Can Wikipedia Ever Be Trusted?

I had never really used wikipedia but a few times. And I thought it was all legit. But now I really have mixed emotions about the web site. And not only because you don't know if the information is true but you also don't know the intentions of the individuals editing what kind of information is on there. I thought this was a web site that a research team does. And maybe only the research team could edit or update. But was I so wrong! But thanks to Virgil Griffith who was the genius who discovered a way to tell who is editing this site. So whether or not this site could ever be a "trusted" site for information is unknown. But if I was doing research on a topic, I wouldn't just rely on wikipedia itself. I would research and consider other sources of information as well.

"Best of the Fischbowl 2007"

I decided to do my blog on 180 Days? . This blog post was posted on April 13, 2007. I was surprised to actually see this topic because in the Mobile County School System, we just had the option of voting on the new school year calendar for next year. And of course all 3 options had to have included the 180 Instructional days stipulation. I honestly didn't realize we had that stipulation, until discussing our calendar options with another teacher.

As we were discussing our options for the new calendar year, we talked about the early dismissal days that we once had before the holidays. At one point in time before major holidays, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, students were allowed to be dismissed 3 hours early. We also talked about when we were in school and how we would get out early after each quarters major exams. But not only do students NOT get out before major holidays now, they also do NOT get out after the end of the quarter exam test, like the CRT's. The main focus these days are on making sure students are in an instructional setting for 180 days and no less.

But the blog 180 Days? shed some serious light on how 180 days are used so quickly. When you take into account all the test days, absences from both teachers and students, days used to review for final exams or CRT's, final exam days, days used for holiday celebrations, field trips, etc., those 180 days used for instructional purposes deplete down to about 120-125, give or take. And after viewing the slide show, those other 60+ days aren't used for instructional purposes only. But teachers aren't to blame. Working in the school system, I noticed that we have some hard working, dedicated teachers. And they are great with students. But, there is soo much pressure being placed on them to teach and cover more material in a short period of time. And it's solely to get students prepared for those major end of the quarter test/exams. Teachers have to push, push, push for students to learn all this material so that the scores on their test, e.g. CRT's, are acceptable. Unfortunately, students become bored and burnt out with school.

So 180 "instructional" days to teach is very needed but I don't think it's being used in the proper way. It's hard to say schools shouldn't have days to celebrate holidays, or have pep rallies. But as much as the year's focus is on testing scores, those days are well needed and deserved. Personally, I believe those other 60 or so days aren't "Wasted on the Way" as the song implies by Crosby, Stills, and Nash . Especially when the teachers have been instructed to cover and push for more material to be covered in half the time. This is a questionable topic and I'm glad I was able to view this blog post.

Fall Podcasts Reviews

This blog is a review on last semesters podcasts done by USA students. The first podcast I listened to was titled Possibilities for Using Facebook in an Educational Setting . The podcasters are Allison Midgette and Shaundretta Bethel. As a beginning listener of podcasts, I didn't know exactly how to critique a podcast show. But because of a prior blog assignment where I had to listen to several podcasts, I knew that one thing you should have in a podcast is conversation among the podcasters. And even though this particular podcast was very well informing, there was a lack of conversation amongst the podcasters. I think they did exceptionally well as far as providing research information to their listeners, but that was basically it.

In this podcast, they discussed different tools that can be used on Facebook by both students and teachers/Administrators. This information was useful because as a user of Facebook, I didn't know it could be used in an educational way. I just basically use it as a social means of meeting new people and getting or keeping in contact with old friends. So the research that they did was great. But I would have liked to have heard more interaction between the two.




The next podcast I listened to was called Useful Internet Sites for Elementary Teachers . This podcast was done by Rosilynn Harris, Marlena Marsh, and Tomeka Washington. I also found this podcast to be very informative. This topic was based on web sites Elementary Teachers could use in their classroom for their professional use and for their students. Each person took turns telling listeners specific sites they found and what each site is used for. One site I thought was interesting was Edhelper . This site offers worksheets that teachers could use to assign homework on and its also useful for parents because they could use it to help their child with their homework. But they also didn't really converse on the topic. They basically sounded like they were reading their research.


So I received a lot of information that would be useful for me as a future Elementary Teacher while listening to these podcasts, but it was kinda boring. There wasn't any talking or laughing that I had listened to in those podcasts done by professional podcasters on itunes. So that's what I was looking for, but didn't get. So that's one technique I plan to implement in my groups podcast.

Professor Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"

This week blog topic was about Randy Pausch. A computer science professor who passed away from pancreatic cancer on the 25TH of July, 2008. Professor Pausch inspired many at Carnegie Mellon University when he delivered his last lecture, "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" . This lecture, come to find out, was a "head-fake" lesson, as Professor Pausch would say, for the real lesson on how to live your life the right way. Personally, I had never heard of Professor Pausch until now, but after watching his lecture, I wish I had.

In his lecture, Professor Pausch starts by telling his audience what his childhood dreams were. And after discussing them with some comical jokes, here and there, and telling how he achieved them, he begins to give pointers or teaching methods, on how others can achieve their dreams. His lessons learned pointers included things like: indirect learning, or "head-fake". This means teaching one way to "secretly" learn the hidden objective. But make learning whatever the objective is fun, which is another method. Students would be more eager to learn if they are engaged and having fun. Another method he discusses is to help students become more self-reflective. Even if they are doing well, push them to be better. And as a teacher, as his next method points out, don't think you know everything. Even teachers can still learn from their students. Professor Pausch also tells us to help others, be loyal, and never give up. No matter how long it may take, just hang in there and it will pay off in the end.

Towards the end of the lecture, Professor Randy Pausch tells his listeners that there are ways to get others to help you. And the first way is by Karma . And I truly agree with him on that. I've always heard the saying, "what goes around, comes around". And that has been true in all situations that I've seen. So you have to be careful with how you treat others and with the things you do. Professor Pausch also lectured on honesty, being earnest, apologizing when you have done wrong by someone, and focusing on others, not just on yourself. He showed a great and loving example of that by wishing his wife a happy birthday towards the end.

I believe we all can benefit from watching professor Pausch's lecture. The title is "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" but it was to teach a more important lesson. That lesson is how we,as individuals, should be living our lives. This lecture is very inspirational. It's not only for students, or educators, but for all human beings who have or had a dream. I like a lot of the quotes Professor Pausch used, but the main point he was trying to get across to his listeners is "when you do the right thing in life, good things will happen, good things (dreams) will come to you"!

Podcasts

The first podcast: Smartboard Lessons not only has on objective of connecting with teachers, but with parents also.So teachers can work together with other teachers to storm up new educational ideas and get suggestions on problem solving ideas for students. And parents can connect with the students teacher to get a deeper understanding of what needs to be included in certain projects. Ben and Joan discusses two data collection sites that they thought would be of interest for teachers. They were The Feltron Report and Datum . These sites were given as idea "grabbers" for ways teachers could have students collect and manage data. For example, students can keep track of the number of books they may read in a certain period of time. And then they can conclude or analyze what the data information means to them.





Kidcast is a podcast where Mr. Dan Schmit is trying to get teachers to see that most podcasts that are done by students is basically following the "how to do a podcast" format. After searching the web, he was disappointed to find most of the podcast didn't have much learning behind it. It was merely the point of getting a podcast done. Intelligenic is the link he gives to offer ideas and/or comments on ways teachers can help students become more creative with podcasting.










On the podcast Connect Learning #96 with David Warlick, he was at a educators conference and they discussed how technology is making more students put more effort into their work. When we grew up, we only had books, pens, and paper to be creative, along with our imagination. At those times learning was dull and boring. Now, students can use the computer to take responsibilities for their own creativity and it helps keep them focused and interested in what they're learning. You can visit the site ConnectLearning .


The next podcast is Edtechtalk . They featured a guest speaker named Carol Broos. She is a music teacher for 4Th thru 8Th grade students and has taught for 31 years. She was 1 out of a group off 11 people choosen to make an educational DVD with Golden Apple. She talks about how 2 main issues that were discussed at the round table was 1) the high drop-out rate and 2)how to keep students engaged in their everyday schooling. Teacher preparation was also discussed but the "No Child Left Behind" issue wasn't really an important topic. She also made a point that really caught my attention with the educational systems being in debt. She stated that a mad said on the taxes form where you can check a box to donate a $1 to politicians, it should be changed to give a $1 to education. I think that's a wonderful suggestion!!





This podcast is designed and entertaining to those listeners who are familiar with McIntosh and apple. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people. But, the caster provided the latest news, like what the top social technology gadgets are. The apple Iphone ranked in at #1. These guys are actually pretty funny but to get an understanding of what they are talking about you have to pay close attention. They almost sound as if they have their own radio show.





In the last podcast This Week In Photography , the casters talked about photography and videos and how to use videos to promote businesses. Guest speaker Vui Bui talks about his workshops and how they kelp people with creating videos or pictures by choosing the best selection of cameras and video cameras, and the pros and cons of each. You can find plenty of information on photography at cameradojo if you're interested in that type of work or as a hobby.

How Blogs Are Being Used Internationally!

Australian Educators are using blogs just as Americans do. . .to inform, to instruct, and to connect with others around the world. Concetta Gotlieb is an Australian school teacher who likes using the latest in technology to create a fun learning environment. She offers links to other Australian bloggers who use blogging to help inform and enforce education and technology. A site called me.edu.au is used to set up a profile for bloggers to share information, photos, etc., and connect with other online educational teachers who have similar ideas.







Jim Hall "Jimbo" is an English teacher who lives and teaches in Japan. He uses blogs for his students to become proficient in speaking and reading the English language. On the link class blog , he provides group or individual projects for students who want to become English teachers. He posts their assignments and due dates to have projects completed. Students have the opportunity to not only have contacts with English teachers in Japan, but from around the world. And they post blogs about their learning/teaching experiences.

How American Educators Use Blogs!

In Mrs. Cassidy's 1ST Grade class in Moose Jaw, Canada, they are using blogs to not only provide parents a way to stay informed about what their children are doing, but they also use blogs to help students learn to read smoothly. On their classroom blog at Mrs. Cassidy's Class Blog , students read sentences as they are being recorded using a tool called vocaroo . Then they post it to their blog under their name so that they can monitor themselves on reading smoothly. This is a wonderful idea that I think will be useful to all beginning readers. The class also post video's to display what they are learning in different subjects and their learning creativity that's used to understand what's being taught. I really liked how this class uses blogs.







Jennifer Gringerich of Hubbard, Oregon is a former elementary school teacher of 9 years who now is a trainer/consultant in educational technology. She uses blogs to educate teachers on ways technology can be implemented in the classrooms. On her blog, Jennifer Gringerich , she uses a normal black background with white text and colorful photos to catch her readers attention. One post that caught my eye was of this years inauguration. Once you select that post to view, she discusses having a live chat with any classroom who wants to share their views. For the chat she had integrated a link called stinto that the teachers would use to participate. This blog page is very informative on ways technology can be used to make learning fun and challenging.