E-books in the Classroom

E-books in the classroom. Just think about it. I think district dollars would be better spent if schools forgo textbooks and invest in computers or smart phones and then purchase the apps for these devices. This way, digital textbooks are frequently updated and customized. Obviously it takes money to purchase and install this technology, but at some point, our society needs to step up to the plate and realize that technology is not a luxury but a necessity to advancing our children in an ever changing world.

Second Life

This past week we had to find internet resources as to how you would incorporate Second Life in the classroom.  I’ve watched some videos and read some articles on it, but I’m still unsure how to incorporate it. Just wondering if anyone has had any first-hand experience using it, how‘s it going, and if you could provide any pointers.

A Different Perspective on Teacher Salaries

Edutopia recently published an article by Eric Brunsell on the Collective Bargaining situation in Wisconsin. It a good article worth reading. Here’s a little article on teacher’s salaries and how we are overpaid. You will enjoy it. Take a read: Are you sick of high paid teacher? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and them for what they do – baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage. That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries). What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher’s salary (nation-wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!)

Wikipedia - Allow or Ignore?

An article I recently read talked about Wikipedia and letting students use it as a resource. Some people have very strong opinions about this. So, should Wikipedia be used in the classroom? I think so. Is it the end-all-be-all of resources? No. Does it provide some useful information? Yes. But like all information on the Internet, it should be verified by other sources. Before the Internet was invented, people used multiple resources for information. That is no different from today. Today, we just have a different means of access the information.

A Paperless Class

Just read an article about how much teachers rely on paper and pencils and how much is spent on paper at the school I work at… staggering to say the least. I started my MA Ed Tech degree two years ago and will now be graduating in two months. The second class that I took in the program (which I probably should have taken last) scared me death. The class was on campus and the first thing the instructor said was that this is a paperless class. My first thought was, “How can that be? It’s not possible to take a graduate class and never use paper.” My second thought was, “I am so in over my head.”  Well, I quickly learned. Needless to say, I survived the class. I began the 2010-2011 school year teaching a math technology lab. The first thing I told my classes was, “Do not bring your pencil to this class because you will not need them.” At first they were excited, but then you could see the wheels turning in their heads as if to say, “What are we going to write with?” I went on to say , “You don’t need pencils because we are not using paper in here.” At first, it was pure joy on their face…. NO PAPER AND NO PENCILS. And then reality set in. They were scared. How on earth were they going to do math when no paper and pencils were to be used? I then explained to them the layout of the class, the tools that would be used, and some of the things we were going to do. Smiles soon returned to their little faces. And it’s been great!! I can’t tell you how much I enjoy NOT going to the copier.

Two-Step Approach to Technology Integration

I recently read an article in Edutopia on a two-step model for integrating technology into the classroom. It mentions two phases: the Exploratory Phase and the Discovery Phase. The exploratory phase is just that. Students get a chance to explore how a program works. This might take anywhere from ten minutes to several days. This is where formative assessments are completed so teachers can get a feel of what students are comprehending. The Discovery Phases requires students to apply the knowledge they’ve learned. This is more of a standards-based approach where the final project is created with the learning target (GLCE) in mind. This is also where the summative assessments are done.

Collaborative Assessment

Edutopia has an interesting article on Collaborative Assessment:  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/collaborative-assessment-digital-classroom-social-media-tools?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29&utm_content=Google+Reader . The author makes a statement that in today’s society, people need to be able to collaborate and work together in order to solve issues. As educators, we have gotten into the habit of telling our students exactly what they need to do in order to complete a task or assessment. We never leave the parameters open. The author goes on to say that we need to give an outline and let students decide what the parameters will be. If we want students to think outside the box, we have to stop putting them in one.