Blog Post #10

"Adventures in Pencil Integration".

This was a cartoon posted by John Spencer. It was a very difficult task at first for me to determine what the cartoon was actually illustrating. However, after sitting down and letting my mind expand a little, I realized that I was thinking way too hard. The text says it all, the character that is stating that he is a “papermate” is saying that cheaper things work well to an extent but give you more problems. On the other hand, the other character is stating that some people are afraid to spend more on new technology because they still believe that traditional ways of doing things. The way the men are dressed also helped me determine the message the cartoon by giving me a sense of personality of the character.
Why Were Your Kids Playing Games.

This was another post by John Spencer. From the title, this seems as if it’s a meeting between a teacher and a administrator. The teacher gets in trouble for playing games with his students. Apparently, it seems that the teacher has been in trouble before for playing games in the classroom. The teacher insists that he did have his students playing games, but he had them read scenarios and express what they thought was occurring. So, it was an interactive activity that his students loved and were really engaged with. The principal states that these types of learning activities are not permitted and gives the teacher examples of work he could have the students do. The administrator stated to the teacher that “if you want to abandon slate-based learning, at least try the Jonestown Intervention worksheets or maybe fill out the packet of algorithms”. The teacher’s solution was that he would create an algorithm factory and integrate it into the classes reading and writing projects. I think that this whole meeting was unnecessary the administration needs to be aware that the teacher is making learning easier for the students by applying the lesson through games. The teacher is not letting the administration change his way of teaching; however, instead he becomes creative and finds a way to apply the examples that the administrator insists into interactive activities. I read another post, Meet Ed Helper. This post was about Tom and his new teacher aid that an administrator appointed to his class. Within the first two hours of class Tom finds out that Ed Helper’s way of teaching is completely different than his. Ed Helper passes out numerous worksheets to the students instead of teaching, which Tom disagrees with because he stresses that worksheets don’t help students learn. I agree with Tom definitely, I think that worksheets do not allow students to fully comprehend the material because they usually consist of students looking up the information in a book. Therefore, the students are not learning they are just looking up the answers, which they will probably not remember. The students tend to not like Ed Helper because he doesn’t know the students personally like Tom does; however, Tom becomes aware because his students are not learning the way they used too before due to Ed Helper’s traditional way of teaching.
Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff Please.

This was a very interesting post by Dr. McLeod. Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor from Armes, Iowa that enjoys blogging, generating ideas, and finding solutions. I certainly agree with this post because using technology can make learning easier, more interactive, and consist of creative lessons that from my personal experience makes school worth getting up for as a young child that has so much more going on in their mind other than school. Technology not only benefits students; however, it also benefits parents and teachers as well. For example, with educational technology parents can see what their child is doing in class and can see their progress in class at anytime. Technology can help benefit teacher’s lessons with better organization and videos that can put the lesson into a visual that makes the information more interesting to the students.