Feb 12, 2008 article readings

The first article was a little winded, to say the least. I was more interested with the author's incredible ability to coin new words, infotective, edutainment, than the points the author was trying to make, which were relevant, but written in such a fashion that it really didn't peak my interest. The second article, however, was more to the point; that being, how do we tell when a site is reliable? I actually learned something. No one ever informed me that when you see ~ in an address (which I refer to as That squiggle mark), that it's a personal web page. I wish I had known for the day I got into a conversation with a neighbor (elderly, and thinks that anything on the net that has what appears to be a good address connected to it, rather like Zack in the story, must be true. The article was blatently one sided yet I couldn't convince her that it wasn't just someone's opinion because the title and so called affiliated adresses looked really impressive and authentic.) Now I know. So, at least I learned something. Works for me.

magazine article of the week

Which Technologies will Shape Education in 2008? From The Journal

This is a short article that has little to say other than it looks as if grass roots video may be incorporated more in the classroom and also collaborative Web technologies. I really didn't get much from it, or I didn't follow what he was saying. Wonder which it is.

sessions

My first choice would be FCA3130: Indiana Standards Resources on Friday from 10:45-11:30 am. Anything that can help me with lesson plans would be beneficial.

Second choice: FCa3201: SPOTLIGHT Web 2.0m /Social Media, and Other Buzzwords. Because I know so little about this but feel like it would be a huge interest to my students.

Third choice: FCP3309: Curing Your Student Email Headaches. Because there is mention of liability issues.

Intelligent Design

I loved the idea of having kids do real projects, present to real people, and get real feedback, plus mentorship. It reminded me in some ways of Junior Achievement on a larger and more organized scale.

What I didn't see in the article was how they went about getting these juniors and seniors together. Were they dismissed from regular classroom activity? Was this in conjunction with school? Seperate? How did they choose the students?

Getting kids involved in real life, real civic projects is definitely a win-win situation. It was interesting to note that the first time in the kids were very self confident and then had to learn to take criticism and disappointment and turn it around into something positive. So often in a class room setting when the project is turned in then it's over. There isn't much room for improvement or reflection. We learn more from our mistakes. Being able to go back to the drawing board enabled the kids to take their anger and turn it into something productive. That works for everyone.

Schools in general should think more about this sort of work plan. Like they said, the navy doesn't teach trigonometry it teaches navigation. You have to learn the trig to navigate.

I'm a senior here at Marian College. I'm an English Major, ESL minor, and Secondary Education.

I graduate in May and leave for London and Paris for two weeks. It's become my mantra.




My technology experience consists of being married for 25 years to a systems analyst and having to hear about everything on the planet about computers, but I have no personal knowledge of how they work. I didn't even use one much until I returned to college 2 years ago other than ebay. I am not fond of technology, though I have a cell phone which I covet for the awesome ability it provided me in raising and keeping track of 5 children. However, after I lost a 10 page English report somewhere on my computer last semester, I was sorely tempted to find a functioning typewriter somewhere on the planet and return it to use. I prefer to read real books that I can hold in my hand and will do anything not to read things on a computer, though I must admit that googling for things is sometimes very convenient, but being somewhat ADHD, I tend to be easily sidetracked. I don't like to read anything more than a page long on a computer. I have a Face-Book account but there isn't much on it. I only joined so my kids would add me, and I could see what they were up to now that they no longer live at home, plus, they thought it was funny because I was in college and so were they. I don't even visit it often. The thing I hate most about technology is all those passwords that I can never keep track of. I would like to learn how to transfer pictures from my camera onto the computer.