Thing #5

I've been concerned about the fact that I've only been given credit for Thing #0 on our spread sheet, so I've been going through said Things making sure I have crossed all my Is and dotted all of my Ts (yes, I know I screwed it up but I was more concerned with how I wrote Is and Ts . . . is this a quotation mark moment - "I" & "T" - and, if so, do I include the "s" within the quotation marks - "Is" & "Ts" or "I"s & "T"s? I chose to go without and put an end to it).

Anyway, whilst I was doing this, I came across the first non-required blog (Thing #6 I believe) I wanted to add to my feed in Google Reader. It is kind of cheating to use a blog that was given to us to read as an assignment, but the man used the word "halfassedly" and I was in love! What choice did I have but to become a devoted fan to Dan Meyer and his dy/dan blog?! And our affair only improved when I discovered he had created a video of himself paper-clipping for 24 hours! This man is a GOD!

I was scanning the Student 2.0 feed when I came across a post playing off an old Apple ad. As most of my co-workers can tell you, I'm the first person to gripe about how our federal, state and local governments have screwed up education, but I think this blogger got it wrong. The educational system may not be set up to "handle the square pegs", but the teachers do it anyway. We break rules, we fudge the guidelines on assignments, we allow for alternate assignments . . . H E double hockey sticks, some of us will even go so far as making deals with the devil himself to get our "square pegs" graduated on socially accepted terms. Honestly, our students, square or otherwise, are learning so much more than just reading, writing, and math when the attend most of our classes; they're learning how to navigate through society, that sometimes it's necessary to jump through a few hoops in order to get the treat at the end of the trick, that not all adults, not all authority figures are out to get them, that a person can be cool while still following the rules and not doing drugs. Most importantly, they learn to pick their battles. Speaking as a person who has spent her entire life in a school of some form or fashion, isn't learning to negotiate the course what school is all about?

Thing 4

This post started out as a response to a post on Cry Havoc! I realized, after reading it back to myself, that it worked much better as a post than a comment because it actually meets the criteria of our assigned "THING". Rather than write it twice, I decided to just post it here.

The same motivation behind the cynical adult critiquing children's artwork (which is hilarious, by the way) is the same motivation behind the Walmart thing: a good laugh at the expense of someone else. I agree with Cry Havoc! that writing/blogging allow us to criticize in safety that
which we think is stupid (I did read that somewhere, I just don't remember which of your posts it was in). However, when we blog (no matter how noble the intentions), we are then guilty of the very thing we have just criticized in others. The very purpose of blogging, to share personal beliefs and opinions, opens the blogger up to the criticism of all those blog readers who may or may not agree with us. Do we disallow the speaking of opinions (regardless of venue) just because it might hurt feelings? Again, I agree; Kanye West is an utter Jackass, but, sadly, he is only guilty of bad manners and a chronic case of arrogance.

If we want to spout our opinions on the WORLD WIDE web, we need to be prepared to accept the backlash; If we want to put random, anonymous pictures on the WORLD WIDE web, we need to be prepared for the lawsuits that may come. With this in mind . . . I probably wouldn't put my child's picture on the internet, but who am I to say someone else can't; and what if I was one of those that wanted to put Cindy-loo's picture on YouTube? Am I a bad parent? Some argue yes; but still others would understand the desire to share with the world how perfect their kid is (never mind that all parents think "their kid" is the greatest kid EVER!). Should adults respond with vulgarity to a video of a kid? Of course not. Can it be done? Absolutely. It's tacky for sure, but the kid's not going to read it. The only person who could possibly be hurt by said tacky responses is the very parents who posted it in the first place (please see the the first two sentences of this paragraph). My advice: if you're gonna put your kid out there for the world to criticize, DON'T read the responses.

By the way, I agree with most of what Cry Havoc! says, and, I've probably said most of those exact same things myself (with a disgusting number of explatives peppered throughout). As Americans, we have the right, no matter how abused it may be, to vocalize (or blog) our ideas regardless of what others think. It's only when we choose to put said ideas out for the public's consumption that we must be willing to accept consequences even before we put it out there. In the opening to "Thing 4" it states: "Blogging is more than writing. Blogging is reading, reflecting, questioning, researching, synthesizing, linking, conversing, teaching, sharing and expressing ideas."Bottom line, we need to think about what we're saying, writing, or thinking. With that said, "Let's get it on!"

Thing 2.2

I have to be honest. While well made, the videos were both depressing and annoying. Depressing because there is so much I could be doing; I feel under skilled, out of control, and obsolete. On the other hand, I was also pretty annoyed after the first few slides of the first video. When do the education gods expect me to find the time to do all this and how exactly am I supposed to implement these ideas when half my kids don't have computers - let alone internet - at home? It left me feeling overwhelmed and that just made me mad. Technology is only as good as the hardware being used; right now, our hardware is in pretty sad shape. Lap tops don't work; the network connection is ify; printers are finicky; log-ins are faulty. I'm not giving up, though. While I'm not ready to go full moodle (whatever that is), I am planning a research/powerpoint project over everyone's favorite novel: The Scarlet Letter. I also like to keep this blog going once the class is over.

P.S. Please don't push the moodle on me yet. It may make me cry.

Thing #1

Having just come out of masters courses, the idea of ever discussing the importance of life long learning makes my stomach turn. I'm not against L3 in practice; I love new adventures and gaining new information. I just don't feel like discussing it; I'm discussed out. With this in mind, my biggest challenge for this course is #3: Challenges/Problems. Really, this is a very petty problem and if I blog early in the morning before the bitter and cynical set in, I should be able to conquer this problem. Trait #4: Self Confidence won't be a problem. I have no problem taking the bull by the horns and jumping into the middle of the ring even if I make a fool of myself. What's even better is that blogging offers a "safe" venue for experimenting with technology . . . no one knows who I am and it's the easiest thing in the world to put yourself out into the mix if your faux pas can't come back to haunt you. The most important for me will be Trait # 7.5: Play. I want to have fun with this. Please keep this in mind, fellow bloggers, as read my postings . . . if it sounds like sarcasm, it probably is.