Post 30: Stupid is as Stupid Does

After reviewing the lists of Seven Stupid Mistakes and 7 Brilliant Things Teachers Do With Technology by Doug Johnson and the list of New Classroom Rules by Education Innovation, I chose two rules from each lists that served as the most important ones to me. Here they are and underneath them are my reasonings:

Stupid
3. Not supervising computer-using students. It is really stupid to believe Internet filters will keep kids out of trouble on the Internet. If they choose to do so, even the slow kids who can't get around the school's filter, can still exploit that 10 percent of porn sites the filter won't catch. They can still send cyberbullying e-mail -- maybe even using your e-mail address. Or they can just plain waste time.
Teachers would be neive to think that students don't go around filters to do what they want on school computers... and this goes for parents at home too. There is so much more communication going on through technology now rather than note writing. Students not only can go on sites that they should not be visiting, but can also send horrible e-mails to other students that teachers may never even know about. If grown people will do this at their job sites then why wouldn't kids at school?
6. Ignoring the intrinsic interest of tech use in today's kids. Kids like technology. Not using it as a hook to motivate and interest them in their education is stupid.
Ah man... teachers would be crazy to not captivate these young minds with the wonderful tool of technology. I love it! Kids love it! So... let's use it!

Brilliant
1. Empower kids with technology. Technology is an amplifier of natural abilities. Brilliant teachers see that good writers become better writers, good debaters become better debaters, good French speakers become better French speakers, good mathematical problem-solvers become better mathematical problem-solvers, and so on. by helping their students harness technology. They do not see technology as a crutch, but as a propellant. Brilliant teachers have experienced the empowering power of technology themselves. Brilliant teachers use good assessment strategies to rigorously determine the quality of technology-enhanced projects.

This is a prime example of why I chose #6 in my previous list as being a STUPID thing for teachers to do. Look at all the great ideas!

2. Creatively find and use resources. I can't believe the technology found in some of our teachers' classrooms. And it was neither provided by our department nor stolen (I don't think). Through personal purchase, through parent-teacher groups, through grants, through business partnerships, through parental contacts, through fund raising, and through classroom supply budgets, brilliant teachers amazingly amass digital cameras and clickers and sensors and classroom computer labs. One of our brilliant teachers MacGyver-ed his own document camera out of an old camcorder, plastic pipe, and duct tape. He calls it his Grover (not his Elmo).
I personally got to see an Elmo for the first time this semester in my Teaching Composition class and that is the neatest little tool! There are so many different techonological tools that teachers can use today that make learning more interesting for the students.

New Rules
8. Do not cheat, but remix, re-purpose, and sample other peoples’ work and ideas and give them credit.
I think it is very important that students know that they can't take whatever they won't off of the internet and use it without giving proper credit. It works just the same as copying information form a book. BUT students should know that it is a good thing to use others ideas and thoughts and use them as brain storming tools for their own ideas- just give them credit for it.


15. Know what you are supposed to be learning, why, and what you will do with the knowledge.
If you don't know what you are supposed to be learning- how can you learn it?