INFP...

WTF... I feel that these personality test don't carry any weight. It reminds me of that psychology exercise they usually do in an intro to psych class. The one where they pass around a sheet that has, 'your personality type' or 'your horoscope' and you find out at the end of it that everyone had the exact same piece of paper. It is very clever... how something can be written so that it really speaks to you... and then you come to find that you have just been had. That's why I don't put much stock in this horoscope/personality mumbo jumbo. I remember in middle school, we all took this career placement test. The results for one of the smartest in our class said that this guy should be a 'sanitation's specialist' . . . I freaking garbage man. Now don't get me wrong, its honest work, but the guy ended up as a computer programmer with Intel.

I think people learn different as a result of their learning style, not personality. (not to say that personality of a student isn't going to affect your classroom) As said before, I really don't put much stock into these tests. According to this test though, I am intuitive of other people.. so if its right, I will be able to better know my students... if its wrong, I could just listen to what they have to say.

Excel... at life.. haha

OK, so I feel that the spreadsheet we created was a very very simple one. No doubt useful though. Most classes have assignments, quizzes, tests, etc all worth different percentages. The nice thing is excel can do all that. Say you are teaching high-school or middle-school, you are more then likely going to have at least 4 classes a day... maybe even up to seven.. who knows... You can make one row of formulas, click, drag, and boom... you know have ability to just insert grades and all the calculations are done for you. If your principle wants to know how many kids are failing, you make a lovely pie chart or even see the distribution of grades as a bell curve to see if you as a teacher are doing your job.

The book says you can you use excel for presenting, storing, and calculating. I think as far as presentation goes, its good to make aids, graphs, charts, figures, etc. But I feel that the presentation is best left up to PowerPoint. You can insert your charts, graphs, etc into the presentation though. I've always thought of excel as more of a calculator/data entry/data analysis tool. The data analysis comes in great handy in regards to science. Data as numbers can be fairly difficult to draw conclusions from, but as a graph of some sorts, it is much easier to visualize trends.

inspiring

Wow... I'm taken aback. At first, the video started and after about 30 secs or so I was like, "Man, I could draw thought bubbles... I can outline the good old fashioned way... with a pen and paper." Insert thought into mouth. Wow this program is amazing. Forget about the classroom, I am really considering getting this program to help me organize the dozen or so lab reports I'm going to have to write this semester.

I really find myself thinking, " Man you sound like an old fart;" but I'm only 24. I really think that there are some things that technology is great for, and that there are some things that you have to master first, before you can move on to the fancy programs. You take driving for example; it is best to learn how to drive manual and then if you choose, buy an automatic. In many instances, technology is going to shoot us in the foot. I was in the last generation without technology in the classroom, and even I have felt the devastating effects it can have. If you have read anything I have ever written, it doesn't take you long to figure out that my grammar is terrible. If you have ever been so unfortunate as to review one of my drafts, you know that I can not spell worth dirt. I didn't have technology in the class growing up, but I did have a computer at home I was able to type on. Ruined my need to know how to spell, unless you mean 'there' instead of 'their'.

Now, Alex Donaghy had a great point as far as peer review goes. If in the event that you don't have friends or family, this SWoRD website he mentioned sounds fantastic. Apparently it is a website where you can go to have your draft reviewed and get some feedback. Great.. but call me an old man when I just think that this would be better done by someone you know. If you have access to a computer and the Internet, can't you email your dad at work or your friend who went to another university?

Now... for another foot into mouth situation. Upon further thought, I feel that peer review via blog.. would be a great use for them. It could be a way to have multiple peer reviews without taking up class time. (When I was in school it was usually done in class) It could be given as a homework assignment.. although I'm not too sure how it can be enforced... maybe a non-mandatory peer review type of deal?

I have always been of the thought that if you can teach someone something... you pretty much have mastered it. Most of the time this is true, but it really goes back to who you are teaching. If you are teaching to unmotivated, uneducated individuals, they really are not going to push you as a teacher. I had no idea that this random thought I had would come in handy, but I wrote it down (via blog). In closing read my last blog.

In order to journey beyond the frontier where understanding and abstract meet, we need to be influenced, pushed, or guided by someone or something that surpasses ourselves and our current level of knowledge.

Blogging...

Honestly, yes, I feel that blogging is a waste of time. It wasn't around when I was in high school, and this is the first class I've ever encounterd it. I feel that taking up a whole class to set up accounts for a biology (the area I wish to teach) class or life science class would be a wasted lecture day. If someone has questions or comments about the class or lecture, they can do it the old fashon way... in person.. face-to-face. I can see how the might be of some use in a tele-course or internet based classroom. In that setting it would allow for more class interaction then just email alone. As I stated before, I feel that blogging is a waste of time in the typical classroom setting. I'll get back to this once I read CH 6

Ok... So after some more thought, I still think that blogging would be one of least affective ways to get information out there. A teacher created blog might be the least wasteful as far as time goes. External information could be placed on the blog, such as links to outside websites that might offer expansion on topics covered. Students could interact with eachother and with the teacher by leaving comments that would all have to go though the teacher first. This seems much more streamlined then having student created blogs. In this situation, students could post whatever they wanted and other students could post whatever they wanted in the form of comments and it could lead to some issues taking place outside the classroom, but the result of a teacher's instruction. I see that as trouble waiting to happen. On top of that, you as a teacher, would have to go into 150 diffent blogs to see what was on the student's minds. Also, as Amy stated, it all really comes down to participation as well. In a team, you are only as strong as your weakest player. If you have 15/150 students who use blogging as intended, well thats only 10%. Not a whole lot of feedback and it really would be a waste of that 10%'s time.

(An aside- so in the spring of this year, I took a chem class that was heavy on the integration of technology to assist in learning the material. There was no book, no handouts, not even physical notes. We all had thinkpads and our material was presented on the infoucus machine with you being able to write on your virtual notes and work in interconnected groups.. etc. It is great for those people who have problems with chemistry.. lots do. But for anyone who gets it, its just more crap to go wrong and it takes so much longer to cover material. What that meant for me is when I went to Chem II, I was underprepared. I should have learned things that I didn't because the internet was down, a laptop wasn't charged and we had to switch it out midclass, or the batteries to projector were low, the projector light went out.. etc etc etc... When the technology failed and the teacher had to teach with a board well, lets just say it didn't go so well. )

So, to sum up... I think the only way a blog would work would be to have you (the teacher) start one and everyone comes to you... not the other way around. This way, all content and participation can be monitored. Also, it would be more desirable to have this form of communication only if more convential ways are not possible (ie - online classes)

Hello...

Hello to all.. this is my first blog post.. yay