For a long time I was always the kid without a computer for two reasons; My parents could not afford a computer and they thought it would make their kids lazy. They eventually found the money to buy a brand new Macintosh in 1996, I was in 5th grade. My parents were right, all my brother and I used the thing for was to play games and instant message online. Due to my parents jobs they had no need for the computer and therefore had a difficult time justifying the investment. That computer was thrown out about 3 years ago. My mother still does not care to know how the computer "turns on" and my father only uses his company laptop to look at business quotes.
Fortunately, I had access to computers through school and could manage my time appropriately in order to do computer based assignments. Many of the computers (especially the drafting computers) were purchased with grant money obtained by Mr. McDaniel, he was a math and industrial technology teacher at Sandy High. Without his efforts, my marketability in 2010 would be greatly diminished. Swain & Edyburn (2007) said, "80% of jobs in the next two decades will require workers to be technologically fluent."
I think teachers and parents who avoid technology do their students a great disservice in the long run. I am a prime example of this, by all accounts I should be a Digital Native, but in actuality I posses the qualities that reflect a Digital Imigant. This fact is ultimately my own fault, but without teachers pushing the integration of technology in the curriculum I would have been at a complete disadvantage in undergrad.
As a future teacher I believe integration of computer work is not always the easiest thing to do, especially for students who lack the appropriate screen time. I do not believe this is an adequate excuse for teacher to throw technology out the window altogether. Even the disadvantaged students will eventually need to find a job and poor computer skills are going to limit opportunities in future job markets.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Power Point Blog
Math-
Learning where the human race derives our concept of time was a very interesting topic and the power point presentation was very effective for accentuating the facts. (364-365 days) Months are from lunar movements. The concept of day references the rotation of earth. The hour was determined by the obelisk or the Egyptian shadow clock and the Babylonians really liked the number 12. Minutes and seconds are measured by the amount of time an atom pulses. The only part of this presentation that was slightly distracting was the quiet background music that played through some of the slides. Our math lesson with Noelle was fantastic, I generally dislike math, but math can really help me save money when I need to buy a prom dress. Math can make your life easier!
History-
Women’s suffrage and the history behind the right to vote, August 1920. The map that showed full suffrage rights through a state by state example, this slide was the best slide because it could have been extremely interactive. It was very interesting to see the western states all had suffrage upon their founding. Lots of words on a couple of slides (we were told to avoid complicated slides), but all the information was relevant and interesting facts about the states. The Night of Terror; women were arrested for protesting and assaulted for their beliefs. The best part was that Mississippi had neglected to change their laws until 1973.
Health-
Youth violence statistics within the education system are alarming, example - 6% took a gun or a knife to school within the last year. Those are just the students who were caught or admitted these things. The main point behind this lesson was directed at teachers and not students through the idea of being someone who makes a difference for these students. Youth resources offered a practicality to this lesson that appeals to students. This presentation was very simple and drove all the material home, the take home message was evident for all audience members. The only thing I would improve would be to make the slides more interesting with real life pictures and not just the pictures provided by the computer software.
Business-
Leadership styles brought to us by the New York Yankees. George Steinbrenner’s leadership style, “My way or the Highway.” Consequences of this type of leadership style results in hatred, burned bridges, and banishment. But the stats show this business technique can be very effective if it is used by the right personality and everyone buys into the system. The Seinfeld video was perfect for the tone of the overall presentation. One more slide was needed to show the class a side by side comparison of the pros and cons of Steinbrenner's leadership strategy
Physics-
Conjunction junction what’s your function? Electricity school house rock was amazing. Voltage is described as the potential difference, and is known as a scalar. Always from a high potential to a low potential, to measure the potential a resistor is use to inhibit the flow of the system (Voltage/Resistance). Topic was pointed and slides illustrate very simple building blocks to current. The only thing I think the presentation was lacking would be real life examples to help students relate to the topic of current.
Spanish-
High school Spanish class, I thought I served my time in a foreign language class, but I was horribly mistaken. I learned more in a ten minute visual power point presentation then I did in two years of verbal instruction under she who must not be named. The only thing I think could have been improved was the arrows linking vocabulary and definitions needed to be darker and come into the field one at a time. Muy Bien, mucho divertido!!!
My Own Presentation-
After observing all the power point presentations I realized that my topic of Acute Mountain Sickness was limited in animations and one of my slides had too much information on it, similar to the History presentation. I think I forgot to talk about my own personal experience with climbing Mt. Hood and I should have had a small prompt somewhere in my 3rd slide for that.
Pros-Cons-
I think power point is a very appropriate and useful tool for both middle and high school educators. Power Point allows the teacher to save lessons and reference previous topics very easily. The only problem I foresee with power point is the grand amount of time it takes to put the slides together; the start up cost in terms of time is expensive. Also teachers who use power point presentations too often can actually lose their audience.
Learning where the human race derives our concept of time was a very interesting topic and the power point presentation was very effective for accentuating the facts. (364-365 days) Months are from lunar movements. The concept of day references the rotation of earth. The hour was determined by the obelisk or the Egyptian shadow clock and the Babylonians really liked the number 12. Minutes and seconds are measured by the amount of time an atom pulses. The only part of this presentation that was slightly distracting was the quiet background music that played through some of the slides. Our math lesson with Noelle was fantastic, I generally dislike math, but math can really help me save money when I need to buy a prom dress. Math can make your life easier!
History-
Women’s suffrage and the history behind the right to vote, August 1920. The map that showed full suffrage rights through a state by state example, this slide was the best slide because it could have been extremely interactive. It was very interesting to see the western states all had suffrage upon their founding. Lots of words on a couple of slides (we were told to avoid complicated slides), but all the information was relevant and interesting facts about the states. The Night of Terror; women were arrested for protesting and assaulted for their beliefs. The best part was that Mississippi had neglected to change their laws until 1973.
Health-
Youth violence statistics within the education system are alarming, example - 6% took a gun or a knife to school within the last year. Those are just the students who were caught or admitted these things. The main point behind this lesson was directed at teachers and not students through the idea of being someone who makes a difference for these students. Youth resources offered a practicality to this lesson that appeals to students. This presentation was very simple and drove all the material home, the take home message was evident for all audience members. The only thing I would improve would be to make the slides more interesting with real life pictures and not just the pictures provided by the computer software.
Business-
Leadership styles brought to us by the New York Yankees. George Steinbrenner’s leadership style, “My way or the Highway.” Consequences of this type of leadership style results in hatred, burned bridges, and banishment. But the stats show this business technique can be very effective if it is used by the right personality and everyone buys into the system. The Seinfeld video was perfect for the tone of the overall presentation. One more slide was needed to show the class a side by side comparison of the pros and cons of Steinbrenner's leadership strategy
Physics-
Conjunction junction what’s your function? Electricity school house rock was amazing. Voltage is described as the potential difference, and is known as a scalar. Always from a high potential to a low potential, to measure the potential a resistor is use to inhibit the flow of the system (Voltage/Resistance). Topic was pointed and slides illustrate very simple building blocks to current. The only thing I think the presentation was lacking would be real life examples to help students relate to the topic of current.
Spanish-
High school Spanish class, I thought I served my time in a foreign language class, but I was horribly mistaken. I learned more in a ten minute visual power point presentation then I did in two years of verbal instruction under she who must not be named. The only thing I think could have been improved was the arrows linking vocabulary and definitions needed to be darker and come into the field one at a time. Muy Bien, mucho divertido!!!
My Own Presentation-
After observing all the power point presentations I realized that my topic of Acute Mountain Sickness was limited in animations and one of my slides had too much information on it, similar to the History presentation. I think I forgot to talk about my own personal experience with climbing Mt. Hood and I should have had a small prompt somewhere in my 3rd slide for that.
Pros-Cons-
I think power point is a very appropriate and useful tool for both middle and high school educators. Power Point allows the teacher to save lessons and reference previous topics very easily. The only problem I foresee with power point is the grand amount of time it takes to put the slides together; the start up cost in terms of time is expensive. Also teachers who use power point presentations too often can actually lose their audience.
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