Blog Post #10

Adventures in Pencil Intergration

Ha, ha, ha! I get it!



"MAC, I guess you are a little better at the creative stuff."

I do have to admit I love Justin Long.

Probably not the best cartoon to convince me to start using a MAC (mainly because I loathe 'Hipsters'), but it was very creative. The cartoon did peak my interest to investigate the history of MAC and the history of PC (Microsoft), maybe because I was taken back to the area of New York state during the French and Indian War (Ticonderoga reference). Who do you trust? Functionality or creativity? France or Great Britain? MAC or PC? Papermate or Ticonderoga? While I am most comfortable using a PC, I am willing and ready to learn how to use a Ticonderoga (a Mac). I think I am just scared of messing up. I am scared of not knowing. I can see the ease and convenience of it. I can see the countless opportunities. I am a hands-on learner, but I am afraid that I become somewhat overwhelmed in the differences between the two. I get to the lab, sit in front of a Mac, and I become dumb. While I don't have the money to purchase a new home computer right now, I can afford a class in introducing the Mac. It all comes down to my comfort level and being scared. I know my way around a PC, someone please teach me the basics of a Mac. It's a whole different world to me.

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games

Before reading the rest of this blog, please watch Education Rethink: Anyone Can Teach.

Mr. Spencer is my guest speaker today. I am a teacher, why? He has done something I could never do. It's apparent in both Why Were Your Kids Playing Games? and The Con Academy. During my first year of teaching and the two and a half years that followed, I strove to make sure I had lesson plans complete, I incorporated the MCPSS Pacing Guide and the Alabama Course of Study into every lesson. Yes, I included my own activities and lessons (some from life's experiences), but I often found myself never stepping outside of the box and trying something new. I never found myself standing up for what I had found to work with my students to my principal or 'the man'. I never allowed my students to fully enjoy an entire class period to a fun, learning game, because I knew that I had to rigidly stick to those guidelines to reach our end of the year goal and 'rote memory assessments'. My students were always on pace to make high scores on their CRT's. They always went in prepared. What would have happened if I would have used other teaching styles? Would their scores have been the same if I had allowed them to be the teacher? Probably.

During my second year of teaching, my department head told me that I was going to be assigned a new class. Knowing that I had been on the bandwagon with Coach Donaldson at the school to broaden our history electives (he taught a class dedicated to the Holocaust and I wanted to teach a class just on WWII), she prefaced this new assignment with the fact that I didn't have to follow a pacing guide of any sorts. Enthusiasm and excitement were my initial emotions. I was jumping up and down, and I think I gave her a hug that lasted about two minutes (I was thinking we had gotten my WWII class approved). I quickly realized that she was not returning my hug with the same enthusiasm. I sat back down. I looked at her. She was always so sweet and chipper. She looked stern. I took a deep gulp and asked, "What new class am I teaching". She said in a whisper, "Remediation for the Alabama High School Graduation Exam: Social Studies". With all my excitement somewhere in my stomach, I signed the paperwork but not before I asked a few questions. I am 21, how in the hell am I going to teach 18, 19 and 20 (yes, I had two that turned 20 before graduation) year old's? Are y'all crazy? Are y'all insane? My 9th graders pass me love notes. Why me? This class is designed to help kids pass the history portion of the AHSGE and is based on state standards, how am I free to teach without standards? She said that's all part of the idea. These kids are older, they want to be here, they want to graduate or they wouldn't still be trying to pass this test. They couldn't learn the information during their core classes. I could experiment. I could do whatever it took to reach these kids - they were hoping my age would help me reach them. Guess what? I did. We did. That particular class was never an option for an administrator to observe me. We did everything. I didn't just have these kids for one semester or until they passed. They were stuck with me year round - that was partly my doing. Those that passed stayed to help me reach other students. We were all teachers - I was just their guide. We started with improving basic reading skills. We moved on to writing assignments. We watched movies. We used the computer lab once a week - that's more time than most of you will be allowed. We searched for every resource available for passing this test. My last shot in the dark (with 24 of the 32 original students already having passing scores) was breaking into groups and creating games. Any games. They could base their game off of Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, or a game that they came up with on their own. The only criteria was using facts relevant to state standards. Guess what? By the end of the summer following that school year, all 32 had passed and 30 walked with their class at graduation.

My point isn't that I created something that worked and did basically what I wanted. My point is that I would have never created this class, and if I ever got questioned about technique, I would have reverted back to past methods. Mr. Spencer doesn't do that. He puts the students first. His methods work for him. Rather it be a paperless classroom or a game of hangman, he will stick to his guns.

Don't Teach Your Kids this Stuff. Please.

Dr. Scott McLeod is an associate professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky, but he is taking a leave of absence beginning this week, July 1, to serve in Iowa as the Director of Innovation for Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency 8. He also is the Founding Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), the nation’s only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators, and was a co-creator of the wildly popular video series, Did You Know? (Shift Happens). He is also responsible for writing Don't Teach Your Kids this Stuff. Please., a often true and sarcastic poem about the shift towards technology and it's use in schools. I really enjoyed his poem, but I think I am still somewhat in the middle. I am still wary of the use of some social media in the classroom, but I agree with everything else. I just feel that it should be up to the parents' discretion. I have numerous friends that do not allow their children to participate in Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter. I think the students should be made aware of the benefits, but the decision to allow them to use it should remain with the parents. I feel like I am right their with him. My kids (not my daughter because she just turned six), I am learning with my kids. I think all parents owe that much to their kids. I also agree with Dr. McLeod in that technology should have a bigger and more influential role in today's classroom. We have already discussed that we may not see the jobs in our students' future, but it is our job to prepare them for it. I fully support that argument. I am just not an avid supporter of removing the teacher as a vessel of knowledge - the teacher still has more importance than just a 'filter'. I'm afraid I won't change that opinion, and I feel that a lot of the videos and blogs we have read have reinforced that notion.