Technology in the schools

Currently, I have am conducting classroom observations in two field placements. The two schools implement technology in different ways. In terms of sheer available hardware, the preK-8 Catholic school has a computer lab--next door to the 8th graders I'm with--with a couple dozen workstations and a smart board. I've seen my host take the students over there twice, once to show a video clip on Youtube (below) and once to do a web search.



My host had the students watch the video, then passed out the lyrics. The students broke into groups and were asked to list five positive qualities of farmers or cowmen (one to each group). They seemed to have a bit of trouble translating the metaphoric language of the song into literal qualities.

The web search was on the topic of Veteran's Day celebrations.

The second school, a 6-12 charter school, has assigned notebook computers to every student, and my host teacher has a digital projector in his classroom. In their case I have seen PowerPoint lectures, web searches, and even the occasional Google search for a point that came up in class. The best use by far, though, was the day after Barack Obama was elected President. My host pulled up web sites with voter turnouts, results by state and by county, and CNN's exit polls. The details of this historic election were presented to the students in more detail and with greater relevance than the TV newscasts. I was not only impressed by the teaching style and the students' excitement, I genuinely enjoyed the lecture myself. There were details I had missed just from browsing blogs and watching TV: the importance of the Latino vote, for one, and the amazing, unprecedented occurrence where voters under 29 outnumbered those over 65. I imagine being able to point to this election for years and telling newly 18-year-olds, this is what happens when young people vote!

In my field placement so far, I did show one video from Discovery Education to the students. The text of the video went fast, but I was using it for review, so it was somewhat useful. Next time I would choose one that fit my goals more closely, though.

My favorite recent web discovery, courtesy of JPeg, is Kitzu. The media looks like it will be really useful.


So I'm excited about technology. It'll be easier to use in some schools than others. But there are possibilities.

All About Me

Hi. I thought an introduction might start things off with ego... My name is John and I am a MAT student at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA. I'm studying to become a secondary social studies teacher.

For my undergrad, I attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where I majored in government.

In terms of my personal life, I'm 27, bald, and kind of addicted to the Internet. Oh, and lately, I've been kind of obsessed with this British archaeology TV documentary called Time Team, though it's a bit of a guilty pleasure. How can they possibly do responsible archaeology in their three-day show filming format?

About the image: I borrowed the Silver Certificate from Wikimedia Commons, a site that hosts various images, audio, etc., that people can use in their web projects. (I haven't combed through it well enough to have noticed if it's safe for use with students, though.) I chose that image because the news for the past month has been full of economic gloom and doom, and it's made me more curious about econ. I've been trying to follow along, and it's been frustrating when the media seem to simultaneously explain the really, really simple concepts like we're all idiots and then refer to the more difficult ones as if we should all know what they're talking about. My favorite news source is actually a podcast put out by NPR called Planet Money. They're better about explaining things.

Also, I found a new hobby a couple weeks ago: taking digital photo panoramas. I don't quite have the hang of it yet, but here's a sample of one I took on Halloween. It's not, um, Halloween themed.

One more thing: Here's an animoto I created. It's a bit long, but it might be useful. Maybe as a memory aid, or a crazy end-of-year test for an American history course?

I wanted to use the obvious audio, "Hail To The Chief," but it's too short. Animoto only uses as many of your photos as it has enough room for on the audio track if you upload a song.

Well, that's probably enough incoherent rambling. Comment on this post if you want to say hello.

Who am I?

Quick history quiz: Who am I? This "history head" was made using Blabberize.com.

Pittsburgh schools garner national attention for 50% policy

Eyebrows raised over city school policy that sets 50% as minimum score

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08266/914029-298.stm

This has been discussed on web sites Fark.com and Slashdot this week (links point to discussion forum posts on the article). The policy is simple, and has been in place for some time; in this article the news event is that the school district requires all its schools to enforce it. On any assignment, a score below 50% is to be rounded up to 50%. Minimum score: 50%.

Rationale: A score below 50% makes recovery impossible for a struggling student. The boost gives that student an incentive to try for the rest of the year. If we make success numerically impossible, the kid has no reason not to just blow it off.

The comments on the sites linked above reflect a popular theme for American political blowhards: self-reliance, no breaks to anybody, to smooth things over hurts the kids who actually work, such policies coddle kids and prepare them for a lifetime as welfare dependents, etc. Local talk radio airs similar themes. (I caught part of Marty Griffin's rant on KDKA on Monday.) These comments seem to miss a key point.

We're talking about kids who earn an F (well, an E in the Pittsburgh system, but still the lowest grade on the scale, the one signifying failure). That's 60% or below in this system. Any student in this range already has a serious problem, whether it's a learning disability, a major life issue, or a severe case of apathy.

To my mind, this means that the concerns about equity don't really play. Helping these failing students is more important than making sure everybody's pile is the same size.

The pundits seem really concerned with punishing students who don't do any work. They say that giving 50% to a student who does literally nothing is unfair to the student who works for her 50%. Maybe that's truly how this second student would feel. But that student has more pressing concerns, because he's still failing.

As I prepare to go into teaching, I'd like to go on believing that no student has to fail for just a little while longer. This policy removes one tiny little obstacle, but it doesn't solve the problem.