After viewing “Growing up online” I was exposed to a number of eye opening facts about the Internet, which I feel should be important to aspiring teachers and parents. I believe that the Internet has both positive and negative effects on kids. In theory, the Internet can be a great educational tool to students and nothing more. The Internet has a lot of solid information on topics of all levels. On the Internet, this information may be explained in a way that makes more sense to a student and assists the student in grasping difficult concepts. However, in reality the Internet is not a perfect educational tool. As is shown in the video, the Internet can cause students to cheat on assignments, expose negative pictures, and create unsafe relationships. When it comes to cheating on assignments teachers can take means to prevent this, but, as is stated in the video, teachers must be aware of the possibility that students can use the Internet to cheat. For example, as a future math teacher I will require that students show all their work in detail and I will require them to complete many in-class assignments so they are not given the opportunity to just copy answers from a friend or a website. Also, the Internet can expose pictures that can cause students to lose the opportunity to participate in activities, go to a good college, or get a job. In order to make students aware of this possibility, teachers must constantly remind students to be aware of the negative effects that poor images on the Internet can cause. For example, in the video there is information about students being exposed for underage drinking at Madison Square Garden online. If students are made aware of examples like this hopefully they will be motivated to keep negative images of themselves off the Internet. Furthermore, both parents and teachers need to be aware of the relationships that children and adolescents create through the Internet. Teachers and parents must talk to students close to them about getting involved with cyber bullying or child predators. Staying involved can prevent things like suicide as shown in the video. Clearly, the Internet can have a very negative impact on the lives of kids.
I worry about the Internet’s impact on kids because it is very difficult to constantly keep tabs on kids and discover what kinds of things they are getting involved in. However, it is impossible to stop the Internet in the technologically advanced world in which we are living. Thus, we must strive to make kids good cyber citizens through enhancing Internet education in schools. If kids are consistently taught how to avoid the negative effects the Internet can have on their lives, then I feel that it is much less likely that the kids will get into trouble on the Internet. It was very encouraging to learn that such measures are being taken in the updates section of the video “Growing up online”. I however will continue to have my doubts about how safe the Internet is for kids until it is clear that more educational measures are being taken.
Personally, I have had a negative experience with the Internet during my senior year of high school. During that particular year I was on the varsity basketball team, and some of the members of my team attended a party where there was underage drinking. Through the Internet, it was discovered that some of the team members had attended the party through direct photographic evidence. This violated my high school’s code of conduct and some of our best players were suspended from the team. Experiences like this make it very difficult for me to not have some reservations about whether the Internet is more positive or negative, but I know that I must keep in mind that the Internet is not going away and that I must do what is in my power to make it safer for my future students and children.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Money for Good Grades
Blogs I read:
http://rachelsedreflections.blogspot.com/
http://johnlundy.blogspot.com/
http://angeladodge.blogspot.com/
After reading the Chicago Tribune article on rewarding students monetarily for good grades, and reading the blogs of a few of my fellow classmates, I am very surprised about the ideas to which I was exposed. Overall, my classmates feel that it is highly likely that giving students money for good grades will not succeed in motivating them to reach their full potential and will not motivate them to live a good life. My classmates feel that giving money for good grades only emphasizes to students that money is the most important thing in life: even more important than learning and knowledge. Rachel mentioned that the money might even be used by students for drugs or guns. Angela mentioned that if this program is looked upon positively and continues, then the money for the students will most likely come out of the pockets of tax payers. John stated that he is still doubtful about the program and will not be convinced of anything until he sees some conclusive evidence of its success. The three blogs that I read clearly expressed doubt and even disagreement with the decision to employ such a program in schools.
In general, I disagree with my classmates about this program. I feel that students who struggle in schools could use extra motivation in order to achieve better grades. Students in poor economic situations usually find school pointless to their everyday life and drop out or do not take it seriously. However, the offered money gives a great incentive to students to help their family while learning at the same time. Many wealthy parents reward their children with money for good grades. So why should a student that comes from a low income household not have the same incentive?
Also, I do not believe that giving students money for good grades in junior high or high school will change the way they think about money. By the time a student is in junior high or high school he or she is very likely to already realize that the United States of America is money focused. Therefore, providing students money for good grades will prepare them for the world that they are about to enter. With our capitalist economy, I feel that money will always be a very important aspect of life, so trying to change the focus of all students to value knowledge and learning over money is simply not practical.
Furthermore, I feel that if a student used his or her money for guns or drugs then he or she would not be able to maintain the grades necessary to receive the money in the first place. For example, if a student has to worry about using a gun to settle an argument or is concerned with using drugs after school, then I firmly believe that the student would not be able to focus in school and attain good grades. Overall, I feel that giving students money for good grades will keep them away from guns and drugs because they will see such items as ways to slip up in school and not get paid.
In the future, I plan on becoming a teacher, and I care very deeply about education and the motivation of students. Since I believe that money is a successful motivator, I would be willing to pay extra taxes to reward students for achieving good grades if it meant having future generations that are better educated. I was brought up in a family in a good economic situation so I had time to concentrate on school and was motivated by college to try my hardest. I am saddened when I think about students who are economically disadvantaged, do not see college as a viable option, and cannot concentrate on their education. If doing something like paying a child for good grades could motivate a student to go to college and do well in high school (which I believe it can), I will support it.
In my future classroom, I will do whatever it takes to find what I can do to motivate students. I am convinced that motivation is one of the most important components of obtaining a solid education. I want to teach in a class where every student is excited to be there and ready to do what it takes to learn the information that I present. Therefore, if my students are motivated by candy, I will bring in candy to motivate them. If my students are motivated by extra credit, I will provide extra credit opportunities. If my students are motivated by free time, then I will provide ways for students to get free time. In short, I will do whatever it takes to motivate students in order to instill in them the best education possible.
http://rachelsedreflections.blogspot.com/
http://johnlundy.blogspot.com/
http://angeladodge.blogspot.com/
After reading the Chicago Tribune article on rewarding students monetarily for good grades, and reading the blogs of a few of my fellow classmates, I am very surprised about the ideas to which I was exposed. Overall, my classmates feel that it is highly likely that giving students money for good grades will not succeed in motivating them to reach their full potential and will not motivate them to live a good life. My classmates feel that giving money for good grades only emphasizes to students that money is the most important thing in life: even more important than learning and knowledge. Rachel mentioned that the money might even be used by students for drugs or guns. Angela mentioned that if this program is looked upon positively and continues, then the money for the students will most likely come out of the pockets of tax payers. John stated that he is still doubtful about the program and will not be convinced of anything until he sees some conclusive evidence of its success. The three blogs that I read clearly expressed doubt and even disagreement with the decision to employ such a program in schools.
In general, I disagree with my classmates about this program. I feel that students who struggle in schools could use extra motivation in order to achieve better grades. Students in poor economic situations usually find school pointless to their everyday life and drop out or do not take it seriously. However, the offered money gives a great incentive to students to help their family while learning at the same time. Many wealthy parents reward their children with money for good grades. So why should a student that comes from a low income household not have the same incentive?
Also, I do not believe that giving students money for good grades in junior high or high school will change the way they think about money. By the time a student is in junior high or high school he or she is very likely to already realize that the United States of America is money focused. Therefore, providing students money for good grades will prepare them for the world that they are about to enter. With our capitalist economy, I feel that money will always be a very important aspect of life, so trying to change the focus of all students to value knowledge and learning over money is simply not practical.
Furthermore, I feel that if a student used his or her money for guns or drugs then he or she would not be able to maintain the grades necessary to receive the money in the first place. For example, if a student has to worry about using a gun to settle an argument or is concerned with using drugs after school, then I firmly believe that the student would not be able to focus in school and attain good grades. Overall, I feel that giving students money for good grades will keep them away from guns and drugs because they will see such items as ways to slip up in school and not get paid.
In the future, I plan on becoming a teacher, and I care very deeply about education and the motivation of students. Since I believe that money is a successful motivator, I would be willing to pay extra taxes to reward students for achieving good grades if it meant having future generations that are better educated. I was brought up in a family in a good economic situation so I had time to concentrate on school and was motivated by college to try my hardest. I am saddened when I think about students who are economically disadvantaged, do not see college as a viable option, and cannot concentrate on their education. If doing something like paying a child for good grades could motivate a student to go to college and do well in high school (which I believe it can), I will support it.
In my future classroom, I will do whatever it takes to find what I can do to motivate students. I am convinced that motivation is one of the most important components of obtaining a solid education. I want to teach in a class where every student is excited to be there and ready to do what it takes to learn the information that I present. Therefore, if my students are motivated by candy, I will bring in candy to motivate them. If my students are motivated by extra credit, I will provide extra credit opportunities. If my students are motivated by free time, then I will provide ways for students to get free time. In short, I will do whatever it takes to motivate students in order to instill in them the best education possible.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
How will you be your own agent of change in the classroom to meet student expectations - is it your responsibility?
A Vision of Students Today
A Vision of K-12 Students Today
After viewing the short videos “A View of Students Today” and “A View of K-12 Students Today” I became aware of data that was both unsurprising and eye-opening. The majority of the data that was unsurprising was within the video “A View of Students Today”. It does not shock me that most college students only do 49% of the assigned readings or that the average college student reads 2300 web pages and 1281 facebook profiles. However, there was a lot of eye opening data in the other video that focused on younger students. I was quite surprised to learn that the average child watches sixteen and one half hours a television per week. It was also surprising that 76% of K-12 teachers do not use blogs, wikis, or podcasts. The fact that students in K-12 only spend two hours per week reading a book is almost unbelievable. Also, the fact that some K-12 students blog shows that younger generations are adapting to this technologically advanced world quite quickly. I believe that it is important for future teachers to be aware of this data because it shows the importance of knowledge and familiarity with new technology.
As a teacher I believe that it is my responsibility to cater to the needs of all my students. Now that I have viewed these videos I see that keeping up on the newest technology will be essential to preparing my students for the world that they will be entering. Since the world of technology continues to grow, students not only must be given the chance to work with new technology, but they also must be given the opportunity to work with many different types of new technology. The purpose of this is so that students can learn how to explore unfamiliar types of technological tools which will probably be necessary in their future career. Thus, as a future teacher I will always strive to meet the expectations of my students and prepare them for their future.
In order to be my own agent of change in the classroom I will take several steps. First of all, I will encourage my students to blog. Even though I am a math teacher I think that it would be very advantageous to start a mathematical community online where students can talk with others about their justifications and any mathematical ideas that they are struggling with. I believe that through blogging students will gain a sense of satisfaction through learning from others and helping others. I will also have a class website that is available to all my students which will have many items aimed at enhancing the understanding of my students. Specifically, I will represent the material on my website in many different ways. By doing this, I hope that students who had trouble understanding me in class will be able to look at the material in another way and gain an overall better understanding. I will also make my website interactive with games and interesting problems in an attempt to keep my students interested in mathematics. I will also incorporate technology into many of my lessons. I hope that when I use technology in my class that I will not always be using the same type of technology. I want to give students the chance to explore doing mathematics with many different state of the art technologies. I understand that meeting this goal can be difficult because students and school systems frequently lack supplies. Therefore, I will attend conferences for teaching math with technology and purchase classroom material out of my own pocket if necessary. I believe that teaching with many types technologies is so important that I am willing to take great measures to ensure it.
I am deeply upset that most K-12 teachers in America do not use technologies like blogs, wikis, and podcasts. I feel that teachers may just get lazy after a few years and quit keeping up with the newest types of technology. I would never want a child of mine, my younger brother, or my younger sister to have a teacher who does not prepare them for the technologically advanced world into which they were born. Therefore, I will do my absolute best to never stop finding information about technology that can be valuable to students. I will do this because I think that I owe the young people, who will be the future, the education that will allow them to achieve their goals and make the world a better place.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Response To Dialogues on Sir Ken Robinson's Talk
Blogs that I read:
http://angeladodge.blogspot.com/
http://acttwointermission.blogspot.com
http://jzhang7.blogspot.com/
After hearing Sir Ken Robinson’s talk, “Schools Kill Creativity”, and reading the opinions of some of my classmates, some very important issues have been brought to my attention. Robinson claims that our educational system “squanders” the creative talents that we all possess from birth. He believes that all schools emphasize math and science and view painting, music, dancing, and acting more like hobbies than future careers. Robinson believes that from the beginning of a person’s education he or she is expected to strive to get a degree in math or science in order to get a good career and live well. Robinson shows that this might not be the best alternative for some people even though the school system pushes everyone in this direction. To do this, he brings up an example of a successful choreographer, who instead of becoming a great dancer, probably would have been diagnosed as having ADHD in the current school system.
Generally my classmates agreed with Robinson saying that he brings up many valid points about educational systems today. My classmates believe that teachers must strive to nurture the creativity that lies within students and not discourage students from achieving their dreams. Furthermore, they believe that we must celebrate the differences among students in order to show that going against the norm is not necessarily a bad thing. Teachers must value ideas more than right and wrong answers so that creative students are not afraid of voicing their opinions or ideas in school. My classmates believe that not only educational systems need to realize these important ideas, but society has to realize them as well so that schools can be supported in changing curriculum.
I mostly agree with the position of my classmates. I do believe that differences in classrooms must be celebrated to encourage creativity, and I do feel that teachers should value ideas more than right and wrong answers. However, one of my beliefs was not addressed in any of the blogs that I read. Specifically, I believe that mathematics can be one of the most creative subjects taught in schools today. Breakthroughs in mathematics happen because people have thought differently and have made valuable discoveries through applications of creativity. In math courses alternative thinking should be encouraged in order to develop the mathematical creativity of students. I believe that mathematics has caught a bad reputation because many think that mathematics is all trivial problems and skill work. In schools, Robinson is correct in saying that mathematics does not encourage creativity because it is usually the case that only right answers are encouraged and those that think different are penalized. I believe that this does not have to be the case in a mathematics classroom because creativity is very valuable in mathematics. Thus, in general, I believe schools should be reformed in such a way that creative thinking and abilities are valued in all areas.
In my future classroom I plan to take measures to ensure that creative thinking is valued rather than discouraged. Like Angela, I will utilize math applications problems that relate to music, dance, and photography. I will also make sure that my students know that the biggest breakthroughs in mathematics have occurred because someone decided to think differently about math. In this way, I hope to make my classroom a place where new ideas are encouraged and getting the correct answer is not the most important part of the class.
I do believe that all people are born with an extraordinary amount of creativity. I feel that through application problems and encouraging students to think differently, I can tap into the creativity that students possess and allow them to see mathematics in a way that does not inhibit their creativity but makes it flourish.
http://angeladodge.blogspot.com/
http://acttwointermission.blogspot.com
http://jzhang7.blogspot.com/
After hearing Sir Ken Robinson’s talk, “Schools Kill Creativity”, and reading the opinions of some of my classmates, some very important issues have been brought to my attention. Robinson claims that our educational system “squanders” the creative talents that we all possess from birth. He believes that all schools emphasize math and science and view painting, music, dancing, and acting more like hobbies than future careers. Robinson believes that from the beginning of a person’s education he or she is expected to strive to get a degree in math or science in order to get a good career and live well. Robinson shows that this might not be the best alternative for some people even though the school system pushes everyone in this direction. To do this, he brings up an example of a successful choreographer, who instead of becoming a great dancer, probably would have been diagnosed as having ADHD in the current school system.
Generally my classmates agreed with Robinson saying that he brings up many valid points about educational systems today. My classmates believe that teachers must strive to nurture the creativity that lies within students and not discourage students from achieving their dreams. Furthermore, they believe that we must celebrate the differences among students in order to show that going against the norm is not necessarily a bad thing. Teachers must value ideas more than right and wrong answers so that creative students are not afraid of voicing their opinions or ideas in school. My classmates believe that not only educational systems need to realize these important ideas, but society has to realize them as well so that schools can be supported in changing curriculum.
I mostly agree with the position of my classmates. I do believe that differences in classrooms must be celebrated to encourage creativity, and I do feel that teachers should value ideas more than right and wrong answers. However, one of my beliefs was not addressed in any of the blogs that I read. Specifically, I believe that mathematics can be one of the most creative subjects taught in schools today. Breakthroughs in mathematics happen because people have thought differently and have made valuable discoveries through applications of creativity. In math courses alternative thinking should be encouraged in order to develop the mathematical creativity of students. I believe that mathematics has caught a bad reputation because many think that mathematics is all trivial problems and skill work. In schools, Robinson is correct in saying that mathematics does not encourage creativity because it is usually the case that only right answers are encouraged and those that think different are penalized. I believe that this does not have to be the case in a mathematics classroom because creativity is very valuable in mathematics. Thus, in general, I believe schools should be reformed in such a way that creative thinking and abilities are valued in all areas.
In my future classroom I plan to take measures to ensure that creative thinking is valued rather than discouraged. Like Angela, I will utilize math applications problems that relate to music, dance, and photography. I will also make sure that my students know that the biggest breakthroughs in mathematics have occurred because someone decided to think differently about math. In this way, I hope to make my classroom a place where new ideas are encouraged and getting the correct answer is not the most important part of the class.
I do believe that all people are born with an extraordinary amount of creativity. I feel that through application problems and encouraging students to think differently, I can tap into the creativity that students possess and allow them to see mathematics in a way that does not inhibit their creativity but makes it flourish.
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