teaching portfolios

I have seen a couple e-portfolios and what I picked for a poor one is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sv3HA0A5ag&feature=related.   This is just a video of the teacher talking through her written portfolio.  Not really interesting at all.  Although the knowledge is there there is nothing that would keep someone involved in her video.  Very boring.

I thought that this second link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TjzMneWatk&feature=related
This was more along the lines of the examples that were shown in the articles that I read.  A more in-depth look at the teacher and her work.  I really saw this as a useful link.

Smartboards.......How much fun?

Well I have had my fair share of experiences with interactive whiteboards.  Some good and some bad.  When I used to teach in another area, I felt that I was in another world.  I had no idea what I was doing.  There was no one to help me and I was afraid to use it.  So I continued to use the normal white boards until I got some assisitance.  For years I would see others do it but had no real definite way for me to get used to this kind of technology. 


As the years progressed, I saw the different ways to utilize the white boards and saw the fun that I missed out on.  I really want to master ways to make learning fun because I chose to teach a boring subject.  Social studies can be a chore for most people and as much as I love the subject, I cannot change what has to be taught.  But I can change the way things are delivered.  Hoipefully I can make the best of my knowledge and have the students in mind when using this technology. 

Our Bullying project

Lisa and I came up with bullying in the classroom.  The idea came to both of us because of the growing concerns we both have with student attitudes.  Cyberbullying is a growing problem between teens in school.  With the growing suicides in the country due to cyber buillies and bullying in general.  It was great for us to work on the editing software in movie maker.  I think I had the most fun playing around with importing scenes and cutting a pasting the material for the project than actually filming.  I love hands-on things and this was great for me.  Allowing myself to get immersed in the project will help when I try to incorporate this with my students in the future.

Video in the Classroom

As a person in the classroom everyday, I have seen the great importance of video as an extra resource to the lesson plans.  These kids are visual learners and lets be honest, they do not like to listen to the teachers voice all that much.  When you remember the times that we were in school.  Lectures were not very fun either.  So why teach the same way.  I am helping create an employabilites curriculum and the problem with this is that there are very few resources that coincide with career.  So I looked at the mass media and noticed that shows like "The Apprentice" and and other shows that come on everyday are a great help.  Kids remember the things they see much more than the things we say or read.  It may not be the best in lasting impressions but they work and make kids enjoy learning more.
I like the usage of videos in the classroom, it provides a very good outlet for presentation in the classroom.  There can't be a better option otherwise.  In History, I would use the opportunity for kids to be able to make spoof skits. like in Saturday Night Live.  This would give the kids a chance to learn the concepts and have fun. 

Reality about Technology in the classroom

I read over and over about the usage of technology in the classroom.  The data about students that use the internet are shocking to me.  I thought that there were more students using online classes to help them gain their degrees.  I was actually more amazed in the percentage of students that are not taking traditional college courses.  Or traditional students in college as opposed to non-traditional courses.  The numbers did shock me.  Maybe the uses of technology do not make learning any more fun for students any more than other students.  I assumed that the Net geners would be more inclined about online classes and pushing ahead with learning than generations they have succeeded. 

I honestly don't have a real reason behind the way that Net-Geners are going about learning.  I would have jumped on all of this when I was in High School.  I attribute this to being spoiled and taking things for granted.  Although there was not always adequate usage of technology there still should have been some more students that would want to be involved in learning.  I love the different ways that can enhance learning through technology.  Animation and WebWork seem to be the best to me.  As I learn more i intend to make others more aware and bring the students around me the learning that they deserve.

What in the Copyright World?!

Well, I must say that I have learned as much about Copyright in all my years as I have about thermal-biological warfare.  Nothing.  All I knew was that if you wanted to copyright something then you can and people would be debted to you for whatever it was that you copyrighted.  I was extremely misled.

Not only did I not know the exact laws that governed having material that is copyright, but I also had no idea the ways that we the public can use copyrighted material and not be liable for anything.  It has been extremely informational for me because of the lack of knowledge that I have possessed.  Being someone that has been in several schools that are underfunded, I have seen plenty of copyright laws being broken, and unknowingly.  Plenty of material being copied for the class instead of buying the materials for each student.  Not being allowed to access certain sites unless you had 1 of the persons loggin so that there would not be additional charges to the school.  Another example is the passing off teachers material from teacher to teacher so they do not have to buy the materials themselves for the classes that they teach.

Students need to learn more respect for the laws that govern copyright. In our litigious society, people are getting sued all the time for almost anything.  We need to let them know what is acceptable and what is not.  Being a social studies teacher and teaching our government and the laws that are put in place to protect us, it makes sense for someone like me to touch on this subject.  Informing them why downloading sites can be harmful to them, the need to know what is legal and what is not.  so that they can relate it to their everyday life.

The best way to see this lesson be taught would be through live role playing, and possible debates.  Allow the kids to review certain aspects and put scenarios out for the kids to talk about.  Using the laws only stating their case and proving why they are right.  Once we cover them, tell them the real history behind the case and the rulings so they can learn how this country is built and the freedoms we have exist.

RSS and Social Bookmarkig

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.  I have not been that computer saavy myself to use this.  But from what I have read, it is yet another way of making bookmarking easy.  The way to set up a social bookmarking page for articles.  RSS feeds helps receive relevant information when needed. Being able to use email as a way if you are not comfortable with the normal RSS way. 

Social Bookmarking to me is different way to save and organize web pages that I would use for research or fun.  Being that I am a basketball coach as well as a teacher.  There are sites that I could use for education and for coaching.  Social Bookmarking would give me a chance to organize all of my websites and articles that would be  important to me in either circle.


The google docs application would improve communication between teachers and administrators.  With the opportunity to view and offer changes without having to save and resend as an attachment would make life much easier.  There would be no long waiting time needed.  At least to get responses.  The spreadsheet I am not completely sold on only because it does not offer the ease and functionality as Excel.  But regular google docs would make things much easier.

Excel in the schools

With the limited experience that I have with Excel, I have come to one conclusion.  There are limitless ways that Excel can be utilized in the classroom, and school district.  We see power-points and spreadsheets all the time in budget meetings and they probably use excel as the program. 
We can come up with many ways to incorporate excel in the classroom. Here are a few:
1.  Creativity and Innovative:  Algebra assignments for the week passed out.  Instead of begging for the normal way to do math work have them use excel and utilize the tools that can be learned.  Making understanding the material much easier.  And share it in google docs so the teacher can edit corrections for you.
2.  Group projects are the best idea I can think of for being collabrative.  For teachers to run ideas for running a department.  Principles to communicate with teachers. Even Janitorial staff to make things more efficient would be another.
3. Learn to manage your time well. As school works pile up it is important to set a schedule for everything to make sure that you will be on the dot and will not forget any important task.
4. Show your students how events relate over time by laying out the information along a timeline. Timelines can tell stories, show progress, support themes and ideas, summarize details, and help students visualize trends and understand the big picture
5. Lets be honest, the kids today are bored and this can be a new tool that will broaden the excitement in learning again for them.

Language of the 21st century learner

Everything surrounding technology is different for me.  I am learning things all the time and find things fascinating as time goes on.  I also reminicsce about when things were more simple as well.  I can understand how this does not equate to the kids of today.  They are far more computer savvy and technology sound.  What I may look at as intriguing they stumbled upon months/years ago and moved on to the next thing.  For example I have mastered the use of the power-point and excel programs but these kids have figured out how to make the computer to make the work easier than the calculator.  We may be behind but the respect is there.  As long as we can continue to evolve it won't be that hard for the kids to continue to learn.  There just needs to be a much better way for us to have interact and be productive for that to happen.  As digital immigrants, we cant be historic and expect these natives to want to be bothered with how we are teaching them. 

Educating the next generation

The articles that I read for my assignment are all about the importance of technology and its uses for education.  The terms like "Digital natives" and "digital immigrants" were used in one article to describe the youth and educators respectfully.  The technology that has been introduced to the world in the past 10 years is far more adaptable than when I came up through secondary school.  We had computers but most of us only knew how to use them for writing papers.  Its seems like with the passing time computers have changed in size and functionality.  The importance of the schools to integrate more technology or use the technology that they do have more frequently will have a much more successful classroom.

How can we educate a generation of youth that learn on the fly by traditional standards.  We cannot make that comparison.  There has to be a bridge that connects the two together.  We have the tools around us and if we learned more about these resources we could utilize them more for the students to be proactive learners.  The time of traditional worksheet learning and lecturing are going away.  We can't expect that students will be able to hold their attention to those standards anymore.  In my opinion, education needs to continue to evolve.  We have to make better choices in regards to technology in the classroom and the amount of technology in the classroom.   It is actually simple, if I have a student that hates opening a book but can teach their uncle or grandmother how to search the internet or use their computer we have a serious problem.  That student is not incapable of learning.  We need to find out how to reach them.   Marc Prenske said that some teachers and schools are just stubborn about change.  That will continue to put us behind other nations in how we learn.  We need to have more options for children to learn.  It may surprise us all.