Readings+&+Reflections

1. Richardson, W. (2005). Blog revolution: Expanding classroom horizons with web logs. Technology & Learning, 26(3).

Many students who use blogs inappropriately simply don’t have good role models, in part because educators have failed to grasp the significance of blogs as learning tools.

This is not a true statement. Many of the kids that I have had to discipline for similar infractions at our schools have wonderful parents. Many kids are impulsive and fail to predict future consequences for their actions. Blogs are great, and schools need to develop online learning communities, but an emphasize on safety does not need to be neglected.

2. Richardson, W. (2004). Blogging and RSS – The what’s it? And how to of powerful new web tools for educators. MultiMedia & Internet @ Schools, 11(1), 10-13.

But as more and more people get on the blog bandwagon, more and more teachers and schools are starting to experiment with the technology as a way to communicate with students and parents, archive and publish student work, learn with far-flung collaborators, and “manage” the knowledge that members of the school community create.

We now have free, effective communications tools that need to be utilized at our schools. Every teacher should set up their own webpage. I paid for one site to host mine, but then found out I could do just as much with the free Google Page Creator. However, I never utilized blogs while I was teaching; if I was still a teacher I would definitely add this to my page to have better two-way communication with the parents and students. This seems like a much easier way for students to submit homework and ideas than the conventional pencil and paper.

3. Prensky, M. (2005/2006). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8-13.

Let's admit that the real reason we ban cell phones is that, given the opportunity to use them, students would "vote with their attention," just as adults "vote with their feet" by leaving the room when a presentation is not compelling. Why shouldn't our students have tbe same option with their education when educators fail to deliver compelling content?

I fully agree with these articles that we need to integrate technology into our classrooms to a much greater extent than a boring powerpoint. However, I run across these types of quotes in almost everyone of them that downplays the safety rules a lot of schools have in place. I’ve had phones turned in to my office with terrible things on them. Yes, we need to integrate technology into our classrooms that will develop our students for the future, no, we don’t need to continually put down rules that keep kids safe. I assure you, you could sit 20 kids down at a computer, and have them blog all period, and many of them are still going to be distracted, bored and not compelled or motivated. 4. Richardson, W. (2006). Making waves: With podcasting, anyone (yes, anyone) can create their own radio show. School Library Journal, 52(10), 54-56.

Numerous other podcasts, including some specializing in music and sports, are being produced by middle and high school students.

I can’t really add much to this topic because I am just starting to learn about podcasts. But I do think that students using podcast has numerous possibilities. I believe that the fastest way for a student to learn information is to teach it. If you know it well enough to teach, then you know it. I would love to look into having students come up with their own lectures and recording them in a podcast. That would be a lot more fun for a teacher to grade than an essay paper. I am also going to look into starting up podcast updates for our schools academic and sports achievements.

5. Warlick, D. (2007). The executive wiki. Technology & Learning, 27(11), 36-38.

The team produced a wiki version of their working document and then invited teachers and administrators from across the country to read the document, comment and even submit edits to the plan.

This assignment was the first time I ever used a wiki. I think this is going to be a very effective tool for my job as an administrator. We have had to do things very differently this year because of Hurricane Ike. Some of our plans and programs have been very effective, others need tweaking. I am going to set up a wiki page that has the plans of our current and future programs and policies, and invite the teachers to view and comment on them. This is going to be a great way for me to receive input from the teaching staff.

6. Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40-45.

"Whenever I go to school," says one student I know, "I have to power down." He's not just talking about his devices— he's talking about his brain.

This article is basically saying the same thing as all of the others, kids are bored at school, we need to make it exciting with the use of technology. Technology does need to be used effectively in classrooms so that students don’t turn off their brains when they get to school. 1. Niederhause, D. S., Lindsom, D. L., & Strobel, J. (2007) Evidence of the NET*S in K-12 classrooms: Implications for teacher education. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 15(4), 483-512.

“Typically housed in labs, computers were not readily accessible to teachers and their students who were assigned brief weekly sessions, or competed with other teachers in the school to schedule lab times for their students.”

This sounds true today. While teachers have more access to computers, the experience I’ve had is similar, competing with other teachers for lab times for the students. Teachers would be able to take technology to a whole new level, if the students had more access to computers at school. Counting on students to have access to computers at home is not always reliable, like this year, where all of our kids have been living in FEMA trailers since September.

2. Stroder, R. S. (2006). What every school should know about intellectual property. Education Digest, 71(6), 35-41.

“Employees have no right to use the works they have created without the employer’s permission”

I have nothing relevant to add to this article. I found it very informative with new and useful information to me. Copyrights are something everyone is aware of, but can be careless with at times, which is a good recipe for a huge lawsuit if not careful.

3. Davidson, H. (2005). Copyright primer for administrators. Technology & Learning, 25(11), S2-S8.

“For school and district administrators today, copyright should be front and center on the agenda.”

The quiz over copyright is great. Again, copyright laws are something we all know about, but like the scenarios listed, we can get lazy with. I appreciate this article, and am going to print out the chart and keep it in my office for reference. . . I hope I’m not breaking any copyright laws by doing that!

4 Kruger, R. (2003). Discussing cyber ethics with students is critical. Social Studies, 94(4), 188-189.

“Using illegal software affects a lot of people. For example, the creator isn’t compensated fairly for his work and the manufacturer can’t recover his production investment. Jobs may be lost in the legitimate businesses that create, manufacture, market and support software and its sales.”

I believe that parents just don’t know how much their children actually steal through burning disk, file sharing and etc. The students need to be taught that stealing is stealing. However, I think many adults model this type of theft to their children, whether they know they are doing it or not.

5 Adelman, H. (2004). Teaching online safety. Voices From the Middle, 11(3), 17-22.

“Students needed to see how innocent communications asking for personal information can seem. Therefore, we completed the ‘Proceed with Caution’ gird.

These types of activities need to be taught at a very young age for students. Student safety needs to be a top priority in this age of technology. A growing number of internet predators, and a culture where sexting is done by a very large number of students, can lead to serious problems for our youth. The more safety training we can do, the better.

6 Hitchcock, J. A. (2007). Cyberbullies, online predators, and what to do about them. Multimedia & Internet@Schools, 14(3), 13-15.

“It’s probably shocking to see that students actually admit to being a cyberbully, but it shouldn’t be.”

This is something I’ve had to deal with several times this year. Unfortunately, myspace bullying tends to carry over to school, and a lot of parents want to know what you’re going to do to protect their kids. Of course, one parent will come in with one story and copies of messages sent. Then the other parent comes in with another version, with their own copied messages. It’s led to some ugly confrontations this year. The more training in this area the better, because the problem is only going to grow.