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.