ancient in technology years. Anyway, although I’ve used Skype and some of the Google features, I learned quite a bit more about them. As well as Diigo, Evernote, Dropbox, Google Reader/Alert/News, JotFrom… so many! And there’s so much you can do with each of these programs. It’s a bit overwhelming when they’re all given to you in the same day, with a slow computer, but wow. What else is out there? With so many cool toys, we need more time to play.

Feeling a Bit Weebly

Class with Kristin

We started setting up our portfolio in class today. Well, not the actual portfolio, but the tool we’ll be using for our portfolio. I had a lot of fun doing it. It was an easy program and it was very intuitive. I wanted to test out all the themes and all the buttons and make my practice portfolio snazzy, but there was no time for snazziness. In all honesty, I didn’t think of weebly as a portfolio site, I thought of it more of a CTools, but for high school and middle school students. It’s where they will get all their information for the class, announcements, assignments, important dates or calendar, updates… etc. I’m still unsure of the student portfolio though. I think it’s a good idea, but I’m not yet convinced that it’s something I’ll definitely have in my class.  

Class with Jeff
We started off with a translation game. I was pretty excited to figure it out, so I jumped right into it without thinking why we were doing this. I eventually started working with Mike and Lisa to figure out a few things that were unclear. Like the shaking hands in the shape of a heart. Heh. Once we started the discussion about this, Erin made a comment about how it would have been helpful to her if she had an objective. That reminded me of one of my engineering classes where the prof asked us on the first day of class to calculate how many ping pong balls were could fit in a room of so-and-so dimensions. While everyone started working diligently, I raised my hands and asked why we would need to do that. As it turns out, that was the point of the exercise, is to question its validity and usefulness. X years later, I’ve become the other students. It’s important to know why you’re doing something and what goal it will help you accomplish, either in the long run or short term. But then we go back to gaming, it’s just fun. That puzzle was fun (yes, puzzles are fun). So the takeaway here is that learning can be fun. You can use fun things to help students learn. And I would like to follow Jeff’s advice to think of my classroom as a type of game, and develop rules for that game so everyone can play. I just have to figure out a way to do it effectively.

Game On!!!

Good Video Games and Good Learning by James Paul Gee

How interesting. This guy just broke apart what makes a video game good into sections and described why they were good and what they had to do with learning. He was pretty organized in doing so, numbering his principles good games incorporate. For this reading, I would take notes in the margin. Once I got about half way through, I realized I was summarizing each paragraph with a concept we learned in a MAC class. Scaffolding, praising effort, individualization, the importance of practice and mastery, literacy, social and personal dynamics are all notes I wrote down in the margins relating to each one of his principles. Those relations all came from a videogame. I’m always happy to read something good about what most people perceive to be bad (for something I think to be neutral or that should be used in modesty). It reminded me of an article I read a couple of years ago about his son and video games. (It's a good read, a short one, I recommend it My Four-Year-Old Son Plays GTA). So what is it about some things that make us jump to conclusions? I like this little read, made me open my mind just a little bit more. What other possibilities are out there?

TED Talk – Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world

I’ve heard of the 10,000 hour theory of success, and I think it was related to The Beatles, why they were so good, but I never thought of actually applying it to anything. I think Jane is brilliant for using this theory to something that already exists, just shift it in a different direction. I don’t know if it will work, but I think it’s worth the attempt. I think she has a newer TED talk, she got into an accident and damaged her brain and she invented a video game to cope with the pain, and more or less healed herself. I guess there are studies into that. Don’t quote me on that… I might be mistaken. Either way, I have mad respect for her.

Digital Portfolios and Curriculum Maps

I read this last, and honestly, it was tough to get through. The ideas were drawn out and it was in your typical textbook like organization. However, the information was pretty good. I like the ideas of portfolios, especially for the reason for the student to invest in something that they can be proud of. Let’s face it, how many times did we not put the extra effort in because we’ll just turn it in and that’s that? At the same time, I felt a little overwhelmed. Teaching is so hard as it is, and so time consuming. There is never enough hours in a day, or days in a school year to do everything you want to do or the curriculum wants you to do, and classes are getting bigger and the staff is getting smaller, and there’s all these other ideas out there too that you can incorporate in your classroom. A lot of them are good ideas, but really? Does anyone consider time when they come up with these fabulous ideas? Maybe I’m overwhelmed in general and can’t look at this quite objectively; maybe it’s not so bad time wise. I guess it’s one of those things that I’ll place in my toolbox and save for later. We’ll see...

What a Day!

Lesson Planning with a Librarian
This was a very interesting exercise, and very useful indeed. My team was awesome. Pat was amazing, she was so helpful. One thing that she said saddened me. She said that she almost never gets projects from the science department, and that was because of the curriculum didn’t give the teachers time for wiggle room. The team hammered out a lesson plan, and a good one too. Stephen brought up a very good point in class about how difficult lesson planning is. Something to keep in mind. Also, I never knew how much librarians did, or could do; so much behind the scenes that I’ve never heard about. Was it like that when I was in school? It’s interesting how we all picture school differently and how we bring our own experiences to teaching. The more I learn, the less I know. 


Podcasts
How cool. I’ve heard of podcasts before and I’ve listened to plenty of them, but I never really thought about creating one or just how useful they can be. I don’t know how I felt about creating one though. The objective was to create one so we’re familiar with it and are able to make one. Done. That was pretty easy. However, me being myself, I spent way too much time on it (not that you can tell), because it’s pretty low quality. I was going through all this music, and it was all starting to sound the same. I got into making a good podcast as opposed to the idea of just knowing how to make the podcast. Which reminded me of the last class, or maybe something that we read, everything is blending together. Anyway, someone sometime warned us about assigning something that will take away from the objective of the assignment itself and the student will concentrate on making their product good or cool (yep, that’s me, I get into it). But it made me realize something about myself: it’s not that I don’t know technology, I’m just not fluent at it. It takes me a little longer, and I’m not as good, but I’m still capable of utilizing it properly. So that’s why I kind of gave up on making it awesome. I babble. Job is done, I got the point. But it was cool, too cool. Now I have one more thing to use to avoid studying.