Wiki

This week we had to start our own wiki page. I actually really enjoy the idea of it. If you're interested in a certain topic then it's a good tool to post and discuss information because anyone that's invited to share/edit can write and save the information; the wiki is therefore always there to refer back to and to add to whenever. Everyone can't know everything and it's always good to reach out for help and to hear other people's viewpoints and knowledge on countless topics.

I decided to set up my wiki by talking about different opportunities and options available to us as teachers after we complete the TE program. The first time I even started thinking about this part of my future, which seems so far away, is when I found out that some old friends of mine decided that they would go abroad to teach. I was completely fascinated and decided instantly that I was going to do that. I'm pretty set on that goal still, but I wanted to learn more about teaching abroad, as well as, other possible opportunities. Hence, my wiki. I just need to organize it better and I hope to get more input/discussion going on it.

In the case of using wikis with students, I think that they could really benefit from it. I don't see why they wouldn't. A teacher could post and update any information on it quickly and easily; the students would have easy access to the information, ask questions, get them answered by the teacher or other students, etc. As long as the wikis are being used appropriately and the students are goofing around and changing important things, then I don't see any way that they wouldn't benefit from using them.

Krakow, Poland - I want to be teaching here already.

Photo Credit from flickr.com by mykrak

The Internet is great and all but...

Mickey G. Ottawa photostream - flickr.com

I came across an article today from nytimes.com bringing attention to the recent suicide of a freshman girl at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. The suicide was a result of constant bullying over the Internet. It's sad that something like this had to happen for states to realize they need to re-examine their laws on bullying.

Anyway, Kevin Jenkins, a fourth-grade teacher, decided that he would take things into his own hands and teach his students through Common Sense Media what's appropriate to post, what's not appropriate, to be cautious of what goes on the Internet and to be aware that they can get into trouble for whatever they post.

Besides the whole social aspect of the Internet (I think it's important that it was brought up in the article), students should learn about and be aware of cookies and viruses.

Anyone and everyone can see what you post, so think twice before you do.

R.I.P.

Today, Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president, as well as 96 other people, including some of the highest military and civilian leaders, died in a plane crash in Russia.

Here is a link to the full story.

Czarek Sokolowski/AP - NPR photo

Digital Storytelling

Getting to know your teacher on Prezi

For our digital storytelling assignment I decided to work with Prezi.com. It's a really fun, interactive, and creative website. It's so simple to use as well. You can insert pictures, write text, create a path for people to follow, make the pictures and text as small or as big as you want to. Ultimately, I really enjoyed working with it and because it's not extremely complicated, not that students wouldn't be able to handle something complicated, students would have a lot of fun using it. 

I decided that I would use it as a tool for students to get to know their teacher. Children are always so interested in their teachers lives outside of school. Some don't even realize that they do have lives outside of school. Most things definitely have to stay private, but a few interesting facts are good to let them know. Many teachers do it on the first day of class and I know that I'm always interested in hearing about their lives. It's a way to connect and to be able to relate to the person that will be educating you for the rest of the year. 

Teaching K-12 online... Who would have ever thought?

Last week the mentor of this course, CEP 416, came in to talk to us and had so many interesting things to say. He's a really cool guy.

Well, he was telling us about a time that he ran into a former student and she told him that she never believed that technology would become incorporated into teaching. Then she proceeded to ask him what he thought that she was doing with her life. He had no idea. She told him that she started teaching a fifth grade classroom completely online.

That was a shocker for me to even hear because I had no idea that was going on these days. I can't even imagine how an educator would go about doing that. I can't even really say that whether I agree with it or not because I have never seen it done, but I just feel that classroom, face-to-face teaching is so much more beneficial.

He did mention that the students that take those online classes are mostly those that are homebound by illness or children that are home-schooled. I wonder what parents think about this method and how many parents have taken their kids out of schools because they thought it was better. I'd definitely like to read up about it and check out if there are forums out there on the internet where parents discuss this.

Waste of Precious Time

Educational Technology Guy posted some random thoughts and I have one of my own to add.

• Teachers shouldn't willingly waste so much time in the morning eating breakfast, taking attendance, finding out what students will be having for lunch, etc;  (lists, lists, count students, lists, more lists)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/ / CC BY 2.0

I go to a first-grade classroom every Thursday morning for my TE 301 placement. I'm there from 8:00-11:30am; I realize it's not much time to be able to really criticize, but I feel like the mornings are routine by now. My CT usually comes in when the students do at 8:50am; she doesn't come in early to prepare anything. I feel that if she would come to the school at least twenty minutes early, she would have enough time to scavenge for the things she needs within the mess on the desk.

She actually is a pretty good teacher when the teaching finally starts, but the wasted time in the morning has been bothering me all semester. Not only is time wasted on things the principal or the lunch lady need, but lessons are always interrupted by the teacher's attempt to teach the children about manners and to improve behavior. I realize this is necessary, but constantly stopping the lesson to tell a child to stop picking his nose, sit on his bottom, get fingers out of his mouth, etc, is not. It takes away too much valuable time.

What grade levels have you had experience observing? How do the teachers handle their morning routine? How do they handle behavioral issues?

In National News...Health Care Reform

Combined two pictures from flickr.com 

March 21, 2010 -- Barack Obama's health care bill gained enough votes to be passed into law.
March 23, 2010 -- Our president has officially signed the health care bill into law.

I don't follow politics religiously, but I've been reading up about the bill and the U.S. population's reaction to it since Sunday. I'm going to stay neutral here because I don't enjoy arguing about these kinds of things... anymore. It's impossible to come to an agreement or compromise, especially with this bill. Reactions have proved to be polar opposites; people are either blissfully happy or absolutely infuriated.

I'm just interested in where my fellow classmates, as well as others that may be reading my blog out there, stand on this issue.

If you choose to comment, let's keep it classy people.

Articles and comments about the health care reform:

• NPR - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125058400 
• Foxs News - http://sitemirror.tpa.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/06/obama-turns-heat-health-overhaul/
• Digg - http://digg.com/comedy/NO_to_Socialism_Image 
• CNN - http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/23/health.care.timeline/index.html?hpt=T1
• Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=nf&gid=335426408861
• Michael Moore - http://michaelmoore.com/