Comments4Teachers

Week 7,8 & 9- Sharon Elin of edutwist.com

7- Mrs. Elin has a post which contains Dan Brown's Open Letter to Educators. She simply talked about the major need for educational reform we have in this country. She feels that all educators agree that we need a change, but unfortunately no one knows how we should go about it. I responded by saying that I completely agree with her. I feel that Dan's video was a little extreme, but he makes excellent points. I stated that we need to continue to spread "discomfort" until something is done about the educational system.

8- I commented on the post "Web 2.0 Costs More Than You Think." She expressed how sites and tools are no longer free and open to the public. Mrs. Sharon said she wants to get upset about these new charges, but she understands that somebody is working those sites and they have to somehow make money. She feels that if a tool has proved its success to her, then she will happily pay for it, but she has to be frugal and not subscribe to every tool out there. I stated that this change is inevitable. We live in a world of web based everything, and there is no way it could be free forever. I agree that we have to support the tools that have been great to us in the past.

9- I commented on the post "Technology "Graveyards." Mrs. Elin was explaining how school districts need to send old technology to the dumps, and hire a professional to discover and decide on what technology will be the most useful for classrooms. She states that many schools or teachers do not do enough research before making a decision, (they simply do not have the time), and there needs to be a specialist to do it. She calls them technology tour guides. I feel this would be a useful addition for every school, or even every district. this tour guide would be dedicated to the well being of the classrooms. This person would not only have this responsibility, but they would teach the teachers how to use the systems. They could introduce useful and creative lessons to use with the new technology.


Week 10 & 12
David Warlick of My 2 "Cents" Worth

Week 10- I commented on the post "He Was Bouncing off the Walls." Mr. Warlick was basically telling about an experience he just had of going to a local school and giving teachers a lesson on web 2.0. He mentioned that it went well, but teachers are going to have to break down a lot of walls in order to improve their learning methods. I mentioned the skype session we had with Mr. McClung, because I asked him about this same situation. I asked Mr. McClung what he thought about tour guides coming into schools and introducing teachers to the latest technological advances, and he said it was a good idea, but a lot of teachers do not want to be taught anything new. I had some interesting and very disagreeing comments to my comment on Mr. Warlick's blog. Please read! "He Was Bouncing off the Walls"

Week 12- I commented on the post "Learning Begs for the New Information Environment." Mr. Warlick was explaining a conference he went to for technology and education. He said one thing that he was most appalled by was a video created by the education department. He said they usually are not that high tech unless someone from the technology department creates it. He met a student who was building something virtual and Mr. Warlick asked him what it was for and the student replied that it was for a technology class. Mr. Warlick asked if he did anything like that for History and Literature and the student smirkingly replied no. Mr. Warlick gave him an example of how to do so, and the student's eyes were suddenly opened to the thought of technology in all subjects. I agreed that teachers often think they can not do much more than a powerpoint, but if we sat down and thought about it, then we could. I mentioned that as teachers we need to rethink the idea of teaching and schooling altogether.


Weeks 13 & 14
Dan Carver- It's Elementary My Dear Readers

Week 13- I commented on a post about teacher evaluations. The state of Iowa (where Dan lives) is thinking to tie teacher evaluations with standardized testing scores, similar to Alabama. He feels that in theory this would make sense, but in reality it just isn't fair. He says that the curriculum changes from district to district, it is not state wide. So, if Iowa makes a statewide test, then some districts will not be prepared, while others may be. He feels that if they are going to tie these two assessments together, then they need to find common ground first. I replied saying this made perfect sense. I explained that my mother taught at a very low socio-economic school, and they started blaming teachers for low test scores. The teachers there knew it was unfair and that they were doing their best, but there were too many factors affecting students' work ethics that they had no control over.

Week 14- I read his post entitled, Do Not Pay /Teachers 100,000 dollars! This post really touched my heart and made me feel proud of wanting to be an educator. Mr. Carver was blogging about how it is often noted that if teachers got paid as much as doctors and lawyers, then our educational system would be a change for the better. People argue that this will bring in the brightest of people to the educational world. Dan feels that this is not what education needs. All this would do is bring in people who do not care about teaching. People have never gone into education for the money, and they never will. . I told Mr. Carver that I agree completely. It takes special people to teach; it takes people who care. As educators we will affect thousands of lives over the course of our career, and hopefully it will be for the better, because we care. If we bring in teachers by an increase of salary, then the majority are not going to be interested in the lives and young brains that are in their hands.