Web 2.0 Educator

I decided to follow and examine the blog of Mr. Wes Fryer, mainly because his passion for history is contagious. He truly understands the essential need for students and educators to remain informed of current events. The Inauguration of President Barrack Obama is a special moment in the history of the world, as well as the United States, that should be forever remembered. Because of his use of technology, he was able to post an amazing photograph and video of the inauguration. He also was able to post an article about Iran, which further proves that he values current world events.

I also loved his ideas on differentiated content filtering at schools. Networks could drastically improve and would provide better instructional objectives and learning needs. For example, many school networks block certain sites such as facebook. Facebook is a new and popular way that students communicate with one another. There are groups and events organized on facebook. These specific aspects of the site could be extremely beneficial in expanding creativity and involvement in school curriculum. The checklist that serves as a guide to filtering differentiated contents is perfect for school administrations that are concerned with questionable networks and websites.

Mr. Fryer was able to use technology not only to express the importance of comprehending what is going on in the world today, but also to provide teachers and innovators with new, unique techniques of incorporating technology into the classroom. The technology presented by Mr. Fryer is exciting for the younger generation and I would like to thank him for sharing his ideas of different technology as a way to keep in touch with important world events.

Type I and Type II Technologies

Type I and Type II technology are integrated into classrooms quite differently. Type I technology merely guides the student through steps and does not contribute to any supplementary learning. The students were not able to obtain full control of the technology that they were using, but rather had to follow instructions of the programmer in a passive manner. Type II technology uses the traditional learning methods, however, it adjoins new and improved customs of teaching children. The child is the primary controller of the technology which enables the student to build upon their problem solving and cognitive thinking process.

There are numerous examples of Type I technology. In high school during our freshman year, all students were required to take and complete a computer class. The computer class consisted of speakers that would consistently direct out monotone orders. "Type A", "Now type AS", "Now type "ASD", were the directions that the whole class followed during the entire period. Our teacher would sit in the front of the class and grade papers. The students hardly participated and remained passive for the duration. A second example of a Type I technology is video games. There are many video games that are interactive, however there are some video games that often guide the users through scenes and steps without actually ever forcing the user to participate. The third example of Type I technology are overheads. Overheads were once considered to be an amazing new technology in classrooms (which, in its time, it was). However, overheads now are not that effective. Attempting to learn from an overhead can be extremely difficult due to vision problems, varying learning methods, etc.

Type II technologies can be found everywhere. One example of Type II technology is iMovies. Students, as well as teachers, can create iMovies to teach or learn a lesson in an effective way. Children are able to create their own movie with their own pictures and music, allowing the student's individuality to shine through along with their academic abilities. A second example of Type II technology is the program called "Alice". Alice is a program that was designed by a group of professors along with Professor Randy Pausch (author of "The Last Lecture"). Alice is a fairly new software teaching tool that allows people to easily create animations for telling a story, playing an interactive game or making a video. It uses 3-D graphics and drag-and-drop techniques to give users a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience. Alice is offered free as a public service by Carnegie Mellon, and more than a million people have downloaded it (you can keep tabs on Alice's progress at www.alice.org). A third example of Type II technology is youtube. Youtube is a fascinating way for teachers and students to learn. Educators can use the program to find or create videos to implement in a classroom or lesson. Students can create their own video as well and are able to receive feedback from other users on the web.

Pausch, Randy. The Last Lecture. New York: Hyperion 2008.

My MEL Experiences

• Interest: In my middle school English class, Mr. Rosenberg loved to act. He assigned us a mystery novel and after we finished the story, he assigned us to groups and each team had to write their own mystery ending. We would then have to act out our mystery ending and the class would have to ask questions in an attempt to find out who the "culprit" was. Every child in the classroom was constantly engaged and their faces seemed to be lighting up with each and every mystery ending. Kids were crazily raising their hands, stumbling over their own words trying to be the first one to figure out the mystery. The activity was driven by the students' questions and curiosity. At the end of the activity, the students came away with reasoning and logical skills.
  
• Context: During a study in high school of history ranging from the Holocaust to the end of the Cold War, our teacher, Mr. Cowan, asked how many of us liked the Beatles. My whole entire class raised their hands. Mr. Cowan then said with a sly smile, "Do you think you know what their songs really mean?" He had the class hooked right then and there. Mr. Cowan assigned each of us a Beatles' song. I was assigned the track "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". Our assignment was to create a real world meaning with each song. I had to personalize this particular song to the current events happening in the world. I related the track to the Vietnam War and the draft. Other students were assigned "Revolution", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", etc. This project not only addressed the musical aspect of the multiple intelligences, but it enabled the students to create metaphors and it enabled myself to envision the song's words playing out in images of young men being dragged out into the jungle thousands of miles away. We gave the songs personal meanings and feelings.
  
• Connections: Mrs. Randolph was a crazy, old lady who wore ridiculously huge earrings and sweaters that came down to her knees. She was always making jokes in class, which seemed to relax the learning environment. She taught Ancient Western Civilization. The civilizations we studied were Greece, Rome and Egypt. For this class, she had an ongoing assignment every week: scoreboards. Scoreboards were objects that we found in the modern-day world that could be connected to the ancient past. For example, when we were studying Egypt, I found a Dave Matthews song that talked about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. My friend discovered a store in New York that sold and displayed ancient Greek pottery. She bought a small pot, took a picture of the store, and brought them into class. Although this was a small assignment, it was a blast discovering how the ancient life connected and influenced our lives. At first, it was difficult attempting to drudge up and discover artifacts with the influence of ancient times. We had some hilarious scoreboards that students found... so funny that my classmates and Mrs. Randolph had tears running down our faces from laughing so hard. Pretty soon, before we knew it, scoreboards were everywhere: it wasn't difficult to find artifacts of the past that connected to our lives. History became exciting because it was no longer a concept that we could not experience. We connected history and how it impacted our very culture. We became explorers. Discoverers. We collected everything we found until the whole entire world, past and present, seemed to fit into Mrs. Randolph's tiny classroom.
  
• Student/Teacher Relationship: Every time I saw a math problem, I cringed. My hands would start to shake and I would become extremely dizzy. It did not matter that I studied hours for the past week; as soon as a math problem was placed in front of me, all of the information I had worked so diligently to retain disappeared quicker than Houdini could say, "Presto"! I had this problem ever since I could remember. However, my sophomore algebra teacher, Mr. Roberts, taught me to stop dreading math. He formed a relationship with me that a mathematics teacher had never done before. My previous math teachers always seemed scary and judgmental. They would consistently put me in the lower classes because I could not keep up with the rest of the class. However, Mr. Roberts allowed me to feel free to ask questions without being laughed at. He spent hours with me: before school, during school, and after school. All of those hours he worked overtime were poured into helping me realize I was more capable than I gave myself credit for. He was the only teacher who realized that I needed more time on my tests and he never attempted in placing me in the lower class. He not only told me that I belonged in the advanced level, but he made me believe I belonged there. Soon, after all of the extra time spent on discovering ways I could overcome my fear of math, I began to like math. Mathematics still is not my strong suit, but I can definitely say that because of Mr. Roberts, I was able to overcome my fear of it and succeed along with the other students in the classroom.
  
• Autonomy: Every senior in my Political Studies class had a major semester project. We were assigned to design and implement a project at the school, community, or state level that was to be presented in class during the final week of the semester. I really had to dig deep to create a project that would be unique. I decided to raise money for the Boston Children's Hospital. The money raised would go to the oncology research center (the money would go to this particular department because my good friend, Jason Durkin, was there receiving treatment). The project was extremely difficult to plan. I had to come up with a way to raise the money. I decided to raffle out prizes. Second, I had to decide what I was going to raffle off. My best friend's mother worked for United Airlines and she told the airline about my project (which I began to call "The Little Warriors"). The airline generously gave me to round way trip tickets to wherever the prize winner wished to go. My second prizes were a gift certificate to a restaurant in town and a membership card to Randy's Local Gym. I advertised and created ads in the newspaper to get the town involved. I would go from neighborhood to neighborhood, from house to house collecting money. At the end of the semester, I had raised three thousand dollars and three lucky people were more than satisfied with their prizes. However, I was far from done. I had to call the Boston Children's Hospital to coordinate with the fundraiser director. I sent them a check and I received a letter from the hospital thanking me for my donations and asking me to come down and meet the children that I had helped. At the end of the year, I presented the project to my class. The feeling of pride that I felt was indescribable. I had managed to plan, coordinate, and create a project that was made a permanent option for the upcoming seniors.
  

Chapter Two: Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness

A girl stated a comment in this particular chapter that captured my attention immediately. She described that high schoolers are going to be disrespectful at times, but that does not mean that the teacher should strike back with animosity. I wholeheartedly agree with this young woman because there have been times where I have seen teachers intentionally ignore students just because the children have insulted them in one way or another.

Teachers do not realize that specifically ignoring or rolling their eyes at one student is noticed not just by that particular child, but it is perceived by the whole entire class. Educators are designated with the purpose of guiding each and every child in the classroom and when they are ignoring a student because of misbehavior, it makes the child feel as though the teacher expects that kind of behavior from them. Ignoring or mistreating any student will have negative effects on the child's learning capabilities and confidence level in the classroom. The student will also have little or no respect for the teacher. I believe that this will be one of the many issues that pre-service teachers will struggle with. New and upcoming teachers do not often realize how angry and frustrated they will be with a few of their students. Educators need to keep reminding themselves that when a child is misbehaving, the teachers are the ones who need to rise above it with maturity and tackle the underlying issues as to why the child is conducting such mannerisms.

Chapter One: Knowing Students Well

"They want teachers to understand the obstacles they face in their everyday lives. But they vary considerably, like adults, in how much of their personal lives they are willing to share with others- especially those who wield power over them" (Cushman, 1).

In high school, it is necessary for teachers to understand the challenges students face in and out of the classroom. High schoolers have busy lives outside of school and this quote did not surprise me because I know exactly how those students feel. However, I was astonished by this statement because I never fully comprehended how difficult it is for teachers to incorporate each individual child's outside factors into the classroom life.

Every child is unique and students do not want teachers knowing every little detail about them, so it is essential that the teacher is aware of the outside factors while respecting the child's privacy. Trying to find the perfect balance between being aware and being pushy is an extremely complex compromise to find, especially if the student feels as if the teacher is crossing boundaries. Once a child becomes uncomfortable, the student will tend to close the small gap of connection that the teacher is trying to make with the child. Therefore, it is imperative that the student is aware of the availability and openness with their teacher without feeling that their privacy is being invaded to a point of discomfort.

Learning Styles Inventory Results

According to the survey, I had strength in my verbal, social, aural, solitary and physical learning styles. My visual and logical learning styles both received a fairly low score of six. In regards to whether or not I believe the survey was accurate, I truly believe that the analysis was bound to be slightly insufficient, due to the fact that the assessment was not extensive. The survey can only give a person so many points for each area and it also did not include all eight of the multiple intelligences. I definitely agree that my learning style strengths lie in the verbal, social, aural, solitary and physical areas. However, I love to use visual references such as photographs, films, etc. Being able to view how something works step by step enables me to remember the lesson long after the class is finished. The test accurately depicted my weakness with the logical learning style. I have never been able to view problems in a black and white mannerism. The gray areas are essential to me while expanding my knowledge. Due to the fact that I had varying strengths in my learning styles, I believe that I could categorize myself as multimodal. I can easily adapt to any mode being used or requested. In conclusion to the survey, I would deduce that the test was an extremely accurate description of my learning styles.

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