hmmmm?
My project site is free.
After reading an article Dr. Cohen sent to me I was a little worked up about topic. ” Selling Lessons Online Raises Cash and Questions” an article in the New York Times, talked about how teachers are selling their lessons and projects online. I have a couple of problems with this…..
1. Teachers are not putting the money back into the classroom. The lesson sold was mostly a success because of your class. I’ve heard from many teachers that they have used the same exact lesson on multiple classes and it only works well for a few. If the students in the class are what make that lesson a success then the students should get back the money it sold for, whether it be new supplies or cookies. Teacher should definitely not be using this money to remodel their kitchens.
2. I have a hard time putting this next thought of mine into words…..I understand that teachers would like to sell their lessons because teachers do not get paid much to begin with, but I don’t think that’s a good enough reason. Teachers know when they enter the profession of teaching that it’s a selfless work if you want the big bucks do something else (but that’s not what I’m getting at). I would like to ask these teachers who sell their lesson where and how they got their ideas when they first started? I bet most of them would say from the schools resource center, textbooks, and their colleagues. How is it fair that veteran teachers get to sell the ideas that weren’t originally theirs to begin with? Not to mention if this fad catches on how will beginning teachers be able to afford these ideas- because we already know teachers don’t make much money.
My project site will definitely be free to everyone. I always thought that the teaching community was special because it isn’t about money. It’s about seeing the children succeed and giving them all the opportunities needed to succeed in today’s world. Some educators out there have great and extraordinary ideas and I would hate to deprive my students from those lessons and activities just because I can’t afford to pay out of pocket for it.
I guess I still have this innocent view of teaching because I’m still a pre-service teacher. Maybe if I read this article again in ten years I would agree but for now I just think about how silly it is. But I do plan on asking my education professors about it this week.
I also think of this as an obstacle for new teachers because we don’t have the money to buy or download or have access to these materials. Which means that my project website will be great for new teachers and pre-services teachers and now I will focus on how to make it more friendly and accessible for that audience.
copyright concerns
Most of us are worried about copyrights and our projects. For some it’s whether or not they can use pictures of article and how they go about doing that. I also have some concerns about borrowing. To get my site started I would have to upload a lot of documents that either my colleagues or I have created. The problem isn’t how I gain access but how do I protect their rights once they let me have access and use their works. In our world as teachers; departments, schools, friends, students, parents, counties and states share their education materials. Not many educators at the elementary and secondary level have a problem sharing and borrowing each others materials but their rights still need to be protected on my site. How do I do this?
I will also have to create terms and usage rules for my project because I want members to be able to upload their own work and of course I want educators to use the information posted. I don’t want to charge a fee for my users nor do I want to limit how many times they can download or copy or print. I hadn’t really thought about that until I read the section in Free Culture on e-books. I’ve only ever bought one e-textbook, and it was of course to save money. I never looked at the terms of usage for the book but I never printed or copied anything either. I’m pretty sure I only had access to the e-textbook for 5 months, which is a little over the course of a semester. I don’t really think that’s fair. I didn’t pay that much less then a copy of the hard back would have cost me- maybe $20. Now that I think about it I should have just bought the hard copy and then sold it to a friend; then at then I would have gotten some money back from it. Oh well.
Project Outline
ABSTRACT
From classroom instruction and grading papers to department and parent conferences teachers have many responsibilities. This project is a website designed for the everyday busy teacher. It takes many resources teachers use on a daily basis and makes them accessible on one site. The resources and materials available on the site are: state standards, lesson plans, assessments, projects, accommodations, field trip ideas and activities, and graphic organizers. Users can also become members of the site and share their resources with other users, leave feedback, and bookmark what materials work best for them. Teachers and others in the education field will find that this website is a fast, easy and convenient tool to incorporate in their daily routine to keep organized and well prepared.
Why is this project needed?
For a teacher there is never enough time. This website is a “one stop shop” where educators can find everything they need: state standards, lesson plans, projects, assessments, presentations, accommodations and more. This is a quick and easy interactive website for teachers to find and store what they need for class without spending hours browsing the web.
What are the main features or functionality of the projects?
The site will be simple and user friendly. It will have a home page with tabs for a specific topic/resource. The tab topics include: state standards, lesson plans, assessment, projects, field trips, accommodations, reading strategies, and graphic organizers. Within each tab there will be documents, links and posts that relate to the tab topic and everything will be organized by grade/age, subject and unit topic. There is also a registration option for those who wish to store the documents and other resources they find. Once a user becomes a member he/she will have the ability to save the lesson plans, rubrics, project etc in their own File Cabinet. The File Cabinet is simple a bookmark tool where users can easily find items they found useful or interesting. Members are also able to post their own resources to share and give feedback on available items.
Who is your audience, or audiences?
There are a few audiences for the site. The main audience is the teachers because it has day to day resources and activities. It can also be a useful tool for administrators, students studying to be teachers, and students.
Will there be any user-contribution or interactive elements?
The interactive portion of the site can be accessed by registering. To register a user must provide a full name, email address, and zip code. Afterward members can choose a user name and password. Becoming a member allows users to bookmark their favorite assignments and items they find on the site. It also gives the user the option of providing feedback on specific items, much like commenting on a youtube.
Wikipedia
After procrastinating for the last ten days I’m fining writing about the wikipedia sites I looked up over two weeks ago. The three topics I wiki’ed were: Gamma Phi Beta (my sorority), Bob McDonnell (Va Gubernatorial Candidate), and the Secret Service (job of boyfriend’s dad). It was interesting to see what was specifically discussed about two of the three sites.
For Gamma Phi Beta the “big” debate was whether or not Reese Witherspoon is an initiated sister of Gamma Phi Beta. According to international headquarters- she is NOT. I guess I need to stop telling people she is. I think for this page most corrections and discussions are made by women working at the international headquarter office- it wouldn’t surprise me if someone gets paid to check the accuracy of sites like wikipedia.
It wasn’t surprising to see discussion about the accusations made about Bob McDonnell on his page. People were either defending him of accusing him of something or another and the dates on the discussion and history are as current as today.
The Secret Service page didn’t interest me any further then the main information page. The discussion and history was mostly correction of dates and history of the Secret Service.
Project Idea
“Beg, Borrow, and Steal” – three words all teachers live by. How do people expect teachers to instruct all day, grade papers, monitor after school activities AND create their very own original lesson plans? Well here’s a little secret- most teacher’s don’t create their from scratch all their lesson plans. Most lesson plans are “semi-homemade.” We get our objectives and projects and rubrics from many different resources like teacher edition text books, teachertube.com, lesson planning websites, teaching seminars etc.
My digital resource idea is to create a interactive website/forum/blog where teachers can post lesson plans, objectives, standards, projects and rubrics based on grade level and subject. It would be like a flikr youtube type site with posts and comments. For example, if I needed a project idea for an 11th grade US History class I could go to this site and click on the US History tab. Then I would select the grade/age level: High School 9-12 grade. Once on the page for specific subject and grade and topic there would be categories for what type of material: Lesson Plans, Objectives, Videos, Projects, Classroom Activities, Rubrics etc. I would pick Projects; and on that pages I would find different projects posted by different teachers and educators on the same topic. After using a project I could go back and post under the selected post whether or not I thought it was a success in my own classroom.
As a teacher I would find this site to be very useful. I currently use multiple sites when putting together lesson plans: one for objectives, one for activities, and one for rubrics. It would be extremely helpful if all the information I needed was on one site. The comments that other educator posts would be a bonus.
Unfortunately, this site would require a large amount of site management- approving post and comments; but I think it would be worth it in the end.
Pros and Cons
Dr. Cohen’s book Digital History (although I’ve only gotten as far as the first chapter) mentions how digital history is being put to use. The introduction explains the beginning of digital history and the seven positives and five negatives of the technology. Some of the positives were discussed in the Manovich reading; but it I could relate more to two of the “hazards” of digital history. The first being quality. Throughout high school and undergrad I was told “NO Wikipedia!- it is not a reliable source.” However, today historians and educators are finding the benefits of wikis- they are not the bane of credibility. The second negative to digital is the “readability.” MySpace is a good example of everything that is unreadable and illegible. The backgrounds and layouts and fonts and colors and pictures and videos equal a giant mess. (Everyone has a least one friend on MySpace that has this mess of a page.)
As I moved on to chapter one, Teaching and Learning, I read again about how technology is improving the classroom. But one thing I feel was left out about technology and its role in education is how much it has affected special education. I can’t explain what a huge help technology is when making accommodations for students with special needs. Maybe this topic is in a later chapter but I will wait to find out because I’m so very tired of reading right now. This also might be a good topic for my class project.
Teaching with Technologies- The Pasts and Futures
First I would like to begin by saying that I was a little bummed while playing with the History Wired website because it wouldn’t let me “learn more.” I don’t know if it was my connection or what but the only information I could get on each topic was the few bullets that appear on the left sidebar when you scroll over it. (It did do more when we looked at it in class right?)
When reading “The Pasts and Futures of Digital History” by Edward L. Ayers I kept relating it back to the classroom. Teaching with technology- it’s a growing and very popular subject today. I know that my education program at Marymount added a technology in the classroom requirement- I recently took the course this summer. It was extremely informative- I created this blog; and found tons of electronic resources for me and my students to use and learn from, including programs that help me create graphic organizers and websites that contain immense amounts of primary resources for my students to study. I think all education programs, administrations, and curriculums encourage educators to bring more technology into their pedagogy. That’s one reason I was attracted to this class because of what I could learn about creating and using digital history as an educator.
When reading the article I was a little confused at first because Ayers says, “New technology has not affected the books and articles that form the foundation of what we teach.” Immediately I thought of how today, 10 years after this article was published, that I got this article online, and that most of the readings for this class are available electronically. What I was confused about was that later he too mentions electronic textbooks and online journals. So how could he have thought that our books and articles have not been affected by new technologies? Furthermore, the foundation by which I teach has always included the use of technology- it just goes to show how strong the technology force has become in the classroom.
And just one more thing about the Ayers article- I was very glad that Dr. Cohen explained the protocols and layers of the internet because I did not feel clueless when reading the paragraph on “hypertextual history.”
New Semester= New Class and New Classmates
Hello new classmates!
This is my second “first post” and hopefully it will explain what this blog is/was all about. As I mentioned in class and as you can read in my bio I’m a graduate student at Marymount University in the M.Ed. Secondary program, concentration social studies. As part of my degree requirements I took a “Technologies in the Classroom” course this past summer. My final project was to create an E-Portfolio that included my Philosophy of Education, a short bio, a couple of lesson plans, and examples of my exploration/trials of programs and webtools that were discussed throughout the class. Please feel free to check out all of the pages; although I must give you a heads up that my products are simple and sometimes very cheesy as they were assignments for the class.
Now, as far as this class is concerned, I’m looking forward to learning about new historical resources and how to plan and create them. I’m also very glad that after our first class I am not overwhelmed like I thought I might be. I hope to get to know all of you and your topics of interest better throughout the course- they all sounded very fascinating.
Best Wishes
After two weeks of blogging, widgets, embedding, tagging, and coffee this class is complete. I have recently posted my lesson plan and this reflection is my last assignment.
To begin, I must admit that I have learned more in two weeks about technology then some people do in a year. I am pleased, yet saddened, to say that this is one of the few Marymount classes I’ve taken that I actually find applicable. Almost everything I learned throughout the class I can see myself using a classroom.
If I had to pick one thing to be my favorite application we examined in these two weeks it would have to be Google-docs. It’s also probably the most simplistic thing we learned about and the application I’ve used most since learning about it. I can use Google-docs for my teaching materials and for everything else I have ever set through email. I hate that it sometimes changes my format but I have hear (and have mentioned it before) that Google is updating to Google Wave soon, and that should help iron out all the little kinks that Google-docs is experiencing. I also have been playing around with the Google Calendar and I believe I have convinced my sorority chapter to switch over to it. I really find that Google makes things easier and that’s the type of tool I’m looking for to help me get through my first year of teaching.
My least favorite technology was diigo. It was one of the first things we learned but I practically forgot about it until Steve asked us to bookmark our presentation resources on it. I spent the majority of my time in class working on the current assignment or looking at everyone else’s blog to really pay attention to diigo. I don’t doubt it could be a great resource for a teacher but I don’t see myself using it that much as of now.
One wish I still have is that we would have practiced using some of the tools and technologies some of the groups presented about. Smart boards are becoming more and more common in schools today and I wish I could have had hands on time with one.
Even though I have my favorites and my least favorite I still believe that the best part of the class was getting to learn all of the different technologies so that I could decide whether or not it is/was the best for me and my classroom. I’m grateful that Steve gave us the freedom to search and make up our own options about every program and tool. I am also anxious to see how I will apply what I have learned in my everyday life and my classroom. I fully enjoyed working on this blog and getting to read everyone else’s. Thank you Steve and my classmates for making the last two weeks go by quickly and smoothly.
