Instead of having more stringent security at airports or wasting time talking about gun control and so on, why don't we invest in ways to actually prevent these massacres? The FBI does a great job already, but if we invested the time and resources that we squander on airport security and bantering for gun control, maybe the could prevent even more massacres.
Remember the key NY slogan after 9/11: "If you see something, say something." And then add a bit more to that, "And above all, DO SOMETHING."
****
Try something new or different every 30 days. I like this idea.
****
More Technology, Less Lecture
I don't think it's a shock to anyone who has ever taught or taken classes (and that includes us all) that today's students prefer to use technology over listening to lectures.
How many of us adults tolerate a lecture about mowing our lawns or putting together the new dresser we bought or building a patio before we commence on such activities?
Very few of us, if any at all.
Yet somehow in school a lecture is viewed as the best way to deliver information.
Not according to the survey above.
Now, I'm not anti lecture. When I have a great speaker or presenter in front of me, that is one of the ways I learn best. But how many teachers have taken classes or done a lot of work on how to deliver great lectures? Very few I'm willing to bet. Instead it often - as was my case my first few years teaching and certainly for the majority of my classes in high school - is the case where students sit quietly and the teacher dutifully goes through the notes on the board.
Boring.
Instead, kids tell us they want this --
Sixty-nine percent of students surveyed at both the high school and college level said they wanted more technology in the classroom. At the top of high school students' technology wishlist were laptops and netbooks, tablets, smartphones, digital content, and recorded class lectures.
And I don't blame them one bit.
I realize all of education can't be exciting and entertaining. I get that. But I certainly don't think the bulk of education should be esoteric and boring.
This is one reason I love using cell phones and blogs in my classes. It keeps things interesting.
*****
Speaking of integrating technology, here is a great info graph.
From: OnlineColleges.net
Want to know what is scary or - as I see it - really exciting? Not one of these things in the infograph above existed when I started teaching just 14 years ago. Heck, none of these things probably existed 8 years ago! What will the next 10 years bring us?
*****
A Guide to F**king Up in the Digital Age
A most interesting article, since we are all prone to do this sooner or later. For me, it's posting a blog too quickly in which I criticize or make fun of a family member or community member. For others, it's posting an insensitive FB status or Tweet.
Because there is quite a bit of truth to the saying, if it's on the internet, it's forever.
This article gives us some good information on how to deal with our screw ups. I like this because, again, it's about learning to deal with our mistakes and failures. That's essential because if you don't learn from your mistakes - you're not learning. Period.
I like this advice about what to do when you Tweet or FB something stupid.
You just posted an insensitive comment on Facebook and people are angry. When this happens, you have a couple of options, the simplest of which is to delete it. That gets rid of the immediate problem—you know, everyone getting in your face about something you said—but that doesn't resolve any of the lingering anger amongst your friends. It also doesn't prevent anyone who took a screenshot from posting it elsewhere should they choose to do so. (Remember all those racist Hunger Games tweets? You don't have to, because they're forever captured on the internet.) Instead of deleting the post, consider hiding it from public view instead. This way you can respond to people you upset (and if necessary, apologize to them), but it won't continue to spread to other people who come across it. If you get to a point where you need to make an apology, you'll find tips to help you out later on in this post.
And the tips (and examples they offer) on how to apologize are vital, especially in our day and age. But the best way to handle all of this - and I've learned this the hard way - is to go by this philosophy: Before you post something on line, make sure it has the W.O.W. factor. And that stands for worth of the world. Because you simply never ever know when something will go viral or make you look stupid. Just ask the waiter who innocently took a picture of the huge tip Payton Manning left him at a restaurant. The young man was fired when the picture got out. Why? Well, first it's bad etiquette. Second, it also contained some financial information about Manning (such as the digits of his debit card).
*****
This New York Times op-ed piece entitled, "Is Algebra Necessary?" is causing quite the stir. I have to admit, though, that I've pondered the question a time or two myself. But I will acknowledge that I happened to love algebra. I enjoyed it in high school, and I loved it in college. Geometry was a struggle and trigonometry was such a nightmare that I had to drop it, but algebra was a lot of fun.
So when I saw this, I sympathized with the author. I know many of my students ask questions like this about higher math all the time.
But then I just read in Thomas Friedman's That Used to Be Us that Grinnell College, a small liberal arts college in Iowa that his mother-in-law attended, had several hundred applications from Chinese students. And HALF of those Chinese students had PERFECT scores on the math ACT! That's scary.
When that happens then I don't think we can afford to even ponder such a question as "Is Algebra Necessary?' It's either necessary or it's going to be necessary to learn Mandarin Chinese!
And here is a great rebuttal to "Is Algebra Necessary?"in which the author takes the line of thinking one step farther, "Is High School Necessary?"
No comments:
Post a Comment