Friday, November 2, 2012

Project #11

Blog Post #10

I'm a Papermate. I'm a Ticonderoga.

Papermate versus Ticonderoga

Honestly, I had never even heard of a Ticonderoga, so naturally I googled it. Apparently it is a more classy version of the standard Papermate wooden pencil. Judging from the picture, the 'hipsters' or people in the 'in' only use Ticonderoga's no matter how much they cost because they are apparently the best. When reading the comments on this post on John T. Spencer's blog I discovered that this goes deeper than just a preference of one's wooden pencil. He is using this cartoon to display the relationship between a PC and a Mac. The PC is the Papermate and the Mac is the Ticonderoga.

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?

In this post by Mr. Spencer, I think he is trying to make a point of educational/learning games in the classroom using technology. There are obviously lots of opinons out there that people have about them. Mr. Spencer says that the games are used as a stimulation for the students to teach them everyday life skills, and he relates this to doctors and soldiers how they use this type of learning to perform their important daily skills. I think the principal in this conversation over-reacted about the games used in the classroom. Because the games are engaging and helping our students learn, there should be no reason to complain about them! They are not hurting, they are helping.

In another post by Mr. Spencer is Avoid Social Networking. This post is about interaction between teachers and students outside of the classroom. It seems as if Mr. Spencer is somewhat making fun of teachers who think this is unacceptable. For example, it is said in the conversation "If you see one of your students at the grocery store, just avoid eye contact like they dont exist". I think this is a hilarious statement. Even though we are outside of our classroom we should still be models for our students. Also, another point he is making is social-networking. Class blogs have become a huge fad lately. This way the students can express themselves and contact their instructor anytime they need.


Dont Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

First of all, I must say I love Dr. McLeods sarcasm in this post. The point he is trying to make here is that is is absolutely insane to not let your kids express themselves through technology. There are many parents and teachers, sadly, that are sheltering children from this. Honestly, I think it hinders their learning experience. Children should be allowed to express themselves with their classmates and teachers freely. If we do not allow them to do this, how will we know what their potential is? I think Dr. McLeod makes a great approach to this topic in the way he worded his post. It just sounds absolutely absurd to not allow our children/students the option to explore and learn with the technology that is available to them right now.

Who Is Dr. Scott McLeod?
Scott McLeod

There are lots of wonderful things to know about Dr. Scott McLeod. He currently serves as the Director of Innovation for Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency 8 in Iowa. However, he is currently on leave from his position as an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. Dr. McLeod also is the Founding Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE). This is the nation’s only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators. He was a co-creator of the wildly popular video series, Did You Know? (Shift Happens). Dr. McLeod has received numerous national awards for his technology leadership work. Some of these include recognitions from the cable industry, Phi Delta Kappa, the National School Boards Association, and the Center for Digital Education. He blogs regularly about technology leadership issues at Dangerously Irrelevant. He also just completed his first book, What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media.