Learning About Blogs #4

Emmet Rosenfeld’s writings (not sure I want to call it a site, as he’s writing for “Education Week”) I would not call a blog from what I read.  Instead I would consider them articles, like one would find in magazines or newspapers.  By making this distinction I’m not accusing Rosenfeld of not being insightful or making me think with several of his posts like the previous writers have.  In fact far from it, as I did like his post on digital ethics and did ask myself some of the questions he posed such as when does technology in school cease to be a privilege. 

The posts themselves aren’t what makes me feel this isn’t an example of blogging, as he does have links to his source material throughout his various posts (even though my computer seems to refuse to let them work).  What makes it more like a magazine article for me is instead what is all around the article not what’s in it.  I should say what’s not all around his articles, which is outside links the author chose to place on his site.  The previous bloggers had a place for links that they enjoyed on their sites, be it blogs that they followed (or at least recommended), or links to groups that the author was a member of such as Hambrick’s church.  Its these links that I feel truly fleshes out a blog, since it supports Richardson’s claim that blogs are about creating a network of writers.  Instead all I could find connected to Emmet’s site were links to other authors for “Education Week”.  There is nothing wrong with this, but to me it makes it more of an article, and not a blog.  Of course this means that I better start following some blogs, and various other news sources that I can make links for, or I’ll be a bit of a hypocrite. 

Learning About Blogs #3

Scott Hambrick’s site I felt had a lot of promise, if only he continued along with it for his own personal use.  His biggest strength I felt was that he put a lot of his own voice into the blog.  The way I felt that he did this the best was his posts considering the birth of his son on his home page.  To me such side posts that do not concern themselves with the main topic (in this case yet again technology and education) of the site help invite the reader into the author’s life.  Other than this, it’s hard to describe how his voice comes through in his blogging as opposed to the other bloggers.  Maybe it’s just that I know he’s a former Mason student and a proud father, and I can relate better that way. 

                Another point that I enjoyed about the blog was that he included video unlike the other sites I have looked at so far.   The videos weren’t only a nice change of pace where I could be passive at gaining information from his site, but also is an example of an author utilizing additional tools the internet has to offer.  I see this change up on routine as a great way that a teacher could keep student’s attention.  Scott himself even makes mention to how if a student is not invested in a class, then it doesn’t matter if you include twitter or blogging, they still won’t get that much out of the class.  I really agree with his point there, and think the addition of videos and any other tools for the web can help engage students.  For example if a teacher only assigns readings from blogs and twitter feeds, then expects students to only write in response, there really hasn’t been a big change in engagement.  A teacher at this point may as well assign text book reading and papers to be written.  In the end it’s still a traditional assignment, only using the internet instead of paper.  Sure it makes handing in homework easier on the teacher, and opens up their resources for students to read, but engagement really may not be altered that much. 

Learning About Blogs #2

David Warlick’s blog at first was not for me.  It took me a little while to really appreciate it for what it was.  Unfortunately I was looking at it from the point of view Will Richardson gave in his book Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts: and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms maybe a little too much.  Richardson describes true blogging as an author writing about a topic using information found from various internet sources and leaving links to these sources.  I surfed around several of his posts, and did not find any examples of this.  Instead I found posts on his thoughts in regards to how technology is changing our lives, and its impact on education.  However while it may not often link (or at all from what I looked around) to sources, he did at least think deeper then events of the day.  His topics focused mostly on education and technology, his most recent blogs for example were about America’s confidence in the education system and how the children today are involved in video games with constantly changing rules.  I enjoyed these topics as they were written well and seemed to be more thought provoking for the reader, then just a soapbox for the author. 

The other interesting thing about blogs is what a person can tell about the author by visiting the site.  First is the obvious, which is what topics does the author usually bring up.  But then there are the added things that Warlick has on his site, such as his “blog roll”, the part of his site that links to other blogs that he recommends.  Each of these blogs all revolve around the same topic he writes about, how technology can (or I argue should) affect education.  This shows that this is not just some minor interest of Warlick, but instead a major passion of his.  It also gives him more credibility on the subject in my opinion, because while he may not site often in his posts to other authors, it shows that he has researched and read up on the topic.  By following these other blogs, he is continually updating himself, and if he’s like me reading posts and giving serious thoughts to what other authors have to say.  These other authors in turn may have an influence on his writing. 

Another source of information on Warlick’s interests is his “Posterous Feed”, which has links to various articles on the internet, not blogs.  These articles mostly center around science based topics, such as astronomy to once again education.  Like I mentioned before when it came to Warlick having other blogs promoted on his site, these links reinforce not only his passions, but give you the impression that he is reading them as well, showing how well versed he is on these topics. 

Warlick’s site is a great example of how connected information can become thanks to the internet.  I can start out reading up on Warlick’s opinions on education, then easily link hop to learn about how scientists have found a planet they describe as being composed of diamond.  I found that article as interesting, as it was random for his site.  This interconnection of course continued because not only have I supplied a link to the article above, but when I first read about the expensive planet I was on AoL instant messenger.  The first thing I actually did do was send the article to friends of mine who I knew would enjoy the article as well.  I wasn’t even thinking about how Richardson spoke about how true blogging creates a network of information.  I read the article and just knew my friends would love it and had to share it.  In this case I feel that Warlick’s site is a successful example of a blog.

Learning About Blogs #1

Will Richardson’s blog “Weblog-ed” is focused on explaining the value of using the internet as an educational tool.  The blog has several tabs allowing for visitors to easily browse through the various elements Richardson wants people to see.  Some of this no doubt is for Richardson’s personal gain such as workshops he is able to give, while the bulk of the other tabs are great ways for visitors to learn about the web.  One tab I liked in particular is a large collection of educational blogs.  I was able to surf through it with little problem to expand where I can go to read interesting ideas in regards to education.  Until taking grad classes involving technology in class, I did not put a lot of interest into reading blogs outside of a few comedic ones; even then I did not read them often.  I plan on looking through several of these blogs, to see if I like any of them.  This makes finding blogs ridiculously easy for me.  His resources tab I am not fond of however.  It seems to be a wiki that after clicking on several links seems to be more of a mash of quick facts written down, so I’ll admit right now I cannot seem to enjoy it much. 

His tab “my stuff” is where he has archived all of his past blogs.  I read through several of them and liked them, one that stands out in particular is a blog in the sense that Richardson describes in his book Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts: and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.  In this post he combines ideas from varioussources to discuss how education will move away from standardization and posts links so the visitor can read his sources for themselves.  The blog does not just end there, as it is filled with responses to his proposition of school becoming individualized.  What I like is that the responses themselves are also well documented, where some of the posts respond with links of their own.  This combined with another post, where Richardson asks for advice in regards to a lesson plan, shows that the informational value for blogs goes beyond picking up handy tips from what the author posts.  The easiest reason for this is the fact that sources are posted by people responding back to the author, so one can link hop readily while following interesting trains of thought.  The second reason is that being an author of a blog gives you a wealth of people to go to when you’re in a professionally tight place and need someone else to lean on.  A friend of mine who is a grad school in education told me she believes that no teacher should feel like an island.  She meant that anyone in education should share and look to each other for help.  Having a blog opens you up to more educators then just the ones in your building or friends you may know from college. 

Richardson definitely practices what he preaches in his book that I mentioned.  His blogs are well laied out and many of them do have links to works that he is referencing.  I plan on returning to this blog when I have a lazy day and the luxury to just go where the links take me.  Hopefully they will yield interesting results for my professional development. 

Why Not Pick Back Up?

     Well, for sometime I have been inactive on this site. I guess its time for an update, on how things are going in my life.  My first post on this site gave the basics on what was going on in my life at that point.  Since then very little has changed.  My son is now 2 years old, and yes I'm still dreading the day I have to put him into daycare.  Only one thing has really changed, and that's my point of view on technology.
     Before my last class, I would openly admit I'm a throw back for my generation.  Technology and me really didn't get along.  I used to say "if its more advanced then a sharpened rock I'm lost".  Now of course this is an exaggeration, but still I was not comfortable or too knowledgeable about computers.  However I have become more comfortable with them since last semester, and have began to realize that with the advancement of communication technologies society is changing at an amazing pace.  Currently students are able to swim through a sea of information, able to read about what they want at the click of a button.  Also with creations such as facebook and phones more conducive to text messaging, student's social lives now revolve around these changes. 
     With that said, I may as well embrace these changes, then try to fight a losing war.  As I still do not consider myself a master of the technological domain, and someone who flourished under the old lecture method, I have decided to sign up for additional courses related to technology and education.  I figure if I learn how to teach using these new tools before actually going out onto the field, it'll be easier to adopt them than to do so after years of practice in the older methods.  With that, here's to my continued growth in technology for educational purposes!

Synthisis #4

I enjoyed the work that I put into my webquest.  Creating a webquest challenged me to think about how to use technology in order to prepare my students for the future, with the current trends in mind.  First it will give students practice with using communication technology to work alongside students miles away.  As communication technology improves, this will be as vital of a skill as working alongside someone in the same building.  It was not just the gap in area that the students were forced to overcome, but also the cultural divide.  By creating groups composed of northern and southern students engaged in creating a project on the Civil War, students were able practice working with different cultures.  This I considered a practice run, as all students lived in America and were from the east coast.  This meant  that generally they would all speak the same language (I say generally as northern Virginia is a very diverse place that will only get more diverse, same with New York depending on what part of the state you are involved with), have similar customs, and have the same time zones.  The difference comes in with how both states traditionally view the Civil War.  Last year I had an assignment where I had to look for bias in history text books.  So the first thing I did was grab a U.S. history book from a Virginia middle school and looked up the Civil War.  I had noticed then that the language was far different from the language used in the northern text books I grew up with.  The subtleties of that day, reminded me how the divide between north and south still exists today, and felt it would be a great practice run for the students to deal with.  By having different views and having to come together, students to analyze information and agree on how to present the Civil War, and all the information relating to it.  Increasingly businesses will be hiring employees from all over the world, bringing people together to create finished products, as mentioned in The Nine Shift, with its knowledge workers.  In the future there will be a demand for individuals who can work from a computer screen with teammates that they may not be able to interact with in person to create finished products.  My webquest I believe will be perfect practice for students in such an economy.  This project also helps students develop two of their “minds” as per Howard Gardner.  The synthesizing mind will be exorcised since like most school projects in social studies, students will be taking information from multiple sources and sorting through what they feel to be the most important and accurate information to bring together for the webquest.  Information on the Civil War will vary wildly depending on the political leanings of the source.  Individuals such as Lincoln can be hailed as a hero according to some people, while reviled as a villain in others.  Students will have to decide what is the most accurate information as a group for their project.  Gardner’s Respectful Mind will also be developed through the use of working together as a group.  The members of the group may have wildly different interpretations and thoughts concerning the Civil War, and to create this project they will have to negotiate how to deal with these opposing viewpoints.  If students spend the bulk of their time arguing with one another, they will end up wasting valuable time they could spend on their project.  Also how the group works is a part of their grade.  Teachers will be able to monitor communications, and students will be assessing one another on how well their partners worked on the project.  For a student to get full credit in this area, they will have to be productive equitable members of their groups.  This again goes into the idea that in the future employers will be teaming up a wide range of individuals, with differing strengths, views and ideas.

            This webquest is also very useful for teaching about social justice.  When one hears a debate over the Civil War, at least in my experience the most common arguments always boil down to the issue of State’s rights versus slavery.  Those that are pro-confederate tend to argue that the war was over the South believing in a State’s rights and fearing the encroachment of a growing federal government.  Many of the pro-Union individuals argue on the basis of slavery, and that it was in the best interests of this nation to end such a barbaric institution.  Students will have to look at both sides or the argument, as both were factors in causing the war.  At the end of their webquest, students are then asked to sum up the Civil War in discussing how it applies to America today.  Students will be able to write about issues concerning “big government” and analyze what is the role of government in their opinion.  They also could write about how the issues with slavery and the laws passed were the beginnings of today’s racial relations, and how we have gone from a society treating African Americans like property, to electing one to the highest office in the land.  Perhaps students will see in this case, it was in the best interest of this nation that the federal government got involved in slavery, allowing for the growth of equal rights; or they could hold a strong opinion that no matter what the south was right to break away from the Union. 

            The Civil War was also selected because it is one of the best moments in American history that highlights the importance of technology.  Technology affected the cultures of the opposing sides in the Civil War.  The North with its industrial economy, and inventions such as the steam engine, abandoned what little slavery was already occurring in its territories.  Slavery was simply not an economic viable option.  Slavery was even dying down in the South, until that is the invention of the cotton gin, that made agricultural slavery espeacially in cotton a viable option.  Technology also played a part here with the invention of the steam engine also played a part.  With the advent of the train and the steam powered ship, the market for the sale of cotton grew for the South, making Slavery the only way many of the plantation owners could make a great deal of money.  Soon the issue of how a state made its money began to define its political culture, and the race for states to be either slave states or free states began.  Each hoping to create more like minded states so as to not be over powered in Congress. Students will see how technology affected how Americans viewed the very institution of slavery.  Some such as abolitionists viewed it as an evil to be stomped out, others as an economic weapon used to gain control of the nation.

            This is not the only way students will learn about the impact of technology.  Students are asked to analyze the strengths of both sides in the war.  The Union’s industrialization is perhaps the biggest reason as to why it won the war.  Students will see how industrialization helped the Union arm its men, how rail roads helped them relocate their soldiers to where needed, and how the telegraph information was able to travel from the officers to the Lincoln and back.  Also during the Civil War, General Sherman specifically targeted rail lines and telegraphs as a part of his tactics to bring the South to its knees.  This is why I mandated that the students discuss the strengths the North had, and how it helped them win the war.  In this way students will see how changes in communication and transportation, even back in the 1800’s changed the way people did everything.

            Creating this webquest I feel was very beneficial to me, as I am now looking at topics and figuring out how different forms of technology that students love today can be used to capture their interests and prepare them for a technology heavy future.  As we have said in class, information and communication technology is growing at leaps and bounds.  This needs to be seen as an alley to capture student’s attention and interest, instead of a rival.