Blog Assignment #10

ADVENTURES IN PENCIL INTEGRATION


"I'm a Papermate. I'm a Ticonderoga."

I had to sit here and think about this cartoon for a few minutes before anything clicked in my head. Finally, something came to me: I thought this was an illustration of a Mac and a PC. After checking out John T. Spencer's blog, Adventures in Pencil Integration , I realized that was his intention. So, kudos to me, I guess? I thought this cartoon was pretty good. It made you think, but it also gave a good illustration of the situation. Macs are, clearly, top of the line when it comes to computers, versus a PC, which does break frequently (I know from personal experience). PCs are inexpensive, for the most part, and they manage to get what you need done. Macs are built to last and improve what you need to get done.

Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?

This is another post by Mr. Spencer. He describes a scenario where a principal approaches a teacher with an issue. The principal took notice that the teacher was playing games with their students, and became very unhappy with that. The teacher defended himself and his students by saying the games were educational and the students were engaged. The principal's response was, "If we want students to pass the rote memorization test, we need to focus on rote memorization skills." The teacher was in awe at the fact that the principal just wanted the kids to memorize, not learn.

It was shocking for me to hear those words come out so honestly and blunt. Unfortunately, that is the way most schools attempt at teaching things: memorization. There are so many things that I have studied, or more-so, memorized, during my schooling years just to get the information in my head, not to learn. I, personally, feel that a major cause of this memorization tactic is due to how often the teachers instill it in their students' minds. It's been instilled in the teachers's minds, also; which is why they typically do not see a problem with it. It's like a never-ending cycle that NEEDS to be broken.

Capturing Reality

As I was plundering through Mr. Spencer's blog, I came across this post. He called it Capturing Reality. He starts out by setting up a conversation between his daughter and himself. She makes the comment,"Why do you have to capture it? Can't this moment run free?", after she questions her dad about capturing a picture. My attention had been caught after reading that statement. He then, transitions on to a conversation with another person about his perspective on looking through a lens. The individual says that he never takes a picture, because in the end it is just a picture of himself, not the others he was taking a picture of. This is how he worded it, "But the picture was of me. It was me, detached, looking through a lens, hiding behind a cloud of smoke." Spencer expresses that what may beneficial or pleasing to someone else, may not be for another, whether it's with technology or anything else.

First, I would like to add that I appreciate his writing style. It really helps portray the overall picture that he is trying to get across by setting up a play-by-play scenario through his dialect. Secondly, I enjoyed reading this post in particular, because of the way he expresses what may be good for someone else, may be bad for another person. In the classroom, it is easy to get in the habit of just assuming what is good for one child, is good for the rest, but in all reality it may result negatively with another. We need to get in the routine of asking, "What is best for that child?" and accommodate that into the curriculum.

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please?

Scott Mcleod's blog, Dangerously Irrelevant, is a masterpiece! He is a well-known blogger and professor in the industry of education. He has LOADS of useful information for educators out there. We were directed to read this one post in particular by Scott, Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please?. In this post, he uses a sarcastic tone to address technological things that people (parents and educators) are frowning upon. This post may have come across as exaggerated, but there are ACTUALLY people in the world that believe these things! That blows my mine in itself! He basically tells them that you can do as you please, but my students will learn about these things and they will become more advanced than yours because of it.