Kids and Video Games

I have always been a fan of playing video games. From Pong to the Atari 2600 to Dr J vs Larry Bird on an old Vic 20 I have played them all. The games today are lot more complex than the games of yesterday. This means improved graphics and game play so I am not complaining. Sports games (especially football) have really been my favorites. My son who is 6 has taken to playing the games now. I am absolutely amazed at how quickly he is able to pick them up and play them. There is no fear of messing them up it is just get on and go. I sat and watched him play over the break a few times. As a sat here I asked him a few times about what he was doing and why. I noticed he would run a play to the right and the next play he would flip it to go to the left. When I asked why he would switch it he told me “because there was more room to the other side now.” Whenever he uses a running play he always went to the wide side of the field. I have to be honest that I had forgotten how to switch the play so when he wanted play against me I was asking “how do you do this or how do you do that”. It had been a while since I played the games but didn’t think I would forget all the little tricks. He has picked up the how to play the games and now I am trying to teach him some of the strategies of the game. He still doesn’t like to punt and would “go for it” on every fourth down if I didn’t give him a hard time about it. I do think he is learning about things as he plays both about strategy but also about general problem solving. Still don’t think he is ready for Grand Theft Auto though…

Presentation Skills

I attended a presentation yesterday and really wonder how people become "consultants". Does having Dr. in front of your name do it? Having a book published? What does it. The person I saw was brought here (to VA) from California. She was not brought here just for this particular presentation but it was part of a few that she was doing while on this coast. I have heard many people speak highly of this presenter and she did have some good ideas. However I was not impressed with her at all. There were numerous references to personal life experiences (failed eharmony and match.com matches), a borderline inappropriate joke, a very dry presentation. I almost feel like if I could have gotten as much out of it if I had the handout and the powerpoint without sitting through the whole presentation. I wonder how much it cost to get her here. I wonder if I am the only one who was not impressed with the presentation. I did make some mental notes about things that I will make sure I pay attention to in myself as I present to others.

On-Line Learning

There are many things that I like about online learning. The freedom to work when I have time and not having to go anywhere to go to class are two of the biggest. I do have some problems with online work and that is with people who do not do their part or do it very late. I struggle with relying on others to complete tasks. In a face-to-face class discussion /projects are worked on right there. In an online course where discussion is a part of it (which has been every online course that i have taken) you have to wait for others to take part in the discussion before it can continue. For example if something is due on the 15th it does not help too much to post on the 14th at 10:30pm. There can be no discussion or at least not much since it was so late. So then it is more of a comment board and not so much a discussion board. While I know that there can be discussions after the due date I find that many times people do not go back. They move on to the next task. I wonder how these teachers would handle this in their own classroom. A question is asked or a comment is made and no one in the class answers or responds until 4 seconds before the bell rings. Would this work? While online is different for many how long does it take for people (especially teachers) to get on board and see the benefits of participating a little more fully and a little earlier.

Testing, Testing Everywhere

It is somewhat amazing to watch the way a school functions once it is time for a standardized testing. We are currently involved with benchmark testing and there seems to be a glazed look on many teachers' faces. Teachers talking about the results, the amount of time they have to spend analyzing the results, what they can and can't do for follow up. I do not envy them at all. When I was a classroom teacher there were not benchmark tests for my course (thank goodness). I wonder if the students feel the pressure that their teachers feel for these tests. Do they understand what their teachers are going though? Do they care? Does it make a difference? The students hear about the importance of their SOL's but are the benchmarks more of a concern for the teachers?

Election

While everyone has been talking about this years presidential election I was really impressed with how it was handled in our school. The 7th grade Civics teachers really did a lot to make this a very memorable learning experience. They put on convention, held a debate and then had the entire school vote. Not everyone could vote. You had to register first. The students played a role in the entire process. They worked on voter registration. They researched the candidates and their stances on certain issues. They were the ones debating in front of the entire 7th grade while it was broadcasting throughout the entire school with the help of the media management system. They worked the polling stations on Monday. Talk about authentic. The election was held on Monday with Senator McCain winning with a 53% vote to Senator Obama's 47%. In all, there were over 590 votes cast from faculty and students. To hear the students talk about the election and to see them working all of the different aspects of the electoral process was very exciting. It made me wonder why more teachers don't do activities like this. I know the answer already. There are two that I hear the most. SOL's and time. It was a lot of time on the teachers part. Planning, setting up, working out all the logistics were a nightmare. Fortunately for the students, this did not stop them. The second reason being SOL's. They taught all the required SOL's and I have the feeling that when tested on these our students will do very well. These are the types of things that we should be doing with our students. I don't think all need to be done on such a a large scale but these are ways to really make the connection for the students.

Success

It's nice when we can finally see the pay-off to all the work we do. I have to say that there is nothing more rewarding (professionally at least) than when a teacher comes up to me, excited about using some piece of technology that I worked with them on. I have spent countless hours with teachers going over the same thing time and time again. Sometimes I wonder if it is how I am teaching it, or if they are just not truly interested in learning it. As I look back at my activity log it is somewhat funny to see the number the times I have repeated the same training with the same people.

Today was somewhat different. I had a teacher looking for me at the end of the day not to complain about something that didn't work, or ask for help but to tell me that she used the clickers without any help. To some this may not seem like a big deal but this was a teacher that was really reluctant to even try them. With one of the goals that our school has with an increase on the use of technology for assessments, she had to do something. I worked with her on setting up her classes in CPS and getting an assessment ready. He first time she used them she wanted me there to do the classes for her. I did and everything went fine. The second time she used them, she set up the assessment on her own . She wanted me to be in the room to help her when there were problems or issues. The day she used them I was in the room. There were no problems and everything went fine. She told me she would let me know when she was going to use them again so I could be there "just in case".... I waited and waited. After school she came up to me excited that she used for all her classes today with no help. During one class she forgot to change the class name in the CPS program. This means that it was recording answers for the wrong students. She noticed it, corrected it, and moved on. She was so happy that it went well (as was I). After her telling me of her success I asked her what was the next thing that we were going to tackle? Rather than telling me "nothing" we are now considering the SmartBoard or SCORE. Her goal is each nine weeks to pick-up and start incorporating something new.

What I find funniest about the events of today is how excited she was to tell me that it all went well. "You are going to be so proud of me" is how she started the conversation with me and I was. I don't know if some of the teachers know or realize that when they are successful with something that I work with them on I too feel a sense of success. This is the reason we are in the schools. It reaffirms many of my beliefs. This will not show up in any activity log or in my portfolio but that's ok. We'll just move on to the next piece of technology with teacher to help her try and reach all her students...

Summer PD wrap-up

Yesterday was the last face to face meeting with our summer professional development course. I have to be honest and say that I am not sad to see it end. I really question the effectiveness of a 2 hour face to face meeting after they have worked all day. There were some teachers who only seemed interested in getting out of there. How late are you going to keep us? If we don't take a break can we get out early? were just some of the comments that were made. Sometimes I wonder how these same teachers would react if there students acted the same way. Maybe it was because it ends up being a long day and they had other places they would have rather been. But they signed up for the course. No one forced them. I understand that they signed up last April and who really knows what you have going on the following October. But just the general lack of interest was the most frustrating. While I did not get this feeling from all it always seems to be from the loudest.

While I am writing about the wrap-up I guess I will add something else that really irritates mes me. Believe me this is not confined to the pd. Showing up 25 minutes late for something with a Starbucks coffee in your hand. To me that just show a general lack of respect for the people who made sure that they could get there on time. I always wonder how far out of the way did someone have to go to get that? If they didn't stop to get the coffee would it be possible that they could have made the course on time? I used to work with 2 teachers who would be late just about everyday for work. Kids lined up at the door waiting to get into their homeroom while the teacher strolls in with her cup of coffee. I know this is an administrative issue but to me it seems like a personal issue. If you need your cup of coffee to get your day started no problem just leave earlier. I know that there are some times when things can not be controlled. Traffic is bad, accidents happen, you wake up late, and some other things that are out of our control. Sometime I wonder if people think about that or if the attitude is just I'll there when I get there?