Rebel with a Cause

Periodic Table: Super-Heros and Super-Villains

2008-10-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

UCB x359.5 - thoughts

2008-10-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

Positive:

This class has some good things going for it. First off, Christina'sclasses is a site that has many useful resources and is something I will keep bookmarked for the near future if I choose to utilize some web resources for my class. Secondly, the instructor is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the material. That is always helpful and makes classes like these (which in my view are taken mostly to get through them) a little less painful. It makes it more likely I might find nuggets of ideas in the grind that is working full time (lesson planning, talking with colleagues and parents, and grading) while simultaneously taking extra-classes after work. I also think there were things I could imagine using in my future classes (more as extra-credit assignments than as full class assignments) such as Gmail (which is really very uesful..thanks for introducing me to this), Photobook, Video stuff and have some poor sucker do my WebQuest.

Blogging was cool as a means to vent some frustration, but I honestly cannot see how I would utilize it with the 90-100 students I have and with the limited computer access for many of them. it takes me days to grade lab reports...do I really want to add weekly blogs to my work load.

Negative:

Overall, I learned some things but I am glad to put this class behind me. It was a TON of work and tried to be much more broad than deep. I can not tell you how much I stressed out trying to keep up with the various hoops we needed to jump during the HW assignments. I felt like I was being flogged like a race horse.

I really would have preferred that all the assignments be done IN class with a teacher to directly oversee work and to be able to talk with other students who are working on an assignment in class. That would have been much more pleasant and much more likely for me to think of these projects as opportunities to learn rather than as punishments and tests to see if we can figure out exactly what the teacher wants. I would have preferred HW that was directly linked to things we actually did in class rather than completely different assignments. That just added to the frustration not to the learning.

Finally, the fact that we only met 2 out of 4 days, that many assignments were hastily described, that some programs did not work or were not fully understood by the teacher all gave off the odor of a class hastily put together and that was an afterthough in terms of it's construction and implementation. Look, I think these credentialing classes are BS, but when the expectation are set super-high (which they were in this class) then an instructor must have their shit together and everything wrapped up tight. We are not children and many of us are pretty experienced instructors in our own right. The fact is if I entered my classroom with the preperation that was shown in this class and with the expectations set so high, I would rightly get my lunch eaten by my students. They would be outraged that I was asking all this stuff of them without having provided the proper planning and scaffolding so that students could be expected to succeed.

Webquest was a TON of work for little payoff. It mostly convinced me that I will not be using this as a method for instruction because I have to put in literally days of work to get 1 or 2 lessons out of it..and in a heterogenous classroom I am dubious as to how much learning would come out of it.

Last. On grades. At no time did I know what my grade was and I was not happy about not being able to monitor exactly what my grade was as I proceeded. I get the idea that the instuctor might have wanted to see 'intrinsic' motivation based on the use of technology and all the fun and exciting things we can do with it. But this is a fantasy. My 'intrinsic' motivation is keeping my job and not having the district threaten me with removal based on not meeting certain NCLB requirements. I do not want to 'play dice' with my job (a job I am pretty good at and I really love) so I would have appreciated knowing exactly what I needed to do to get the grade that would gets me across the finish line.

Finally things I would jettison...

stuff on NETS, Copyrights, E-Learning and webactivities, podcast reviews, Hotlist (unless we were going to go deeper into how to use it).

podcast reviews

2008-09-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

Gallery Explorer: The Snowflake Cluster

Photos from the Spitzer Space Telescope showing infra-red images of new stars being born within gases of organic molecules. Very beautiful. It is also accompanied by a really nice musical score. This site looks great for Astronomy classes. They take a while to download and only play a few minutes but they have spectacular images.

Lumos! The quantum mechanics of Harry Potter

This is only audio. It explains the use of Lasers..burning CDs, scanning stuff in a grocery store, reading your DVDs. It talks about these applications in chemistry particularly in NMR, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. I liked this site but I think this site would only be useful with a person who was already pretty familiar with the material. 'Fourier Transforms' and 'frequency spectrums' are science jargon that are important but need to be explained with some visuals. Two good things...the lecturer really makes an attempt to describe things as simply as possible and it was neat that it was a woman.

Ecogeeks: Sharks from the wild classroom

Nice video of sharks, but overall kind of boring. Just repeated over and over again how we should not be afraid of sharks. What's the point of that? Are we actually going to run into sharks. Also, they showed no video of humans interacting with sharks. I think this video was pointless and a waste.

Showcase: Origins of a Supernova

Another astronomy podcast but this one is longer and goes into much more detail about how the information is gathered to produce scientists knowledge of a specific supernova. the explanations are simple and all have great moving pictures to go with them. It also explains what a 'lightyear' is.

Self-Psychology: Breathing excercises

I went here because a lot of my students deal with depression and a lot of anxiety. I think the guy gives good advice but the podcast was bad as a video. the lighting is bad and it's just the guy sitting in a chair talking. He'd doing this for over 15 minutes. I think this would have made a better 'audio only' podcast than to give a video if it was going to look so amateurish. Also, he gives too much detail on why the breathing exercises work and not just explaining the breathing methods. Very boring and kind of annoying of information that I think would be useful to my students.

Oh yeah, I forgot...education is a commodity

2008-09-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

Being asked (forced) to visit the world of copyright laws and guidelines for educators is like driving by a horrible car accident. At one level, I feel an awful sick feeling as I peruse these sites and I am forced to recognize that the concept of private property is the single most important value in our society. At the same time, I am strangely fascinated by the fact that we live in a society where 'ownership is everything' is actually codified in laws.

Here it is in black and white.

"a biography about a U.S. President qualifies for copyright, but the events and facts of his life do not."

What a relief. I do not have to have a copyright to actually believe that George Washington was our first president...and the actual event of George Washington becoming the first president does not require a copyright.

But...

If I should choose to write down in a book or other public medium for broad distribution that George Washington is the first president...well..now you need a copyright. Public ideas, privately owned, privately controlled.

How encouraging.

Of course..the Stanford site lets us know that original ideas that you write down are your own but..."If a work is created by an employee in the course of his or her employment, the employer owns the copyright.".

Yeah..that seems fair. I suppose my boss doesn't just own the work I do that he/she asks me to do..but actually owns everything that I produce or come up with while I am on the clock. That makes sense..in a world run by bosses!!

But at least educators are offered a little break right. Or so it seems with the "Fair Use and Teachers" guidelines. Surely, educators and education get some discretion for being able to copy stuff for distribution. Since that is our job...distribution of ideas and concepts to the youth.

We get some consideration for 'purpose' and of course don't forget to only make a 'single copy' of virtually everything. But the abiding concern expressed in directing educators is not on teaching our youth something wrong..or something that will hurt their growth or future success in college. The abiding concern...

"The effect on marketability: If there will be no reduction in sales because of copying or distribution, the fair use exemption is likely to apply. This is the most important of the four tests for fair use"

Oh...yeah. That makes sense. Before I think of photocopying something for the education of my students you want me to stop and think.."wait...can someone make a buck off this information? Am I keeping someone (or more likely some business) from making profit? I am? Oh well then..better not copy that so students can learn or have a project to work on."

Yeah..right. The whole things just disgusts me and makes me want to spit.

The Fair Use Harbor is attractive. And as a site..which seeks to give educators some guidance..I get it. But give me a break..here is just one sampling of some 'advice' from the fair use harbor...

* For an article, the limit is 2,500 words.
* For a longer work of prose, the limit is 1,000 words, or 10% of the work, whichever is less.
* For a poem, the limit is 250 words.
* For a longer poem, an excerpt of no more than 250 words may be used.
* No more than one chart, diagram, cartoon or picture from a
o book,
o periodical, or

So now..in addition to getting out my calculator to figure out the profit margin impact on Glencoe or Doubleday if I make some photocopies, I need to start counting the words of what I am copying.

Thanks..but by the time I figure out if what I am doing adheres to legal guidelines, I will already have missed the class I am supposed to teach..let alone getting to the one of 2 copiers in my school on time to get my copies made.

And then the last site admonishes me,

"Some people who work in schools wrongly and illegally take an overly broad view of "fair use" arguing that almost any taking and use of printed materials, software, videos or graphics is permitted because education is a good cause."

Yes. That's right. I will be making copies. Plenty of them. Tons of them. Enough to teach all my students..enough to give to my students who lose their copies..enough to give to colleagues who want ideas for their lesson..enough to bankrupt every damn publishing company that would put their profit margin ahead of our children learning.

So..yes. I will be a photocopying..downloading..CD, DVD burning outlaw. These websites inform me that this is 'illegal'. I accept that. But don't tell me that I am wrong to think that it is "permitted because education is a good cause." Sorry. I'll stand by that cause. What cause are you standing by, Mr. Copyright?

Podcasts

2008-09-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

Podcasting in education looks pretty neat. Somethings, I like is the fact that iTunes has a whole bunch of free podcasts that are accessible. One use I could see for this is that I did a section on 'observations' about how its was about using 5 senses. This is pretty straight forward lesson, but I had hoped to use a thing I had seen about a high school student who had learned how to navigate the world by snapping his fingers regularly and then using the 'sonar' sound he would get back to not run into objects. He was so good at this that he could skateboard down the street and he could actually identify the type of objects that were around him. He was also African-American. This remarkable video would be a great addition to a simple lesson on 5 senses and really get students to think more deeply about the power of their senses when making observations.

The RSS stuff could be very useful in delivering interesting HW assignments to my student, but this is where I get some concerns come in. First off, I would say less than half of my students have computers and I know from experience that even those that have them can not rely on regular internet access (due to bills not getting paid and services needing to be discontinued). I have a BIG concern that lessons that REQUIRE computer usage and internet access outside of school would put my poorest students at a huge disadvantage. This is the opposite of what I try and do in class, where most of my attention goes to the students with the highest needs in terms of skills and emotional issues.

It's a neat idea and seems like students could really get into it, but if you are not absolutely sure that all 95 students of mine have equal access than I think this method could be highly problematic. It could be used as an in school assignment when I get access to a computer lab though. I could definitely see using RSS to direct students to a common video site that they are going to reflect on.

review of cyber chase

2008-09-18T21:51:00.003-07:00

Very interesting opening with a lot of fun picture..but it's a little busy and not as clean and simple as "Between the lions". Still the home site does look like there is fun inside. Also..when you hit potential links you get fun, strange little noises. This is good to get students used to the idea there is something interactive about the home site..and you can get to different things by moving the mouse.

Let's check out the games...

They have a featured game "U fix it" and then you can go to a bunch of other games if you choose. I'll try the featured game. The site is a little busy though and sort of hurts my eyes to look at...also all those sounds are begininng to get on my nerves and make me regret moving the mouse.

Let's try "U fix it"...

Simple instructions before you play. And they are given by a funny cartoon character. The basic idea is you measure out pieces of glass and wood to make doors and windows for buildings that need repair. The repairs getting increasingly difficult as you move from house to house. They seem to build skills in measurement and spatial relations (and getting familiar with squares, rectabgles and triangles). The game is pretty fun and after you fix each house you get funny comments from different cartoon characters. Also, the game has an incentive of winning a "Master Builder Certificate" that you can actually print out when complete.

Overall, I would say this game has a lot of appeal and you definitely learn while you do it. Very good!

Review of between the lions

2008-09-18T21:51:00.002-07:00

The opening site is fun and inviting and when you pass over options "games' "video clips" there are motions and sounds coming from the characters inviting you to try their option. Great colors. Very appealing opening. It makes me think I might be entertained.

I hit 'games' and enter the "good, better, best trampoline game"

The game is simple but very good. You have to match pictures with the right terms "foggy" "foggier" and "foggiest". You pull a rope until the pictures line up with the correct words. It also gives you good verbal instructions and has fun carnival music in the background. And when you are right..it has unique little 'victory' performances which reward you for being right. The dance is different at least 4 times and that is good. Also..when you get it wrong it gives you the same boring response and does not try and crack jokes. This makes you NOT want to be wrong to hear a bunch of insults or jokes...that seems important.

Last..the game always 'speaks' the words so students know how they are pronounced as well as how to read them (and what they mean.

Clever game.

Blog on Teach-nology

2008-09-18T21:51:00.001-07:00

This site is boring with lots of problems.

First off, the first site has so much text and words, it looks more like an index for an encyclopedia than a fun learning site.

Next...three of the games I clicked on "Think quick"..."crystal cavern" and "sports search" don't even work they go directly to an advertisement for Gamook and then you click on that and then it goes to a section of some menu that does not say "here's a game" but "this site is old and not maintained"

Finally, got to a game lemonade stand..where the first thing I see is not a 'lemonade stand' but a bunch of slots for inserting #'s for 'price', 'lemons', 'cups' and 'cubes'.

Boring and pointless. I input a # "3" lemons and then I get another even more boring and pointless set of questions.

Nothing moves..just menus and numbers. Yuck!

Reflections on web safety and legitimite sources

2008-09-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

I have mixed feelings about a lot that I read on 'web safety'. The idea that there is material that is inappropriate for children on the web is indisputable and I agree that parents (and teachers) should have access to programs that restrict access. Also, the web is not just a child's door to the world, but in ways, it's the world's door to the child. It takes a mature adult to know how to navigate what is 'safe' and 'risky' out their in the World Wide Web. The issue of sexual abuse is a serious one and any protections that can be provided should be set in place.

At the same time, I have heard a lot about how dangerous the web can be and a lot of about high profile cases of child predators on the web and, yet I am well aware that the vast majority of sex abuse cases occur within the family. In fact, all the talk of 'sexual predators' on the web obscures the fact that there is virtual epidemic of sexual abuse in the nuclear family (the mythologized haven of safety and security for Western children). Child sexual abuse occurs frequently in Western society. Prevalence estimates range between 10% in the UK and up to 62% for females and 16% for males in the United States. So I have to wonder, why I am hearing so much about the realtively infrequent sexual abuse that results from contact over the web, when in fact, the American family is a cauldron of abuse for many of our children. Something does not add up. If we are truly concerned about making our children safer, why are we looking at the web instead of the poisonous dynamics inside the pressure cooker that is the modern nuclear family. Of course, no meaningful discussion can be had about 'child safety' in the family without looking at the conditions of extreme economic security that many families experience and no discussion can be had about sexual abuse without talking about the deep sexism in society and the deep sexual alienation that runs through Western culture. That's one reason to avoid any REAL discussion of the issue.

Likewise, with the article about teaching our children to be 'web-savvy' because information on the web can be posted by 'anyone'. This seems to me an even flimsier claim. No one who picks up a "Wall Street Journal" or watches the "NBC Nightly News" can honestly claim that the critical eye needed to discern 'fact' from 'fiction' on the web is any less so in so-called 'legitimate' information sources. Our own education system shows us that the lies are often piled higher and deeper in so-called legitimate information sources than less 'legitimate' ones. In my mind, the most dangerous lies, requiring the most critical view of, are the lies generated by the most 'respected' sources. Increasingly, more people are seeking alternative news sources found on the web and, frankly, I think this is a good thing. I think it makes people more informed not less so.

Still, the issue raised in the article about teaching students to have a critical view of information is an important one. What do you do with a student who wants to 'study' holocaust deniers? I do not think this is an issue about giving the student a 'critical' eye but more about as a teacher, am I going to let a student pursue a project based on a world view of hate and intolerance. Frankly, "No." I disagree with teachers who teach about the civil war by resurrecting ridiculous debates about the 'need' for slavery. Who beneifits from such a discussion? Not white students (who merely hear the reactionary ideas of racism re-enforced in the classroom) nor black students (who are held hostage to a debate they don't want to hear but in which they must 'particiapte' that only confirms their sense of being marginalized and disempowered in society).

So..it is the role of the teacher (the adult) to navigate this terrain. So, what do I say to Johnny who wants to do a history project based on denying the genocide of the Holocaust. I am not going to send Johnny to an 'alternative' web-site and have him decide for himself. I am going to say "Sorry, Johnny..choose another project. You can't bring that hate into my classroom."

"Smoke and Mirrors" from ISTE

2008-09-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

I read the "NETS standards for Students 2007" and I get a warm fuzzy feeling as I think about students in my school collaborating and innovating and communicating and problem solving and showing technology fluency. Then I wake up and realize that ISTE is headed up by CEO Don Knezek who sees his work part of the NCLB regiment that is being pushed on schools.

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech172.shtml

Don? Do you understand that under NCLB, schools like mine must increasingly offer FEWER academic choices to our students to survive the API axe that is swung every year. Due to NCLB, we've eliminated Music, art and, yes, even the Bio-tech classes we offered several years ago. Like all 'electives' these classes must be removed to pay for the critical math and english skills that must be drilled into our students so that we hit our target API scores. (Not to mention the CA State High School Exit exam) Where is the 'collaboration' and 'creativity' in that? Perhaps, Don Knezel should apply a little 'critical thinking' himself and realize that the program he supports (NCLB) and that his institute is becoming enriched by (enjoy the $550 I am paying you to help you make me a more competent, accountable teacher) is actually making it LESS likely that we will be able to meet these worthy standards.

Of course, I can always laud Don for applying the 'problem solving' skills by figuring out how to make a buck off of the wrecking-ball that is NCLB while appearing to be a friend of the teacher and the student. That is really 'innovative'?

Getting rich while you subscribe to policies that make my students experience in public education more miserable, more demeaning, more frightening and more alienating.

Digital citizenship...demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.

I believe in these things. Does Don Knezek?

More Standards: Sure! Add them to the pile.

2008-09-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

What is their to disagree with in the standards for teachers put forward in the "NETS for Teachers 2008"? Not much. I agree with them all; "Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity", "Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments", "Model Digital-Age Work and Learning" etc. The question for me is how are these standards to be evaluated and what support will classroom teachers get in both learning how to implement these standards in their curriculum and evaluating their use. A list of standards as broad and comprehensive as these raise questions for me. 1) Will we be provided the time to learn how to take existing lesson plans and integrate technology with them? 2) Will we be given the professional development time with collaborators to assess and evaluate the authenticity of the lessons which integrate technology? 3) Will we have regular access to tools requires to use the lesson plans and 4) what are the on-site resources (technology experts) that we will have access to that will allow us to most successfully integrate technology into our lessons? 5) Can this be done without increasing an already grueling, long work day? 6) Will teachers be asked to pay out of pocket for the learning how to do this?

In my mind, a list of standards like these that do not START by answering these questions have to be looked at with some suspicion. Not because they are not actually good standards but because they ignore the NCLB context that many of us teachers work in which uses an endless array of teacher credentialing standards that seek to expand the job description of educators while removing critical resources from our schools that have historically been provided by others.

Is NETS 'for' teachers or 'against' them? The answer to that question is how the standards are used and what support we get in implementing them. Until that question is answered. "Thanks, but no thanks".

"McKinsey & Co": education or exploitation?

2008-09-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

On the face of it, the argument put forward by "McKinsey & Company" seems a no-brainer. Better training and better teachers will improve our schools. But their is a deeper debate that lies at the heart of emphasizing "good teachers" as the single most factor in improving schools as opposed to greater resources as Carlos Garcia puts forward. The debate that "McKinsey & Company" want to have is one that focuses on the performance of teachers (and by implication blame them) rather than the education system they work in.

But their is something deeply disturbing when a global consulting company more known for restructuring business to make them increase profitability (generally by urging companies to restructure their work-force to maximize efficiency through layoffs and union-busting) chooses to chime in on improving education. The "McKinsey & Company" has been cited in a number of insurance litigation cases urging insurance companies (as if they needed any encouragement) to find ways to NOT insure their clients to save money. Most recently they did this with Hurricane Katrina victims seeking damages on losses. McKinsey & Company advised insurers in New Orleans to "stop 'premium leakage' by undervaluing claims using the tactics of deny, delay, and defend,"

So now this "company" has entered the crucial debate on education in this country. What is their angle? Well, it simple really, by emphasizing "teacher training" as the most important parameter in improving education, they seek to place the blame on over-worked teachers and resource starved public schools for the overall crisis in education. Left out of the debate is the fact that our country spends about $800 billion a year on the the millitary and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while education receives just over $50 billion (Federally). But even more crucial to groups like "McKinsey & Company" is that taxes on corporations (the same businesses that benefit from the training that goes in to their future work-force in our education system) must continue to pay historically low taxes so they can maintain their globally competitive place relative to companies around the world.

To anyone who has spent a year or two teaching in public education it's obvious, our schools are being systematically starved and underfunded. They need more money. Within the context of increasing resources to fund public education, there are all SORTS of reforms that will improve our schools including mentoring, team teaching, and training teachers how to use the INCREASED resources they find themselves suddenly blessed with. But let's make sure the money is getting to our schools first. That is NOT a discussion that "McKinsey & Company" wants to have. For them, it's about increasing the regiment of 'high-stakes testing', privitizing schools, union-busting and ultimately dismantling public education.

How did I feel listening to the "McKinsey Report on Education"? I think it's a shame that 'creatures' who have profited on increasing the misery of others in this country and around the globe are now allowed to masquerade as concerned with educating our children. They should not be on our airwaves, they should be in jail!

Project

2008-09-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on 9/13/08

2008-09-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

I 'bearly' survived this day.

Thoughts on anti-racist teaching

2008-09-13T14:17:00.001-07:00

I love teaching at Mission High school. The student population is incredibly diverse, sensitive and generous. The issues of race and racism and their impact on our students has increasingly been discussed and debated by the staff at Missioon High School. I do not always agree with some of my colleagues on these issues, but I am proud that my school has taken steps to openly address the impact of racism on our school community.

One debate that has come up has been the idea of being a 'color-blind' educator. Some teachers think the way to approach racism is to act as if race doesn't exist. I do not agree with this. I have found that it's really important to be aware of and acknowledge the different races, ethnicities and nationalities of my students (and colleagues). This is important for a number of reasons. First off, our students are incredibly aware of these things for themselves and of their peers. It shapes much of their expereince in school, but also their experience out in the world. Acknowledging their race is part of really 'seeing' my students but also part of acknowledging that the world they expereince and the world I experience (I am white) is very different. Secondly, acknowledging race means that I am entering my class room aware that I can not assume that my studets will trust me or feel safe with me. It is my job to try convince them (through both words and actions) that I am not just their teacher but an ally against the racism they expereince in the world and potentially in the school. I cannot do that by trying to be 'colorblind'. The bottom-line is counteracting the negative impacts of racism on our students is not something that can be done passively it requires an active act on the part of teacher.