Zen & the Art of Technology Maintenance

As I understand it, this will be my last entry. My only regret about having taken this class is that I don't have regular access to practice on the various technologies that we have been learning.
One great gift I have is a massive curiousity. Once something sparks my interest, I will pursue it until satisfied. (My curiousity has a downside too, if ya know what I'm saying...but we'll leave that for another time.) So even though it has been rather tricky for me to learn a lot of this stuff, I have kept at it & it's begun to pay off faster than I thought.
I have been using my Freshmen as my ginny-pigs for how I will use Moodles in the future. Now, the other teachers in the World History are getting curious about Moodles. I will begin training my history class on the tech. the first week of the new semester and begin experimenting with curriculum ideas. By the beginning of next year I think we should have some solid cirriculum for all of Wayzata. It's pretty neat to be in on the ground floor.
On top of that, and I know that we didn't study this in the academy course but it is still an offshoot of sorts, I have been learning more about using Power Point in the classes & getting the kids to learn it. In fact, I am working on a long term project to have all the major world religions on Power Point. I have virtually completed one on Islam, and if I do say so myself...it is AWESOME!
What I feel the secret to learning any of this stuff is this: "Let go of your fear & embrace your mistakes." The biggest problems I have seen in the classroom are when certain students can't figure out how to make something work, or understand it in a matter of seconds, then they give up & pout.
I've been telling the kids to make a lot of mistakes because that is the best way to learn. I make a big habit out of pointing out all the ones I make to try and model it for them. Speaking of which, I made a whopper last wednesday. After finishing my power point on Christianity I accidently saved something else over it...and it was to be shown in class the following day.
At any rate, I still think it's a bit of a shame that things can't be the way they used to be & life was simpler. However, that ain't the way the world works. Since there is all this new technology roaring at us, we might as well take the opportunity to learn it and see how we can make it "teach." For some of my students, this is the only chance they get to experiment with this stuff, so I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't give them a chance with it. Plus, the fact of the matter is that it's just a lot of fun. It really is, and isn't that the best way to get people to learn?
Peace, yo.

My First "Moodle"

It's a few days before the new year, and I finally have time to comment on what has happened during the two weeks before the Winter Break. (As I understand it, if you call it "Christmas Break" the Thought Police come and shoot you) I finally launched a Moodle with my Freshmen. "Thank you, Larry Tuura." Anyway, it was a lot of fun, albeit fairly confusing. It's for a class called "Life Skills" which has no fixed curriculum & is basically a bunch of brain building exercises. Those of us in the Alternative Program have a hard time with this class, because it is so nebulous...but at least it gives me the chance to force the students to experiment with stuff that they don't get a chance to work with very often. So I bring the kids down to the media center and have Tina "The goddess of all things technical" Christopherson show the students how to do it and WOW...it sort of worked!!! The kids generally got into it and had fun.
Here were my frustrations: I work with some kids that have attitude issues. About 3 of these kids could not figure out what to do after about 2 minutes, so they pouted and stomped their feet like four year olds. Instead of simply raising their hands to ask for help, they started cussing and stewing. If you don't hold their hand and show them every aspect, then they give up immediately. I get so tired of this that it is difficult to explain. Never the less, most of the kids got into it and even had fun.
Here are my hopes: I really, really, really want to use this stuff in my classes. To me, it is all very exciting. I think that there is great potential for using a Moodle, or a Wiki in particular, in a Social Studies class. (I am very excited to learn how to use a Wiki over the coming weeks) Many of the students that I work with have no familiarity what so ever with this technology. So exposing them to the use of this could be a big advantage for them. Furthermore, it is a great way to get them to think beyond their normal borders.
Long Term Goals: At this point, I would really like to be able to use at least a portion of this stuff for a part of every chapter that I teach...especially in my World History class.
BTW: I am NOT afraid to admit my own mistakes in front of my classes....which can be plenty. I forgot to plug the mobile lab into the proper computer socket & I loaded the second Moodle into the wrong spot. I point these out to the kids to tell them that you really learn best when you make mistakes. If I can admit & learn from them, then they can do it too. It's the best way to grow. (I call it the theory "that you never pee on an electric fence twice.") So, no need for fear there my charming little gremlins...just go with it. Hopefully these guys will get the point and grow from this. Practice makes habit. (If not, sorry to say but, McDonalds is always hiring.)

To quote Spalding from the movie Caddy Shack: "Double Turds"

Well, I have tried for a few days now, but I still can't seem to figure out how to get a posting on Wikipedia. So my cunning plans to see how long it would take for the "Democracy of the Web" to edit a mistake has not turned out as I had hoped. Oh well, I'll keep trying on & off over time. If for no other reason than that Fat Lorenzo's truly does deserve a mention in an encylopedia somewhere.
On another note, I am stumbling through the initial stages of a new project for the students in my "Life Skills" class. This class has always been a work in progress. There is no set curriculum for it. Last year I began the process of having the kids keep a journal. It generally worked very well. However, this year it has actually worked out to well. I have 30 students, give or take, who turn these journals in to me every Friday, and each one expects a written response come Monday, and they get upset if I don't have a decent response to each and every one of them. The fact of the matter is that I simply can't do it anymore. It has caused me to spend half of the weekend responding...and that isn't much of an exageration. Therefore, since this class has encouraged us to use technology that is what I am going to do. I have to make sure that all of my students know their school codes to get online. Then I have to get them all to set up a Yahoo account if they don't already have one. Then, I will spend one class day getting them all to set up a blog on this site. I will have a second account here that they can all link to.
My goal is that every Monday I will post a single question for the week. Hopefully it will be thought provoking enough and will tie in with a theme for the week. The students will have time in class on Mondays, but need to respond by no later than Thursday. I'm sure that it will take quite a bit of time to work all the bugs out, but I am hopeful. It will be very good for the kids who do not have computers at home. It will certainly be much nicer for me too, since I won't have to carry 30 journals home in my back pack every Friday.

Second time around...but pizza is included!

Last Tuesdays technology class was very interesting to me. The second half of the class centered around Wikipedia & the use of the web as a classroom resource. So now I am in the process of trying to put my own entry onto the Wikipedia site. (It's much harder than I thought)
I will confess two items that gave me initial concerns about Wikipedia. #1. The first time I came across "Wiki" I don't actually remember much about it. I don't even remember what I was looking for...searching for information on some obscure part of a country most likely. At any rate, I remember that I saw this odd looking site that struck me as being something some college kids had whipped together. Actually, I will admit that I thought it looked rather comical. I recall that I saw this site again and again over time, and that when I would go back days or weeks later various aspects of information from the very same site had changed. I thought, "Well, what the heck is going on? Where did that info go that I had been looking at?" #2. The second time I heard about Wikipedia was through "The Onion," the satirical news magazine. It did not leave me with a positive impression.
I suppose that my main concern about using a site like this for information remains the same as my initial concern...although lessened considerably. How can anyone be sure that the information present is truly accurate? The idea that there are thousands of editors checking & re-checking information is great. However, say one of my students is doing research and he happens upon information that an editors has simply NOT gotten to yet. Oops!
Now my thought is as always, and as I would assume any teacher would second, that students have to use a variety of sources for any type of research....just like they always did. Problem solved. Ta da!

As far as my project is concerned, here is my goal: (We'll see if I can really pull it off. If I do, then I will simply edit this present portion of the blog.)
As far as my extremely biased opinion is concerned, there are only two places in the Twin Cities to get any truly excellent pizza; Cosseta's in St. Paul & Fat Lorenzo's in Minneapolis. Every other pizza place is second rate. (And let's not even sully the conversation by commenting on Chain pizza parlours) Well, Fat Lorenzo's is close to where I live and will even deliver to me even though I am 4 blocks out of range. (It pays to be a valued customer) I am going to put information about Fat Lorenzo's in Wikipedia. I took pictures of the outside this weekend. Hopefully I can get some inside shots as well. I will make one mistake about the restaurant. I will count the days to see how long it takes some editor to make a change on this Wiki spot. It's probably not all that fair, since it will be an obscure entry, but what the heck. Give it the old "College try," huh? Also, IF I CAN figure out how to do it, I will include a link to the spot for any fellow classmates to pop over and guest edit. Wish me luck.

Wayzata Academy "First Reflection"

"Nothing like waiting until the last minute!" That is pretty much what I am doing at the moment. It has taken me days to actually sit down and have the time to post my first blog for this class. So other than stating my guilt, I should apologize to Ken, our teacher, right off the bat.
I suppose that in many ways my need for this class & the difficulty in finally getting the initial steps up and running explain my present situation. The very first thing that I learned from this class is just how far behind I am when it comes to understanding not just modern technology, but also the speed at which it moves. It amazes me how the information that you have today is virtually outdated the next day. Is it truly possible to fully keep up with change? My brain tells me that it is neccessary to make a constant and consistent effort or be left behind. My gut tells me that our society is buying into a neccessary addiction.
My home computer is in the process of slowly crashing and burning, so I will have to purchase a new one soon. (Not to mention backing up a whole lotta files) I also still use dial-up for the internet. So the second thing that I learned from this class is something I have feared for a long time: I need to spend some dough and get into the 21st century.
The third thing I learned was how some of my students can be rather indifferent to modern technology. (I think it is not a conscious response, but just something they take for granted) I work with so-called "At Risk" students. I actually think that most of them are gifted, and that is why their brains down't function so well in a standard/boring classroom. My goal for this class is to use as many options as possible to spark their intellect and get them learning & growing.
One of the assignments that I have for my Freshmen is to keep a weekly journal. I thought it would be a great idea to have them do some of this in a form of a blog. If nothing else, computer proffiency is a skill that they will need. The day after this first academy class I came in to their room all excited and explained my ideas about this possibility. Their collective reaction was to simply shrug their shoulders and say "Eh, whatever." I love my students. I love my students. I love my students!!!!!!
Never the less, I still see many fun possibilities and I really am excited about trying them out. (Yes! Learning is supposed to be fun.) The questions that I still have are Legion. In fact, I can't really put them into words because there simply is so much to learn about all of this. Perhaps the main question that sits in the back of my mind at all times is this: "How can I make all of this work for my kids so that they really do discover how capable they are & how much potential they have?"
Joe

PS. My Grandmother is 96 years old. She grew up in a small town in North Dakota with no running water. She picked up cow chips to heat the stove. This was my mother's situation until they moved to Minneapolis during WW2. They both remember these as very happy times. (BTW: They never considered themselves poor because they didn't have an I-pod & the internet) Most of the world still lives some what the same as they did. Things in America & the Industrialized World certainly are more convient now, but I am not convinced that we are any richer. In fact, I really do wonder much of the time if we are not selling our souls for the sake of eye-candy stimulation & a good profit margine.