QR Chapter 10

This chapter seems to relate to chapter 7 in that it is trying to give students a reason to learn. It also talks about giving students goals to achieve and helping them set their own goals. It pains me to see that this isn't a practice that students take upon themselves anymore. When I was in school my goal was to graduate and get out of there so I could get on with real life and college. Now Students goal is to just get out of there by any means necessary, whither it be dropping out, getting expelled, or just stop showing up. This is a problem because systematically the system eventually gives up on students who can't pass, once students reach a certain age they can't participate in sports, they can't attend school any more and they have to pursue their own education. But why would they pursue that education if the educational system has already given up on them? this makes it very hard for teachers to take the needed time to insure learning and not memorizing.

QR Chapter 9

This chapter talks about pushing students to succeed and not giving up on them. It seems to me that shouldn't that be common practice? I've always been the type of person who stands up for what they believe in and I can't see how someone can just give up on another Human being where they have taken it upon themselves to see that that person succeeds. Although this idea is foreign to me it has become common practice. Hearing teachers say "some kids just aren't smart" frustrates that hell out of me. even though part of me may agree with that statement that doesn't mean that student can't learn, but when you, the educator and possibly the only role model that kid has in their life gives up on them why keep trying? Think about if your mentor or role model growing up had just given up on you because you had some rough times, would you be where you are today without the help of that role model?

QR chapter 8

This chapter does make some sense in that we need to find a way to teach students who don't speak English, but I don't like how it goes about it. It talks about ways of moving around the problem or finding a way to teach around that fact. Thats fine to do for awhile but it can't be a permanent solution. Because then these students won't be learning English and they will have a hard time getting along in the country. This is that same issue as when we say we understand that you don't want to do math, but we're going to teach around that, well thats fine in a history class, but you can't teach around math in a math class. Thats just redundant. Then we lower the standards that you don't need math to be successful in school then we have an entire nation of adults who can't do math who teach their children that you don't need math and before you know it the language that is math is gone when it is an essential skill. The fact of the matter is to get along in every day life in most parts of the country you need to have at least some grasp of English so they need to learn it eventually.

QR Chapter 7

I do agree with having students do something different, too many classrooms today are read the section/ take a quiz format. These classrooms aren't about learning their about memorizing enough to get by and forgetting it as soon as possible after they take the quiz. It seems that the more accurate measure of learning would be not how well they did on the test but rather how long it takes them to forget the information.

QR Chapter 6

This chapter makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways. It takes a realest approach to the education system and that students don't want to learn for the sake of learning. They don't care about the knowledge they care about the grade. When it comes down to it thats what people look at. A future boss doesn't care if you knew what happened at the invasion of Normandy, but your future boss will notice you got on the honor roll all through high school. It is up to us as teachers to convey that knowledge and tell the kids yea you may only care about the grade but you need to LEARN this information to get your grade.

QR Chapter 5

This chapter is about taking as many students in your class into your perspectives as possible. This becomes very difficult when your trying to look at each student as an individual. In a way it is self contradictory because on one hand it is telling us to look at everyone, and on the other its telling us to look at the individual. It seems to me that making a 50-50 split between the two would be extremely difficult. It is important as a teacher to know your students on an individual basis, but at some point you know that student too well and it stops being a teacher student role and starts being a friend role. This is the type of relationship that hinders educational development. So I think that it is important not to focus on a few students but to focus on the overall learning in the class.

QR Chapter 4

This chapter is about letting students know you care about them and whither or not they succeed. This very difficult for a lot of teachers because their used to being completely separated from students and human contact scares them. This is yet another thing on the list that makes the learning experience so difficult. Teacher is a "people" business and if you don't like dealing with people you shouldn't be a teacher. Simple as that.

QR Chapter 3

This chapter is about respect, a problem that is in a lot of schools on the parts of both students and teachers alike. Students don't respect their teachers because they think they don't get them, and teachers don't respect their students because they think they don't care. It's a problem that is really hindering the learning process and there needs to be a solution to it. Showing students respect is critical to them respecting you. Respecting your students needs will avoid a lot of behavioral problems.

NYT Middle School Article

Personally I don't agree with either side of this argument, I believe that middle school is a necessary transitional step in the education process. The article talks not thrusting children into forced adulthood while they are undergoing a lot of physical and emotional changes, but you are still thrusting them in to that role when you don't give them any build up to high school. Some believe that middle school is unnecessary and that we should just eliminate it. I can see where there would be some argument to this regard, however, if we "coddle" these kids we are hindering their emotional development and if we thrust them into high school at 11 years old they will be forced to grow up far too soon. Middle school is a necessary step to student growth and must not be cast aside as unnecessary.

Danecast QR

For my personal podcast was one of Comedian Dane Cook. Dane does these podcasts every so often to let his fans know whats going on and just to connect with his fans on a more personal level. Although there was some explicit language in this podcast it was extremely helpful, he didn't talk much about podcasting but it showed me that he is human and not some celeb that has no time for his fans. This podcast lasted about 20 minutes and it really made me respect him both as a comedian and as a person. Even though he really didn't say much it proved to me that Dane isn't some guy acting as a comedian, it showed me that he and his general thought pattern is just funny in general and I think thats why he is such a successful comedian, because he lives the part.

Podcast QR

A podcast is an electronic message that can be either used in audio form or in video form. These podcasts can be used several ways in the classroom. They can be used to make a mothers day gift, teach children how to do something, or even record lesson plans. There are a number of reasons why teachers would want to use podcasting in a classroom setting. First they could use podcasting so students can take their lessons home and lesson to the notes instead of trusting them to read them. It also gets students using technology that they will have to use in future jobs. It can also help students learn more because some students learn things better by hearing them rather then seeing them. On the other hand, some podcasting could just take up time and not get the same result. Podcasting can also be somewhat difficult for teachers who don't like using technology and prefer to leave it out of their classrooms. I honestly like podcasting because I believe it will help me reach more kids in my classrooms and as teachers we need to try to reach as many kids as possible.

Copyright and Fair Use LR

14. This "rule" is absolutely ridiculous, because although it does make sense that they should pay to view the movie it's basically blocking out something everyone does. Not paying for the movie originally makes sense to be illegal, but if someone rents/buys a movie they should be transferring ownership at which point they can do whatever they want with it. It is not the fault of the people actually purchasing this movie if someone is downloading it illegally. Most laws don't take into account new technological advances. Showing these movies in a large setting might even convince someone to go out and buy that movie themselves so they really have no argument in this situation. However, when someone buys the movies, makes copies of them, and sells them that should be and is illegal. That is why it makes me mad when they say it is illegal to show some kids a Disney movie, or watch a movie you just bought with your friends. These laws are ridiculous and shouldn't be even around let alone enforced.

Copyright and Fair Use QR

1. Number one makes sense in the fact that you would need to back up your information in case of something like that happening.
2. This also seems to make sense because if a hundred students are using a program that was made for one the school should have to pay a licensing fee.
3. This type of situation is kind of a no brainer, if she bought five copies of the software and installed it on just five machines, that should be fine, but because it is being used for educational purposes the company wants more money.
4. Copying software without paying for it makes sense in an economic stand point but I can see where it is illegal.
5. Illegal, Illegal. Its common sense that you can't make copies of software so each student can have their own even though it makes sense.
6. When it comes to the internet I believe pretty much anything should be fair game, thats why this situation is considered fair use.
7. This situation also makes sense because if it is password protected and it is just for a certain group of people it should fall under the fair use.
8. This doesn't make sense to me because if you cite the website and say that it is their work you are presenting on it should be fine. I don't see where the problem is.

NetDay Results

When taking a look at the answers of school children or “digital natives” I see much of the same answers that I had on the survey. I don’t consider myself an expert by any means, but I have come to rely on technology to make my work and my life that much easier. What really surprised me though was the amount of teachers that didn’t really use much technology and I believe this could contribute to some of the generational gap between students and teachers. Especially in Maine where we have the Laptop program, teachers need to at least have some knowledge about technology. I may not be a digital native, but if not I immigrated at a very early age. I believe this will have a lot of influence on my teaching style because it will make me closer to the students and I won’t seem like as much of an outsider to them, which is crucial in a classroom environment. I will also try to use technology as much as possible in my teaching style, because I tend to rely on it just as much as my students do. It was fairly surprising to see that most of my answers were similar to the answers of the school children. I assumed that they would have different views on how to use technology in schools because I am older that them and haven’t had the same technological advances as they just grew up with. It makes me feel a little better that I do have something in common with my students and that is the ways we like to use technology.

QR blogging

My experience with blogs so far has been somewhat interesting, after sorting out the problems I had with my username and password. I was surprised to see how much you could do with the blogs on this website. This is a far more interactive blogging website then I have used and has many features that I probably haven't come accustome to yet.

QR Chapter 2

The most important idea in this chapter as is the most important factor in the education system is respect. If a teacher and student don’t have mutual respect for one another it severely compromises their ability to succeed. Another pressing issue in the chapter is trust. Trust is not something that comes on the first day; it is something that both parties have to work toward whither it be a student trusting a teacher not to embarrass them or a teacher trusting a student not to lie to them. Trust is a critical component to the education system, and without it the relationship just doesn’t work. A Teacher’s relationship with their students is the most important part of school, because it determines whither or not a student can/will succeed.

QR Chapter 1

The most interesting topic in this chapter was one that I believe there are teachers who do very well and there are teachers who do very poorly at, knowing what one should or shouldn’t know about their students. It is important not to push your students to find out information about their personal lives. But at that same time you can’t be a stranger to them. Many teachers in my experience either do this very well or very bad, some will push and push to get the information they want and students pick up on that and don’t respond well to it. However those who seem like they relate to their students probably let that information come casually. Pushing a student into giving you information about their personal life doesn’t work, however being approachable and accommodating will allow students to share about themselves when they see fit. A teacher’s ability to know about their students and get their students to trust them is a definite measure of how successful they will be as a teacher.

QR Introduction

The most interesting part about this section I believe is when the author is describing the book. She explains that it is not a compilation of “experts” trying to make sense of the education system; it is merely a grouping of what makes a good teacher from the students themselves. I believe this to be particularly useful because many text books assigned in colleges and schools take an analytical approach and look at the topic from behind glass. It only makes sense to ask the people who are on the front lines such as the students. Who better to tell someone about the education system than those who the education system affects directly nearly every day? She also states that this book is looking at students for who they are, not what their test scores are. This is a particularly radical approach sense the education system holds test scores so highly. However, this approach does seem like a better one, because students aren’t when they score on some standardized test they are people.

QR Preface

The second paragraph in the Preface says that every student feels a certain amount of captivity and anonymity; I find this particularly interesting because it starts out with a topic that everyone who has been through a public school system has felt at one point or another. Whither it is on a college campus where teachers don’t know their students names or even in a local high school where the outcasts are left out of the day to day system a students educational experience seems to be greatly dependent on how comfortable they feel in that environment. If a student isn’t comfortable in school and doesn’t feel like the school cares about them they are more likely to lead a stray and/or “start fires in the bathroom.”