Saturday, September 10, 2011

C4T #1

Student writing with a pencil on paper.


On August 31, 2011 Paul Salomon issued a blog "The perfect marriage/school." He basically compared his marriage to his personal classroom. Paul gave the example of how he and his wife have many unspoken rules and agreements and because of those agreements they have a healthier, happier marriage. He says that the rules they have are simple things like, who ever wakes up last has to make the bed but they are important to them because it helps make their relationship work so well. When comparing his marriage to his classroom he stated that he and his kids also have similar rules to help insure the kids are getting what they need from their teacher. He said that these rules work for him and his students but may not work for every classroom.
Paul knows that having these rules and agreements will motivate his students to do or not to do something because they know the consequences. He is tired of educators trying to find the "one size fits all" methods for the "perfect" classroom. He knows that each child and each school year is different and it is up to the teacher to find what teaching style best suits the needs for the children that year. Paul motivated me to remember that when I become a teacher I will have to find out what the needs are for my students before I try to find the "perfect" teaching style. Like marriage, teaching is a lot of work and you have to work together to make it successful.

On September 11, 2011 Steve Miranda posted "The Gilded Classroom." Steve talked about how school districts around the country are spending millions of dollars on new technology such as smartboards and laptops for classrooms in order to boost academic achievement. He talked about a special he watched on television about a teacher in her classroom with the new smartboard asking the kids a question and each child had a remote answering questions like a game show. Steve argues that that students do not want teachers to disguise the classroom as a game show with new technology however, they want teachers to care what they are doing enough not to rely on technology to teach a classroom. He feels like spending all of this money on new technology may be a waist because children may not like it and want that money spent on other things such as new telescopes or new books.
The blog was an interesting read and I do feel like I can take some things from it as food for thought. However, I do not think that trying to use technology in the classroom as a way to motivate students is a bad thing. Yes spending that much money on something like a smartboard may seem like a little much but, it is helping children be motivated to learn. I do agree with Steve when he said that if you spend time getting to know you students then you know whether or not they enjoy using technology then you can decide to use the technology for that classroom or not.

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