Equal Tech for All!

I found the two articles to be quite interesting. I think its a good topic to think about after learning all the ways that technology could benefit the classroom experience.
Its hard for me to stop and think about students who have limited tech resources. For me, the availability of tech is very high on my priorities. I won't move to areas that have limited high speed internet. I also require my own computer in any living situation, I can't share :(
When I start teaching, it will be important for me to realize that not all students have the resources that I have. I will need to work with those students to make sure they have other ways the access the assignment or maybe even have an alternative assignment. I would like to be able though to provide these students with forms of tech because "In 1992, the U.S. Department of Labor’s SCANS report noted that at least 80% of all jobs in the next two decades would require workers to be technologically fluent." I could give all the alternative work to these tech limited students that I want but I'm still not going to be giving them the proper skills to succeed in our economy. I need to work towards opening more doors!

I will need to push for more computers in my class. I will try to write grants and raise money other ways in order to provide my students with the proper tech. Its nice to see the "netbook" industry really take off because now computer computers are more commited to building affordable machines that do all the basic tasks that a student would need. I'll also make sure to explore all the local options wherever I end up teaching. Freegeek.org is an awesome place that I would totally use if I remain in the area. However, there is access at libraries and other schools that I'm sure students could use.

OLPC is a program that is currently going on in other countries that is working towards giving elementary students free access to computers. Students are provided with durable educational tools. I wish we could work towards something like here in this country for older students to use in the classroom. I know the need here in the US isn't as great as third world countries, but I think its still something that will help even out our society by narrowing the tech gap between students.

"Can't talk right now...... I'm in class"

Sorry kids - I don't like the idea of cell phones in the classroom. I think one of my reasons for banning cell phones comes from a quote on the pro-cell argument - "Cell phones can be audio recorders, digital video camcorders,still cameras, note-taking devices, calculation devices..." It sounds like the perfect cheating device. I agree that it can help some students who might have some difficulties in class, but I'm more inclined to believe that it just encourages more and more students to let technology do all the work. I like Josh Allen's quote that "The goal of an educational setting should be to give students the proper tools to succeed once they step into
society." Students focus on read and writing skills in school, not T9 skills. I see cell phones as one big distraction to students. Large private conversations could be taking place or priority over the lesson. Plus - still not all students have fancy cell phones that are able to do all the things that one of the authors mentioned.
I'm sorry cell phones - but you're out! I'll make sure to let parents know what my cell phone policy is, so everyone is aware of the rules before class starts. I think using cell phones in the class is just not very good or even effective - there are just too many other/better options for using tech.

Chatspeak - What The Fudge is wrong w/ it?

I mainly argee with the author who fears that chatspeak is destroying english. I'm shocked that I feel that way since I'm a big online/computer fan. I want to have as many tech. tools as possible in my classroom. However, I do find that sometimes my own writing reverts to a simple/abbreviated form. It can hamper or slow down my writing. Linda Howard identifies my problem with "switching gears". I'm very used to typing short messages to others that I forget that I can't use the same style when I'm writing something for a grade. I shouldn't expect that my teacher should be able to decode my writing.
As Linda Howard also notes, "The shortcuts and acronyms that make instant messaging, text messaging, and online chatting so popular have no place in academic, business, and other formal writing settings." Part of our job as teachers is to prepare students for the next step and proper writing skills are necessary for this next step. Our society still holds a high value on proper/traditional communication skills. This means that incoming members should hold these values as well if they plan to succeed.

Some questions from the reading are - So chatspeak is bad - now what? Do we ban students from communicating via txt?
I think part of my own personal issues, about shorting my words with texting, can be solved with a couple improvements. Some carriers limit their text msgs (wow, just added chatspeak without realizing it) to 200 words and if you're over that limit then to have to create a whole new message. Maybe if carriers somehow remove this limit, students won't be forced to shorten their text. Also, the trend towards adding a QWERTY keyboard to most phones will allow students to type easier. Can these changes help? Will students use shortcuts anyways?

It is an interesting and important issue for educators. I hope students can keep chatspeak out of their school assignments.

Powerpoint Reflection

I really enjoyed this project. The previous Powerpoints that we've been assigned seemed to just be a wake-up call for me that I need to really put some more thought into them. I really tried to follow the guidelines that were provided and make something interesting and useful. I will definitely included some powerpoint presentations into my lessons. I think it is very useful for myself and also I think my students will get a kick out of it. I'll be sure to continually evaluate whether or not my presentations are effective. If I think they're great but its not translating to the student learning that I hope for, then I'll probably have to switch to some other methods.

I think after watching my classmates presentations, I use some more useful pictures like a big map. My logo of Havard was somewhat pointless to that particular slide. Also, I think I need to make sure I focus on the subject matter. Throughout my planning, I wanted to continue the theme of having the Theodore Roosevelt presentation be somewhat like opening a private personal file. However, by creating this theme, I might steer the lesson towards something that fails to focus on the main subject. I should be aware of this and maybe stay closer to a more traditional method.

I really like the animation in Anna's presentation. Showing the two symbols add up to the grand scale was really effective. Something like that could really help a visual learning and I should figure out a way to add something like that to my slides. I also liked the pictures in the background of Jackies' slides. The use of these pictures, combined with the different fonts, reminded me of a movie poster. They helped to create interesting slides. I also enjoyed the use of Smart-Art in lots of peoples slides, like: Kate, Jackie, and Everett.

In terms of things that could use improvement, I think some slides needed better contrast of colors. I had a very hard time reading the text on Davids' slides. The grey background vs. the yellow text is hard to read. While I enjoyed the pictures in Jackie's presentation, background pictures have lots of various colors that could make part of the text harder to read. That is why I put solid colored boxes behind my text. Another thing that could be improved was the lack of variety in backgrounds. Everett just used one template for all of the slides, which made everything seem somewhat bland. However, I enjoyed all the presentations! Good Job!