Session Five Blog (MAiT 402-3)

1)      The most relevant part of Dr. Robert’s presentation for me was the look at overall technology use. Where the numbers were in the 10 plus hours daily and then the break down of types of users: low 0-8, medium 8-16, and high 16-∞ (something like that). At first, I associated myself with the medium groups, but after looking closer at my day I realized that I boarder the medium and high types of users. Just the other day (Wednesday 7/25/12) I was doing my homework and realized that I was working for roughly 5-6 hours and during that time I had my laptop out, I had the stereo going playing Pandora, the TV on mute watching the Liverpool and then the MLS All-Star game that was hooked up to my other laptop, and occasional I was on my iPhone as well. I was maxing out my exposure to technology and I had done this many times before in the past, but never really looked at my exposure time to technology. So, I thought how much are we being exposed to technology and just don’t realize it or take it for granted and what effect is this having on us? I feel that I am very limited in my ability to use technology, but in the classroom some of our students are pure geniuses when it comes to using technology and as we discussed at the end of Dr. Robert’s presentation the use of technology in the classroom, we really are not accessing all our students if we do not include technology into our lessons and curriculum. As we have looked at interdisciplinary teaching and other varieties to teaching within the pedagogical aspect, we really need to consider those students that excel when they are given the opportunity to use technology to further their understanding and learning. So, I am definitely in favor of students using technology in the classroom and the fact that we have smart phones and so many students have one it is a great tool to use when the students need to do some research or if there is a question that comes up that we do not have a definite answer to we can look it up quickly. Allowing the students to use their technology to excel is becoming a huge part in our classrooms and as much as we may want to ignore it or deny the place for technology in the classroom, more so in regards to cell/smart phones, it is not going anywhere and we need to incorporate it into our classes or we may begin to lose more of our students engagement and participation for lack of connection between the students and teacher. Lasting point with the regards to the cell/smart phones or even mp3 players, if my class is doing an assignment that requires them to do independent work I always allow them to have the option to listen to music as long as I do not hear it and it does not distract the classroom, and there have been times that I have taken this privilege away from the whole class if they are abusing this rule. So, technology is not going anywhere, if anything its becoming more user friendly and advance and we need to use it as teachers.

2)      NY Times article “More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Quality” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/education/06online.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

3)      Technology is a great tool, but being the main piece of education as mentioned in the NY Times article “More Pupils Are Learning Online, Fueling Debate on Quality” I do not complete agree. In the Antioch Unified School District we have a course called “Cyber High” and basically it is a credit recovery program for students that are down a couple of units and the class is held after school. The problem that I have seen is that there really isn’t any support for the students when they don’t understand the material and do not know how to ask the questions needed to understand the material, so the student is lost. As mentioned in the article with the need to graduate a lot of students were willing to work really hard, but what was not mentioned is that with that desire/need to have to take this type of online class may lead the student to cheat in order to pass and how are we going to know if the student really knows the material or just regurgitated something from wikipedia? Also as a teacher in a classroom we have the opportunity to ask additional questions to check for understanding and if there is not an understanding we can then offer additional support to understand the material, but that would be limited or none existent with an online class. Also, who is taking the class and answering the questions, the student registered or his/her friend? So, as our school district is playing around with the idea of online classes I see a potential for future problems with the credibility of our graduates and that could hurt future students that might want to get into big four-year schools As our school may not be a credibly one with offering these online courses. For the community they are happy that the schools graduation rate is up, but we are not preparing our students to be a well-educated person as Ravitch would explain in her book The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. So, graduation rate goes up students are getting the credited they need, but what then? Do they go to junior colleges, four-year college or do they find a trade and go to a trade school? Has the online courses prepared them for that? I would say no, because again we have not created well-educated person, but instead robots, that follow a simple task on a computer screen and then give a partial answer to that task, limited critically thinking has been applied and most jobs that require you to do easy task as such on the computer are already outsourced to other countries where we can pay their workers less. Again we are cutting corners for price as was pointed out with the issue to meet the state budget issues to cut teachers and pay corporations to create an online class. What are our children worth, can we put a price tag on their education and fundamentally who they are going to become? Again the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, our current economic cycle is a scary one. With all this said, technology does have a place in our classrooms and online courses can be helpful, but to base everything on online course and get rid of the teachers, that is a horrible idea. It comes back to a key word that needs to be applied to all classrooms and life in general, there needs to be a balance. The schools need to find a balance of how much online course should be offered if any. A great model of this would be to look at how some Universities allow a certain portion of your classes to be taken as Pass/No Pass where the rest have to be taken for a letter grade. It’s all in the balance. But if I am trying to cut corners and raise my graduation rates up be switching to online classes, then the purpose of these classes lose their value. “It’s about getting a piece of the money that goes to public schools… The big corporations want to make money off the backs of our children.”

4)      Technology resources for the teacher; looking at four links and how they can support student learning in my classroom- now or in the future: (1) The first online technology resource that I can see potentially being helpful is Previ, http://prezi.com. I have heard about this and seen it very limitedly, but looking a little deeper at this online source to interact with my students I can see this being helpful for me to lecture with to boost engagement and also for the students to use to allow them to be more creative with their presentations and findings. (2) The second online technology resource that I can see potentially being helpful is Twitter https://twitter.com/. Even though I am sure everyone knows what Twitter is I personally have avoided it for personal use and have never even considered using it, but I can see how it can be a very useful tool with a classroom. Having the whole class set up on a Twitter page where occasionally there are assignments posted on it, kind of like a short blog, or even have it as a tool for the students to use to ask questions, the options are endless I guess, but I really like the idea about the questions, because our students need to be asking more questions. (3) The third online technology resource that I can see potentially being helpful is Chatzy http://www.chatzy.com/. Similar in regards to the idea of blogs with Twitter, this would allow for longer responses and similar to what we do in our program with these blogs, have the students do a similar thing where they respond to the general topic and then have them comment on others and create a requirement of what responses should look like, that way we can engage the students thinking process of our content beyond the classroom and enrich their understanding and learning. (4) The forth and last online technology resource that I can see potentially being helpful is Quizlet http://quizlet.com/. This can be helpful, because even though many people do not use flashcards it is a very helpful tool in memorizing and learning new things. But, looking at U.S. History for example I could assign my students key vocabulary words and have them create these flash cards and associate a picture with the word and definition, that way when it comes time to do a chapter or whole unit review they have all the flashcards and can skim through all the material that we have learned during the period of study. It will serve as a quick reference and the students can have ownership of the definition and picture selection to better understand the terms. This could be helpful for AP too, but there are thousands of words that they must remember and this may take too much time, but it is an option.

Session Four Blog (MAiT 402-3)

Looking at the United States History curriculum one of the key areas of focus in the development of the United States and the making of our modern era is the Progressive Era. This era in American History will change the United States for the better, but with much resistance from the upper echelon of society, such as the Rockefellers and J.P. Morgan’s of the rime period. The Progressive Era will see many people individually and collectively fight for a better society, many of these reformers were journalist and in their effort of uncovering the filth of society they would be labeled as “muckrakers.” Some of the more famous muckrakers are Uption Sinclair, Jacob Riis, and Ida Tarbell.

With so many contributors to the Progressive Era it really allows me as a teacher to use a variety of resources from different academic areas to utilize interdisciplinary teaching and learning. From Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, Jacob Riis’ photography and book How the Other Half Lives, the creation of the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), the creation of the U.S. Forest Service, etc., all these people and organizations made huge contributions to the modern America that we now live in and we can use excerpts and make the connections to other subject areas. For literature the use of The Jungle excerpts help students make that connection to literature/English, visual aids with Jacob Riis’ photos help with the artistic view, and a look at health and science with the creation of the FDA. The FDA aspect is always interesting, because it gives me a chance to talk about health in class and relate it to fast food chains such as Taco Bell or McDonalds, allowing for the students to make real world connections with the Progressive Era.

This era allows for much interdisciplinary teaching and will allow students to grasp the content in many different learning modalities, enriching their understanding of the Progressive Era. I feel that with Social Studies that we get a lot of opportunities to incorporate other areas of study with our teaching and this really helps bring our stories to life for the students and we can reach a larger audience for engagement. Where if we just used the textbook and lectured right out of the book all day these students would be missing out on the depth and passion of history.

Resources:

Jacob Riis photos – google images “how the other half lives”  

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle excerpt – http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/jwb/ap/Progressives/JungleEx.htm

FDA’s origin & function – www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/Origin/ucm054819.htm


Commented on Troy Bristol's Blog -  fatheadtroysmc.blogspot.com   

Session Two Blog (MAiT 402-3)

1)      Two quotes from chapter one of Ravitch’s book looking at her journey through many educational reforms.

·        “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” This is actually a quote from John Maynard Keynes that Ravitch uses near the beginning of the chapter, but it says everything about her journey through educational reforms. The fact that as our evidence may prove a different result then expected it then becomes our responsibility to make any changes or modifications to fix the problem, otherwise what good are we doing. In education and in life it’s a series of trial and errors and we must be brave enough to admit our mistakes and then find ways to fix them as seen here in Ravitch’s first chapter as she searches for a solution and admits where she has been wrong, but also where she hopes to learn from these past mistakes to make the future solution better.

·        “I began ‘seeing like a state.’ Looking at schools and teachers and students from an altitude of 20,000 feet and seeing them as objects to be moved around by big ideas and great plans.” Ravitch begins to realize as she worked with the government to implement the best practices and hold schools accountable by a test that she was flying away from the ground and starting to lose her prospectus of what really was needed. We all can be consumed by a good idea only to later find that the idea was not as good as it was originally proposed, and Ravitch is recognizing this and the whole reform of accountability may in fact not be the best for the students, teachers, or even the schools. There is more to education that meets the eye and as good as it may sound to run it like a business that just doesn’t work.

2)      Ravitch gives a brief definition of a well-educated person and I would have to agree with her definition. A well-educated person is not a person that can pass a test and get a 4.0 on their Report Card, but instead a person that knows how to critically think and engage himself or herself within society. A person that can listen to a presidential debate and realize what each candidate can really offer to yourself and the country and look beyond all the mud slinging. A person that can rationally think about all the possible outcomes of an event before doing it. As Ravitch says an individual that “has a well-furnished mind, shaped by reading and thinking about history, science, literature, the arts, and politics. The well-educated person has learned how to explain ideas and listen respectfully to others.” A well-educated person doesn’t have to know every Standard for United States History in the eleventh grade, but instead understand how issues may affect you and be able to use some examples to explain why things are right or wrong. For example, it would be nice that you remember that the Brown v. Board was a Supreme Court case that overturned “separate but equal” in the classrooms, but if you can remember that segregation is bad and explain why reflecting on examples or experiences and strongly argue your case that would be a who lot more useful then just remembering a Supreme Court Case because someone said it was important. The ability to critically think is far more important then remembering facts to pass a test.

3)      Reflecting on our class discussion on the books first two chapters the one thing that stuck out to me was the fact that we can make mistakes. That sometimes our first instinct or judgment could be wrong, but that as teachers we are in the field of education and we must admit sometimes that either we do not know or that we were wrong. As we realize that we are wrong we need to make sure that we correct that wrong. For example, in the classroom I have made the mistake of giving the wrong information as I was either assuming or mixed it up with other information, but I have always fixed my mistakes to make sure that the students realize that we are all humans and we make mistakes occasionally. So, reflecting on the first chapter primarily of Ravitch’s book and our discussion it’s important to realize that we make mistakes, but it’s how we respond to our mistakes that shows our true character.

4)      One of the gaps that I listed from my subject area that I could help fill would be the post-Vietnam era in United States History. There are so many sources that I could look at to further my understanding of this gap in my content knowledge, to make it more direct and useful I’ll look at Regan’s Presidency as that is the area with the biggest gap. One website that I found that was helpful was http://www.npr.org/news/specials/obits/reagan/timeline.html as this site gave a timeline breakdown of Regan and focused on the major events occurring during his presidency with links to video recordings of him on some issues. An article that I found was “The Reagan Doctrine: Principle, Pragmatism, and Policy” by Chester Pach of Ohio University. This Article goes into depth looking at Reagan’s continuation of fighting Communism and its affects on the United States and his policies. A quote from this document that I thought was interesting was in describing the administration’s position when dealing with Communism globally, “stand with ordinary people who have had the courage to take up arms against Communism tyranny.”  A book that I just looked at the review due to time is The Dead Hand: Reagan, Gorbachev, and the Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race. This book goes into the looks of the ragging war on Communism where after Vietnam the fear of communism still remained, but did not play as large of a role in policy making as it had in the past yet Reagan resurfaces a lot of the fears and what the role of the United States is to this threat. All three of these resources are helpful in understanding the time but the most helpful for a quick reference and a look at some primary sources was the website with Reagan’s timeline and links to recorded video to give a better picture of Reagan and the times.

5)      In the annotated process of my first four sources I have found that the sources that I have found have been very helpful towards my final question and has even made me wonder about re-wording my question to look at the issue of race and segregation within World War II in the Bay Area and how these issues are still present. But, looking at two of my sources and the annotated process I will quickly reflect on the sources and what I have got from them.

·        One source was an article called “Last Hired, First Fired: Black Women Workers during World War II.” This Article I found from the reference page of the book Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II, and this article has helped my better understand the troubles that women faced during World War II and much more the challenges that Black Women faced in the working community. The fact that as a nation need a strong work force many employers continued to find was to not hire women and especially Black women and when they had to do to the how demand for workers that generally they were given the worst jobs possible. Segregation and race and its worst in a time where the country needed to be as united as possible. The references page for the book on Rosie the Riveter I will definitely use to find more resources.

·        Another resource that I found to be very helpful and further my understanding of the treatment of Japanese Americans in the Bay Area after the news of Pearl Harbor was a link on the website of San Francisco Bay T.V. where back in 1991 three Japanese Americans were interviewed on what occurred to them and their lives as residents of the Bay Area during World War II. The fascinating piece that was mentioned was the reference to the fact that many Japanese Americans have chosen to not talk about the incident that occurred to family members or other, a similarity that is heard from Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. It was interesting to see some of the similarities, even though what occurred in the Concentration Camps of the Nazis was by far worse that what occurred in the Internment Camps of the United States. 

6)      Question for Meg: with our Final Inquiry and Question I was wondering if my question based on content how do I merge the pedagogical component into it? My question for content is, “What were the social effects of WWII on the Bay Area?”

Responded to the following blogs:

• Yadira Zapata -http://unahistoriadeunamaestra.blogspot.com

• Mary Jane D’Arcy -http://mjdarcy.blogspot.com

• Troy Bristol - http://fatheadtroysmc.blogspot.com

Mind the Gap! (MAiT 402-3)

Examining the State Framework and CSET Overview for Social Science they seem to be pretty similar, where the CSET is pretty much a wide variety of content from World History, United States History, California History, Economics, and Government/Civics. The State Framework goes into more depth looking at each grade level from K-12 and gives more specific objectives and standards. So, for discrepancies between the two is just the level of detail needed to be covered from each grade level. 

In my teaching experience I have found that the State Framework has been very useful to reflect on my subject and guide me in the right direction of what the major events within my content area are that need to be covered, but beyond that a quick look at the State Framework I pretty much keep the book on my shelf at home. Most of the textbooks that I have used all have the State Standards at the beginning of the text and at the beginning of each new chapter on which Standards will be covered. As for really knowing my content I have found myself within a new subject teaching that I try to follow those Standards as closely as I can, but with experience I start to tweak how the content is delivered and vary a little to deliver the content the best way for all the students to understand and can flow with it.

With examining my United States History teaching year already looking at my gaps coming in the pre-colonial times and post-Vietnam era, I will examine the gaps in other fields that I have taught and most likely will teach again in the future. First starting with World History (tenth grade) I’d have to say that my biggest gap would be the Asian history. And when I say Asian History I am talking about all of Asia; Japan, China, India, Middle East, etc. My gap would be from the time period previous to where most of these countries were independent from European influence, as my interest has always been in European History that I really lack the content needed to explain why a lot of the events occurred within the Asian region. I manage when I teach the subject as World History has more of a Eurocentric viewpoint, but I really want to know more for my personal understanding and in case I have students that want to know more depth and I could be able to share that with them.

The other subject that I find that I have gaps in that I have taught in the past and again could teach again in the future is Government/Civics (twelfth grade). Even though my Major in college was Political Science I feel that this is one subject that I have a lot of gaps in. Looking at the State Frameworks book as the focus is on the American Political System there is a lot on how our government works but you only have one semester to do all of this. A lot of the fundamentals are assumed to have been learned in previous years, such as 8^th Grade U.S. History with the Constitution and then again in 11^th Grade U.S. History, but the depth of the concepts that need to be learned already are not and it’s hard to re-teach all the fundamentals and to then go for much more in-depth with our system of government in the short amount of time given. As for my strengths in this subject is the theory and practice of our government and when I have taught it in the past I like to bring up as much current issues as possible to hold a discussion/debate to practice the key concepts that we need to learn and understand how these issues affect us all. So, I would say that this is one area that I do the most deviations in with regards to the State Frameworks. Another piece that I feel I have a gap in within this subject area is a similar one that I have with United States History is the Supreme Court case in regards to the depth needed to know about all the various cases.

I hope to continue to learn and explore all the fields of history to continue to strengthen my gaps within my teaching and to grow my content knowledge to better prepare my students with the most important and relevant information to all them all to succeed. As an educator I have taken on the responsibility of being a lifelong learner and I look forward to what I still can learn and bridging those gaps in my content knowledge. One thing that I think will truly help with regards to United States History and Government/Civics is visiting Washington D.C., which I have wanted to do for some time now to further my understanding of this country and how it functions from a personal experience.