Chapter 4 - Hobbs

In the text "Reading the Media" by Renee Hobbs, I think the most important part of the chapter is titled: "The Power of Dialogue".

"Teaching about media and commication didn't work with that kind of predictabilty because students felt confident to bring their own experiences and knowledge into the classroom. They weren't timid."

• I am not sure if I read this incorrectly, but this section of the paragraph sounds as though Hobbs is feeling negative about this fact. In the even she is being positive about it, isn't this what we want for our students? Don't we want them to be confident in their school work and with what they do in the classroom? Not too long ago we read and article about how to use criticism/constructive criticsm in the classroom and how the students confidence affected their grades. The fact that students are confident with using technology is wonderful because the only reaction from confidence will be positive!

"...many teachers like to be the experts-the ones doing most of the talking in the classroom about the topics they care about."

• This is the wonderful thing about technology! The teachers no longer have to pressure themselves into thinking they need to know everything. Students can finally learn about the things they want and they can control how they learn based on technology resources. Teachers no longer need to be afraid of asking the students questions because they are also becoming the experts in the classroom. Sound familiar? It should!This has been an ongoing topic all semester!

"As a result, teachers relied on their expertise in using critical questioning and articulation techniques."

• This is where we need to be experts. We and other teachers need to allow the students to control the lesson and the classroom. We can further challenge them by asking questions and speaking to them as though they are finally the professionals.

This week's project...

This week in class, Ashley, Theresa and I will be demonstrating an Enhanced Power Point based on the topic of book trailers. The Enhanced Power Point is very tricky to work with that first because as we know with mac computers, nothing appears with just one right click. I really enjoyed making this power point and our group is excited about sharing it with you. For those of you that were in 374 last semester..there is a suprise at the end :)

Media Literacy Website

The teacher's link in the Media Literacy website reminded me very much of a post Darlene made a few weeks ago. She mentioned a movie (?) she saw in which the teacher incorporated hip hop into his lessons to help students remember continents, countries, math problems, etc.

With the amount of students that are tuned into music 24/7 these days, what a great way to gain student's interest and help them learn.

When I was in my 7th grade Language Arts class, I could not remember all of the prepositions for the life of me. My mother taught me all of the words using the 'yankee doodle' song. I still know it until this day. I am proof that this learning technique does work!

The problem with incorporating hip hop or any music for that matter into the classrooms, is that the older generations are not interested in it. They prefer standing in front of the classroom and having students take turns reading paragraphs out of the text. BBBOORRIINNGGG!!!

I already applaud all of us because our students are going to have a ball when we are their teachers. It is amazing how much fun learning can be with technology and I am pleased that using music in the classroom is beginning to be recognized.

Buffalo Students' videos

Will blog about later. ppl are working in the mac lab right now =X

Buffalo is on board

How many of us began this semester believing that classes would not go paperless or that there is no way schools would be able to afford/integrate technology into the classrooms? Me too. Apparently, schools are getting on board with technology and teachers are feeling positive about the students using all of these resources.


The part of the article which truly touched me was when the author said that students are using technology and"..creating meaning out of the curriculum and their experiences." What teacher could ask for anything more? I am sure almost all of us would have been more interested, engaged and participated more if our classrooms were based upon us being able to move around, converse and create our own projects.

It is terrific that students are finally "creating meaning" out of their work as oppossed to memorizing their notes just to pass a test or completing their readings because they may get called on in class the next day. I finally feel confident and relieved that Buffalo and many other schools, are understanding what we have spent the semester learning and preparing to teach our future students.

Schools Banning ipods?

I found this article to be not only very interesting, but not much to my suprise. The reason I am not too shocked that schools want to band certain devices is because when I was in High School (an all girl high school), they went to extreme limits to make sure we couldn't cheat.

For instance:

• Our uniform shirt had pockets on them. Girls were making "cheat sheets", putting them in their pockets, and by leaning over the desk in a certain way, could see the sheet.
• Water Bottles : Peal off the seal that goes around the bottle, place the cheat sheet in it, replace the seal. When your bottle of water was on the desk, you could see right into it.

What did my school do? Changed the uniform shirts to have no pockets, beverages and any food had to be placed in our bags and put under pur desk, and our teachers made us place our cell phones in a box at the beginning of the test period.

See why I'm not suprised? Been there, done that.

"Sometimes it takes awhile for teachers and administrators, who come from an older generation, to catch on to the various ways the technology can be used." This is going to be an issue until our generation is in the field because we know all of the tricks, will be aware up new technology, and will know how students can cheat using their devices.

I personally see nothing wrong with schools banning ipods from school because although students who are desperate will find other ways to cheat, this is one of the most easy ways to do it. It's unfortunate that students won't have their music to listen to when they have down time such as Kelsey Nelson mentioned, but I am sure students will find other things to do when they have free time.

Pokinitis = adorable

Very cute post made by Will Richardson about him and his daughter. After reading the idea's he suggested to her: making a book, movie, podcast (etc) about the story she was coming up with, she was not only engaging in conversation about technology with her father, but she was excited about it.

This post made it very clear that if a child can do these activities at home, they can be and most certainly should be doing them in the classroom.

As ELA teachers, it is in our power to expand the minds of our students as much as possible. We need to make sure they are communicating, getting involved in many activities that relate to technology, and are expanding their thoughts, knowledge, and intelligence to as many people as possible. If we cannot accomplish this, than are we really fullfilling our job requirements?

I always think of Friedman's "untouchables". If we do not teach our students how to be untouchables, they never will be and it will be our fault if they don't get the best jobs out there when the resources are right in our hands, right now.

We, the class of 307, are already made into untouchables. These skills and talents can only increase. Let us begin to spread our knowledge.

Have you Shape-Shifted?

While reading the article: Shape Shifting Portfolios: Millennial Youth, Literacies, And The Game Of Life, I began to recall how much my own portfolio has progressed and changed throughout this semester in 307.

I realize that I now have the benefits of knowing how to use technology tools, how to teach them, how to integrate them into my classroom, and how to relate to my students on a different level because of these advances. Teachers who are knowledgable about technology will have the upper hand against those teachers who are not educated about these resources. I will also be able to perform an example of how these tools are beneficial to students and in the classroom if I were ever asked to do this on the spot. That alone, if you ask me, is impressive.

While reading this article, I kept reminding myself: "the future is now the past" and how Friedman emphasized how competitive this world is now. We need to teach our students how to be "untouchables" and this is a difficult task when some students will not be interested in creating their own shape-shifting portfolios. We cannot force them into doing this activity but we have to encourage them and remind them of the benefits of this and that they will indeed be out there in the field one day against a lot of competition. We have to positively and encouragably (is that even a word?) put the fear of God in them(haha).

The future is already in our hands and we have to do all we can to benefit our students so that they can be successful in this flat world. If we don't do that, then we clearly are not doing our jobs.

A Heads Up

I just want to inform the class that I personally will not be posting or commenting anything about the Virginia Tech. Massacre or anything pertaining to it.

The point of me posting this is so that no-one gets offended if I do not respond to something they have written containing any of this information.

I hope my decision is understandable. Thanks!

imovie time

Theresa, Ashley, Charity and I are planning on making an imovie. We plan to get together this week to put all of our ideas together since we have already been brainstorming and eventually put our ideas into action. We may need some help from anyone who has experience with making an imovie..::cough, chris, phil, cough::.

When we get together and figure out more of what we will be creating, I will post an updated blog.

Social Computing it is!

According to Will Richardon's post, the University of Michigan now has a degree in social computing. Suprised? You shouldn't be. I think this college is one of the first to offer this!

'The depth of our curriculum in social computing is unparalleled. Rather than a single course as you might find in other programs, we offer a range of in-depth courses in the technologies and applications that are driving the Web 2.0 revolution', says a professor at the university of michigan. I find this pretty impresive because it sounds like students are getting more of a variety, in depth, and getting their money's worth of an education.

The fact that this idea has occurred in one college already reminds me of Friedman's chapters when he discusses that we will be preparing our students for jobs that don't exist yet. Who would have thought of colleges narrowing in on classes in social computing? My point exactly. Frightening enough, the future is already becoming the past.

One of Will's blog posts that I found most intriguing had to do with a school that plans to reinvent itself within the next five years. Some of the ideas are:

• Teachers that have freedom to learn and feel supported and not fearful.
• Students that have more freedom to learn and are drivers of their own learning.
• One with more opportunities for global learning.
• One where the desks aren’t in rows.

I am sure to many of you this all sounds familiar because it to me as well. We are already experiencing desks in circles in our English classes now, in 307 alone we are gaining the opportunity of global learning, and we often discuss that teachers are learners as well in the classroom. We can't be afraid to make a mistake in fron of our students and we have to allow them to take over control.

April 15 quiz continued..

What I found most interesting about the 'TECHNORATI report' were the bulleted facts and the very colorful graphs.

I like reading graphs and find them very beneficial, but the different highlighted information and the fact that the graphs were even available made the reading much easier to understand. Many students, such as myself, get so caught up in the text that eventually our eyes are just going over the words and we are not interpreting what we are "reading". Being able to see pictures or graphs help to keep me focused on the reading and to actually understand what I am reading.

I am shocked about the facts such as:

-70 million weblogs
-1.5 million posts per day
-17 posts per second
-Tracking 230 million posts with tags or categories
-2.5 million blogs posted at least one tagged post in February

I cannot believe that this many people are online, blogging, interacting and communicating every day! If this is the number of people engaging in conversation now, imagine what the number will be when all schools are online and using technology in the classrooms! It's unreal! Classrooms are being reinvented right under our noses!

Blog Quiz ~ April 15

The Baltimore County Public Schools are officially "on board" and "get it" as we have been discussing all semester. I think that with our generations imparticular, we will be able to stress the importance of technologies in classrooms to our schools and use the Baltimore schools as a prime example of technology benefits.

As discussed at the Dealing In The Digital session at the DATE conference, the definition of literacy is changing. Baltimore county schools are showing in one particular way just how that definition is changing. Literacy is not based on all printed text now, it's also visual. The present generations are becoming more and more visual learners thanks to the access of technology. Knowing this, schools need to keep up with how students are learning and tv's, camera's, computers (etc) are the best way to keep up now a days.

2 semesters ago I went to ASAP to get help on study habits. The first step they offered was for me to take the VARK survey. Results showed that I am a tactile learner. This means that I need to do hands on work in order to understand/learn what is being taught to me. I personally think that this goes hand in hand with technology. I have to type, use certain programs, and use different tools in order to do our class projects and this has helped me with my "hands on" learning.

Even with all of the benefits of technology, I can't help but wonder what happens to the students who have learning disabilities or mental disabilities. Do they get left behind because technology may become the only way to teach in classrooms?

rebuilding the internet?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070414/ap_on_hi_te/rebuilding_the_internet_8

speaking proper English = necessary!

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-beijing-chinglish&prov=ap&type=lgns

Blog Quiz ~ April 8

As a student now and looking back on my years of Education, I was able to relate to the article: 'Struggling' Adolescents' Engagement in Multimediating: Countering the Institutional Construction of Incompetence" written by David O'Brien on many different levels.

For one reason or another, I never had much confidence in myself when it comes to school and grades. Growing up, I never delt with the pressure of school very well and was always very hard on myself if I did not get good grades. Even though technology is introducing new ways for students to learn, be creative and communicate, many students are still feeling the pressure that I felt for several years.

We need to be constant in reminding each student of their strengths and accomplishments. If we only remind them of what needs to be improved or ways to critque every little thing they do, obviously they will not have good confidence and will begin to hate school. Isn't that the las thing we want for our students? There is so much that every student is capable of doing as an individual and in group work and it is our job to make sure they are aware of all the great things are doing and will be able to accomplish. If students do not feel like they have done their work correct or have not impressed their teacher, they are bound to be discouraged.

O'Brien discusses ways to get students involved and how to boost their confidence when it comes to any task they are asked of in school. Teachers need to be open minded to the fact that not every student is going to be a superb reader or writer but they certainly have the ability to be literate and there are several ways in which we can teach our students to be literate. Any teacher that assumes that a student will fall behind or not succeed because they are a poor reader or writer is extremly wrong. Perhaps they have not open their minds to the flat world?

we know this!

Check out the main cover story - it's right in the center. sound like something we've talked about in class before? I think so!

http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/pageone/pdf/mon-a.pdf

bad code on content on blogs?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/technology/09blog.html

goodbye to printers

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/technology/09print.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Zine?

I have never heard of a zine until now. Author Tobi Jacobi, defines it as “typically single-authored, handmade, do-it-yourself, creative publications centered on themes and issues that explore the personal and the political, the extraordinary and the mundane.”

That's definitly a lot to try to understand but it makes sense. This eight week program is designed to emphasize the writing process where high school students and college students work together. Facts about society, race, and gender are some of the main topics that were discussed in this project.


The two main things that Jacobi and Hobbs have in common are the issues of gender and racial stereotypes in the media. These are issues that are occuring inside and outside of the classroom and in our every day lives. It is important that we discuss these issues with our students and integrate them into our lesson plans.

Who gets it?

Although this was a very lengthy article, it definitly had some good points and insights which we as future educators should consider. I personally felt that each participant "got it" but these are the two I agreed with most:

• Carole Buasell:

Could she be on target anymore? Every principal should be having professional staff development meetings where teachers will learn all sources of technology and how best to use them in their classrooms. Just recently my mother learned how to pod cast, directed by a professional at her staff development meeting. There is no reason why this cannot happen in every school. How else are teachers going to learn? Of course computers can be a distraction if they are not used properly and according to the lesson plan. So many students smile and relax when they walk into a classroom and see computers because they think it is play time. Although they should enjoy working on computers, educational reasons for them need to be enforced.

• Andrew Trotter:

The main reason why teachers get annoyed when they see students "playing" with their cell phones is because they automatically assume that they are texting out of bordem. Although this may be true and students have taken advantage of their cell phones during class, teachers need to be aware of the benefits of cell phones. Today, students can surf the internet, google, etc on their cell phones. However, the power is now in the hands of the students to use this tool "appropriatly." It is also important that teachers emphasize that no slang will be used in their classrooms. A few weeks ago I posted that I cannot stand when people use slang or shorthand when texting or iming. It's not a good habit!!

Blog Quiz - April 1

Last week on the field trip, Chris asked me "Why do you want to be a teacher?" After reading these articles, I now realize how wrong my answer was. When I first became an English major, I had hopes that I would be in front of the classroom and engaging students into tons of amazing literature. Although I can still have these hopes, the roles are changing and it's time for the students to take over with technology.

Isn't it a shame that students feel like they are in prison when they go to school? That they are possibly learning more outside of school then inside of school? I was able to relate to the student's voice 110% because I know that if I sleep through my alarm clock, my cell phone will be ringing with a phone call or a text message telling me to wake up. Welcome to 2007!

The way this student described the lack of technology in his school and his ability to use it really hit home for me. Money is always going to be an issue with schools, but there is plenty that can be done so that every school can have laptops and all sorts of technology resources. This is how students are learning and now it is our job to continue the desire they have for technology and integrate it into our classrooms. If we don't catch up to what the world is offering us, we are going to lose communication with our students and we will only be harming them in the end. The "plugged in" generation is here and growing rapidly. If we truly want our students to learn, then we will integrate technology into our lessons regardless of anything.

I am still trying to figure out why so many teachers are afraid of using technology. Is it a fear of losing control? The technology not working? Possibly messing something up during a lesson? It's time to wipe these fears away because teachers fail to realize they never had so much control to begin with and anything can go wrong during a lesson. Almost every school has access to the internet and it's time to take advantage of that!!

Each article reminded me of what Friedman wrote in chapters five and six. The competition for jobs is world wide. If we keep avoiding technology and therefore loose an enormous amount of communication with each other, we are only doing damage to our future students. If we really want to get them to be "untouchables" then technology, blogging, etc is a must. If we do not corporate these tools into our classrooms, there is no way our students will get the jobs they are capable of.

Increasing Competition

Well, if Chapters five and six in Friedman's text didn't make us aware of how much competition we are in, then maybe this article will.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0327/p03s03-legn.html

When I first realized I wanted to be a teacher, I was frightened by of all the mandatory tests that I would have to pass, surviving graduate school, and dealing with a fair amount of competition. Never would I have realized that I was in competition globally. I find it interesting that so many schools want to learn the Chinese language but the only way that is going to happen is if new educators come into the U.S. and basically take our jobs.

I am a little suprised at myself that I did not assume this would happen sooner or later, but as the world becomes flatter, this is something that we should all expect. Being that our future students will be preparing for jobs that don't yet exist, will be using technology that is not yet invented, and will be in the same competition tange as we are when it is their time to shine, the only real thing I can do it welcome all of the new educators. There is no way I could ever teach chinese or anything other than spanish for that matter, so we have to accept people coming into America if we want what is best for our future students.

Seems like we need to learn other languages as well as technology if we want a job anywhere now a days.

Bitter Sweet moment

While I was watching the News yesterday, a mother of two and her newborn were one of the top stories. With her husband away in Iraq, he was not able to be there for her or experience the birth of his third child. BUT:

"...thanks to technology, my children and I sat down for an hour and I recorded my children holding our newest family member. We spoke to Mike as if he were with us and zoomed in on the baby several times. I sent my husband the tape and he watched it via internet."

It's amazing that even at times when families should be together, technology has the power and we have the availability to make those moments as real as possible.