I just read an article by Steven Downes, where a child got in trouble for using Facebook to create a study group for chemistry.  You can see the full article at this link http://www.thestar.com/N%20ews/GTA/article/309855

We have been discussing social networking sites a lot here lately, so this article seemed to jump out at me.  There are a variety of reasons people create such networks and they range from meeting new friends, maintaining relationships with current friends, promoting advertising, etc.  Nonetheless, I agree with one of the comments in the article, “What is the difference in creating a study group.”  The only difference in this situation is the fact that it is on the internet, but if you think about it a teacher should be more excited about having a discussion trail rather than a closed group meeting with no idea what types of discussions are happening among the group.

So I questions, would the instructor rather the student be confused about particular questions, or to gain better insight about the assignment from his/her peers?  This is a tough situation, but personally I usually remember things my friends say a lot quicker than if I am working alone on something.  In the same way, discussions tend to stick with me much better in understanding a concept.  So what are the limitations of such social networks? 

Ok, I have tried numerous times to comment on other people’s posts and every time I try to click on comments or the post I get redirected to an error page.  Sometimes technology can be so stubborn and difficult!  I figured I could go ahead and use Word to vent.  My blog site won’t even let me log on—I get directed to an error page as well.  I don’t really know if it is just my mom’s computer or if it is really the links that are causing the problem.  Anyway—it does get a little frustrating, but I will try again in a little while—hopefully everything will be a-ok.  J

While on the topic of technology, I wonder how many classrooms offer incorporated technology.  Nonetheless, I have visited my son’s classroom and the only thing that I have witnessed being used is the tape player, and the television.  However, they do have a day in which they go to computers.  On the other hand, they do use centers in their room and I really like this idea.  The centers really aren’t technology related, but they reinforce skills that they have been learning in class.  Also, students that need a little extra help on particular tasks can get that help during centers.  The students seem to love this idea and it keeps them engaged in learning.  During my methods courses, centers were mentioned quite often, but I had never had the opportunity to see them actually being used in the classroom—I really like this idea. 

Likewise, the students are sent home with a small homework packet each week that reinforces skills that have been worked on in class.  The students are given one week (running Tuesday to Tuesday) to complete the assignments.  In addition, students are required to read a book each night and the parent has to record the book in the child’s planner.  Each day, the teacher reviews the planner and gives the child a smiley, straight face, or sad face—according to his or her behavior.  If there are any important papers to be given to parents, the papers are secured by a clasp in the front of the planner. 

Personally, I had never seen this approach for communication between teacher and parent, until we moved to this school.  Nonetheless, I really like it.  It is a continuous routine and the parents know what to expect and children know the routine.  Parents are free to write notes to communicate with the teacher and it works out really nicely. 

Also, students are not expected to bring snack money each day.  Instead, each child is assigned one day out of the month in which he/she provides enough snack for the entire class.  This is the best idea that any school could adopt.  At my son’s previous school, we were spending $1.50-$2.00 per day on snack.  When you add $1.50 up for the week, you’re spending $7.50/week and $30.00/month on snack alone.  That is pretty expensive!  With the idea of bringing snack one day out of the month, snack is covered the entire month—what a relief!! J

Overall, I am amazed at the diverse procedures that different teachers practice.  What works in some classrooms very well might not work in others.  Nonetheless, the idea is to focus on good organization and communication skills between school and home.  It is important to have the home support as well. 

Boy I tell you, it has been one of those weeks.  My son has been sick for a few days now and today he hasn’t been able to hold anything down him.  I have washed sheets and clothes over and over again–I am just about out of washing powders and I don’t know what we’ll do then.  We were going to try to go to the emergency room tonight to try to get things under control, but I am not sure where exactly the hospital is here and I am not sure that he would be able to walk once we got there.  If we did make it to the ER and find a parking area–if they gave him something that made him sleepy I am not sure if we’d be able to make it back to the car.  I have been feeling really nauseous and weak–I sure hope I am not getting it too–it might just be the fact of being 32 weeks pregnant.  Who knows?  Ok, I think I am done venting now–it feels good to get it off your chest.  As I have whined before, it is so difficult living in a new area! 

Ok–I have been trying for the last hour to log in to uniblogs so I can blog and my password would not be accepted.  I forgot that the email address that was on file under my profile, had been terminated so I couldn’t just click the forgot my password link.  Everytime I typed in www.uniblogs.org, I was redirected to http://edublogs.org.  After trying over and over to get my password to go through, I decided to look back through my papers from where I had written down my username for my uniblog account.  I hadn’t written my password down, but luckily I had written down the login page website.  Helpless at this point, I typed in the address and typed in my username, and the same password in which I knew was correct and it went straight in to my blog page.  I still don’t understand that.  Needless to say, I changed my email address on my profile just in case anything like this ever happens again.  I am still so puzzled.  It would have been horrible if I couldn’t get my blog page to open up–I would have had to create an entire new page and have everyone relink it to their gators…….that was scary!!  Shew!!

While reading through Teachers and Machines, I couldn’t help but visualize the divide between historical classrooms and present classrooms.  There is a significant difference between the class of the past, and the class of the present.  According to Cuban, early classrooms taught in a unifom manner, “passive, routine, and clerical.”  In the same way, the teacher was more like a drill sargent.  The teacher talked the majority of the time and the instruction consisted of lecturing and asking questions.  In the same way, the children were seated in bolted down seats which were all facing teachers’ desk at the front of the room.  Furthermore, the classroom was extremely structured.  On the other hand, according to Cuban, classrooms later strived on “Pedagogical progressives that called for instruction that built upon student interests, that opened up classroom windows to the larger world, and plunged students into activities that had intellectual and social outcomes.”  This is more the direction of our classrooms today.  Thus, the idea is the teacher acts as a coach/advisor instead of a ”drill Sargent.”  Likewise, there is more moving around the classroom and different teaching styles/methods.  Moreover, teaching is ideally to accommodate diverse learning styles and meet the needs of all individuals in the classroom.  Nonetheless, it is amazing to think of the past classroom and how far education has progressed into the classrooms that we have today.