a future english teacher’s blog

Here are links to my comments on other blogs:

Dan’s Blog

Ashley St’s Blog

Tyler’s Blog

Shakura’s Blog

Eric’s Blog

Nathan’s Blog

I can’t track down a few of my comments. If I have commented on anyone’s blog that I don’t have listed here let me know. Thanks!

This whole blogging experience sure has been interesting! At first I was not looking foward to this assignment; I hardly even knew what a blog was. But it once I got past figuring out the technology it didn’t seem so bad. At first writing and posting was a little intimidating because I knew that anyone and everyone could read what I wrote. Writing for the blog is a very different experience than just writing for a teacher. It really does feel like it has more of a purpose.

I love google reader too! I will definetly continue to keep using it. It cuts down having to search the web for the right article, instead they come to you! It saves alot of time and only getting articles from the sources that you choose.

I am glad I picked the topic of technology in the classroom. I feel like I learned alot about new technologies that are out there and ways to use that technology in the classroom. Overall I think that having this blog has been a positive experience.

This article from the Union Leader discusses a study conducted by the National School Boards Association that claims there is educational value in allowing students to access social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook during school hours. However, the author of the article says of the study, “It shows no such thing.”  The study, underwritten by MySpace.com owner News Corporation and Facebook.com investor Microsoft, along with Verizon, used responses to an online survey of 1,277 students between the ages of nine and seventeen. They claim that almost 60% of American students discuss education on social networking sites, and 50% discuss homework on the sites. The study then suggests that because of these figures students should have access to their MySpace pages during school hours.

 I think that this study is ridiculous. I have a brother in high school and education and homework are not subjects of conversation on his Facebook page! The article says that it “can’t see any educational value in allowing students to access social networking sites while at school.” I have to agree. I’m pretty sure that the majority of students would not use MySpace or Facebook to discuss school related issues. But I think that teachers can use MySpace or Facebook in ways that are educational. There have been lots of great ideas. For example, having students create character profiles on MySpace for a character in a novel. I think that teachers should take advantage of these sites that students are so interested in and use them to engage students in learning. 

“MySpace education: ‘Technology’ as Teacher” 

Union Leader 

November 27, 2007  

When going through my google reader account I saw an article about blogging. At first I skipped over it but I ended up going back and reading the article. In this article Eric Langhorst, a history teacher in Missouri, had his students read a novel and set up a blog to use as an online book group. He didn’t just ask his students to join discussion on the blog; he invited their parents and even another history class in California. I thought that having another class that wasn’t even in the same state join their blog for discussion was a very interesting idea. On top of that the teacher invited the author of the novel to join their blog. And she did! The author responded to students’ comments and questions, adding to their discussion.

Since doing this blog I have of course thought about what you could do with it in the classroom but I hadn’t thought of inviting other classrooms and even authors to join a blog like that. I think it would be amazing to have an author that was willing to take part in something like that. I realize that is not always going to be a possibility but even having other classes that are reading the same novel take part in the blog could make the discussion richer because you are bringing in more perspectives. It could even be classes in the same school; it wouldn’t necessarily have to be classes from a different school.

“Blogging Is History: Taking Classroom Discussions Online”

By Helena Echlin

June 18, 2007

Edutopia

I just read about this thing called a Smart Board. It is an interactive whiteboard. The Smart Board looks like a huge screen and replaces almost a whole section of whiteboard. There isn’t a screen to pull down or anything. It is just right there on your wall. And is sounds like the possiblities with it are endless. Sue Holland, a seventh grade teacher in San Rafeal, California, says, “I can insert links to the Internet, or go right to a streaming video on the Web. During a lesson, if a student asks, ‘What about this?’ I can say, ‘Let’s take a look’ and go online to view it, instead of just talking about it. Eighty percent of us are visual learners — I do all my lessons now as Smart Board lessons, which is cool.”

I can see the Smart Board could be beneficial to students because like Holland said, the majority of students are visual learners. If used effectively this could help increase learning. Also, you could engage students more by having access to everything on the web. The article gave a list of some of the things you can do on the Smart Board. I have chosen a few that I thought would be appropriate for the English classroom:

-Digital storytelling.

-Showing streamed or downloaded videos.

-Displaying artwork or online museum presentations.

-Demonstrating moviemaking techniques.

-Teaching students how to conduct research on the Internet.

-Working collaboratively on writing and editing exercises.

-Instructing the class on the use of a software program, keyboarding techniques, and other computer skills.

“A Clean Slate: Interactive Whiteboard Makes Lessons Snazzy”

By Douglas Cruickshank

October 3, 2007

Edutopia

There is all of this talk about the need for new technologies in the classroom but does having all of that technology really necessary? Is it doing any good? The article, “Into the 21st Century: Technology, Teachers, and Nicky Future Ready” by Terry Stoops, doesn’t seem to think so. The article discusses North Carolina’s education agenda that is all about  creating “21st century” schools, classrooms, and students. A 21st century education is described as:

In the ideal 21st century school, each school will have facilities and personnel that are necessary for a 21st century education. This includes individual classroom spaces – many with movable walls and flexible desk/table/cubicle configurations – and technology that is similar to what adults already use in the workplace. That means classrooms outfitted with an interactive digital whiteboard and data projector; a classroom set of individual student response devices; digital and video cameras; a telephone; one or more multimedia work stations that include printers, science probeware for experiments, digital microscopes and graphing scientific calculators for the upper grades.

To me this seemed a little exessive. That is not to say that all of those things wouldn’t be useful but that would be incredibly expensive. So is this education agenda actually being supported? Stoop writes that “regrettably, anxious parents become a natural ally to education officials who champion new and costly programs that students supposedly need to have in order to be successful in the elusive 21st century economy” and that “the point is to convince parents that their child will be doomed to a life of destitution” if they do not have access to all of these things.  Parents have their childrens best interest at heart and I can see how these education officials can take advantage of that. 

The article goes on to say, “Elected officials and education leaders in our state have ignored the fact that educational technology has failed to improve student achievement in North Carolina in any significant way. Yet under the guise of the ’21st century economy’ they will continue to urge taxpayers to foot the bill for the latest ed-tech craze.”  This reminded me of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). It sounded awfully good when it was proposed but isn’t doing much to improve student achievement. This “21st century education” is the same way.  It is convincing taxpayers that all of this technology is crucial to education in order to get the funds, when in reality it is not improving student achievement. Therefore money is being wasted and students are suffering.

 The Leland Tribune

October 22, 2007

“Into the 21st Century: Technology, Teachers, and Nicky Future Ready”

By Terry Stoops

Full Article Here

We all know that the web makes a huge amount of resources available to us. But sometimes it’s hard to find really rich material. Through google reader I found an article about The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s (SFMOMA) ArtThink website. This site is about in-depth investigation of 20th-21st century art and artists and incorporating it into language arts, history, and social studies curriculum. The site has a section especially for teachers that includes step by step activities, games, images, and even voice recordings. I mostly focused on the section that featured lessons and activities where art and language arts were integrated.  It had lessons that used art to talk about social change, self and society, mood and mystery (how art can communicate feelings and imagination). Viewing the art and discussing those types of topics can make good material for writing.

So why is incorporating art into the curriculum of other disciplines important? In the article Tana Johnson, producer and instructional designer of interactive educational technologies at the SFMOMA, says, “Kids are visually savvy, but they’re not necessarily understanding or learning or caring about art. And it’s such a fundamental form of expression.”  I think that because of budget cuts and the amount of time that is spent on test prep subjects like art are being pushed to the side. Integrating it into language arts is a way for students to still get some art. It also may make language arts a little more interesting and exciting for some students.

What is great about having all of this material online is that you have access to much of the art that is actually in the SFMOMA and so much more. Also, it is free and only requires a computer. Although Johnson recommends a high-speed internet connection in order to be able to watch the videos. She also says that in order to access all of the media on the site running Flash is required, but that it is a free download. Taking advantage of sites like this and the materials they offer can enhance learning.

“Online Art Appreciation: An Interdisciplinary Approach”

By Douglas Cruickshank

Edutopia

August 1, 2007

Full Article Here

Despite having to get up at such an early hour, I enjoyed attending the MCTE conference. They keynote speaker, Kathleen Blake Yancy, did a great job of kicking things off. I liked that she started by asking us to come up with a definition of literacy by talking to the people sitting around us. For me this was a good way to wake myself up and get my mind working.  But what really got me thinking was when she asked us to put “21st century” in front of “literacy” and then come up with a definition for that. That definitely changes the way you describe literacy. Yancy went on to talk about the way that technology, networking, intrapersonal knowledge, and reflection fit into the definition of 21st century literacies. I think it is important to think about how literacy has changed over the years because it changes what skills our students need and how we teach them.

The first session that I attended was with Dr. Jill VanAntwerp where she talked about her findings from interviewing teachers relatively new in the field. I was really excited about hearing her speak because I anticipated getting alot of useful information about those beginning years as a teacher. However, I was a little disappointed in the session. Dr. VanAntwerp put lists on the overhead of the most common things that she heard from interviewing these teachers. Her lists were pretty much self-explanatory and the information presented was mostly common sense things. For example, one of the lists was of things that teachers had found to go right in their first years of teaching. This list included having a great principal, best practice curriculum, and helpful colleagues. The list of things that went wrong included exactly the opposite, unsupportive principal, no curriculum, and having no backup. It just kind of left me thinking, “okay, so what?” I did, however, walk away with a good piece of advice from Dr. VanAntwerp that came from her and not any of her lists. She told us that no matter what anyone says do not mess with the idealism, that is being very enthusiastic about teaching and believing that you can make big differences. I think it is important to keep thinking that because that is what is going to keep you going.

The second session that I went to was on why rubrics don’t work with Maja Wilson. This interested me because I am a fan of rubrics and I was curious as to why they don’t work. And I have to say that at the end of the session I agreed with Wilson why they shouldn’t be used, at least in writing assessment. Wilson talked about how writing really is subjective but by using rubrics to assess it we are attempting to make it objective. Much of the discussion was on the MEAP test and how it scores the essays. The MEAP rubric basically wants all of the readers to agree on what a good piece of writing looks like.  When in reality writing means different things to different people. Wilson herself does not grade her students writing but she gives her students alot of feedback and they are welcome to do re-writes until both she and the student are satisfied in the writing. This means that the process of writing a paper is alot longer so her students only write around three papers through out the term. Wilson said that she has found her students to be more invested in their writing because the end goal is not centered around a certain grade but actually in what they write. I thought this session was very interesting. It has caused me to re-think using rubrics to assess writing and how I am going to handle the writing process and assessment in my classroom.

Overall, I really enjoyed the conference. I learned alot from the presenters. I also see the importance of teachers attending these kinds of conferences. Continuing to learn and grow professionally is important. I see myself attending more of these conferences in the future.

In an article from CNN I read about a program called the “Big Read.” This program is put on by the National Endowment for the Art (NEA). Basically, libraries around the country can host these “big reads” where the community gets together and reads and celebrates a text. The article states that, “Dana Gioia (the NEA’s chairman) promises the Big Read will be in 400 U.S. cities next year, meaning town-wide celebrations of works by American writers Zora Neale Hurston, Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee, Ray Bradbury, Amy Tan and others will be in all 50 states and in every congressional district.” 

I know that I mainly wanted to focus on using technology in the english classroom but I just found this program really interesting. I think that this kind of program shows how important it is that community supports education. Learning and enthusiasm for learning should not end once out of the classroom, it should be encouraged outside of the classroom as well. I think that cities who bring this program to their citizens are showing the importance of learning. And sometimes it’s good to get out of the typical learning environment.

 Also what’s great about this program is that it is funded through grants. The NEA puts in “the promotional and educational power. A grant pays to get organizers to a national orientation session. There are guidebooks for readers and teachers for the books selected…” 

I think that it would awesome if a teacher could take her class to one of these “big reads.” It would definetly be a new reading experience for students. I don’t know how likely it is that a teacher could take their class to one of these but they could always make their own “big read”  that involved the whole school or even a specific grade level. I think that it could be a way to bring students together. 

“The ‘new’ NEA: Reading gets bigger” By Porter Anderson

CNN

June 30, 2007

Full Article Here

There are technology advances every single day. This makes it even more difficult to stay informed about technologies that are available. I admit that I do not do a very good job of keeping up with technology, e-mail is about as high-tech as I get (although I am making progress by doing this blog!). I know that as a future teacher I have to get comfortable using different kinds of technology because it can be a great asset to me in the classroom.  The article, “Schools get hip to role of technology in a class setting,” by Candace Birkelbach, talks about the importance of teachers and schools keeping up with technology for their students.

In the article Sandy Franklin, an elementary teacher, says, “We want teachers to use what students are interested in to make engaging lessons for them. It is an injustice for children if we do not keep up with technological advances.” I had to ask myself, is not keeping up with technological advances an injustice to children? I thought that perhaps calling it an injustice was a bit much. But as I thought about it I came to the conclusion that it isan injustice for a teacher not to take advantage of resources available to aide in students learning, and that would include technology.  I also agree that teachers should use what students are interested in to make engaging lessons. I feel that this is true because if a lesson is relevant to students lives then they are more likely to pay attention and get more out of it. Because technology is an increasingly relevant part of our lives it only makes sense that we would use it in the classroom to engage our students.

 ”Schools get hip to role of technology in a class setting” By Candace Birkelbach

Killeen Daily Herald

September 23, 2007

Full Article Here