Samantha’s Blog

My PLN

Throughout the semester I have been introduced to different websites.  I have kept up on using some of these applications or websites quite often, but others I have left by the wayside.  I use google docs on a regular basis as well as Jing, but I haven’t kept up with Twitter.  I probably will begin to use it more once I get the hang of it, but as of now, I’m quite lazy with it.  Overall, I think my PLN has grown since the beginning of the semester, but I could update it more often.

I don’t think I will keep blogging once the class is over with because I don’t think people care enough about what I write to maintain it.  I like to write for myself about my thoughts about other things, and I don’t think people care to read it, and nor do I wish to share my personal thoughts with the world.  I do understand why many people blog, and I encourage them to continue to do so, but I don’t think it is for me…at least not at this point in my life.

Once I complete my wikispace, I will probably maintain that because I’m using it as a professional tool, but I don’t think I will create a personal wiki.  My facebook profile is enough of a social tool for me.  I hope I can continue to learn about technology because I do feel it is important for education, so I intend on keeping my PLN growing.

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My Thoughts

“Solutions for Dropout Prevention”

The post about dropout prevention was insightful.  I agree with many of Warlick’s opinions.  He states, “They [the idea for dropout prevention listed] each have their value, or else they would not have been included in the list.  But, as with many things, their value increases in combination.”  I agree, no one would make a list of dropout ideas if they were not important.  Warlick also says the ideas need to be implemented in order to really be effective.  The comment that hit me the most is, “I suggested that rather than raise the compulsory school age, we lower it, challenging schools to treat their students as customers with a choice, instead of inmates serving time.”  It seems crazy to consider such a concept, but I believe he has a point.  Many students I went to high school were simply going through the motions until they were legally allowed to drop out of school.  It’s sad, but true.  Why should we force students to be in school if they are not interested in attending?  If they aren’t getting anything out of the experience or  do not intend on completing high school, then why don’t we let them pursue something with more value to them?  I know I shouldn’t be so passive, but if students aren’t wanting anything to do with school, and they would like to do something “better” with their time, then we should allow it.  Our jobs as educators is to find a way to keep them in school, so we need to make it interesting and “worth” their time.  If we cannot do that, then how are we to change students’ minds about sticking with school?

“Everyone is on Facebook”

Mike Temple made the comment that “Everyone is on Facebook.”  I agree.  I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.  I like that we have the ability to decide who can and cannot see our profiles, but there are ways around it.  I think it’s a great way to keep in touch with people because I use it for that reason.  I like to be able to talk to my friends and family who are never in the same area as I am without having to call each one of them individually, I could od that, but it’s quite expensive.  Despite the social aspect of Facebook, does it have any other value?  Everyone is aware of the negative aspects of networking tools like Facebook because they can be used to bully other people, staulk, etc.  One issue I have with Facebook, is that employers are starting to check potential employee’s pages to see if he/she is a good person outside of work.  I understand it is done to ensure a quality employee, and they don’t want someone to misrepresent a company, but if someone performs well at work, why should it matter what he/she is doing in his/her personal life?  As long as work and personal life do not come into contact, then I don’t think a problem exists.

Grant Guru Tip #12 by Gary Carnow: Managing Time Commitments and the Writing Process

I found this article to be extremely helpful.  I haven’t had to write a grant before, but I do think the same process can be applied to writing anything, especially papers or projects for school.  He explains the grant writing process, and he makes it seem so easy.  After I read this, I felt like I could easily write a grant.  Carnow seems very knowledgeable regarding grants.  He has many articles of how to be an effective grant writer.  I didn’t realize there were this many tips on how to do such a task.

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Videos

“Bill Gates: How I’m trying to change the world now” video was informative. I like that he made a connection to the history. He began with history, then progressed to the present, and finally the future. Bill Gates’ question “How to make a teacher great?” was interesting. I agree we cannot make teachers great. I believe great teachers are created through hardwork and the desire to be a great teacher. I also like how he tied in student diversity with the success of teachers and schools. I also found it interesting that after 3 years of teaching, the improvement in teaching ability was very minor. The KIPP schools are using a different style of teaching and it’s working. I agree with Bill Gates’ desire to change the teaching style and improving education.

The video “Barry Schwartz: The real crisis? We stopped being wise” was interesting. Barry was knowledgeable and informative. I agree that we’re losing wisdom because people place more emphasis on the opposite. Improvisation and ability to stay versatile is a great trait, which I believe we have stopped placing importance on. I think we value people who know more and are able to memorize facts than the people who can be creative. I agree that wisdom and brilliance need to go hand-in-hand. I also believe that people should start to think for themselves and allow for exceptions to the rule. I believe that rules are followed because people don’t want to burden themselves with thinking or doing what is not to be done.

The video “Evan Williams: How Twitter’s spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses” was not what I expected. I didn’t realize that people were being so receptive to Twitter. People used it for so many different reasons. I thought it was cool how people used Twitter to give information about the fires. I also like how people are influencing the Twitter network and helping it grow and be more affective. I think Twitter is a great way to share and receive information in a fast way. I really liked how he was able to receive feedback instantly. People were able to follow his speech, and provide feedback for it while he was speaking.

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My Favorite “New” Technology

Since I’ve learned about Google Docs, I have been using it a lot. I have found it so helpful for many of my assignments. I am doing a presentation for another one of my classes, and we’ve been using Google Docs to work on it instead of trying to meet in person. We all have different schedules, which makes it difficult to meet outside of class, so Google Docs makes it a lot easier to finish our project. I also like the Searchme website. I like that I can view the website before visiting it. Those two websites are the most helpful and interesting for me so far. I also used Jing when I was looking for my new vehicle, which was more convenient than saving websites or researching for what I found previously.

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Final Project Idea

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Jing!

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Educational Wordle

http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/555090/Education

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25 Thoughts on Education

1. Education is important

2. I believe people underestimate the importance of education.

3. Public education needs major reform.

4. Physical education needs to be seen as more important than what it is in the education system.

5. Schools that focus more on students are more successful.

6. Budget cuts are making public education less interesting.

7. Students want to learn.

8. I believe in order to be a good teacher, one must care for his/her students.

9. I think the No Child Left Behind Act has made education more difficult…for the most part.

10. I feel the new curriculum for Michigan is “leaving many students behind.”

11. After school programs are extremely important.

12. I wish people would stop thinking that teachers are overpaid.

13. I think the “old way” of teaching is still useful, but we need to update in order to keep up.

14. I am a huge fan of small class sizes.

15. Abstract thinking is important.

16. Parents need to be supportive and involved in their child’s education.

17. School lunches need to healthier.

18. School should start later for older students, and start earlier for younger students.  Sleeping patterns are different and should be honored.

19. I wish there were more hands-on classes.

20. Health education should be taught more than only one semester at the high school year.

21. Teachers should include technology in daily lessons as much as possible.

22. Students should be engaged in the material.

23. Students should be educated on real-life situations.

24. Teachers aren’t given enough credit for what they do.

25. Education allows students to pursue what they want to do with their lives. 

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Methods Placement

     I currently don’t have a placement in a public school for my methods courses, but I did attend Bothwell Middle School last semester as part of my pre-methods courses.  The experience was both informative and rewarding.  I learned many techniques on how to be an effective health teacher.  The lesson plans the teacher used were informative and interesting.  She had a game plan for everyday, and she constantly switched activities in order to keep the students engaged throughout the entire class.  The teacher used overhead projectors and DVDs to teach the class, but I did not witness the students using any forms of technology during the class. 

     I think an excellent way to incorporate technology is the use of a calorie counter app or heart rate monitor app on students’ cell phones.  Both apps could be used for benefitting a student’s health which is the purpose of health and physical education.  

The following links I found to be helpful teaching strategies:

http://www.uky.edu/Education/KHP/khp430.html

http://schools.utah.gov/curr/pe_health/documents/MethodsofTeachingHealthEducation_description_000.pdf

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/healthfitness/

http://cohesion.rice.edu/centersandinst/cttl/dissemination.cfm?doc_id=2505

http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teachwtech/

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My Thoughts on: Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Digital World

The “Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Digital World” article raises some interesting points.  Andrew Church states, “‘I believe that to prepare our students for the future, we must prepare them for change, teach them to question and think, to adapt and modify, to sift and sort. I am fortunate to teach at a school with a mobile computing program, that sees students with personal mobile devices, laptops.’”  I feel similarly; education is shifting from the typical memorization of information to “thinking outside of the box.”  Abstract thought and creativity are the main emphasis of education now, which I believe is a great idea.  There is really no need to memorize information anymore because it is available at the click of a mouse.  Search engines have made memorizing a thing of the past, so education must focus on an entirely different area of thinking.  One question that will be raised is, “How are we going to teach students how to think abstractly?”  The “how” is always more difficult than the “what”. 

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