Interactivity #5

    The 9th grade English teacher in Montclair High School that I interviewed is familiar with the NETS-T in the world of education. She mentioned how they are present in her school district, but the school that she works is assimilating to the ideas in a gradual manner. The reason being that the kids in her class are being born with technological privileges, it is better to have those old world roots grounding them to reality. This surprised me because the teacher had said how many of the schools in the surrounding area were adapting into the NETS-T, but she herself advocated in small doses. In a personal statement, she said that she still wants her students to read from the pages of real life books rather than a Nook or an online source. She does not want the education of her students to be dependent on technologies that always require a power source when the power source should be in the mind.
    My interviewee mentioned how she adheres to the NETS-T when assigning long term projects for her students that require research and a depth of understanding. Being able to use digital tools and resources are what she places firm emphasis on, as well as being able to play on the creative strengths of her students. She mentioned that she divided her class up into groups and had each group work on a website for their midterms. The website would be dedicated to a man thematic element within the text they read for class, they needed visual and audio examples of the theme both in and out of the text. It was a tricky risk; she said that she had to time to activity with their Computers elective because their teacher already cemented the basics of website creating. The activity had to be green-lit with the other educator of course, but it was a cooperative success when they did.
    Another statement that my interviewee said that surprised me was how she tries her best incorporating real world issues into her English lectures about conflicts within texts. She said that TED talks and documentaries online about racism and sexual violence and war atrocities correlated to novels such as Night and Invisible Man. This surprised me because it was the exact type of thing my old English teacher back in high school used to do. He made us watch a historical about Prohibition while we were reading The Great Gatsby. Needless to say, her statement brought back a hint of nostalgia.
    Talking with this teacher during the interview was a real eye-opener. Her responses were very honest and passionate. She looked reasonably aged, so she has experience under her belt. I was delighted at the way she talked about the subject and how some parts of it could be used in cohesion with the NETS-T. My interviewee mentioned how the teacher needs to spearhead the classroom when it comes to technological resources. Powerpoints are not always dependable she said and she said that videos are her favorite thing to do for her students because so long as the content is relevant and interesting, her students will snap awake. I want to be just like her when it comes down to it. Don’t overwhelm students with too many technological standards, but don’t be too old-fashioned either. I’d tell people that NETS-T are the future of education, but there needs to be a gradual assimilation to it rather than a full out ‘spelunk’! There has to be an equal balance in between. What I’ll remember most about the interview is how I asked her if she wanted any parts of the interview kept confidential. To which she scoffed a reply: “Why would I do that? Censorship dulls the soul.” That’s my kind of woman.

Link to Google Doc Spreadsheet:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsF0VfDFs-btdFcwNHFROXo1ckRKcDAySFZac09HUHc&usp=sharing

In The Trenches With Comrades

True story. I've just come back from laser tag where I saw fellow future educators Chris and Ann Marie joining the fray. My friend and I have deemed "The Battle of the Quad- Spring Semester"; I attended it last semester in the Fall and I must say, the carnage lives up to its name once again. I can't help but think about how we still have that child-like spirit inside us all. We may be college students and we may be young, but knowing that we can have fun just like those whipper-snappers learning in school nowadays is a relief. We're not getting old yet, we have the confidence of youth on our side. Which is important to maintain when we do become teachers. That we know, to an extent, what these kids are going through and how they must feel towards certain assignments. Drawing back on prior knowledge back in school (what lessons did I remember most and what techniques helped me learn better?) will help us bridge that connection. Laser tag is a type of technology that never seems to lose its luster. It must be "timeless classic" syndrome. But we were all out there in the dirt and muck in a war zone. Or should I say through my perspective: a "make believe" war zone. And I was thinking, while I was running around like a maniac and unloading my plastic gun, about what if our future students saw us now. Partaking in an activity that I'm pretty sure countless kids have done in some point in their lives and not just any activity, a technology that brings joy and adrenaline rushes. I'm writing this post in dirty jeans and a shirt and I'm contemplating whether or not I should shower or grace my bed with earthiness. The Battle of the Quad- Spring Semester had its difficulties. Many of our enemies achieved some level of immortality so our lasers bounced off them. And then they ran out of prizes, which is hilarious because my friend wanted a t-shirt more than anything and all I really cared about was the glory, which soured things a bit. But overall, it was a hard fought effort. It looked like we all had fun. I wasn't on the same team as Chris and Ann Marie, but I bet they had just as much fun as I did. The dust may settle and our hands still empty of t-shirts, but we will always have the Quad. And all of the shenanigans that came with it at the time. Utter nonsense, but bloody good fun.

A Certain Filipino + CURR-314 = Very Happy Emoticon

So I've been reading other people's posts and commenting...on some. And a certain little birdie caught my attention *coughkatcough* with a subject matter that made sense to me. This CURR-314 class that we all seem to be taking is very informative about the organization and application of work. It offers up assignments based on realistic scenarios and experience from the teacher's POV that have proved to be helpful. But what makes this class so bearable, for me at least, is the in-formalities of submitting our work. The formative structure and constructive criticism differentiates the class from the others that I have had in the past. I remember the first time I printed out one of the assessments that we had to hand in (yes, I wasn't paying attention the first time around). Our professor looked at me and said, "I can't accept that. You have to send it to me electronically." My head went: "Hhhuhh?" whilst rotating comically. I've had professors say that to me, but never a CURR one. The ones I've had wanted hard copies up the wazoo. Anyways, back to the point. Our professor sends us back emails with our assignments attached to them without a grade. Did you hear me? Without a grade! No letters raising and lowering our self-esteem. No judgements about our worth as intellectuals. Just a couple of constructive criticism and comments and BOOM! That's our return. This is an example of how technology can benefit kids in the long run: formative use. If I ever become a teacher, this is one of those rare observations that I hope I will remember and draw wisdom from in the trials to come.  People always say an equal balance between assumptive and formative is healthy. But I believe that if there has to be equal amounts of both on either side, I'd want more formative slipped in than the latter. Looking back at it now, I'm learning a lot more than I thought I would initially. This class is turning out to be a real eye-opener, especially when our professor constantly uses the projector when teaching us the material. With that little remote of his clicking and clicking slide after slide, pointing an important part to remember and lectures about it for a but, waits for us to scribble it down, continue process. CURR-314: definitely where the cool kids hang out.

Boy Have I Got A Bar-Tale For You! Or A Bar-Lecture. Depends On Who You Ask

So, my READ-411 class requires us to tutor a kid between the age of 12-18 for our final assessment. And it's literacy that we're tutoring, we're diagnosing these same kids of reading dependent behaviors and, using our textbook and classroom discussion notes, treating them with strategies. Let me just model what I'm trying to say. Get it? Model? *Sounds of cackling in the background* If your kid has trouble connecting to the material they have to read, make use of prior knowledge and choose texts that the kid finds interesting. Which is a pretty small thing to do, but it touches on both cognitive and textual confidence. I think it's been going well so far. One of my close friends allowed me to tutor one of his many younger brothers and I brought Dunkin Donuts once. Well, it was for that same friend's birthday and he was home with his very, very, very kind family, but I still showed them appreciation for  allowing me to do this. So there are Saturdays and Sundays sacrificed on either side of the spectrum, and all that leads to a session jam-packed with progress! He has trouble with vocabulary, so I was helping him with context clues and a syntax surgery and my favorite: writing down difficult words and finding out their definitions after reading. When all of a sudden, the word "malevolent" came up! And while I reached for the dictionary, my kid yells out, "World of Warcraft spell. It casts a lot of damage on your enemy. My guess is that it means causing extreme damage unto others." I was speechless. This wasn't the first time he used prior knowledge, but it was the first he mentioned video games! He turned out smashing the ballpark into bits, malevolent does mean wishing to do evil on another. And since we are basically on the final minutes of our hour together (this kid makes adequate progress during our tutoring sessions), I asked him about it. He told me that 'immolation' is another word that pops up in the text. It's a spell that does insane amounts of damage via inferno. Which is the definition of immolation, to set on fire completely. I, being quite a video game connoisseur myself, was jumping up and down in my seat, overjoyed at the discovery. I knew my friend and his brothers played video games, but there was something about them understanding something because of it that hit me hard pretty deep. Parents and teachers and the mass public pleas of 'video-game' haters all advocate the uselessness of video games. That they rot the brain and give out unhealthy ideas of violence. This is not so. Yes, I admit, there are video games that I play that have blood and gore in them. But what I focus most of all is the story of a game. The characters that are introduced. What moral decisions I have to make, what universes can I save or destroy, and the more grand and unique the plot, the more likely I am to buy it. Video games give people (adults and children alike) the power of controllable imagination. Even if there are limits to the control, it's the creationist aspect of the human soul that it appeals to. There are many video games that zoom in on critical thinking in order for players to proceed and complete the objective. Having a purpose blocked by so many obstacles is a life lesson in itself. A game like Portal, set in a world composed of puzzles, forces players to think outside of the box. To think up of creative solutions that differentiate from one another in each puzzle. No guns, no violence. Just good old fashioned puzzle-piecing. Left 4 Dead, despite having flesh-eating zombies and guns, encourages teamwork. The main goal being surviving until the end of several campaigns; the objective is the exact opposite of the title. Do not leave people behind. Each level requires a role many characters have to play in order to progress. The more people you leave to die/less people you have, the more likely you are to be overwhelmed by the undead. So keep those teammates alive, unless you're like me and you back-stab them in the very end *evil laughter* The amount of curses I get online for doing that is staggering. This and many more. I love video games. A lot of people do as well, many go to this school. Many cook your breakfast, lunch, or dinner (depends on how much $ you are willing to spend). Many guard you while you sleep. To know that education can be connected to video games so well warms my wee little heart. Nevertheless, we ended that tutoring session on a good note. And a plethora of arguments concerning which games are better than others.

Technology Has Been Saving My 'Ass'essments Lately

So let me just go on record and say that these past few weeks have been that one poor bastard of a coastline constantly pounded and grounded by tsunamis. Except us students are the sand and many of the waves have been assignments and projects and everything miserable underneath the sun. Needless to say, everyone's been going hard at it. For me especially, I owe my academic survival to technology. On too many a circumstance has an "Oh No! I forgot my USB back in my dorm!" epiphany sucker punched me in the gut and on too equally a common circumstance has an "Oh Yeah! I'll just export this paper that I spent days writing on Pages into a Word document and send it to myself via email!" idea saved my butt. It's one of those things that I'm most thankful for in this day and age: the ability to keep calm in high octane situations and exploit the convenience of modern technology for the greater good. In this case, the greater good being my sanity and a letter that judges my worth as an intelligent human being. Tips and tricks people, tips and tricks! All I can say is that email and Google Docs and all kinds of technologies that specialize in written work and ‘good-assignment’ construction have been essential these past couple of weeks. I am positively sure that every single student in MSU feels the same way about this, unless you live under a rock. Which I’m okay with, cavemen are kind folk. And the Amish have a way of maintaining wealth and integrity by living the simple life. I’m sorry if this little bit insults anyone, I’ve been running on caffeinated sources for too long. Please don’t get offended, I’m laughing too much to stop now. It’s not just the actual assignment part of college technology that has been helping me lately, but the sources that our professors require us to bring to class. I’m pretty sure we can all agree that the computer labs on campus are where our “let’s save our own paper and ink” mentality really kicks in. We all print scandalous amounts of paper that contain research and journal articles and professor’s Powerpoint slide presentations and all those textbooks we don’t want to buy. Which makes sense. The costs on those things from the University Bookstore are criminal! We’d have better luck letting ourselves get robbed and even though we may lay broke and beaten upon the dirt, they’ll probably leave those same textbooks in good enough shape for us to use. Or when I had to do a dance routine with my partner for the GNED Social Dance. We needed music for our routine, so instead of burning a CD or, who still does this?, buying one, we used Youtube to full effect. We kicked ass dancing by the way. Technology is that permanent contingency plan. Whenever things take a turn for the worse whether it be school or work or personal troubles; there’s always a way of fixing something, phoning for assistance, or clarifying things that need to get done. It is a stress-reliever. I’m not saying technology cures all ailments (even though in a way, it does for the serious ones. Accomplishments in the medicinal field attribute to this), but it’s saved more tail than wildlife preserves have. This is important for us to know because since we are all going to become teachers (unless some of us have a change of heart) and our students will be born into the generations of technology-users. You know, the ones that already know how to thumb-text on their way out of the womb. Alright, that may be an over-exaggeration. But still, our would-be students are going to feel the exact same way I am feeling. That we are all feeling. Heck, I bet the professors, along with the students, have relied on technology to turn their bad days into good days. We are staring at the ghosts of Christmas Yet To Come whenever we look at our reflection off the screens of our phones or laptops. This is where things are going. I just want to ask: are we prepared? I think we will be, we are after all those would-be students at heart. Teaching fresh out of graduation. The lot of us Montclairions. We are just that.

The Use of Smartboards

I believe the Smartboard is a device that far expands the boundaries of the classroom and there are others, I am positive that there are, that may agree with me on this statement. Thinking about it now, having a massive technological device that allows broad visual and audio examples of all kinds of material is a powerful device. Being able to bring up videos from the internet whether a documentary from HBO-GO, an entertaining and somewhat educational video, but who are we kidding if we deem those types of video “educational”, from Youtube or an intriguing lecture from Ted Talks is important. Being able to draw lines connecting one idea to another or being able to change a document or text on the board with the tap of a finger. All of these abilities made possible by the Smartboard are numerous and provide us with boundless opportunities for matters far exceeding the domain of education. But who am I to say that? Education is not some sphere of influence easily escapable, it is an ever shrouding veil covering the earth as we know it like one of those quilts your grandmother knits. We learn something new every single day of our lives. And if you’re one of those wunderkids or prodigious savants who know everything and are perfectly adapt at everything, than something you may have forgotten in all your grandoise-ness. From the people we choose to surround us with and the tools we use in order to get by everyday and with the media in all its vastness. Education seeps in every crevice of society. Which is why Smartboards, which I consider to be the flagship of all teaching/learning devices no matter what subject content area, should not be limited to just schools. Charity organizations may need a Smartboard in order to organize upcoming events and better keep track of all the donations and etc. Literary magazines, as well as all kinds of newspaper/journalist steered jobs, could make use of a Smartboard in organizing what articles may be published and what work is acceptable and what edits need to be placed and where and why and how. All kinds of organized occupations require a tool as neat and simple and efficient as the Smartboard in order to function properly. Schools are not the only place where learning and teaching occur, they may be the most well known and socially acceptable place where such things may or may not happen, but they are certainly not the sole type. By placing a Smartboard in all those places, big and small, where pockets of education fluctuate like a lightbulb that needs to be screwed on properly before I tear the entire dilapidated apartment I’m figuratively living in apart. That single change may be enough to better turn those environments into learning institutions in their own right. But hey, I’m just one person. What does my opinion matter in a sea of cogs turning and brain juices churning? All I know is that I hope to be able to master the art of Smartboarding and when I do, it won’t be long before I have one installed in wherever I live. For fun purposes, of course. Crosses fingers and winks eyeball.

Interactivity #4

I chose this particular lesson because I believe that persuasive arguments are common in society nowadays. And in this day and age, where the media acts as a vital part of the community in terms of communication, proving your point in an effective manner and getting it out there so people can see the validity of your statement is invaluable in any occupation. In my ‘Assessment of Learning’ class, my professor stated that from his experiences teaching, students responded in the most positive manner from assignments that dealt with real world experiences; I believe this is one such assignment.
    The lesson plan revolves around students dissecting persuasive statements/arguments and knowing how the authors of such material are getting their point across. What strategies are they using, what strengths and weakness are they exploiting? I believe the standards within the actual lesson plan lacked the depth and emphasis needed with a broad topic like persuasive writing, so I added a couple more. Other than that, the formative teaching strategies worked in cohesion with the technologies needed.
    Persuasion can be both a powerful ally or enemy. To know the initial difference between a lie and the truth is nearly impossible. But knowing when someone is manipulating you into buying something you don’t need and staying true to your principles regardless of other’s views is noteworthy. Advertisement is a vessel of persuasion and can be found in all forms of media such as television commercials, electronic ads popping up on Youtube, and social networking sites. There is always someone out there trying to persuade you to do something. It is the visual and audio and figurative effects that these images have on our brains. A lack of restraint towards this greed will eventually leave us penniless, friendless, and faithless in the muck.

Google Docs Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MbAGehfNyxastqmFdOx2cb1omVBWeLAuNUgV4CR4DwY/edit?usp=sharing