CLRN

CLRN is simply a great website, I know this blog is simply going to be a re-hashing of a lot of the other blogs I already read on this topic, but really, what an unbelievable resource to have come across. I have spent some time going through it and am not sure I have even scratched the surface of what could be useful in the classroom. I am not sure what else to say, there is a wealth of information and ideas available, we should all be made aware of it.

Lesson Plans

Lesson planning is always fun, actually it's hardly ever fun, in my experience about two-thirds of lesson plans end up being a waste. As much as you try you will probably never be able to stick to the specifics of your plans. Questions will come up or the expected questions may not come up, someone may need something else explained to them, someone may want to bring something up that you didn't think of. At the end of the class you are hardly ever where you thought you would be or where you think you should be.

With that being said lesson plans can actually pretty useful, but in my opinion they have to stay away from specifics. I think lesson plans can be more useful if you keep them general and allow them to be flexible. The classroom can not be a completely rigid place, structure has its place, but we need to be able to move in different directions all the time.

Classroom Technology

I love the idea of bringing technology into the classroom, but I think the classroom of the future in the video is a little to cluttered and has too much going on. I almost feel like we are encouraging students to be a little too hap-hazard. The video talks about a teacher circulating the room to oversee the completion of tasks, basically making a teacher more of a babysitter in my opinion. All of the technology is great but it seems to me that at some point it will take the personality out of the classroom. Not every student learns the same way, but in this case we are forcing them into a mold that not all will be comfortable in and furthermore we are forcing teachers into a mold that may not be comfortable.

Different teaching styles is generally what makes a day exciting in the high school setting, how are we going to reach students or keep them from getting bored when they are being told to do the same things every day in every class. Personality and style have got to be just as important to a teacher as they are to anyone else. Technology is great, but too much of anything can be bad for you, we need to have a balance to make sure we are reaching everyone at some point.

Social Networking Videos...

The two gentlemen in the first video confused me a bit, odd to think about the simplicity of a book, and that at some point it was a new, novel idea, that needed to be explained. It made me think about how I would instruct someone to open and read a book and what to do when they are done, and furthermore how would I explain other really simple tasks...like creating a blog or navigating the internet! Then in turn made me think about the way I explain things in my classroom, am I simplifying enough? or too much? Am I encouraging them to think? I'd like to believe I am and have been careful to choose my words, but I think for the next few days anyway I will be a little more conscious of it...I think I overthought the video a little.

Videos like the second and third videos regarding social networking and internet safety always frighten me a little bit and make me nervous for my students. I know they all have Facebook and Myspace pages and I fear exactly what goes on when they become faceless internet users. I've seen fights between kids and heard some downright MEAN things passed amongst students when they are face-to-face, I can't imagine what goes on when they do not have to look each other in the eyes and are simply typing to a screen. You'd like to think these kids would be nicer to each other but as we saw in the video even polar bears can have a mean streak...

Webpage...

I have completed my web-page although I have not released the information to my students yet. I think I am going to wait until the beginning of next year before I do so. I think I am going to continue to update it and use the 4th quarter as a practice for keeping it up to date. Hopefully by next year it will be part of the routine for me and rather than a hassle, it will just be part of the class and my preparation.

As I said before I actually thought scholastic was easy to use and I like the items they suggest you use on class pages. Navigation was simple and while I do not like all of the advertisements and things that ended up on the sides of the page, the rest of the layout is good. All in all I think this is something that is definitely going to be a part of my class, I like the idea of extending the classroom to the home. We are living in a "point and click" world, web-based education is becoming the best way to reach our students.

Webpage...

I've been working tirelessly on my webpage, trying to figure out exactly how often it needs to be updated and what to include. At one point I think I was over-updating, trying to include everything I could think of and everything I came across that I thought would have some relevance. Unfortunately and obviously this was just too much, so I decided on a different course of action. I decided that while it is not operational just yet i would update it as if it were. I think by doing this I can practice keeping up with what needs to be included and at the same time figure out what is useful. So far I have worked out a pretty good system of updating about twice a week and am hoping that by the time this project is due, there will be about 3 weeks of assignments and information on it.

Building A Webpage II

So I have been building my web page and it coming along very easily. Scholastic is simple and extremely user-friendly, which is making the process that much easier.

The challenge so far has been in determining what needs to be included and how often it would have to be updated or rather how often I would be able to update it. I think a class webpage should be a supplement to the classroom but also include information about required assignments. It is because of this that I am afraid there will be too much on the page and may lead to navigation problems, as well as students being a bit overwhelmed, especially at in the first few weeks.

Knowing that I had online classes even during my under-grad days and knowing that online and hybrid classes are really becoming more and more common, I think it is an important to include things like this in high schools even at a basic level. Which brings me back to the original problem, I want this to be functional and can not decide exactly how in depth to go right away.