Between this and my Istanbul blog, I've learned I'm really not a writer. I enjoy writing on occasion, but I never seek it out. I look at people like Lauren and her blog, and I know that she loves crafting sentences and spilling her thoughts onto a page and seeing where it goes, but I don't like to do that. I don't like exposing my thoughts for everyone to see. Generally, if someone asks me my thoughts, I'm more than happy to share, but that will lead to a conversation.
And I don't think blogs are a conversation.
I guess they could be, if we tried really hard to make them so, but mostly its me sharing, any people may respond if they like, or just move on. But I crave to know what you, my readers, think? Do you want to talk about my points, I really feel like they're discussion worthy, I think we could converse at length if only we were face to face.
But we're not. The internet stands between us.
And the internet is really big.
I dunno. I guess I can appreciate blogs for what they are, but I don't really think they are for me. I've enjoyed reading my classmates thoughts and hoped they've enjoyed reading mine, but I'd rather find you after class and discuss and debate.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Internet tragedies
Just a warning, this will not be a happy post. (except for the bit at the end, which is mostly funny.)
I've encountered two different news articles today that have caught my attention and got my mind to thinking. One is incredibly stupid and the other is terrifyingly sad.
First the stupid.
The U of M MSA president created a private facebook group making fun of another member of MSA. You can read about it here but in summary, the facebook group was a joke between two members of MSA who didn't like the actions of a third, and created a facebook group. I suppose the lesson to be learned in this situation is that, generally, the internet is not private. The MSA president could have vented to his friend after class, over the phone, or in a coffee shop about his issues, but instead decided to use facebook as his medium. What he thought was merely a joke between friends turned into a scandal because he thought the internet was a private medium. It is not.
Now the sad.
First, read this in its entirety. What is so terrifyingly sad about this case is the girl was led to believe in a reality which simply was not true, and this deception would not have been possible without the anonymity provided by the internet. To this girl, the internet was real, she was talking to a real boy, with whom she felt a deep connection, and when he turned hurtful, I imagine it was like a close friend had slapped her in the face.
What I want to say in response to this is as follows: The internet is very real, and it is recorded. At the same time,anything you find on it can be false. You can be talking the person you believe, or someone else. A photo you are looking at could be accurate, or it could be photoshopped. The person e-mailing you asking to hold onto millions of dollars could be the prince of Nigeria, or it could be a scam.
One of the major problems is that the internet is anonymous. I feel that instituting a system where you explore the internet, but always identified as yourself, would alleviate many problems that occur on the web. In essence, it would more tightly tie the world of the web to reality, and force you to interact with people and places in the same ways you would in real life.
Looking over my post, I feel like it lacks focus, but I've been working on it intermittently over a few class periods, so thats understandable. I'll leave it as is.
I've encountered two different news articles today that have caught my attention and got my mind to thinking. One is incredibly stupid and the other is terrifyingly sad.
First the stupid.
The U of M MSA president created a private facebook group making fun of another member of MSA. You can read about it here but in summary, the facebook group was a joke between two members of MSA who didn't like the actions of a third, and created a facebook group. I suppose the lesson to be learned in this situation is that, generally, the internet is not private. The MSA president could have vented to his friend after class, over the phone, or in a coffee shop about his issues, but instead decided to use facebook as his medium. What he thought was merely a joke between friends turned into a scandal because he thought the internet was a private medium. It is not.
Now the sad.
First, read this in its entirety. What is so terrifyingly sad about this case is the girl was led to believe in a reality which simply was not true, and this deception would not have been possible without the anonymity provided by the internet. To this girl, the internet was real, she was talking to a real boy, with whom she felt a deep connection, and when he turned hurtful, I imagine it was like a close friend had slapped her in the face.
What I want to say in response to this is as follows: The internet is very real, and it is recorded. At the same time,anything you find on it can be false. You can be talking the person you believe, or someone else. A photo you are looking at could be accurate, or it could be photoshopped. The person e-mailing you asking to hold onto millions of dollars could be the prince of Nigeria, or it could be a scam.
One of the major problems is that the internet is anonymous. I feel that instituting a system where you explore the internet, but always identified as yourself, would alleviate many problems that occur on the web. In essence, it would more tightly tie the world of the web to reality, and force you to interact with people and places in the same ways you would in real life.
Looking over my post, I feel like it lacks focus, but I've been working on it intermittently over a few class periods, so thats understandable. I'll leave it as is.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
I've got sweet bo-staff skills, but....
Ok, so for my social studies methods class, I need to create a lesson plan. I did so, and submitted it, but did not create a specific outline for a lecture I had included in my lesson plan.
As I sat down to create my lecture, I realized something: I have no idea how to create and give a lecture.
Lecturing is an important skill for any teacher. Although it should not be used too often, it is still vital for any teacher to be able to transmit information effectively. I remember in my college classes that teachers had various abilities to create lectures, highlight important themes that tie the lectures together, and to perform the lecture well, allowing for note-taking, questions, response, etc., and the teachers that were able to lecture well really stood out from the pack.
I'm sure that there are skills and information required for creating a good lecture, and I don't know any of that. I would love to have a lecture workshop that gives lecturing strategies, composition ideas, etc.
As I sat down to create my lecture, I realized something: I have no idea how to create and give a lecture.
Lecturing is an important skill for any teacher. Although it should not be used too often, it is still vital for any teacher to be able to transmit information effectively. I remember in my college classes that teachers had various abilities to create lectures, highlight important themes that tie the lectures together, and to perform the lecture well, allowing for note-taking, questions, response, etc., and the teachers that were able to lecture well really stood out from the pack.
I'm sure that there are skills and information required for creating a good lecture, and I don't know any of that. I would love to have a lecture workshop that gives lecturing strategies, composition ideas, etc.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
Virtual HS
So, the presentation on the VHS really piqued my interest. I asked a question about employment, because I really was wondering about teaching in a virtual setting. because, I'm sure as everyone knows by now, I really enjoy technology use. It would really be interesting to try to find different ways to connect with students through a virtual setting? Is it possible to create real connections? What medium could you use? Could you create an avatar system (such as in second life) to aid with communication? There a ton of different ways to approach these issues and a ton of potential solutions.
It would be somewhat strange not knowing how your students acted, their little quirks. I feel like it would be exceedingly formal. One of the things I enjoyed in the classroom is how people interacted when forced to. There is a kind of community building happening in every classroom, that I feel would be lost in an online setting.
I was also turned off because when looking at potential positions, there were many, and they were all part time. I get the sense that the attitude is, "hey, you're not actually teaching, this totally isn't a full time job. Which I think is a conception that could definitely be damaging to people wanting to enter this field.
It would be somewhat strange not knowing how your students acted, their little quirks. I feel like it would be exceedingly formal. One of the things I enjoyed in the classroom is how people interacted when forced to. There is a kind of community building happening in every classroom, that I feel would be lost in an online setting.
I was also turned off because when looking at potential positions, there were many, and they were all part time. I get the sense that the attitude is, "hey, you're not actually teaching, this totally isn't a full time job. Which I think is a conception that could definitely be damaging to people wanting to enter this field.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The trap of technology
After being in the placement for a week or two, I'm starting to see some ways that technology could be a hindrance to a classroom. My mentor teacher uses technology fair amount, and she uses it for good purposes. She has played a few videos off YouTube, things like speeches of Malcolm X. She also uses a lot of multimedia, like documentaries, and will occasionally put up a webpage on the projector and read the text of that. She also occasionally uses powerpoint during a lecture.
There are pros and cons that I've seen in the classroom. The internet and videos give an unique point of view that can clearly be seen. When looking at a description of a person in history, my teacher kept saying "This is a biased viewpoint, don't accept everything it says." This is a good primary source to get an opinion on a controversial figure.
However, there are a few disadvantages that I can see. The technology takes a long time to navigate and set up. When looking for a Malcolm X speech, she loses her previous bookmark, and takes a few minutes to find a video, and then, when she plays it, it isn't what she wanted, so she looks again and finds the video. But, the searching took a few minutes of class time, and if you have many forms of multimedia in one class, you may end up uses 10 minutes of class just switching it around.
The lesson that I'm taking away from my examples, is that an effective teacher should pre-plan the set-up of technology, and that improvisation with technology can be a eater of class time.
There are pros and cons that I've seen in the classroom. The internet and videos give an unique point of view that can clearly be seen. When looking at a description of a person in history, my teacher kept saying "This is a biased viewpoint, don't accept everything it says." This is a good primary source to get an opinion on a controversial figure.
However, there are a few disadvantages that I can see. The technology takes a long time to navigate and set up. When looking for a Malcolm X speech, she loses her previous bookmark, and takes a few minutes to find a video, and then, when she plays it, it isn't what she wanted, so she looks again and finds the video. But, the searching took a few minutes of class time, and if you have many forms of multimedia in one class, you may end up uses 10 minutes of class just switching it around.
The lesson that I'm taking away from my examples, is that an effective teacher should pre-plan the set-up of technology, and that improvisation with technology can be a eater of class time.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Teacher tips wiki
So, I may be creating a reputation of myself as a technophile. Which is, in itself, not a bad thing. I have been humorously been poked at for my excitement for different kinds of technology and being a advocate for them.
But sometimes they have so much damn potential!
My newest foray into web 2.0 is something I'm really excited about, more so than I possibly should be. For a long time I've wanted to compile a list of interesting or innovative teaching activities or techniques that I can use in my classroom. And today, it hit me. I could create a wiki where the content is just that. And people could post and read it and get ideas and comment on others' ideas, in the true wiki form.
If you are interested, the address is http://macteachertips.pbwiki.com. I would love everyone to go and post their ideas right now!
This may be something that only I use as a file to keep track of my ideas.
But..
ideally, I'd want this to be a work in progress for a long time, with a scope that could reach far further than just the MAC program. And, I'm sure that other sites like this exist, and we could also collaborate with their site. But thats an ideal.
Lets see what the reaction is in the first few days.
But sometimes they have so much damn potential!
My newest foray into web 2.0 is something I'm really excited about, more so than I possibly should be. For a long time I've wanted to compile a list of interesting or innovative teaching activities or techniques that I can use in my classroom. And today, it hit me. I could create a wiki where the content is just that. And people could post and read it and get ideas and comment on others' ideas, in the true wiki form.
If you are interested, the address is http://macteachertips.pbwiki.com. I would love everyone to go and post their ideas right now!
This may be something that only I use as a file to keep track of my ideas.
But..
ideally, I'd want this to be a work in progress for a long time, with a scope that could reach far further than just the MAC program. And, I'm sure that other sites like this exist, and we could also collaborate with their site. But thats an ideal.
Lets see what the reaction is in the first few days.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Movie post
So, I'm feeling a little burned out, so I'm not going int o a lot of detail. I'm excited about making the movie for the class. The workings of I-movie seem easy enough that I can assign a movie project for a class, and it would be fun. I am happy that I can use the knowledge I'm gaining here. A movie project would be an excellent way to get students involved and interested.
I was talking to different MAC graduates, and they talked about how any use of alternate technology and different projects excited the students. So, I'm really happy that I feel proficient in different forms and will look forward to creating different projects.
Creating movies allows students to bring a lot of creative energy into a project. They are allowed to plan and work on their own and set goals and realistic time frames. If the final product is placed on the web somehow, then students will put more time and effort into them with the knowledge that people will be viewing it.
And now, my laptop is running out of juice, so I'll end it here.
I was talking to different MAC graduates, and they talked about how any use of alternate technology and different projects excited the students. So, I'm really happy that I feel proficient in different forms and will look forward to creating different projects.
Creating movies allows students to bring a lot of creative energy into a project. They are allowed to plan and work on their own and set goals and realistic time frames. If the final product is placed on the web somehow, then students will put more time and effort into them with the knowledge that people will be viewing it.
And now, my laptop is running out of juice, so I'll end it here.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Communication Inebriation
Ok, so a lot of MAC people talked about how bad the chat room conference was... and I believe you all. I did a cell phone conversation, which I think was probably a lot better, but don't get discouraged about chat programs, they are really nice for what they do. And, to illustrate, a story:
I was in Turkey last year, and there were a decent amount of events going on in the states that I missed: Tigers going to the world series, midterm elections in which Grandholm and the Democrats won (yay!) and proposal two passed in Michigan (boo!), and, the Michigan vs. OSU football game.
Now, I'm not a huge football fan, but in undergrad, it was such a huge deal, and I was surrounded by people that considered it a huge deal, and it became a big event in my life and in my social group. So, the year after we all part ways, I'm in Turkey, some other friends are in Seattle and one in Boston. They all can watch the game, but I would have no way of finding a station that carried it, and we would have to stay awake until about 4 am to watch the whole thing.
It was a hard time, and my girlfriend and I were really missing home and homey things, so we were kinda depressed, thinking about our friends at home getting together. However, we decided to try and make it work.
We found a webpage that would voice-broadcast the game live, found a conference room in which all of our friends could sign in, found an all-night internet cafe, and got the ESPN game tracker. And we hung out with our friends and watched football.
It was really just what we needed. We lost the game, but the shared experiences and shared conversation, even only text-based, was really great.
However, I'll be surprised if text-based web communication will last more than 5 years. There is already the technology to do large-scale voice conferencing over the web. Skype is a great tool, as is Ventrilo if anyone has used that. The only thing holding it back in my mind is that the big telecommunication companies won't stand for free, web-based communication. But once they see the writing on the wall and jump on board, text chat will become like dial-up. Nice, but outdated.
I was in Turkey last year, and there were a decent amount of events going on in the states that I missed: Tigers going to the world series, midterm elections in which Grandholm and the Democrats won (yay!) and proposal two passed in Michigan (boo!), and, the Michigan vs. OSU football game.
Now, I'm not a huge football fan, but in undergrad, it was such a huge deal, and I was surrounded by people that considered it a huge deal, and it became a big event in my life and in my social group. So, the year after we all part ways, I'm in Turkey, some other friends are in Seattle and one in Boston. They all can watch the game, but I would have no way of finding a station that carried it, and we would have to stay awake until about 4 am to watch the whole thing.
It was a hard time, and my girlfriend and I were really missing home and homey things, so we were kinda depressed, thinking about our friends at home getting together. However, we decided to try and make it work.
We found a webpage that would voice-broadcast the game live, found a conference room in which all of our friends could sign in, found an all-night internet cafe, and got the ESPN game tracker. And we hung out with our friends and watched football.
It was really just what we needed. We lost the game, but the shared experiences and shared conversation, even only text-based, was really great.
However, I'll be surprised if text-based web communication will last more than 5 years. There is already the technology to do large-scale voice conferencing over the web. Skype is a great tool, as is Ventrilo if anyone has used that. The only thing holding it back in my mind is that the big telecommunication companies won't stand for free, web-based communication. But once they see the writing on the wall and jump on board, text chat will become like dial-up. Nice, but outdated.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Word of the Late-Night
So, Michael wanted people to post their crazy comment words, and I got a nice one.
qomaizd
I don't know what it means exactly, but I'm pretty sure when Kevin and Lynne came to UM, they totally got qomaizd.
qomaizd
I don't know what it means exactly, but I'm pretty sure when Kevin and Lynne came to UM, they totally got qomaizd.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Wherefore Wiki....
So, in this past week, I've been in a world of wikis. Not anything structured like wikipedia or something, but I've used wikis in order to facilitate and aid group work, so I now am watching 3 wikis for 3 different projects.
I've come to the conclusion that I have too many projects.
Really, though, I really enjoy the wiki design. I get really excited in a group, and say, "Ok guys, I really think we should have a wiki because they are useful for this format." This is the first week I have ever used a wiki, I know as little as everyone else, but I like to present myself as an expert.
But really, I feel like the wiki is the next evolution of online communication. Bear with me as I engage in rampant speculation. E-mail has been around as long as the internet has been. I remember using an old MS-DOS computer and it had a very basic internet connection (prodigy, if anyone remembers), and it had e-mail. However, only 3 people around the country had e-mail, so there were not too many people to talk to.
E-mail had advantages over letters, but not phones. E-mails were fast, but it was difficult to carry on a conversation over e-mail, and if something had to be done or there needed to be dialogue, e-mail was not the best way to do it.
Next on the step of internet evolution was AIM, which revolutionized high-school social standards nation-wide. I remember I didn't use AIM until a freshman in college (around 2003) and I felt really left out in high school. The problems in AIM is that it functioned like a phone that people unplugged all the time. You had to be "plugged in" in order to communicate, so many times the important person was not available to talk to. Thus, phones still proved more useful.
Next there was the blog, which did have some aspects that were better than the phone. You could write whatever you liked, and it was widely accessible and permanent. People could browse at their leisure and even comment.
Wikis, however, do one better than blogs. Wikis are essentially blank slates for text-based creation, that is available constantly as a resource, message board, posting board, brainstorm, etc. I believe it is perfect for group projects in that everyone can imput information or ideas that everyone else can access, and there are no time windows that are inherent in meetings, conference calls, and chat sessions.
The drawback that I've seen so far from examples of school wikis is that they are not being used all that much, which I suppose is a significant drawback. If anyone has any good ones they'd like to link, I'd love to look at a few, but I see them essentially as class blogs, with the teacher creating and designing but students are generally only responding, not engaging in creation themselves.
Like so many other things in schools, I believe this motivation has to come from students. As Tamara says, being forced to comment on something feels false and creepy, like kissing your uncle.
I've come to the conclusion that I have too many projects.
Really, though, I really enjoy the wiki design. I get really excited in a group, and say, "Ok guys, I really think we should have a wiki because they are useful for this format." This is the first week I have ever used a wiki, I know as little as everyone else, but I like to present myself as an expert.
But really, I feel like the wiki is the next evolution of online communication. Bear with me as I engage in rampant speculation. E-mail has been around as long as the internet has been. I remember using an old MS-DOS computer and it had a very basic internet connection (prodigy, if anyone remembers), and it had e-mail. However, only 3 people around the country had e-mail, so there were not too many people to talk to.
E-mail had advantages over letters, but not phones. E-mails were fast, but it was difficult to carry on a conversation over e-mail, and if something had to be done or there needed to be dialogue, e-mail was not the best way to do it.
Next on the step of internet evolution was AIM, which revolutionized high-school social standards nation-wide. I remember I didn't use AIM until a freshman in college (around 2003) and I felt really left out in high school. The problems in AIM is that it functioned like a phone that people unplugged all the time. You had to be "plugged in" in order to communicate, so many times the important person was not available to talk to. Thus, phones still proved more useful.
Next there was the blog, which did have some aspects that were better than the phone. You could write whatever you liked, and it was widely accessible and permanent. People could browse at their leisure and even comment.
Wikis, however, do one better than blogs. Wikis are essentially blank slates for text-based creation, that is available constantly as a resource, message board, posting board, brainstorm, etc. I believe it is perfect for group projects in that everyone can imput information or ideas that everyone else can access, and there are no time windows that are inherent in meetings, conference calls, and chat sessions.
The drawback that I've seen so far from examples of school wikis is that they are not being used all that much, which I suppose is a significant drawback. If anyone has any good ones they'd like to link, I'd love to look at a few, but I see them essentially as class blogs, with the teacher creating and designing but students are generally only responding, not engaging in creation themselves.
Like so many other things in schools, I believe this motivation has to come from students. As Tamara says, being forced to comment on something feels false and creepy, like kissing your uncle.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Supreme court follows suit of Michigan....
by rejecting racially based school admissions, (see the article here). Definitely a land-mark ruling, and one that saddens me. What is more sad is the poll attached to the article. I tried to cut and paste, but it didn't work, but the results at the time of writing this post, the answer to the question, "Do you think race should play any role in school admission decisions?," are 16% yes with 14089 votes and 84% no with 72642 votes. It seems like the death toll for Affirmative Action.
It will be interesting to see how institutions tip-toe around this issue though. I would expect some new system based around income or geography to come into place. Just because we deny race in admissions legally, it doesn't mean it isn't a factor.
It will be interesting to see how institutions tip-toe around this issue though. I would expect some new system based around income or geography to come into place. Just because we deny race in admissions legally, it doesn't mean it isn't a factor.
Appetizers: A taste of things to come
For your first course, I'll be starting you with a bit of reflection, followed by some tasty analysis, with a delicious dessert of conclusions.
So far, I'm really excited about the class. I was pretty excited before class, when I read the syllabus and learned what we were doing, but now I'm even more excited. The idea of classroom blogs had never entered my mind, but, after reading all of the articles about them, I really started thinking that this was something I could use. It is something that excites kids and makes them want to do the work. Not only work, but really makes them be aware of the quality of the project, since they are presenting their work to the world at large. I've always been kind of into technology, but I've never really considered the possibilities of some of the more modern technologies and how they might be integrated into the classroom. The other exciting part is that this technology is only a few years old, and we are some of the first teachers to use it in the classroom. It is a time of breaking new ground, changing the face of education and seeing where it can take us.
But, before I get too excited, I do realize that there are limitations. I just finished reading the first three chapters in Jonathan Kozol's book, "Savage Inequalities," which describes schools in minority areas that are literally crumbling around them. How far blogs are removed from their world. In a school that doesn't have the funding for toilet paper, what good is a blog?
However, if we think of this another way, in the world of wired colleges and a world of business that is more frequently reliant on computer systems and internet access, these are the very people who NEED exposure to the technology as a prerequisite to succeed. We can say "These people have trouble getting heat, what use would they have for a computer?" However, if we want them to move forward and up in the world, if we want to create opportunities for them in the world and have them be equal or better to any rich kid living in the suburbs, we need to arm that child with computer-savvy as well as intelligence and knowledge. It would be a challenge, but its possible that if we deny them the technology that is given to other students, we only create another barrier to their success.
So, I guess I would say I'm excited to try to incorporate technology into a classroom, and find ways of giving kids regardless of access equal exposure and proficiency in its use.
So far, I'm really excited about the class. I was pretty excited before class, when I read the syllabus and learned what we were doing, but now I'm even more excited. The idea of classroom blogs had never entered my mind, but, after reading all of the articles about them, I really started thinking that this was something I could use. It is something that excites kids and makes them want to do the work. Not only work, but really makes them be aware of the quality of the project, since they are presenting their work to the world at large. I've always been kind of into technology, but I've never really considered the possibilities of some of the more modern technologies and how they might be integrated into the classroom. The other exciting part is that this technology is only a few years old, and we are some of the first teachers to use it in the classroom. It is a time of breaking new ground, changing the face of education and seeing where it can take us.
But, before I get too excited, I do realize that there are limitations. I just finished reading the first three chapters in Jonathan Kozol's book, "Savage Inequalities," which describes schools in minority areas that are literally crumbling around them. How far blogs are removed from their world. In a school that doesn't have the funding for toilet paper, what good is a blog?
However, if we think of this another way, in the world of wired colleges and a world of business that is more frequently reliant on computer systems and internet access, these are the very people who NEED exposure to the technology as a prerequisite to succeed. We can say "These people have trouble getting heat, what use would they have for a computer?" However, if we want them to move forward and up in the world, if we want to create opportunities for them in the world and have them be equal or better to any rich kid living in the suburbs, we need to arm that child with computer-savvy as well as intelligence and knowledge. It would be a challenge, but its possible that if we deny them the technology that is given to other students, we only create another barrier to their success.
So, I guess I would say I'm excited to try to incorporate technology into a classroom, and find ways of giving kids regardless of access equal exposure and proficiency in its use.
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