I made a new blog!

Hey guys, this has nothing to do with our class but I made a new blog.  It's called Spoonfuls of Sugar and is just good news from around the world.  I decided to do this a week or so ago when I finally got tired of trying to talk about current events to my friends who don't check the news because it's "too depressing."  I'm hoping that by seeing the good stories on this page, they'll somehow stumble upon the more pressing issues of the day on the real news websites.  Enjoy!

http://spoonfulsofsugarnews.blogspot.com/

Age and Internet Use

As one who is in the youngest and "dumbest" age group in this article, I should be offended.  But I'm not.  I completely agree with the author.  People my age are dumb and naive, especially when it comes to posting personal information online.  Some "Millennials"might fight back and say something like "old people don't have any friends to talk to online" or "old people are boring and don't have anything worth putting online" or "old people don't know how to put anything online."  There may be some truth to some of those statements in some situations, but I think that for the most part "old people" are more informed about things like identity theft and whatnot and are therefore more leery about letting everyone under the sun know where they are and what they're doing.

A novel use for an existing technology

Ok, this might be pushing it, but what about t.v.?

I teach geography and the reality show "The Amazing Race" is awesome.  I don't know if any of you have ever seen it, but basically teams of two race around the world completing challenges.  The last team to arrive at their final destination for each leg of the race is usually eliminated.  Each challenge has something to do with the culture and/or history of the city the teams are in.  Last week the teams did some things related to aboriginal traditions in the Australian outback.

I'm not how to fully incorporate this show into the curriculum, but I think it has amazing potential.  One one level, the students could just research or locate the places the teams travel to.  On another level, they could study the peoples, history, and cultures of the places the teams visit.  I know some of my students watch The Amazing Race at home, and they love it.  They get to see the world they study in their textbook in a "real" way with real people.

FERPA

Just for the record, I don't procrastinate.  I just work on other things first.

So FERPA.  I read some other people's posts about the article we were supposed to read, and I would have to say that I agree with all of it.  Students definitely need rules and whatnot for posting on the Internet because they have no idea what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in an online that is an extension of the classroom, but looks strikingly similar to facebook.

I think a few trial runs might be beneficial before any serious discussion or collaboration could happen online.  Maybe they could even do some "dress rehersals" in the "real world" on paper or in a class discussion before moving it online.  The article mentioned that peer graded work can be posted online, so perhaps the students could become comfortable discussing their ideas in class as a class and learn how to evaluate one another's work in the real world.  Then they could simply continue the discussions and peer evaluations online once they learn the proper etiquette.

Something with googledocs could be interesting.  Maybe have students post their essays to a google account for the class and have people peer review them.  I don't know.  Just an idea.  Or may they could all contribute to a study guide (I'm not gonna lie, I set up googledocs accounts when I was an undergrad, sent the information to everyone in my class, and had everyone work on the study guides together.  Worked beautifully - with college kids anyways).

Oh, and getting the parents' permission is always a plus (but apparently not required by law).

Response to Snow Days

I personally don't have a problem with schools turning snow days into 'e-days' - if all of the students have access to the internet.  I know for a fact that not all of my students have access to the internet at home, so I wouldn't feel comfortable giving them an e-assignment that could be turned in at a later date.

Of course students will complain that e-days aren't fair and yadda yadda yadda, but I don't see anything unfair about them.  According to the school district's calendar, the students are supposed to be in school on that day.  Because of snow, the district has decided to switch the school setting from the physical classroom to the internet.  Still school, just a different setting.

I think this would also be a great opportunity to teach teachers how to use new technologies like blogs and wikis.  I think some teachers don't use them because they can get along just fine without them.  But if they are given a real problem that can be solved with new technologies, then maybe they would be more open to trying them.

Answer to Question 2

For the second question we were supposed to find a blog that was relevant to us.

I love the blog called "Strange Maps" by Frank Jacobs.  It's actually a part of a larger website called Big Think, but I've used the maps on this blog in my class before and my students love them.  He basically finds unique maps and comments on them.  Pretty straight forward, but quite intriguing for a geography buff like me.  He also takes suggestions from his readers, which makes the blog almost like a community effort.

Here's the link to his blog:

http://bigthink.com/blogs/strange-maps

Answer to Question 1

The first question asked us to consider what successful technology integration means and what it looks like.

I guess I would have to say that for the integration of technology to be successful, the use of technology would have to be completely normal and not out of the ordinary.  If students get excited because they get to use the Smartboard or go to the computer lab, then maybe that means those technologies haven't been fully integrated into instruction.  Or, on the flip side, if the teacher has to make special plans or go out of their way to use technology, then it probably hasn't been fully integrated.  When the students come to expect to use technology and are comfortable using, manipulating, and exploring different technologies, then that would be a good sign that it has probably been fully integrated.

When I was student teaching my school was one of a few that received a grant for an artist in residence to come and help the students produce a video.  The topics were math and science, and the students made videos explaining or demonstrating scientific experiments and math in everyday life.  Everyone was involved in the process of filming the video, and everyone was involved editing the video.  They each got to use a program to edit all of the clips and make their own movie.  It was awesome to see the girls realize how math comes into play while shopping, and to see other students going through the steps of the scientific method with a view to teaching it to someone else.  Making the movie reinforced what they learned in class and gave them new ways to use technology.