My Contributions to the WebQuests Wiki

When doing my contributions to the WebQuest Wiki I added three new Webquests from different sites. The first one I added dealt with the geometry of monuments, it was a Design type webquest, dealing with the waay to design monuments around geometry. The next one that I added was about the book "Lily's Crossing" it was a Journalistic tpye that made the student use their idea of the setting to find editorials that would happen during that time frame. Lastly I added the Alaskan Expedition, this one was Compliation and dealt with the finding of information so that students could make a good judgment on whether or not Alaska should join the union.

How To Help Someone Use A Computer

One thing I must tell myself is "if it is not obvious to them, it is not obvious" to myself. I personally would be the first one to ask: Is it plugged in? Something I must always remember when trying to help someone with a computer is to never ask "yes and no questions", these do not provide adequate answers to begin to be able to help someone fix a problem on their computer.

I learned that when I try to problem solve with my students, that I am not looking what is wrong, the student does not learn that way. I am guiding the student towards the possibilites of what could be the answer to their problem

Copyright and Fair Use LR

The question that I have decided to create a long response on is question number two. As long as no one is using the software simultaneously, than it is completely allowed for the school to only have one license. If this was the case though, who is the one punishable if the school exceeds the limit. The student can not be at fault since they had absolutely no idea that they were violating the law. The school can not be responsible if they are do not catch the mistake quick enough to see the student on the software. I also have thought a license means it is only allowed to be on one computer, according to this you could put it on 10,000 computers as long as only one is using it. I personally am against this, I believe that a software should be only allowed to be uploaded to three different computers, after this they should have to buy the software again. A couple questions I have are: How is this law enforced? What happens if a school goes above the amount of licenses they own? How easy is it for the school to be able to buy another license?

Copyright and Fair Use SR

On number seven I learned that it is legal for teachers to put up items on the web that are copyrighted as long as they are behind a password. I did not know this I always thought it was totally against the law to put anything back up on the web even if it is behind a password.

On number fourteen, I thought it was allowed for kids to watch a movie in the domain of a school. I did not know that it has to be part of the school's cirriculum and it must also happen within a closed classroom.

On number nine, I did not know it was allowed for teachers to use music in the classroom and in their cirrculum that they obtained off of the internet. Now thinking about it though as long as it is obtained in a legal manor, fair use laws allow teachers to use it in a closed classroom.

On number fifteen, I always thought the law allowed students to be able to watch any movie clip in class as long as it is for an educational purpose.

On number one, I am glad that it is allowed for teachers to make back up of their CD's on their computer in case of an accident. It is good to know that we are at least allowed to protect ourselves from the possible consequences of a student.

On number twenty, I thought it was completely legal for school's to reproduce students works and allow it to be distributed. I also thought it was legal not to make a profit off of this, rather a breaking even point so the school does not lose money.

On number seventeen, I thought that it was against the law for students to take pictures of businesses and post them on the internet. I thought that the business had to provide a written statement to the students telling them that they were allowed to do this.

On number eleven, I thought that it was illegal to alter the publication of another company. As long as it does not go out on the web though, and it does not lead to someone different becoming profitable off of the item, it is completely within the Fair Use Laws.

Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Classroom

In this chapter I learned that teaching does not need to be within the walls of the classroom. Students can and do truly learn anywhere and everywhere. We as teachers need to enforce this philosophy and tell students we wish for them to not just take what we teach them and have them sit on it we wish for them to go out in the communitiy and learn even more.

I will tell students that I wish for them to apply the things I teach them in the classroom to one event in the local town which can be montiored. This will show the students that this is not something that is just on paper, it is in the world also. The more the students know what they are doing will effect the world around them, the more they are willing to put in for effort into the project at hand. A student who is most achieving is on that can bring the academics of his school into the world around him.

Chapter 9: When Things Go Wrong

The thing that stuck out the most in this chapter is the fact you can not judge how successful of a teacher you are by how well the students like you. I have always judged success on whether the product I presented was liked, whether it is myself or anything else I do in life. To take a step back and not be the front burner will be difficult but it is not impossible.

My high school teacher use to tell me that you will not a be a good teacher till at least five years in. It will be when you realize that you are not the point of interest, it is the stuff that you are learning is the point of interest of students. A student should not be going into a class saying yay, Mr. Freeman is the teacher. They should be going into the class saying yay, we are going to learn more about geometry. I feel this is going to be very difficult for me but, I know in the end I will be able to do this, I have to.

Chapter 8: Teaching Teenagers that are Still Learning English

The main idea I learned from this chapter is to not focus on the little grammetical mistakes that are made. Instead the teacher should make sure that the student is learning the main context of what you are teaching instead of focusing on the little picture, focus on the big one. A student needs not to be graded on the little things that in the end mean nothing, they need to know how to do the big thing.

In my own class I will never ask a student to make sure all of the smallest thing are correct. When correcting a test in math for example I will not care if the answer is right, that does not matter in the end. What really matter is that the student used the correct equation, if a student messes up in plugging numbers in that is very small. That is why I will always give more points for the work shown than the actual answer that is shown.

Chapter 7: Teaching Difficult Academic Material

The part of this chapter that stuck out for me is the part about challenging the assumptions of what students have learned. In pyschology I learned that it is almost impossible to change what a student believes about the world if they have an assumption about it already. As a teacher, if we can show them that their assumption is incorrect than we will be able to show them the truth.

I will be using this in the classroom once again, I will be using this cause in the subject of math people assume many things to be true that can not, and are in fact not true. Such as the last class I taught students believed that subtracting was a whole seperate entity than addition. I had to tell them that actually it is the same exact thing, that when you are subtracting all you really are doing is adding the additive inverse. This really threw the class I was teaching for a loop but in the end I really could see what was going on in their heads.

Chapter 6: Motivation and Boredom

The part of this chapter that I believe is the most important is the fact that teachers should show interest when a student is showing interest in a subject. All settings can be used as a learning models for the students. If a student is learning something about their interests, if it is at all possible to include your interest would create a system in which the class is motivated in learning the subject.

I will be using this in my class in math, for example, if a lot of my students are into a certain sport being a Math teacher I will be able to use these as examples. This means that I can use real life examples that the students will be able to see and actually want to use what they have learned on the example. I actually used this during my three weeks in the classroom we had a large class of football players, we talked about how we could use a football field as a number line and that we were able to do what we were learning on it since the numbers are the same.

Chapter 5: Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group

The part of this chapter that I believe is the most important is the fact we should take the differences and use them as advantages. This will help students be able to each put a different hand into the project as a whole. A student who is very organized will do very well with a creative person since the two of them together will create a very unique and timely project.

I will be using this in my class all the time, whenever I have small groups the groups will work more efficently if I am able to do this for them. This will take away the friends be with friends also in the sense that normally friends have the same technique when it comes to to being able to do school work. By doing this my students will be able to learn more as well as being able to achieve a higher average on their projects. This will create a win win system for all of the students and also for myself.

Chapter 4: Creating a Culture of Success

The part of this chapter that stuck out to me the most is the part that states that we should not compare other students to each other. This creates a competition that should never actually exist since all people learn at different rates and will learn different things from even one lesson. We should give all students an equal chance to succeed not just the ones who we think are learning the material the best.

I think that I could actually bring this into my class. At the begging of the year I will give them a "test" in which will be their average. If a student does better than their average than they will receive an A or a B. The opposite is also true if they do not live up to their average they will receive a D or a F. This would make it so that it is impossible for me to actually judge the students to anyone but to themselves. This will make it easier for the students to better because instead of beating the smartest student in the class all they have to do is beat their own score.

Chapter 3: Classroom Behaviors

The part of this chapter that stuck out to me is the part that states that we hould always bring up the classroom rules that we set forth from the first day. I have always been in the mind set that saying it once means they should know it. Now I know saying it ten times means that there should be no excuses for a behavior.

On the first day of class I will make a statement to the students about what expect of them at all times during the school year. I will tell them I expect the highest of them and that any less is not up to par. I will then as it is states in this chapter, quite often resay the rules to the students. The more times they hear these rules the more times it will be forced to be ingrained into the students minds. This will make it easier on myself to uphold the punishments for the students in the end.

My MEL Experience

The following are eperiences of my own that I had as a child:

• Student/Teacher Relationships: In the twelth grade I had a physics teacher that opened up to the students, talking about their experiences in life. Up to today I still go back into this teacher for advice on advice every semester before the semester begins. I look up to him as a role model, and this is the type of teacher I wish to be.
• Hands-On: In the tenth grade in biology we had to continue disect frogs so that we could see all the different parts of the frogs. I had always done diagrams of animals and their parts, but seeing them gave me a whole new feel on what exactly is occuring inside of an animal.
• Autonomy: In tenth grade in a math class we each had to choose proportion of each of grades goes towards the final grade. This made students choose what they knew they would excel in, a student that excelled in logic would put most of their points towards tests. Yet on the other hand they would put more points towards a notebook if their math skills were not top notch.
• Helping Students Succeed: While during Odyssey of the Mind in high shool I helped set up and produce spontaneous days where we helped students improve their quick problem solving skills. The students used these to help them succeed in the state competition that we would hold about 2 months after this training period.
• Connections: While reading Romeo and Juliet the class was asked to watch a modern day version of the play, during this play students were asked to make connections from the orginal Romeo and Juliet to bigger meanings they could have in the real world. Through these connections we were able to figure out more and more on how Shakesphere is still relevant today.

Blog about a Blogger

Wesley Fryer is a educational blogger that blogs about all of the technology that he and his students bring to the classroom. He talks about the new abilites the new technologies that are coming up will effect the stuff that occurs in his classroom. His main point is that technology can be used in the classroom in an efficient manner such that it brings the student a better understanding of the subject. He also talks about what ways you can use a old technology in a classroom so that it is not the same and old way. In one of his blog postings he actually talks about a youtube video his daughter had created in class. This is a very good use of a technology in the world today it makes the classroom meet the Web.

Type 1 and Type 2

The difference Type 1 and Type 2 technolgies is how you use the technologies. If a teacher teaches a lesson plan on a iMovie but just uses it in a boring way, compared to using all the different features of iMovie, than they are using Type 1 technology. Using it in an advanced way, cutting adding, splicing, extracting the music would be considered Type 2. All technology has the option to be Type 2 as long as it is used in a reasonable manor. Type 2 technologies would be considered iMovie, Garageband, and Comic Life. Type 1 technologies would be considered word processor for essays, iTunes for playing music, and iMovie if used in a way that does not require other things in the iMovies other than the orginal video feed.

Chapter 2: Respect, Liking, Trust and Fairness

The part of this chapter that jumped out to me the most is the part that state whether or not a teacher should like students. All that really matters is that everyone is treated fairly, it does not really matter how much a teacher likes a student.

I always thought teachers were mandated to like all the students, this is not necessarily the case. It is very important that students feel like they are being treated just as well as all of the other students. On the other hand though as long as a teacher does not cue off whether or not a teacher likes or dislikes students more or less it does not matter. The most important thing in teaching is as long as all students are treated fairly. I like this idea I know that I can be friends with most people but up to now it has scared me that I am going to dislike a student, as long as I do not treat them differently it does not matter.

Chapter 1: Getting to know the students

The part this chapter that jumped out to me in this chapter is the part that told teachers to have students keep journal entries, even in math classes. It said that it would be a useful tool that would allow the teacher to get to know the students more.

I have never thought about using a journal in math class as a use to get to know the student. I could use the weaknesses and strengths that I can learn from the students in the journals to better know how to teach them. If a student believes that there is a better way for me to teach a subject it would be great for them to voice their opinions through the journal. This also gives them a useful and silent way to voice their opinions to me without everyone else knowing.