Archive for April, 2008
15 of 18
The world of cheating has come a long way since technology has advanced. I remember when writing notes on the computer and shrinking the font was the most high-tech way to cheat. Now. you can stick your flash drive in a Chap stick so it blends in as you type. I amazes me the ideas students (of all ages) have in order to try and be successful. My father told me of a time when he had cheated and wrote a little cheat sheet. When the test was done he shoved the paper in the heat vent (this was back in the 60’s at a Catholic school…he was about 12). Anyways, he turned in his test and all was well….until the heat kicked on and the cheat sheet blew up into the air and on to the nun’s desk right in front of her. Needless to say, he was in big trouble. But, as teachers we seem to expect “cheat sheets” to be the only form of cheating…besides looking on another classmates paper. It wasn’t until class that I learned HOW advanced this “art” had become.
I was really blown away by the telephone number you could call, ask a question and they’ll text you the answer. My first thought was that involved parents should be all over that because they get the phone bill and they’re will be these extra charges…however, a parent won’t know if the student called for a test answer, or for a genuine question…As for i-pod…I know the technology is different, but, burned Cd’s were the same thing…students did it all the time in high school with their CD players….burning the content on to their CD and labeling it as if it were music and the teacher would let them listen during a test.
It takes so much to come up with these cheating ideas and a lot in order to execute them successfully… I guess studying really is that tough….
14 of 18
Well, this is the most complicated group project I think that we have done so far. I do like the idea behind it thought because, to me, it seems like something you can hold on to and use year after year. For example, our Power Point is a review of William Shakespeare’s, Romeo & Juliet and it could be a tool that I use every year to help the students freshen up before an exam. Now, since every class is different there may need to be adaptations here and there so that the Power Point is personal for each class. However, I feel like once the backbone of a project like this is completed it will be easier to go back and make changes later.
As for the Pod Cast- I’m a littler nervous. I am not too sure how I feel about the whole thing yet simply because it can be distracting with all of the bells and whistles we saw in class. However, I think that as long as the students have a strong grasp on the content, then creating something like this can only help. Nevertheless, they need to understand the material before any kind of complicated (seems complicated to me) technology can work. Now, I understand that students today are more computer literate than me, however, creating something like this takes time, and I see so many teacher today struggling to get through the curriculum and rarely have time to enjoy activities like these…
I lost count…
When it comes to pod casts…I have to say I may be a fan. I was always a fan of books on tape and when I was driving and hour and a half to Geneseo three day a week one of my professors gave me a few books we were reading on CD and I thought it was the great. Half the time when I was driving I was just trying to get there so I could do work. When he gave me those tapes I was able to pop in the CD and pick up where I left off on my drive. I wanted to do the same for my other English classes but I was unable to to find any of the books (and if I did they were out of my budget). Nevertheless, I do own an i-pod…I have had an i-pod for three years…I never thought to put a book on it…now I’m kicking myself for not thinking about it.
I made the mistake of getting the nano when it first came out (It only has 2GB) and now I want a bigger on…but can’t justify spending the money on it…yet. I like to read a lot and would love to be able to load a chapter of a book onto my i-pod and drive (My commute to work and school is about 40 minutes…30 the way I drive). But, having the book on my i-pod would save me from digging around my Cd’s, flipping stations, or even flipping my i-pod to a new song or artist. I know this doesn’t have to do much with education, but, I do think it’s a good idea to cleaning up my car ride…I have books in my back seat for “just in case moments” when I have to wait for a long time…hmmmm…
Anyways, in terms of education we as teachers can carry less books, not worry so much about DVDs, Cd’s, or VHS! If we familiarize ourselves with the i-pod and know how the technology works…then our technological difficulties in class will be minimal. No skipping Cd’s, confusing remotes, and long stares into a blank screen saying, “huh…I wonder what’s not working”.
As for students, I still do not know if I trust them enough to have them on. Now, if we had class i-pods…that operated like computers where there is the teacher computer that can monitor what everyone else is doing…then maybe. But, they are expensive and easy to lose, so, I’m still a little hesitant about giving them to the students, but, as teachers, I think it is something we should really think about working into our classroom as a tool for us.
12 of 18
I am so happy that we have to write a lesson plan in addition to our PowerPoint project. I was nervous about us simply creating a cool power point that can only really work for one student. I have discovered in other classes that you should not put anything up on the board that you do not want students to write down, because as they start writing…they are no longer listening to the teacher. This was the case for me in high school. Often times a teacher would put up a power point and talk about each bullet…as a student I was writing down everything that was on the slide before I was listening to what the teacher was saying. To me, what was on the slide was more important than what the teacher was saying…which could and could not be the case.
Going back to the lesson plan in addition to the project- I think our group needs to write the lesson plan before we create our power point. Once we have an idea of what we want the students to know and gain…then we can fit the power point to do just that. I think it needs to be more of a tool rather than the entire lesson. We were excited right away about creating a game, using Romeo & Juliet and summaries of the Acts and a quiz. However, now I’m am starting to feel that doing this may eliminate the need for a teacher and the only way students can benefit from a PowerPoint like that is by using it on their own. The ones we saw in class are the same case. Maybe in small groups they would work, or if you broke the class up into teams for the quiz, but in terms of the “mini lesson” before…students learn at different rates and styles…I need to read and do something over and over again before it is committed to memory. So, if I was learning Spanish…I would need to listen and read the color red several times before I actually commit it to memory. I may be able to fly through the quiz five minutes after I read it, but, if you were to just give me the quiz the next day…I would remember little to nothing. That’s not to say the PowerPoint is a bad idea, but, I think it just needs to be an additional tool…not the only tool in a lesson.
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