Technology access

I feel that it can be a touchy situation. There may be students who come from a lower economic status that may not have a computer with internet in their house and so to require them to do a project like the ones we designed on the wikis would be asking them to do more work than other students, such as walking to a library or going to a boys and girls club, and if they do after school activities such as sports, choir, band, or other clubs they then would have to go to some place after practice or quit what may be the most fulfilling part of their life just because their family does not own a computer.

I do feel that I would be doing a disservice to all of the students if I were to not use technology in class. Like the article said most jobs will need their employees to have a working knowledge of the use of technologies so to remove from the standard learning environment the tools they will need to gain this knowledge puts all of the students at a disadvantage in this global economy to other students who have had that kind of instruction.

There are many ways that I, as an educator as well as an individual, could increase access for students who are disadvantaged technologically. I could make the students aware to the fact that there are places that have computers for use that are free such as at libraries, community technology centers, Boys and Girls Clubs, I could also create an after school program where I would supervise students who would like to use the computer technology center at the school for homework or recreational means, as long as it is appropriate and not distracting to the other students, so that they can have the opportunity to use a computer for something fun yet educational. I could also make the institution that I work for aware of the fact that technology is an integral part of the emerging world and that children who are not exposed to technology are at a supreme disadvantage so as to increase the opportunities for in class technology use.

Cellphones in the Classroom?

I agree with the abolishing of cell phones side. I believe the possible harm to the classroom atmosphere and wasted time of misused cell phone privileges in class outweighs the possible benefits. I understand that if a kid is having fun they will remember anything they are doing better than if they are just trying to learn but I do not think that if a kid uses their cell phone in class they will actually learn more. My original position was that I did not want cell phones in class and after reading the two articles agree with my original position.

In my classroom I will follow the school/district policy on cell phone use. If that policy is not followed I will go by the consequences listed in the school's hand book.

If the school allowed cell phone use while in the classroom, I would have students use their smart phones to go on to the internet and look up an answer to a question that is asked that I may not know the answer to. Or, heaven forbid, if I do not have a dictionary in class I could ask someone to look up on Dictionary.com how to spell a word I might be struggling with at the front board. Because we all know that the closer to the board you get there is a direct adverse correlation to the ability to spell.

CyberBullies are Mean

Cyberbullying is the act of using technology to harm an individual. Cyberbulling can consist of making threats; issuing insults and slurs; and other activities that are designed to inflict harm or damage to a person and his or her reputation, life, or even computer system. That harm can come through negative speech towards the individual with the express purpose of putting them down. The harm can also come through using technology to capture compromising pictures or videos and then posting them on the internet with the purpose to embarrass or demean the individual. I did not bully nor did I ever receive any bullying towards myself. I did not like to use instant messaging (which was the only thing in my day that could be used to bully) with many people so the only people I would talk to on those technologies, my close friends, I would not want to bully.

Some of the main problems facing schools when dealing with cyberbullying is that children who are bullying others will probably be doing it from computers that are not school district property. The legal issues there is that if the student is doing it off campus with their own computers then it might be protected under free speech. The main way a teacher could find out about cyberbullying is to listen to what the students are talking about. It is very hard for anything to stay a secret within a student body; everyone is always talking to everyone. A astute teacher would be aware of this and be paying attention to what students are talking about. I think the school should be aware of what is going on off-campus but because of the law being against the school intervening they should help parents be aware of what is going on so that they can take care of the issues whether that be punishing the student/s or getting the authorities involved.

In my classroom I will explain and cultivate a culture of respect in order to head off the cyber or any other type of bullying. I will not tolerate any kind of putdowns in my classroom. I will have harsh penalties where fun activities will be taken away as well as other disciplinary actions in case there happens to be cases of bullying in my classroom. I will want to work towards having the whole school being on board with my desire to have school be a safe haven for the students.

Searching me

I did not find much. I found my Myspace(which has since been phished and deleted by Tom), my Facebook, and a few news articles about me doing shot put throwcenter.blogspot.com, blog.cu-portland.edu, http://www.athletic.net/trackandfield/Athlete.aspx?AID=675957

There was nothing that I found that would be unbecoming of a teacher.

I do believe that teachers should be held accountable to community standards in terms of their personal lives because if I really do want to make a difference in these kids’ lives and help them to become moral productive citizens then they have to know that I actually am a moral productive citizen otherwise they will see me as a hypocrite. What you say is what will either lift you up or damn you so yes what you say should be held against you because it is you.
I found a website on athletic.net that had my marks but was way off of what I really threw.

I am going to be intelligent about what I put on the Internet this will help to protect me and my job. I will think every time before I press the “post” or “save” button if I would want the parents of the students I teach to see what is going on the internet with my name in front of it.

After an engaging reading of Marc Prensky’s articles and discovering what a digital native is I would have to say that I am a digital native. I am a digital native because I can not imagine a world with out the technology we have now. I can not remember a time when my family did not have video games or a computer, I remember being in the first grade and spending a large amount of time watching my older brothers playing a video game on our new (new to us I suspect) Nintendo entertainment system. I would have to agree with Marc Prensky in his first article when he describes our generation as "used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. They prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite. They prefer random access (like hypertext). They function best when networked. They thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards. They prefer games to ‘serious’ work." Most of those characteristics fit me. Right now as I am doing the homework for this class I have my music playing, I have a little silly online game that I only have to check every couple of minutes on, and I am texting my wife about who she is with and what she is doing. I hate when I have to wait a long time for results when the internet is slow or it takes my computer a little extra to do something it really irritates me.

Growing up as a digital native my experience with technology in the classroom was both frustrating and useful. Looking back at the teachers whose only use of any technology was the ancient over head projector I now realize that it was because I was used to such faster processing of information that the overhead led to boredom and my attention wamdering. They just did not understand as Prensky put it "children raised with the computer ―think differently from the rest of us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around" so the use of the overhead is boring and makes them not want to pay attention. Teacher's need to understand that what Prensky said is true, that we have something engaging at our finger tips at all times. I also agree with the kid who was interviewed by yahoo when he said “I could have nothing to do, and I’ll find something on the internet.”

For the most part there was a lack of technology in high school. As I moved on to college we were able to turn in assignments via e-mail and there was almost no more need for hand writing papers. As far as in classroom experience some teachers are really good at using it and others try but fail. It seems that the most common way to bring in technology is to use a power point. Some teachers use this very effectively others try but read off the slide or just go way to slow. Slides are good for pictures but don't need every word you say on them. Others would have us use Web CT and have us post discussions or questions or even assignments on it, they also used it as a medium to give us the important information for class such as the syllabus, the assignments, or even the lecture information itself. So in some ways it improved my learning when used correctly in others it hurt it because the teachers became lazy not requiring us to keep up the posts.

I do not believe that these articles have changed my mind on the use of technology in the future as an educator, because technology is such a part of my life that I could not imagine not using it. Not only will I use a good and engaging text book that may have supplementary materials such as a CD with interactive games to help the student study, but with the use of the Internet and YouTube I can show short films or clips to supplement their learning.

Introduction

My name is Leon Carl. My Endorsements are in Social Studies and Health and Physical Education. Now to the favorite animal question...Well I could go with the obligatory Liger for their obvious magical abilities... but Peregrine Falcons are also cool... Peregrine falcons are the fastest animal on the planet so they win the spot of my favorite animal, end of discussion.