Ernest


 * Weekly Reflection: Fair Use Policy

** In weighing the balance at the heart of fair use analysis, judges refer to four types of considerations mentioned in the law: the nature of the use, the nature of the work used, the extent of the use, and its economic effect (the so-called “four factors”).

As I look into the "four factors" with regards to education, I can't think of a way we could violate any fair use policy. We use the resources to help students understand material. As administrators we may use media to help teachers, help students. I can't see any economic effect, unless I am providing a copy of a dvd to all teachers by burning it on my laptop. This would violate fair use as it affects the producers pocketbook. But if I incorporate some media in a "one-time-only" presentation I can't see any economic effect.

Weekly Reflection: Text section II

It is clear to me that St. John's has an endless amount of money and they do not seem worried about how they are spending it. Every student has a laptop. Excellent idea, and it seems as though they put them to good use. Summer courses for incoming freshmen is a wonderful idea. This iss looking more and more to me like the rich getting a head start and the poor getting left out. A woman has the task of moitoring a copier that runs off all student copies. She alphabetically sorts the copies into the folder...wait a second, did I read that correct??? I think the spending has gone far enough...does anyone else find this to be insane?

I found it to be funny when "Tim" was having the students copy notes from the overhead and he made a joke about it being "the low-tech approach. I've not yet converted this content to PowerPoint." Honestly Tim, is that what makes you content interesting, the PowerPoint? It sounds like Tim is caught up in the look of the teaching and not the teaching itself. Maybe when the laptops turn off it is time to make connections with students rather than silly jokes.

It is clear that St. John's runs more effeient than the average high school but I must wonder at what cost? Also, another teacher interview revealed that he was able to cut down a unit from 2 weeks to 4 days because of the student resources. I say fantastic, just make sure we check for MASTERY of the content...remember those resources can be manipulated by students and suddenly someone elses work looks good with their name on it. Content is important, otherwise we would not have jobs, we need to use the tools availible to use to make sure student can go into depth about subject matter, not just do the same work faster. It read as though one teacher was proud to being "getting through more" rather than going deeper into content. Big mistake!!!! Use that technology to let the students uncover greater meaning and share it out.

Linda, a teacher from Longfellow Elementary makes a great point, "Software is not a babysitter here." It is clear that Linda, the classroom aid and the professional in the room are using the technology as a tool to assist the children and a way to address needs on a more 1:1 ratio. Even though she feels she has too much to know at once, it is good to see her emphasizing practical means for the technology not simply boasting that she has it without purpose.

Pflaum addresses the heart of the matter and pats Longfellow on the back at the same time. "I have seen teachers absorbed with the technology instead of the content." Pflaum does not seem to see this at longfellow and I think this should go to their credit. It also addresses the very issue I brought up in the paragraphs prior.

Although we are passed this now, and today's modern classrooms are equiped with grade recording software, it is nice to see that using technology, such as excel, to collect data was important to Ludlow Springs School District. We can do so much to evaluate student performance when we use our technolgy. I remember using Excel to chart all my assessments and being able to show my students the different learning curves. I wish the more modern grade software had those features - i.e. charts and graphs. I always found it helpful to show students their performance visually and compare it to others. The key here is in using technology for the data collectionand assistance in analysis.

Weekly Reflection: Text Section I

I want to spend my time focusing on three things. First, motivation, second, Finances, and third, real life application.

I read that in Harriet Tubman Elementry school some teachers and librarians will not place levels on books as they believe it might discourage students from going beyond their reading levels. I thought that was silly and want some data to support my belief or theirs. Then I went back, earlier in the section and saw a note handwritten not to myself, "no data?" The principal of the elementary school openly admited he had no data to support his expensive reading program involving the use of computers. I have to begin and end with this ignorance. We MUST use technology to record and analyze data. I can see the many purposes of technology but if it includes spending thousands of dollars per student I would hope you have something to back up these expenditures. As an administrator he must use technology better to record data and analyze effective practices - whether these practices involve technolgy or not

A major problem growing in America is the lack of funding, or purhaps poor spending, towards education. Longworth HS is using a technology program that appears to be working for his student population. The program costs $300,000 but the budget only accounted for $10,000. A $290,000 deficit is no easy task to overcome. This is my challage for school districts: use technolgy to evaluate spending. There are too many programs that can record data with regards to spending and "spit out" data to analyze spending methods and trends within districts. How often are these numbers crunched? How much money is spent every year because "if we don't use it we lose it?" We need to insure that our students are given the best public education and provide an already overburdened tax payer that we are properly spending their funds. __Use technolgy to support purchasing more technology!__

Finally, I read something very exciting happening in one classroom and I hope to continue to encorporate this idea in my class. Programs that support the technological skills needed for the 21st century are loaded on most of our school's PC, yet we never use them. Programs such as Excel and Adobe are used in most higher level work places yet we focus very little on the use of these programs in the classroom. I feel strongly that we need to focus on the technology __skills__ needed for the workplace more than the technology used as a medium of communication. It is time for us to begin implimenting technology skills into our curriculum and teaching the teachers how to model and instruct these necessary skills. I hope to read more about the efforts of techers to use programs on the computer to teach technological skills and prepare students for what many refer to as the "real world."


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3-23-2010. Cam across this piece from the La Times today. It is an interesting opion and I thought other may want to share their thoughts...**

[|**http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scribner21-2010mar21,0,764753.story**]


 * Student Nets**

My first observation comes from the student standards. I was happy to read the stadards linked to "Digital Citizanship" as the goals are to educate the students on appropriate use of technology and ethics. For the firt time ever, as a coach, I had to address my players about posting inappropriate images on their facebook pages. It is clear that the students see the digital world as a way to "show off" and not a medium of consequences. They have not yet wrapepd their minds around the concept of the internet being a public forum. Also, specifically for the girls, the digital age carries with it a tremendous amount of danger often masked as fun and games. The idea of citizenship in this new "world" is a great standard to promote.


 * Teacher Nets**

As you know by now this is where I have so many questions. I have to ask if it is the role of the teacher to use technology that may not be essential to the students future. I firmly believe in the advanced word processing, excel training, and web design as these are the most used in the workplace. I ask my friends outside of school if they have ever used a wiki and they laugh at me. But in order to gain the promotion, my wife had to become an expert in excel and presenting budget numbers. I have to ask if we are doing this in schools? Shouldn't this be the focus of our teaching? If the students have mastered social networking outside of class why bring it in the class? Again, I love the idea of ethics training, but I just do not see the point in using things most of my students may never experience outside my room.

All this being said I am willing, with training and assistance to do anything that will help a student succeed. So I do like the standard on Professional Growth, I just question if the technology we are pushing is doing that?


 * Administrator Nets**

This is where the entire idea of tech standards breaks down. It is at this level where I can see the need for funding. Many of the standards call for training and an "environment" that includes technology. All this adds up to dollars and cents. Going back to my last point, is it more important to train teachers to use google docs and wiki spaces or behavior managment and content? At the secondary level we have all but eliminated the idea of the "expert." Instead our professional development focuses on the tools of the practice. We have no balance between content and delivery, it is all content based. I would love for my school to encourage me to take content related courses.

This is Awesome

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