Social Justice

I will be planning on using whatever technology is available to me. If I don’t have a specific piece of equipment I need Ill work around it making it work. If this means going to the public library or trying for a grant to get what I need Ill do it, its all about giving the kids what they need to succeed.

I think at the point in our society I believe that yet we would be doing a disservice to our kids not to try and use the technology. Once they get out into the real world you are going to be expected to be using the technology that we have. If we are not using it in the classroom it seems like it is just a waste. Think of all the wonderful ways you can use technology to help teach in your classroom.

I think if it is computer or Internet access that the students are lacking, I would give them time at school to do what they needed to do. Or take them to the public library to show the students that each student will have access in some way. With the students that don’t have adequate access I will probably allow them a little more time on certain projects so the can get them done.

In today’s technological era we really need to be using all the materials we have to help teach our students. We need to help them get ahead in their lives, why not use what we already have to do so. I am a big believer in using technology to teach our students, their brains are already wired for it why not plug them in and fly away.

Cell Phones in the Classroom

They idea of cell phones in the classroom does not sit well with me. As someone that has worked in a school, it seems that they are more of a hassle than anything. I laughed when I read a line out of the article that said “For example, the teacher can collect the cell phones at the beginning of class and return them to the students when it is time in class to use them”. For starters unless you have little kids I could see this being a big power struggle with your students. Cell phones was one of the biggest problems in the high school I got called into way to many classrooms to collect cell phones that students were using during class.

More times than not it was probably just classroom management problems, for me to have to come get the students cell phones. However I still do not agree with students using the cell phone in class. I did like the line where the author talks about the cell phone being today’s modern “Swiss Army Knife”. With today’s technology the cell phone can just about do anything, yet it still has no use in the classroom.

The one place where I could see it being used is on a field trip like they talked about in the article. This is one area that it could be very useful since not all students have digital cameras but most all have digital cameras on their cell phones. I did like this aspect of cell phones in the classroom, and how they could upload them straight to a class flicker account. This could be a very useful tool for your students to utilize.

Chatspeak

I find myself leaning more towards not using Chatspeak. When I send a text, e-mail, or instant message I usually spell out the words. I would never use Chatspeak for e-mail or a paper. I do find myself using “u” instead of “you” when texting someone. However I usually only do this since you are limited on the amount you letters you can use in a text.

I like what Greg Monfils the Academic Dean for the Urban School of San Francisco has to says about chatspeak. “If chatspeak is leeching into papers, it’s probably due to a small bit of rebelliousness as opposed to obliviousness. The kids want to see if the can get away with it”. This here seems pretty accurate of a typical high school student. Students are always looking to see what you will except and what the bare minimum they have to do for a certain grade. I know in the past my teacher have told the class they will not accept any chatspeak in their papers.

I could see how you could allow it at first for a student that is hard to reach. Maybe you allow them to use it at first and gradually move to the correct usage. This would be like having a student read a comic book then build up to a novel. I think students are pretty good about not using chatespeak while doing papers. Just like they know that it is inappropriate to curse in front of their grandparents. However I could see if you allow them a little slack to do something, they might tend to push the limits on what they can get away with.

PowerPoint's

In our technology class today we each presented a PowerPoint to the class. I love using and watching other classmates PowerPoint in general, so for me I think I will be using this tool as a lesson presenter in my class when I can. The best part of this project was seeing all of the others lessons out cohort members were doing. I really enjoyed CJ’s PowerPoint on the Grand Coulee dam. You could really tell how passionate he was about his subject. He had a lot of knowledge of the dam that showed in his PowerPoint.

The biggest thing I came away from after doing all the reading before the PowerPoint presentation is to keep text to a minimal. I usually have either a heavy amount of text or a medium amount. Sometimes it really seems that you need it. However in this presentation I did, I only used text as a heading and for my smart art. The rest of the time I used pictures. I found that I was able to look at the pictures and know what I wanted to talk about. I did not need it all laid out for me and everyone else.

For me the least engaging PowerPoint’s are when the person has to read word for word of the presentation. I find myself doing this when I have way too much text in a slide. Also just like I did when you have to read anything from your notes to often it does not allow you to get in a rhythm. For me not being able to show my video messed me up a little cause I tried to tell a story and then got lost in what else I wanted to say. I left out part of my presentation due to the short time limit.

I also tried to follow what I learned in the readings by not using templates and other things that might distract the class. This was pretty hard for me since I feel that presentation is a key to keeping the class visually engaged. That is the one thing I think I would go back and change with my PowerPoint. I think I would have a template that fits my presentation. I noticed that everyone else was using the templates and none of them I felt were distracting.