Many schools today do not have readily available technologies for their students or for their teachers…so when you are one of the few schools that does have these technologies available to your students…USE IT!

I am a “Teacher to be” and am currently observing a high school photography teacher who has a Smart Board, several brand new, fully automatic cameras, and about 15 brand new Dell Computers in her classroom.   On these computers, I have noticed that the students have the full 2008 version of Creative Suite available to them.   I am very disapointed to say that the Smart Board is used only for her one advanced photography class, one period a day, for about about a five minute warm-up, and in this situation it is used only to project a question on the board.   The computers in the class are used only by that one photography class, and Creative Suite is only rarely used.   Generally, when the students are on the computers, and manipulating photographs, they use Microsoft Publisher and a very simple photo program that came standard with the digital cameras that they use.   Fortunately however, the teacher does have the students use the wonderful, state of the art, brand new, Nikon cameras, and they truly benefit by using this new technology.   Not only do they enjoy using the new cameras, but they all, even the level I students, have the opportunity to manipulate the photos on the camera it’s self.   This keeps them motivated and, as many of the terms used in the camera’s program are technical photography terms, they are learning vocabulary as well.   Going back, however, to the issue of the unused Creative Suite and rarely used Smart Board…the teacher fully admits that although she is aware that the computer has the Creative Suite program, she does not, herslef, know how to use it, and so chooses not to.   I am somewhat baffled by this explaination, and it is quite sad to me to watch the students using the computers everyday, but have no idea what they are missing out on.   Many of these students have told me that they plan to go to an arts college when they graduate, and some for graphic designing/digital photography.   I know, for a fact, and from experience, that CS is one of the programs that they will be expected to master when they go on to college.   If they learned how to use these programs now, or even had a brief introduction as to the basics of the CS programs, they would have a leg up on the other students.   I feel as though this teacher is doing these students a great dis-service by denying her students this great opportunity.   And I have a similar view, on her lack of use of the Smart Board.   Why have this wonderful technology if you are not going to use it?   I am sure that there are many other teachers out there, like those at the school that Amanda is observing at, and probably like those that most of you are observing at, and even teachers in her own school, who would be happy to have it if she is not using it.   And, sadly, I now know, from reading Ashley’s blog, that this is not an isolated incident/case.   Her teacher also has a Smart Board but does not use it to it’s fullest potential.   I simply can not fathom why this would be…other than maybe just that some teachers don’t know how to fully use the Boards, and feel intimidated by the new technologies.   This, however, is not a valid excuse.   As we all know there are seminars that one can attend on such technologies, the internet is a great resource, and, if nothing else…I am sure that the Smart Boards come with a book of instructions!   In my opinion, good teachers need to do whatever they can to improve their teaching methods, keep students motivated…and part of this includes staying current with or at least being educated as to the new technologies that are out there, for schools and students, today.        

Perhaps I should not so sharply criticize her for not using these technologies that she has available to her and to her students, but I just don’t understand why she wouldn’t attempt to learn more about their uses and to utilize these resources more in her instruction.   What do you think?

When we graduate from this program, take a position at a school and sign that contract to the county are we really signing away our life and our freedom?

In my opinion when we make a commitment to be a teacher, we are making a commitment to ourselves and to our students to live a “teacher’s” lifestyle.   Teaching is a unique profession, in that, when we come home at night, or go out with friends on the weekend…we are still teachers, and we are responsible to conduct ourselves as such.   We need to be committed to presenting ourselves in a respectable manor at all times, when out in public, or when on public websites such as Myspace or Facebook.   One of the articles in this week’s ESchool News titled, Teachers Warned About MySpace Profiles: Stressing the Danger of Posting Personal Profiles Online, Ohio Union Discourages Educators’ MySpace Participation, discusses this very issue.  

The Ohio Education Association recently sent out a notice to all teachers, imploring them to “Watch what they post online”, in response to a newspaper article that was published by the Ohio Dispatch.   The newspaper article sited several incidents in which Ohio teachers had posted questionable material online.   In three of the sited cases teachers, who had Myspace pages on which some of their “friends” were students, had posted, in my opinion, some very sexually explicit material.   Ohio Educators claim that, as the messages were posted online, it is unclear whether or not the actual teachers posted this material.   They assert that even the site itself could have been created by students, however, on several of the sited Myspace sites, the teachers had clearly posted their resumes as well as other telling material.

I would think that by now we would all know this, however, I can not stress enough how important it is to recognize that anything…ANYTHING…you post on online or do in public could potentially be viewed by a student, a parent, or an administrator!   And when you post something anywhere online, even in an email, it is out there forever, even if you delete it, it is still there.   Do you think that the students who were “friends” with these teachers and who viewed this inappropriate material respect these people as educators any longer?   I think not…

So to answer the question…I teaching just a job?   No, in my opinion it isn’t, it is a life changing committment…litterally.   Once we become teachers we will be teachers at all hours of the day, and probably for the rest of our lives, and it is our responsibility to conduct ourselves as such.  

What do you think?

 School Supplied Lunches……………$150.00

Museum Admission Fees……………$175.00

Museum Workshop Fee………………$125.00

Bus Transportation……………………$600.00

Students Lost……………………………1

Discovering the Magic of the Museum Experience……………Priceless

We all know how beneficial hands-on, interactive learning experiences are for students, and although the experience itself may have been priceless…the physical cost of the field trip was not.   In fact, it is estimated that the cost of the average public school field trip ranges anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500 per class of 25 students; a hefty bill for schools who are struggling to fund even the most basic of their students’ learning needs.  

So, what can we do to remedy this unfortunate situation one might ask? 

Well, according to the E-School News article, titled “Technology Links Museum to Students in High-def”, over 160 institutions across the United States, Canada, and a handful of other countries have started to offer interactive video conferences to school districts in the U.S.   This program was created by and is conducted through the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration, in Indianapolis.   Schools who contact the Center and who wish to participate in these distance learning programs need only to choose a topic, out of over 1,000 topics available, and the Center will organize the conference for them.  

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, is but one of the many amazing Museums that is supported through this program.   The Museum recently built multiple sound-proof video conferencing sets, on which they teach students about anything from Dinosaurs to Arctic Life.   One might argue that nothing can truly replace the on-site, hands-on Museum experience…which may be true, however, all of the video conferences are held in real time, meaning, the teachers at the museums can see and hear the students and the students can see and hear the teachers.   Questions can be answered instantaneously.   Educator, Mr. McShea, at Carnegie Museum believes that video conferencing provides students with different learning experiences that in fact they may not be able to experience when on-site at a museum.   He argues that,

“With our different cameras, there are things I can show a classroom better than if I was actually there standing in front of them.   For instance, a vampire bat’s skull is very small, about as big as your fingernail. If I held it in my hand and tried to show students, it would be difficult to see.   But with the use of our video cameras, we can blow it up to cover the entire television screen.”

And, one of the best parts about this whole program is that it costs, on average, only about $125 per session!   This is a cost that I am sure most schools can afford…especially when they consider the learning benefits for their students.   I mean just think about it…a school could, once a month, have a school wide educational video-conference that all of their students could participate in a benefit from.   An entire year’s worth of conferences would be less than the cost of one fieldtrip for a class of 25 students!   I’m not saying that this should, in anyway, replace real fieldtrips but this is an amazing opportunity that all schools should take advantage of!   

The United States is the land of equal opportunity.   All of its people have equal rights, and its citizens, no matter their race, age or disability, are offered equal opportunities to a fair education, and therefore all have an equal opportunity for success…right?

On March 10^th, as a part of the E. Pauline Riall Lecture Series, Salisbury University was graced by the presence of speaker Pedro Noguera, whose aptly titled lecture, “Challenging Racial Inequality in Our Schools”, addressed the issue of poor school and education quality for many of our students, but especially for minority students in urban environments.   We may think that we offer equal opportunities to all of our nations’ people, especially to our young people and to our students, but the alarming stories and statistics that Noguera presented to us in his lecture would suggest otherwise.   For the students at PS 222, and for many of those in urban, “minority” schools around the U.S., the prospect of an equal and fair education is decidedly dim.   These students, who had been cast out of “regular” public schools and labeled as failures, were clearly deemed by the system to be unworthy of a fair education.   In a sense these students were rounded-up and put into a school for delinquents; a school that was poorly funded, had little to no technological resources, and one where the teachers were either uncaring or had simply given up on them.   Here, these, apparently worthless members of society, could be easily forgotten, and discarded.   But, at PS 222, these fortunate few were not forgotten…through the efforts of many, including Noguera, many of these “delinquents” were given a purpose, and motivated to re-direct their lives.   The reasons for this drastic reversal, I am sure, are many, however one might consider the bridge to their success to be the technology program that the school adopted.   This program, and the technology that it brought with it, ultimately motivated hundreds of at risk and seemingly un-educatable, students to turn their lives around.   This is the age of technology, and students today respond to technology in the classroom.   Although Dr. Noguera gave an excellent example of students, with virtually no access to technology, flourishing in Bermuda, most research, in the U.S., indicates an improvement in student achievement, when technology is integrated into the classroom, and into the classroom activities.   Clearly, this was the case at this school, and it changed the lives of many of its students.

Unfortunately, unbelievable as it may seem, schools and students like these are not uncommon in the U.S., especially in urban, low S.E.S., minority communities.   Listening to Noguera’s lecture made me wonder what the impact of bringing current and advanced technologies to the classrooms of at risk students might be.   In my opinion, it is important to provide all of our students with an equal and fair education, and with this, equal access to technology; from our gifted and talented students to our lower level students and to our students with special needs.   In fact, it is these at risk and special needs students, who may need it the most.  

What do you think?   What do you think the results would be if more work was done to bring technology to struggling schools and to Choices Schools that harbor at risk “delinquents”?     

It was a dark and stormy night…as the storm rages you discover that your beloved puppy has gone missing.   You hurriedly put on your rain jacket and head out into the storm in search of him.   Your search leads you further and further away from home, and then suddenly…you fall…and like Alice through the looking glass you find yourself in a mysterious land, full of winged fairies, magical creatures and dangerous monsters.   You meet a young fairy named Iris, who helps you disguise yourself, gives you a handful of magic beans…and your adventure to find your missing pet begins….

Sound like an exciting new video game or perhaps a new graphic novel series?   Well…it is!   Only, to survive this adventure your weapon of choice will be your skills in math, english, science and mythology.   This new online game is called The Lure of the Labyrinth (http://labyrinth.thinkport.org), and was recently sited in the article, Students Master Math Skills with MPT’s Online ‘Labyrinth’, in the Towson Times.   The game was designed to meet pre-algebra and algebra, national standards, for grade 6-8 students in proportions (including fractions and ratios), variables and equations, numbers and operations (including geometry, order of operations, and modular arithmetic).   Although the game was constructed with the primary purpose of being a ‘math game’, the creators worked to integrate science (ex. in game scientific experiments), mythology (ex. Medusa, Cerberus, and Chemosit), and literacy and reading into the game experience.   Not only can math teachers use this game to motivate their students and to work on their algebra skills, but english teachers use the game to encourage positive reading techniques such as, prediction and tapping prior knowledge.   The game also helps to build vocabulary, knowledge of written folklore, concept visualization and skills in text analyzing.   The story line of the game encourages listening, reading, speaking and writing; students who are in the game can even communicate with one another and their teacher online to request hints and to IM about the game experience.   And if this wasn’t enough…when students enter the ‘fairy relm’ and are guided to ‘disguise their character’, in what would amount to hundreds of different clothing, accessory and character options, and to enter a self created character name, what they are actually doing is developing an online avatar through which their teacher can track their progress.   This way, as the creators stated, ”While the students are enjoying the game the teacher can see when someone is struggling with fractions or has not been able to succeed in completing a specific in game task”.     

Learning can and should be fun!   We learn from play…instead of assigning hours worksheet assignments or book work for homework why not find an online game such as this one to assess or teach your students?         

Sorry Low SES Students…better luck next time…

The Maryland Summer Center program was established in 1966, to provide opportunities for Maryland’s gifted and talented students to work with like-minded peers in an area of ability and interest, be that in Science, Math, English, History.   This program supports, today, over 18 Summer Centers and approximately 780-1050 gifted and talented students, from diverse backgrounds and means, from all over Maryland.   Some of these students do not and and will never have the opportunities that these camps provide-field trips, visits to museums, interactive performances and presentations by renouned visiting scientits, anthropologists and artists, to name a few.   Salisbury University supports one of these camps, the Maryland Summer Center for the Arts Camp, every summer.   The total budget for all Maryland Summer Camps, in past years has been less than $405,000!   A small price to pay for such a valuable educational opportunity and life changing experience for our students.   In 2010 the State of Maryland will NO LONGER be supporting any Summer Center Camps, and will deny this opportunity to our already wanting students!

…Does this make sense to you?   So with all of the taxes that we pay to the state of Maryland they can’t afford to pay a mere $400,000 to pay for the continued education of our students?   This is not acceptable!   Go to www.mlis.state.md.us, and let our state legislators know what you think… 

Wow!   Students have so many wonderful opportunities to learn limitless new things in exciting ways today.   Through the wonders of technology we can communicate with people half-way around the world, we can virtually look up anything that you can imagine on the Internet, we see pictures of explorers discovering a new species in the Amazon minutes after its occurrence….and now…we can be the explorers ourselves!   I’ve just read this article on eschoolnews.com called “Ocean Explorer brings Undersea Science to Life”, the article is about a deep-sea explorer named Robert Ballard who has recently made it possible through a program that he developed called the JASON Program (I wonder if he is one of the illusive JASONS?), for students to control any one of several ocean-floor mapping robots.   That’s right!   Students, in some states, hopefully soon to be all states, and scientists can now actually control  robots who remain under the sea on the ocean floor 24/7;they record advanced video footage and data and report their findings to research centers and send the footage back to the student who is manning the robot.   This gives students the ability to potentially discover new species, uncover lost treasure or perhaps discover the lost city of Atlantis.   What an amazing way to get students involved and to inspire them the want to learn.   The article mentions that Ballard did this in an attempt to involve science students in his work, after her uncovered the Titanic wreck in 1985, and was flooded by requests by future explorers to join him in his next expadition.   As Ballard said, “We want our stars to be scientists and educators,” ”If we sell students on the game [of science], they’ll do the mental push-ups”.   To me, however, this amazing new tool will effect or should effect all areas of study.   Think of the impact that this could have on history teachers who could inspire their students to research ancient ships that hold historically significant treasures, or on English teachers who could relate this undersea search for treasure to the popular book “Treasure Island”.   The possibilities are limitless!   I could think of hundreds of things that teachers could do with this technology.   It saddens me that with all of this wonderful technology students are still finding themselves uninspired to learn.   This is just one little thing among millions of different ways that teachers could inspire their students.   It is up to us to find these things and to use them to motivate our students to learn.   If a teacher had used this technology to teach me something as a young student, I know that I would have wanted to learn anything that I could that would have aided me in my search for lost treasure.   

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