Sunday, July 24, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
My Personal Learning Network
At the present time my PLN is fairly limited. Sites I've found so far that I think I will use in the future are Kahn Academy , YouTube , TeacherTube , attheteachersdesk , boxoftricks , pbs.org , and free.ed.gov , which has many different resources on one website. I have set up a Symbaloo account but haven't really learned how to use it yet. I will continue to explore the web and when I find something I think is useful I'll add it to my list. I know there is lots of talk about Twitter, but I have a very basic phone for the purpose of staying in touch with my family. My phone won't even send text messages so it's not really Twitter friendly.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
C4T#4
This week I looked at the blog of arvid grover at www.21apples.org. She had a very brief writing about Evernote Peek, a new study aid that works with an iPad. You make a question and answer study guide and put the cover on the iPad notebook. The cover is scored into sections. When you turn up the first section, it shows you the question. When you turn up the next section it shows you the answer. I think this is an excellent way to study and would be very useful for anyone using an iPad notebook.
There was not a new post on this blog so I went to the previous post. This post was relaying information about YouTube partnering with Creative Commons to allow use of videos and music licensed by Creative Commons in the production of your own videos. This would allow incorporating clips of other videos or music into your video without the worry of copyright infringement issues. Just go to the YouTube search box and enter Creative Commons. There is also an online editor to use that can assist you and automatically give credit where credit is due. This could be a useful tool when producing your own videos.
There was not a new post on this blog so I went to the previous post. This post was relaying information about YouTube partnering with Creative Commons to allow use of videos and music licensed by Creative Commons in the production of your own videos. This would allow incorporating clips of other videos or music into your video without the worry of copyright infringement issues. Just go to the YouTube search box and enter Creative Commons. There is also an online editor to use that can assist you and automatically give credit where credit is due. This could be a useful tool when producing your own videos.
Blog Assignment #14
Frank Noschese vs Kahn Academy
This is an interesting debate if one really believes there are two sides to the debate, but I don't really see it that way. For starters, I completely agree with Mr Noschese's fundamental premise that you learn more by doing than by hearing. I also agree that the more a student puts into solving a problem, the greater the understanding of the problem solving process. When I first started reading this blog about Kahn Academy, I was immediately defensive because I think Kahn Academy is great. However, after absorbing the post, I realized Mr Noschese is not really attacking what Salmon Kahn has done, he is angry about the way Kahn Academy has been promoted, not necessarily by Mr Kahn, as a revolutionary in the educational process. Kahn Academy has been fortunate enough to receive financial support from sponsors with big bucks (ie Bill Gates) and has produced over 2000 educational videos. Obviously I can't read his mind but from what I,ve seen and heard I think Mr Kahn has continued to proceed just like he started: helping people with specific problems or concepts they are struggling with at the time. His videos have become so numerous and encompassing that you can learn a lot of stuff from his tutorials that you might miss in class, and there is the advantage of working at a pace that is right for you.
Mr Noschese is arguing correctly that some concepts (physics in this case) can only be really learned with hands on exploration. No argument from me. However, I think he may be a little extreme in the elevator discussion. Yes, if you build a simulation elevator you probably will have a more concrete understanding of the forces involved. But at some point before you build the elevator you must have a pretty good knowledge of force, velocity, and acceleration, and how to calculate these values for a given situation. I think Kahn Academy does a good job of teaching and reinforcing calculations of this sort. I took a lot of physics and chemistry when I was in college and I have taught both. The labs and hands-on stuff is great for teaching you how to apply this knowledge to the real world, but if you don't know the basics involved and how to manipulate the equations to fit the information available, you're not going to have much success with hands-on, real world applications.
Finally, I think the bottom line is there must be both types of instruction for mastery of any topic to be achieved. First you must learn the basics, then you learn how to apply them to the world that we live in and the problems encountered there. Our education system needs a major tune-up and a lot of people are searching for the answers. If money was not always an issue, some problems could be solved relatively quickly, such as teacher-student ratios and resources available to teachers and students. These are not the only problems, but these are problems. We'll just have keep trying to improve things and maybe one day we'll get there. I really liked a quote Mr Noschese had from one of his students: "Don't hate the player, hate the game". We are all just players. It's the game that needs to change.
This is an interesting debate if one really believes there are two sides to the debate, but I don't really see it that way. For starters, I completely agree with Mr Noschese's fundamental premise that you learn more by doing than by hearing. I also agree that the more a student puts into solving a problem, the greater the understanding of the problem solving process. When I first started reading this blog about Kahn Academy, I was immediately defensive because I think Kahn Academy is great. However, after absorbing the post, I realized Mr Noschese is not really attacking what Salmon Kahn has done, he is angry about the way Kahn Academy has been promoted, not necessarily by Mr Kahn, as a revolutionary in the educational process. Kahn Academy has been fortunate enough to receive financial support from sponsors with big bucks (ie Bill Gates) and has produced over 2000 educational videos. Obviously I can't read his mind but from what I,ve seen and heard I think Mr Kahn has continued to proceed just like he started: helping people with specific problems or concepts they are struggling with at the time. His videos have become so numerous and encompassing that you can learn a lot of stuff from his tutorials that you might miss in class, and there is the advantage of working at a pace that is right for you.
Mr Noschese is arguing correctly that some concepts (physics in this case) can only be really learned with hands on exploration. No argument from me. However, I think he may be a little extreme in the elevator discussion. Yes, if you build a simulation elevator you probably will have a more concrete understanding of the forces involved. But at some point before you build the elevator you must have a pretty good knowledge of force, velocity, and acceleration, and how to calculate these values for a given situation. I think Kahn Academy does a good job of teaching and reinforcing calculations of this sort. I took a lot of physics and chemistry when I was in college and I have taught both. The labs and hands-on stuff is great for teaching you how to apply this knowledge to the real world, but if you don't know the basics involved and how to manipulate the equations to fit the information available, you're not going to have much success with hands-on, real world applications.
Finally, I think the bottom line is there must be both types of instruction for mastery of any topic to be achieved. First you must learn the basics, then you learn how to apply them to the world that we live in and the problems encountered there. Our education system needs a major tune-up and a lot of people are searching for the answers. If money was not always an issue, some problems could be solved relatively quickly, such as teacher-student ratios and resources available to teachers and students. These are not the only problems, but these are problems. We'll just have keep trying to improve things and maybe one day we'll get there. I really liked a quote Mr Noschese had from one of his students: "Don't hate the player, hate the game". We are all just players. It's the game that needs to change.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Blog Assignment #13
Top 10 Tips For Using Technology in the Classroom
1) Use Streaming Video
2) Use music more often
3) Use Teleconferencing Tools
4) Create your own Interactive Exercises
5) Use Interactive Whiteboard more Effectively
6) Create your own podcasts
7) Start your own blog or Wiki
8) Use social networks
9) Use internet tools
10) Make the most of pupils gadgets
Some of these tips make really good sense and could probably make it into schools without too much difficulty. I don't support using music more often, because in this area we would be listening to rap all the time, and I do not believe this would foster learning and i believe I would shoot myself if I had to listen rap very long. Creating lessons and using the Smartboard effectively is a excellent suggestion and could probably be done. Working on the second half of his list would require some intense planning and thinking. He did mention couple of games that could be played using Hot Potatoes and Animato. These games appeared alright and could probably be implemented without much trouble. I definitely agree with blogging because it can several different benefits. For me, the best about this exercise was discovering all the things available at the boxoftricks website. I found many things there that would I probably try to use in the classroom.
1) Use Streaming Video
2) Use music more often
3) Use Teleconferencing Tools
4) Create your own Interactive Exercises
5) Use Interactive Whiteboard more Effectively
6) Create your own podcasts
7) Start your own blog or Wiki
8) Use social networks
9) Use internet tools
10) Make the most of pupils gadgets
Some of these tips make really good sense and could probably make it into schools without too much difficulty. I don't support using music more often, because in this area we would be listening to rap all the time, and I do not believe this would foster learning and i believe I would shoot myself if I had to listen rap very long. Creating lessons and using the Smartboard effectively is a excellent suggestion and could probably be done. Working on the second half of his list would require some intense planning and thinking. He did mention couple of games that could be played using Hot Potatoes and Animato. These games appeared alright and could probably be implemented without much trouble. I definitely agree with blogging because it can several different benefits. For me, the best about this exercise was discovering all the things available at the boxoftricks website. I found many things there that would I probably try to use in the classroom.
Summary of Political Survey
With only six participants this has no statistical meaning, but I'll try to sum up the results such as they are. Concerning party affiliation, there were 3 Republicans, 2 Democrats, and one who claimed no affiliation. 4 out of 6 said they were conservatives and 2 were moderates. There were no liberals. There was a variety of answers for the biggest issue facing our government, including the budget, the national debt, the economy, the war, and health care. One person was unsure. Four out of six are opposed to our government running our health care. Concerning our military involvement in the Middle East, everyone, including a vet that did 2 years in Iraq, think it is definitely time to bring our soldiers home. When asked if their politics are similar to their parents, 3 said yes and 3 answered maybe/don't care. Four of six felt like the voting age should be lowered to 18, one said 19 and the other 21. Four of six felt like stopping illegal immigration was a priority for our government, while there were 2 maybe/don't care answers. On the question of whether the US should decrease defense spending, opinions were evenly divided with 3 yes votes and three that said no. Reflecting the Bible Belt, only one person thought that gay marriage should be legalized, four thought it should not, and one was undecided. When asked if gun control laws were too strict, two people strongly agreed that they were, one agreed and three didn't know. Four of six believed gambling should be legalized in Alabama while the other two said maybe. One respondent felt that welfare should have no limitations, one answered maybe/don't care, and four believed that welfare should have limitations placed on it. No one taking this survey felt like elected officials really represented them, which seems like a shame in a democratic society. Regarding use of the death penalty for crimes, half the respondents felt like it should be increased while half didn't know Concerning the abortion debate, three people considered themselves ProLife, two were ProChoice, and one wasn't sure were they stood. When faced with the statement marijuana should be legalized 2 strongly agreed, one agreed, two said they didn't know, and one disagreed. No one involved felt like the government does a good job of handling money. A question was asked about why people seek public office, with possible answers being to help people, to gain power, to gain prestige, all of the above or none of the above, three people picked all of the above, one said to help people, one said to gain power, and one said none of the above. This survey included males and females, ranging in age from 21 to 46 years of age.
Blog Assignment #12
For this blog post, watch the following videos and write two or more paragraphs describing your reaction to the videos.
When I Become a Teacher
Are You Paying Attention
The first video, "When I Become a Teacher", shows clips of a number of teachers making statements about how they don't care, they can't wait to quit, they're not going to change, etc. If this were the way a majority of teachers were, our education system would be in even worse shape than it is.
I have never met any teachers who would say they felt this way and I really believe the great majority of teachers really care about their students and do their best to teach them. I do think most teachers are somewhat resistant to change, but so are most other people in the world.
The second video, "Are You Paying Attention", takes another look at many things we have seen before. Statistics about how many hours students have spent playing games, talking on the phone, etc. I realize that students can entertain themselves with electronics and technology, but can they be disciplined enough to learn meaningful subject matter with technology. I guess I'm like the administrator in the pencil story; from what I have seen when I substitute for tech teachers about 70-80% of the class either play games, watch NFL or NBA highlights, or shop online. Only a very few actually do their assigned work or spend the time expanding their knowledge of the world like every one seems to think they will do. Anyway, this video does mention an approach a little different. It suggests using cell phones to teach in the classroom which might possibly be feasible since most students (at some ages) carry cell phones to school. The biggest advantage to this would be they already have the phones. The biggest drawback that I can see is how to monitor what the students are actually doing and making sure they are not playing Hangman
When I Become a Teacher
Are You Paying Attention
The first video, "When I Become a Teacher", shows clips of a number of teachers making statements about how they don't care, they can't wait to quit, they're not going to change, etc. If this were the way a majority of teachers were, our education system would be in even worse shape than it is.
I have never met any teachers who would say they felt this way and I really believe the great majority of teachers really care about their students and do their best to teach them. I do think most teachers are somewhat resistant to change, but so are most other people in the world.
The second video, "Are You Paying Attention", takes another look at many things we have seen before. Statistics about how many hours students have spent playing games, talking on the phone, etc. I realize that students can entertain themselves with electronics and technology, but can they be disciplined enough to learn meaningful subject matter with technology. I guess I'm like the administrator in the pencil story; from what I have seen when I substitute for tech teachers about 70-80% of the class either play games, watch NFL or NBA highlights, or shop online. Only a very few actually do their assigned work or spend the time expanding their knowledge of the world like every one seems to think they will do. Anyway, this video does mention an approach a little different. It suggests using cell phones to teach in the classroom which might possibly be feasible since most students (at some ages) carry cell phones to school. The biggest advantage to this would be they already have the phones. The biggest drawback that I can see is how to monitor what the students are actually doing and making sure they are not playing Hangman
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Blog Assignment #11
Mrs Cassidy and Her Kids
I thought it was pretty amazing to see these kids so young they probably couldn't give directions to their house doing so many things on a computer. This is a great way to begin a child's education because they will be surrounded by technology for the rest of their lives. There is so much that can be learned using technology and if they learn computers are a tool and not a toy it will serve them well.
The Skype with Mrs Cassidy was very interesting. It's cool to be able to be face to face with someone thousands of miles away. She was very fortunate to have received the five computers to use in her classroom and also to have the support of the higher ups in her school system. Putting the children's work on the internet is a good way for parents to see what their child is doing in school. I also noticed that the use of the computers was a progression and that she had to have time to get training and to get up and running. Luckily, her system allowed her the time off to figure it all out. Overall, I think it's a great concept and I am anxiously awaiting for this to take hold in Mobile.
I thought it was pretty amazing to see these kids so young they probably couldn't give directions to their house doing so many things on a computer. This is a great way to begin a child's education because they will be surrounded by technology for the rest of their lives. There is so much that can be learned using technology and if they learn computers are a tool and not a toy it will serve them well.
The Skype with Mrs Cassidy was very interesting. It's cool to be able to be face to face with someone thousands of miles away. She was very fortunate to have received the five computers to use in her classroom and also to have the support of the higher ups in her school system. Putting the children's work on the internet is a good way for parents to see what their child is doing in school. I also noticed that the use of the computers was a progression and that she had to have time to get training and to get up and running. Luckily, her system allowed her the time off to figure it all out. Overall, I think it's a great concept and I am anxiously awaiting for this to take hold in Mobile.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
C4T#3
The blog posts I commented on were by Julie Vincentsen at Principal Musings. Ms Vincentsen is principal at an elementary school in New England. The first post was about learning tasks for students to do over the summer. It went on to suggest some fun ways to get kids to do some things. The whole idea is to keep the kids from going backwards during their summer vacation, something she referred to as the summer slide. The second post spoke about Ms Vincentsen going to a new school next year and contained some links to websites she planned on referring back to. One that I liked was one called "Help I'm Being Criticized". Anyone that deals with people is going to receive their share of criticism. The website contains helpful hints and advice about what to do when faced with criticism.
Special Assignment #2
Websites for Learning
Kahn Academy originated when Salmon Kahn made some tutorial videos for his cousins. After a positive response from his cousins and others, he expanded his video production. He quit his job as a fund investor, enlisted some others to help him, and now has over 2000 tutorial videos on the Kahn Academy website. Tutorials available range from math to science to SAT prep. iTunesU is a collection of lectures, labs, and other educational media produced by universities all over the world. TED is an organization that produces videos from a wide range of disciplines. Originally, the purpose was to bring together Technology, Entertainment and Design (hence the name TED) but it has expanded to include a wider range of subjects.
Kahn Academy has a seemingly endless selection of math tutorials, including Algebra I & II, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Differential Equations, and others. One can also find a good selection of science tutorials, including Chemistry, Physics, Organic Chemistry, and other disciplines. There are also videos concerning Finance, Economics, Investing, Statistics and SAT prep tutorials. A teacher teaching these subjects could plan lessons based on these tutorials and then use these videos to help him teach or as reinforcement for what he has already presented to the class.
The videos that TED makes available are generally talks or lectures from their yearly 4 day conferences. At each conference, they attempt to have 50 of the most interesting people in the world speak for 15-20 minutes each. They then make these talks available to the world on their website. At this time, there are about 1000 videos that can be watched and listened to about many different subjects such as medicine, science, finance, human rights, technology and others.
Many are inspirational or motivational talks. These could be used by a teacher to inspire the students to have high aspirations or he could seek out a topic related to the lessons and just give the students a different perspective on the subject.
The iTunesU website contains thousands of videos and e-books that are made available by over 400 universities in the US and others from around the world. In general, topics include any course that might be offered at a university. The subjects are wide ranging, including math, science, theology, the social sciences (history, sociology, psychology, etc), economics, foreign language and art. Some of these productions may exceed 1 1/2 hours, some are shorter than one minute. A teacher could use some of these longer ones for student projects or use shorter ones for a brief explanation or overview of a topic.
At Kahn Academy, I watched the tutorial about balancing chemical equations. When I was teaching this it was a concept that many had trouble with. I was pleased to see in the tutorial that he presented the subject almost exactly like I did, so maybe I was doing OK. You can find the video at Khan Academy:Chemical Equations
When I looked at what TED had to offer, I had to search a little while to find a talk that I was really interested in. The TED topics are pretty random and not organized as clearly as I would like. I found a talk by James Watson, who along with his partner, Francis Crick, figured out the structure of DNA. Their discovery and the gene research that has followed have been world changing. I felt honored to be able to see and hear him. This talk can be found at DNA Discovery
At iTunesU, I watched several videos about Iran and US relations, how Iranians think about the US, and the hostage crisis of the early 1980's. Even though I teach science, I have a strong interest in history and how it affects what goes on in the world today. However, maybe due to the way it is organized, I could not find a "url" for the videos I watched.
I could see the tutorials from Kahn Academy being very helpful. They could be used as a change of pace during class (so the kids could listen to someone other than me) or they could be used to reteach something that had already been presented to the students. Sometimes when you hear something from someone else it'll just click. The tutorials could also be used by students who miss class. I would definitely use Kahn Academy as a resource.
iTunesU would not be as easy to use because topics are not organized and laid out where things can be easily and quickly found. I'm certain there are resources there that I could possibly use if I only knew how to find it. Maybe when I become more familiar with the website I will be able to utilize it more.
The talks found on the TED website cover a really wide range of topics, and appear to be directed at an adult audience rather than 13-14 year olds. There may be something in there that I could use in class but probably not a lot. It's kinda random and over the head of most middle schoolers.
I suppose I was somewhat surprised at the extent of resources available, especially at Kahn Academy and iTunesU. I knew that there were probably some tutorials available, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise to see what Kahn Academy has available. Not only would a lot of this be useful in the classroom, but I can also use these tutorials to refresh my own knowledge, especially my math skills. I had been considering retaking some classes just to refresh things in my brain, but now I don't think I'll have to do that. With the books available on iTunesU and the tutorials by Kahn, I can learn it on my own.
Kahn Academy originated when Salmon Kahn made some tutorial videos for his cousins. After a positive response from his cousins and others, he expanded his video production. He quit his job as a fund investor, enlisted some others to help him, and now has over 2000 tutorial videos on the Kahn Academy website. Tutorials available range from math to science to SAT prep. iTunesU is a collection of lectures, labs, and other educational media produced by universities all over the world. TED is an organization that produces videos from a wide range of disciplines. Originally, the purpose was to bring together Technology, Entertainment and Design (hence the name TED) but it has expanded to include a wider range of subjects.
Kahn Academy has a seemingly endless selection of math tutorials, including Algebra I & II, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Differential Equations, and others. One can also find a good selection of science tutorials, including Chemistry, Physics, Organic Chemistry, and other disciplines. There are also videos concerning Finance, Economics, Investing, Statistics and SAT prep tutorials. A teacher teaching these subjects could plan lessons based on these tutorials and then use these videos to help him teach or as reinforcement for what he has already presented to the class.
The videos that TED makes available are generally talks or lectures from their yearly 4 day conferences. At each conference, they attempt to have 50 of the most interesting people in the world speak for 15-20 minutes each. They then make these talks available to the world on their website. At this time, there are about 1000 videos that can be watched and listened to about many different subjects such as medicine, science, finance, human rights, technology and others.
Many are inspirational or motivational talks. These could be used by a teacher to inspire the students to have high aspirations or he could seek out a topic related to the lessons and just give the students a different perspective on the subject.
The iTunesU website contains thousands of videos and e-books that are made available by over 400 universities in the US and others from around the world. In general, topics include any course that might be offered at a university. The subjects are wide ranging, including math, science, theology, the social sciences (history, sociology, psychology, etc), economics, foreign language and art. Some of these productions may exceed 1 1/2 hours, some are shorter than one minute. A teacher could use some of these longer ones for student projects or use shorter ones for a brief explanation or overview of a topic.
At Kahn Academy, I watched the tutorial about balancing chemical equations. When I was teaching this it was a concept that many had trouble with. I was pleased to see in the tutorial that he presented the subject almost exactly like I did, so maybe I was doing OK. You can find the video at Khan Academy:Chemical Equations
When I looked at what TED had to offer, I had to search a little while to find a talk that I was really interested in. The TED topics are pretty random and not organized as clearly as I would like. I found a talk by James Watson, who along with his partner, Francis Crick, figured out the structure of DNA. Their discovery and the gene research that has followed have been world changing. I felt honored to be able to see and hear him. This talk can be found at DNA Discovery
At iTunesU, I watched several videos about Iran and US relations, how Iranians think about the US, and the hostage crisis of the early 1980's. Even though I teach science, I have a strong interest in history and how it affects what goes on in the world today. However, maybe due to the way it is organized, I could not find a "url" for the videos I watched.
I could see the tutorials from Kahn Academy being very helpful. They could be used as a change of pace during class (so the kids could listen to someone other than me) or they could be used to reteach something that had already been presented to the students. Sometimes when you hear something from someone else it'll just click. The tutorials could also be used by students who miss class. I would definitely use Kahn Academy as a resource.
iTunesU would not be as easy to use because topics are not organized and laid out where things can be easily and quickly found. I'm certain there are resources there that I could possibly use if I only knew how to find it. Maybe when I become more familiar with the website I will be able to utilize it more.
The talks found on the TED website cover a really wide range of topics, and appear to be directed at an adult audience rather than 13-14 year olds. There may be something in there that I could use in class but probably not a lot. It's kinda random and over the head of most middle schoolers.
I suppose I was somewhat surprised at the extent of resources available, especially at Kahn Academy and iTunesU. I knew that there were probably some tutorials available, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise to see what Kahn Academy has available. Not only would a lot of this be useful in the classroom, but I can also use these tutorials to refresh my own knowledge, especially my math skills. I had been considering retaking some classes just to refresh things in my brain, but now I don't think I'll have to do that. With the books available on iTunesU and the tutorials by Kahn, I can learn it on my own.
Blog Assignment #10
Tom Johnson's Adventure in PENCIL INTEGRATION
This was an interesting story. I could tell from Gertrude's title that this was not
an entirely serious story, but I wasn't quite sure what to make of the next few lines about taking pencils home. When he started talking about how the mothers and fathers didn't use pencils, I realized he was talking about computers. It's humorous to think of a pencil being marketed as entertainment, but I think he is correct that many kids look at a computer as a toy, not a tool. But, he may have a good plan. If the parents can learn the basics and they and their children realize what a useful learning tool a computer could be, it might work. And like he said, even if they do play Hang Man sometimes they're still going to be learn how to spell and use a pencil.
About the test scores thing: I don't know if that will ever go away. Even though administrators and big wheels in education get all worked up about it, I think it's more of a comparison than it is a true measure. This aspect is probably not going to go away unless we really start killing on the tests when compared to China, Japan, India and other nations that are beating the US when these test scores are used for measurement. I do think someone can be knowledgeable and very efficient in some areas and still not score well on these tests.
Do You Teach or Do You Educate
I thought it was a neat video, but I guess personally I think it's just semantics. I've taught in the classroom, I've tried to console students who have lost a loved one, I've listened to their stories about sleeping on the floor when there had been shooting in the neighbor hood, I've taken them home after school, I've kept in touch with some after they have left my class, I've gone to their high school graduations, I've tried to be their friend, I've tried to help them learn not just the science that I teach but any other class if they needed help. So I guess I don't know what that makes me. On my file it says I'm a secondary science teacher. Teacher, educator, they're just words.
This was an interesting story. I could tell from Gertrude's title that this was not
About the test scores thing: I don't know if that will ever go away. Even though administrators and big wheels in education get all worked up about it, I think it's more of a comparison than it is a true measure. This aspect is probably not going to go away unless we really start killing on the tests when compared to China, Japan, India and other nations that are beating the US when these test scores are used for measurement. I do think someone can be knowledgeable and very efficient in some areas and still not score well on these tests.
Do You Teach or Do You Educate
I thought it was a neat video, but I guess personally I think it's just semantics. I've taught in the classroom, I've tried to console students who have lost a loved one, I've listened to their stories about sleeping on the floor when there had been shooting in the neighbor hood, I've taken them home after school, I've kept in touch with some after they have left my class, I've gone to their high school graduations, I've tried to be their friend, I've tried to help them learn not just the science that I teach but any other class if they needed help. So I guess I don't know what that makes me. On my file it says I'm a secondary science teacher. Teacher, educator, they're just words.
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