Digital Story

My Digital Story is about my journey from childhood to adulthood, and how I came to be a teacher. I was able to get some great pictures from my childhood, around the village of Klukwan, and my current job at Haines High School. I felt like the story just kind of came together. At first I didn’t know what I wanted to say, but after I got rolling it came along nicely.

The story really touches on how I felt growing up and the pressures of wanting to succeed at my goal of becoming a teacher, not only for myself, but also for my family. At times it was a real struggle. Creating the story made me take a step back and helped me put all this hard work that I have been doing the past six years into perspective. I think that this is a good story and I am looking forward to sharing it with friends and family. Check it out.

Digital Story Rubric

Digital Story

Websites

The websites that I choose below are all important in different ways. The first one is a great resource for educators, students, and parents. It provides everything from resources to professional development to online tools, as well as forums for communication about everything mathematics for people across the U.S. The second is great for teachers of all subjects. It can provide teachers from all grades interdisciplinary lesson plans and resources that can spice up their units. The last website that is listed is one of many calculator programming websites. Graphing calculators are necessary for upper level math classes in both high school and college, so it is important that students understand how they work and get supplemental programming with them.

Math Forum

PBS Teachers

TI Calc Programs

Assistive Tech for reading

I think that the programs in the article sound good. I do have a few concerns. One is would the students become too reliant on the technologies to help them read? It seems to me that when you learn something in a certain way or context then that becomes the way that you understand it. The other concern that I have is that in the reading it states that these programs are under used by teachers for students who have learning disabilities, but it seems that if the teacher didn’t commit to these technologies and only have heartedly used them it would hold back some students instead of help them. But to me if you had a teacher that had the program and believed in using it properly, then they could be effective.

Article Overview (this link takes you to my assignment)

Overdominance of Computers

“The Overdominance of Computers”

By: Lowell W. Monke

Overview:

This article discusses the positive and negative aspects of kids being put in the middle of a computer rich environment before they may be ready for it. Most people have some form of technology that they use daily if not hourly. This article addresses the effects it can have on young minds when they aren’t ready for the responsibility it brings. It asks the question, “Do computers help achievement?” While the study found that the more that student’s are exposed to computers the more it seems to hurt their achievement levels. They also stated that overexposure to computers and technology can create an altered view of the world in which students live in. It can hinder the learning process by robbing them of authentic experiences. The remedy to prevent this type of situation is to fill student’s early education with the types of experiences that will foster their creativity and create strong bonding experiences. The article stresses that this situation should not be overlooked. The fact is that technology is not going away, and it is time to start really taking a look at the effects that too much computers can have.

Reference Points:

1) “Nearly everything children do today involves technologies that distance them from direct contact with the living world.”

2) “...the more access students had to computers in school and at home, the lower their overall test scores were.”

3) 80 percent of kindergarten students used a computer in school in 2003

4) “Nearly everything that a child does today – from chatting with friends to listening to music to playing games – tends to involve the use of technologies that distance children from direct contact with the living world.

5) “How can young people develop the wisdom to judge high technology if they are told from the moment the enter school, implicitly if not explicitly, that they need high-tech tools to learn, to communicate, to think?”

Reflection:

This article gave me some good insight into something that I had never really thought about before. It sucked me in with the first paragraph. We don’t prepare kids for drinking by giving them alcohol when they are young, so why should we be almost forcing computers and technology on them when they are clearly not ready for everything that comes with it. I think that exposure is good for students at a young age, but overexposure to anything is bad. Something else that isn’t really mentioned here is video games. Between video games and computers a young child’s perception of the world around them can become very distorted and unreal. Children need the real life experience and the understanding that computers and other forms of technology are tools and not a way to experience life.

Umms and Ahhhhs

For my Energy Conservation Project I looked at the fuel consumption of mine and my wifes cars. I gave the presentation at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in my math classroom. After seeing the video a couple 10-12 times. I know that I could have had a better presentation.

I think that I did pretty well with my umms and ahhs. I only counted three aaaaaaaa's. Which is about what I would expect. I felt that my hand gestures and movements were pretty good as well. Watching the video you can tell that I didn't really prepare for shooting the presentation. I thought that the lighting was poor, and I kept leaning in front of the projector light. My eye contact was less then I would have liked. I should have had something to read from maybe, or someone holding up some cue cards :) I think that I would have done better if I had written it out, then maybe I wouldn't have fumbled on some of my wording. It would have been nice to have a pointer, but I think that my finger pointing was alright.

Overall I think that I could have done better, but I am satisfied with what I produced.

Energy Conservation Project

My energy conservation project was a study of the fuel consumption of my wife and I for a week and how we could modify our ways to consume less. During the study I found that out of the two vehicles, mine travels the most miles on average. Which is good because my car also gets the better gas mileage, around 30 miles to the gallon in the city. It was interesting to me how much fuel would be saved if we both got bikes and rode to work three times a week. The project helped me put our fuel consumption in perspective.

The presentation that I gave was pretty good for the equipment that I used. For filming I used a higher end digital still photo camera with video capabilities. The sound quality was fairly poor I thought. The only microphone that was used was on the camera. The best part of the presentation was the Smartboard that was used. It made the presentation much easier then a computer and a projector. I like how the project turned out, but I felt that I could have had better delivery.

Check it out....
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y4V6UZJto0
Spreadsheet
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pzPOY-VP2r-lHFoaLCRQmVw&hl=en&pli=1
Powerpoint
http://www.slideshare.net/klukwan_40/fuel-185231

Ed Philosophy

My ed philosophy project was fun. I chose a theme to follow, and you should be able to see it in the video. Just in case it isn't as straight forward as I thought that it was, i tend toward a combination of perennialism and essentialism. Where I believe that the goal of a teacher is to help all students discover and understand the knowledge that is here and help them to uncover new truths. On a side note, I am having a great time this semester and I hope that you can tell with the pics that I took in class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM3fikbURdg