"Tools For The Mind" Article Response

I found myself completely inline with Mary Burns' article, "Tools For The Mind". While I may seem slighly negative when discussing the issue of technology in a "Language Arts" classroom, the reason for this is because it seems that I've seen the same old song and dance everytime a language arts teacher brings technology in the classroom: powerpoint, wikipedia.com, and that's about it.

In today's American society, blue-collar workers are becoming more and more nonexistant. The need for students to learn about technology is greater than it has ever been, because most of our students will go on to desk jobs where they sit in front of a computer all day. I guess I've never thought there was a technology problem in American education, but I've had the luxury of going to JDHS and co-teaching at JDHS, where technology is top-notch seems widely used. Which is why it was very surprising when Burns made the statements she did about technology, or lack there of in present day education.

It makes all the sense in the world for teachers to apply Burns' "Strategy 1: Teach critical thinking first and technology later." That's one of my probelms with the way technology is used in the classroom, there's never a before lesson about how to search for useful and legitimate information on the inernet.

I guess the root of the technological issue within education is more of the teachers issue. I've said that students get enough technology at their home, but it's not always practical. Teachers need to find ways to bring technology into the classroom for practical reasons and not let the students see the internet as merely entertainment.

There does need to be more professional development, something that Burns touched on. That's the key to bringing technology in the classroom, it has to be professional and practical otherwise the message is lost.

"The Educator's Guide..." Article Summary

The article entitled, "The Educator's Guide to the Read/Write Web", by Will Richardson, was a very enlightening article for me. It seemed to sway my views regarding technology in a language arts classroom. The point the article made that really stuck out to me was that literacy does not just involve reading and writing, or at least not in the traditional sense.

I'd like my future language arts classes to be based on reading and writing workshops, and I always thought of these workshops to be non-web related. However, I think it would be highly beneficial if I had my students create their own blogs and had a good 5 minutes of free-writing in their blogs everyday, opposed to free writing in a journal.

My main focus for language arts is to get kids addicted to reading, but the purpose for this is to get kids addicted to gathering knowledge. The biggest and best venue for knowledge is the interenet, so I'd be cheating my kids out of the technological education they need if I kept my classroom oldschool, the way I've envisioned it.

Another focus of mine is to get kids to develop their own and unique style of expression. The internet is a great way for kids to express themselves. I've always envisioned putting my student's work up on the classroom walls, but I think another very valuable tool for getting student's work out for the public to see, is to put it on the internet where students, parents, and the public can view student's work without having to acutally come in the classroom.

I also like the point that Richardson made about teaching students what information is valuable, and what isn't. This is an area that I'll need to work on if I'm going to bring these technologies in the classroom.

To build upon this technology, I would want to keep a language arts integrity. Too many times I see information on the internet so bulleted and written as if it were a PowerPoint, this is something I would not want to get my student's very familiar with. While I find it highly beneficial to be a minimalist, I also see the need to be able to fully and thoroughly express ideas, so as to not short-change your expression. Perhaps this is just a personal taste.

Energy Conservation Project

I had a lot of trouble deciding what issue I would choose for my Energy Conservation Project. I finally decided on cell phone use.

I heard that cell phones produce radiation that can be absorbed by humans when using talking on the phone, so I wanted to find out about that.

I also heard that cell phone radio waves were possibly the reason for why the bees were disappearing.

I decided to compare cell phone use with land line use.

Here are my findings:
Cost of Cell Phone Use-
Nokia 6030-free with 2 year contract
2 Year contract with the Local 1900 Plan at $70.00 per month=$1,680 for 2 years.

Land-line (GCI)
$23.32 per month
Over 2 Years=$559.68
Savings(compared to a cell phone package from GCI)=$1,120.32

I found some information on radiation, but the problem with that information is that nobody knows exactly what it does or where it goes, so it won't be valuable until we understand what this energy does.

Energy Conservation Powerpoint and Assessment

Presentation:
-My Energy Conservation PowerPoint presentation went well, although I didn't come up with concrete answers to the questions I asked.

-I chose to do my project on cell phone use, seeing as I don't own a cell phone and don't plan on owning one. While i found adequate statistics regarding cost-savings, there wasn't enough research on cell phone radiation, or energy, so I couldn't come up with an answer to how much energy is wasted by using a cell phone, (compared to using a land line).

-I'm not very fond of PowerPoint presentations, but I believe that is because I had some instructors and professors from college that did very little teaching and completely relied on PowerPoint presentations which just didn't seem to do it for me as a student.

-However, I find it highly beneficial to have a couple power point presentations handy as a teacher because they're so easily accessible once you have a couple saved.

-I think the energy conservation project is not only a valuable lesson for students, but it may be a highly beneficial project for our society due to increasing climate change, and other similar environmental concerns that will be at the top of issues being debated for this generation, and every generation to come.


Organization:

-My organization for this project was definitely the weak point.

-I couldn't seem to get rolling on acquiring information, and didn't organize my schedule or research well enough to make the most out of my time and energy.

-If I had to do it over again, I would've asked the professor what they thought a good project would be, and not spent so much time trying to find something relevant to me, per say. Rather, I would've just tried to get my feet wet regarding the issues involved with energy conservation and tried to get working on the PowerPoint as soon as possible.

Content:

-I think the content was great, the topic was relevant for me and it was something I was interested in. Although content in the sense of findings was a little lacking, but perhaps that could be the point of energy conservation projects: not every energy conservation issue has answers.

Visuals:

-I didn't have many visuals, except for a cell phone in there and the statistics if you count that. I guess my presentation lacked with this part too, seeing as you're supposed to use visuals to connect with text which is the purpose of PowerPoint as I see it. However, I didn't want to be redundant showing phone after phone.

-My visuals lacked creativity, but I didn't want to be "corny", which is another reason why I've had my reservations with PowerPoint presentations: they leave too much room for the user to be really, really corny.


-If you want to check out the presentation, click here:

Ed Philosophy Video

This is my ed-philosophy video.  This was a very interesting project for me due to my lack of experience within technology.  However, when I finally finished the video, it was that much more rewarding than other assignments that I've completed within the MAT program at UAS.  While I am proud of my video, I definitely feel that this is still a work-in-progress, and perhaps it always will be.  I found this assignment more beneficial than the other assignments I've had in this program because it attacked my my major weakness: technology.  It seems that I am much more comfortable using i-video and youtube, although I can't take all the credit since I was basically spoon-fed on how to complete the video.  I hope you enjoy it.

What I learned during energy conservation project.

During the energy conservation project, I learned that I was an energy hog, as well as an energy idiot. I felt like I needed an energy conservation for dummies book, but I don't think there is one. My energy project was on the energy used for cell phones, or lack there of. I don't carry a cell phone, so it was the most relevant project I could come up with. Basically, I learned that there isn't that much research involved with the energy used for cell phones, or what that energy does to our world. This project also helped me brush up on my power-point skills that will no doubt come into play in the near future as an educator.

Video Critique

As a class, we viewed my video and I leanred a great deal about what I needed to change on my educational philosophy video. For starters, my voice needs to be louder and my words to be slowed down. This wasn't evident to me when I previewed my video, but it was very evident to me in class, and my class mates made it even move evident. Also, I need to change the music. While I liked it and thought it worked at home, I see now that it's not as "professional" as I would like it to be.

Digital Natives Article Response

“Listen to the Natives” Article Response
By: Emil West

I found the article very troublesome for me as a Language Arts teacher. While our students are much more advanced than we as educators were at their age, there are still some fundamentals to be gained that aren’t necessarily to be done using the most up-to-date technology.
Literacy is a major problem in America. Even if students can read, they are not inspired or even compelled to read, and the little reading they do, is small tid-bits of information, that’s completely backed up by technologies such as text messaging, or anything internet-oriented. I think technology’s great, but I also think that our students will get their fair share of technological education on their own, and in other classrooms besides my classroom.
The world still reads paper-texts, and needs to do more so. My classes will be geared towards reading paper-text novels. It’s tough getting kids hooked on reading with technology, when so much of technology involves viewing pictures, (not to say that’s a bad thing).
The last statement of the article reads,
“If we don’t stop and listen to the kids we serve, value their opinions, and make major changes on the basis of the valid suggestions they offer, we will be left in the 21st century with school buildings to administer-but with students who are physically or mentally somewhere else.”(Presky 13)
This is true, but we shouldn’t give complete power to the students. Students want to play video games and learn about pop-culture which isn’t exactly educational, so to speak. My goal is to get my students addicted to reading, so when they leave public school, they will be avid readers. Our students will have enough digital tools under their belt by the time we try to give them necessary educational tools, as a language arts teacher I just want them to read and write and anything else that will help them master the biggest technological tool of all time: language.

The impact will be huge because kids in public schools will have more stuff to fool with during class while private schools have more advantages for using technology. As an English teacher, I don't think it matters what technology whether handheld or not, is used in my classroom. The name of the game for my classes will be expression through language, which won't limit them to using technology or writing with a pencil. I doubt that the schools I will work at will have many advantages involving technology ecause I plan on teaching at inner-city schools or abroad. Thank you.

Cool Hunting?......look no further

"Cool Hunting" is.........

A search for a certain kind of personality, it's an influence held by kids who have the respect and trust of their friends. The cool kids are the ones that are sought after when one is "cool hunting". Cool hunting is where companies pay people to find the cool kids to find coolness that is still somewhat underground or original, then they exploit it and murder it to death. Cool Hunting is a way for big businesses to stay in the know of pop-culture.

Knowing Your School's Technology Culture, Emil West

Reflection- There is an ample ammount of technological equipment that benefits the students. However, there is no oversight committee that regulates and mandates the use of technology, or at least not a committee that is highly effective. I went to Barb Kelly's office several times, constantly thinking I was going to the wrong office because she wasn't there each time I went to find her. She is the head technology-person at the school, but more of a handy-woman than anything else.
I kept asking the administrators where she was and who I could talk and they told me her, but since she was never there, I was referred to Gabe's host teacher, Richard Steele. Mr. Steele seems to be more in tune with technology than anyone in the school but he's just a lowly English teacher. I asked him why he didn't pursue Kelly's technology position or something along those lines and he told me that those people just fix things and get paid 1/3 of what teachers make.
Steele informed me that the new trend for tech people at schools is to have an administrator be in charge of the technology situation. I think JDHS or Thunder Mountain High-school would benefit from that but they probably won't head in that direction. I think the technology classes and teachers are great, but there's room for more integration of technology in the classroom. With that being said, as a future English teacher, I find nothing wrong with making kids do hand written assignments. While typing on the computer is a highly valuable asset, so is having proper grammer and punctuation that isn't dictated by microsoft word. My teacher is old school in the sense that none of his assignments have to be typed. This works for him as well as the students and when I teach I will not completely abandon the art of hand-writing.
Juneau does well with technology because the community is very in-tune with the technological advances that are out there. Mr. Steele told me that we have a great internet connection as well: where other parts of Alaska aren't connected to the lower 48, Sitka, Anchorage, Fairbanks and us are, or something like that.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhjwksbc_0rr7wrx

Article Summary and Thoughts

"The Overdominance of Computers"

-The article made a great point that too much access to computers can cause children/students to lose focus on their homework and assignments. While it is true that we must prepare our students for a world that will be ran by technology, "...But we don't prepare children for an automobile-dependent society by finding ways for 10-year-olds to drive cars, or prepare people to use alcohol respnsible by teaching them how to drink when they are 6."(Monke 20)

-The article reminded me of the classic line from "Spiderman" the movie, "with great power comes great responsobility." Before students ever begin doing many of the wonderous things that can be done through use of computers, they must learn essential values through one-on-one contact with real live humans. The article argues that students shouldn't be given so much access at an age where there's so much to learn (good stuff but mostly bad stuff), on the internet. I remember when I first went to Dzantikiheeni during it's ingaugral year, there were macs in every classroom and while it was pretty cool to have such better access to the interent compared to that which we had at Marie Drake, my friends and I spent most of our time trying to downolad neudie pics without the teacher catching us.

-Students must learn to associate themselves with the physical world before they completely involve themselves with cyber space. People aren't connecting with people in the physical realm anymore, and the interent is the reason for this. The largest lesson students learn while attending school is how to handle themselves in public and how to get along with eachother. We have to lay the foundation of sharing and being nice for our students before we let them run wild on the internet where they don't have any social norms to abide by.

Futuring

-1st project The value of this project is that it’s so concrete and yet hits many areas of education: public speaking, art, technology, writing, etc. That is what I see as the goal of education, integrating all the various areas of learning into single projects, units, and/or lessons. The student not only performed the story but will be able to keep the performance in a concrete document.

-2nd project This video had the same values, although the music was scary and it gave a negative depiction of school to the students. I understand if that’s how the students view education, but that’s scary in itself. The idea that they already knew about testing and it seemed to already be draining them. This video says a lot about our education system and how “not fun” and over-demanding it is. It’d be one thing if students were learning all sorts of beneficial information, but they’re not in the true sense of “learning” or at least not retaining the information they learn. The only knowledge I’ve retained was information that I truly wanted to have. These students don’t seem to see the benefits of all the years of school or maybe I misunderstood them. As an assignment, it works great just like the first document we watched.

-The third video was very interesting and helped me understand what futuring is, I think and hope.