Digital Divide - Response

This article brings up a problem with how technology is being used in poorer school districts. The issue is that poorer, minority based schools are in need of raising their test scores to meet requirements for The No Child Left Behind Act. In order to do so they have invested millions of their federal funding in Compass Computer Labs. These labs are very nice and high tech, but are being used to teach to the tests. The programs teach rote skills without context and depth. With a lack of highly qualified teachers in these districts, the computer labs are acting as a teacher replacement in some respects.

However, some schools who are buying programs that require higher order thinking are faring better. Also, it is important to have highly qualified teachers that can provide follow ups and context to the programs in order to produce longlasting learning that has value beyond spitting it out on a test.

Response - Power Point Articles.

The article called "PowerPoint is Evil" was a breath of fresh air. I had an experience this year as a teacher that was pretty disappointing involoving PowerPoint. I assigned a creative project on Roman history, encouraging students to think outside the box for their presentations. Instead of skits, video, or art work, I got six stale PowerPoint slide shows. To make matters worse, the students took turns reading each slide verbatim. It was boring and I got the idea that many students were uninformed about their own topics. I also felt that amongst the random facts that the students put on the slide there was little glue or context or narrative in their presentations.

The article argues that PowerPoint is evil because it is turning students into sales people in the classroom: using bullett points instead of full sentences, and colorful graphs with less information than flare. Often the slides are data-starved. PowerPoint is good for basic company slide shows with solid data in them. However, it has become to ubiquitous for our own good.

Inquiry Based Learning

Have you used inquiry-based learning as a teacher or as a student? What place would inquiry-based learning and/or historical thinking have in your classroom?

Inquiry-based learning is something that I use on a daily basis in my classroom. This is the kind of learning where the student is directly involved in the learning process. For example, in my advanced Latin class we are reading the Aeneid by Vergil. I have asked the students to read a chapter in English and then choose the lines of poetry that have the most meaning to them in their lives. The students then find these lines in the Latin and translate them. Finally, they have to put together the English and Latin with a Photo that they took to represent the lines. This inquiry-based learning gets the students involved in their own learning by relating the ancient Laitn to their own lives and interests.

lnking standards to snap and gimp assignments

I am using the following standard in my work with Snap and Gimp. With these two programs students will do projects about the ancient world that incorporate content with technological creativity. For example, here is a magazine cover that uses Gimp to bring ancient news to life...

6: Students will acquire and use information from a variety of sources only available in the world language, using technology, print, audiovisual, media, data and human resources.

a.
use multimedia sources to analyze aspects of the target culture(s) and apply their knowledge to new situations

About Me

SNAP Grading Chart

Here is my SNAP Grading Chart for MD400 - I saved it the wrong way so it is really small. Sorry.

CT Teaching Standards

Here are two Ct. state standards that I can integrate with Ed Tech and my Latin classes.

Content Standard 3: Students will present information, concepts and ideas to listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

a.
write letters in the target language to peers in the target culture, describing and analyzing current events of mutual interest

6: Students will acquire and use information from a variety of sources only available in the world language, using technology, print, audiovisual, media, data and human resources.

a.
use multimedia sources to analyze aspects of the target culture(s) and apply their knowledge to new situations

Integrating Technology in the Classroom

The article for today's class serves as a good introduction to the ways in which technology should be viewed in the context of the classroom and the school. One of the most important aspects of this paper deals with the importance of making sure that technology use is well planned and integrated into the curriculum. The technology should always be adding to the quality of the learning experience of the student.

The article also deals with a very important issue which is access to technology at schools. Many schools have the good fortune of having money to supply lots of access, and many do not. One must be able to do the best they can with what they have in the school, and be able to maximize the access they do have.

Finally, I love the idea of how technology dealing with the web can open up the world to the student, and allow access to conversations with people or data bases that could be invaluable to the learner.

My Morning Tableau

Today I am posting a tableau of my morning of grading midterms. Check it out and be happy you did not have 120 report cards to do today.

First Blog

Hello World. This is my first blog. Today the words and melodies in my head are from Elliott Smith: I always feel like shit/ i don't know why/ I guess that I just do. Can you relate? It's been one of those days.