The first article I read had to do with a program called Wordle. If you don't know what that is don't feel bad because neither did I. Wordle is a program where you can highlight any text and the words that are used with great frequency are made into a word cloud. Words that are placed together or used in the context are placed together. Take for example Andrew Jackson's address to congress on Indian Removal. The words Indian, Savage, and tribes are placed together just as White and Civilized are put together. I think this is an excellent tool to use to allow students to grasp the main idea of a speech or a piece of literature, especially the more complex it is.
The next article was a point/counterpoint on whether or not a teacher should befriend a student on Facebook. The point says that the same comments or conversations that are held on Facebook are just continuations of what would happen in person. The counterpoint stated that students would have a hard time distinguishing between the personal life and the professional life of the teacher. That once a teacher is outside of the school then they are just like other people and that the students might take unhealthy interest in their personal lives. As a student there were several teachers that I considered to be friends or at least friend-like and I don't want to lose contact with them just because I graduated. I get to know about how their kids are doing, what their new classes are like and they get to know what is going on with me. I don't see this a broach of professionalism. If I saw them in the store or restaurant I should hope that we be able to converse pleasantly.
The last article was about standardized testing and teachers. Since everyone in this class must have had standardized testing I feel safe in asking, was it boring? I also feel safe in assuming the answer would be unanimously be yes. The question I pose with slight uncertainty is, would school be just as boring without testing? The article I read said that the disinterest of students is because of the teachers. How many of you had a favorite teacher in school? Was it someone that textbook taught or someone who wasn't afraid to do something different? The author says that teachers are stuck and their inability to break out of their comfort level is a hindrance to student learning. I think I just might agree, because even though testing isn't' fun, neither is being read to straight from a book and being forced to take pages of notes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment