After reading the two articles my opinion about using technology in the class room did not change. The problem of unequal outside access can not detour a teacher from using what they believe to be the best educational tool for a given lesson. I feel that I would be doing a disservice to my students if I failed to do anything based on the particular problems of just a few students. I will always do what I can to help my students including the ones that are having trouble with access to technology outside of school.
There are many things available at school to students that are not in there private homes. The argument that because a student may not have access to some thing at home, should exclude it from being used in the class room is logically flawed. The whole point of going to school is that it is a place where you will have access to things you would not otherwise have. For the student that can not afford a computer, it is better that they have the minimal exposure to such technology at school than to have nun at all. School should be a place where the best of all aspects of education come together not where the lowest common denominator is the standard.
It is definitely a big disservice to the students to not use computer technology because a few of the students may not have the same access. There are plenty of computer labs, libraries, charities, and other solutions for the small minority of house holds without computers and internet.
I will always make sure my students are aware of the many places and ways they can access technology out side of school. One good thing may be just to spend a little time on Craig's list or at second hand stores and get a few extra computers that can do all of the basic functions. The computer I am writing this essay with was built out of spare parts from my friends and my old computers I did not spend a dime on it. I feel that if a teacher is sensitive to the particular needs of there students they should be able to teach them all at the highest levels and never hold back.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Reflection on Games
I am shocked and amazed by this man Gee, I usually find so many fallacies of logic and down right stupid ideas coming from these academics that I can barely bring my self to read the entire essay. I could not find one thing that I could disagree with or even play the Devils advocate with in Gees essay. He’s right on the money, the only problem is that the rest of his generation doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.
My father is hands down the smartest and wisest person I know. He is a practicing lawyer, published author, holds a doctorate of philosophy and religion, and is a part time university prophesier, among many other achievements. He hates video games, cant understand why I waste my time playing them and would probably never make it past the first level of Mario Brothers, no mater how much time and effort he pout in to it. He is incredibly intelligent and always willing to learn new things but I truly believe that his brain is fundamentally different than that of a digital native.
This is most likely the case with most of our teachers from the aging baby boomer generation. Its not really there fault, but that won’t save them from falling away into history, pushed aside by the next wave of brain power. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my teachers and I probably am more like them than I would like to admit, but it’s clear that there are irreversible changes taking place in the way people learn and unless one is part of it they probably don’t even know that they are out of the loop.
So to answer the three questions 1. Yes I believe that video games should be used in schools. They should compliment not take the place of traditional instruction. Education should always have an entertainment value; I have never understood the people who force students to suffer through torturously boring stuff. If you can’t explain it clearly you don’t know what you are talking about, and if you cant make it exciting than you should not be a teacher. 2. “what learning principles that Gee claims video games incorporate have you personally agree are lacking in education?” ,Don’t know what this means, so I will move on to question 3. As I will be teaching art, most likely ceramics, there probably are not any video games that would apply. The practice of creating art with your hands and manipulating the material would be very hard to reproduce in a video game but I would not pout it past the geniuses that create such games. The real advantage I have as an art teacher is that I and my students get to actually do all the things that we will be learning about. Un like a history teacher who can not take the class to 1066 to watch the battle of Hastings, I get to take my students to the kiln, and potters wheel, and create thing right there and then. Video games are amazing and wonderful tools for learning and entertainment, I am not sure how to bring them in to teaching art other than the obvious application of teaching students to be the artists that create the video games, but I will keep thinking about it.
My father is hands down the smartest and wisest person I know. He is a practicing lawyer, published author, holds a doctorate of philosophy and religion, and is a part time university prophesier, among many other achievements. He hates video games, cant understand why I waste my time playing them and would probably never make it past the first level of Mario Brothers, no mater how much time and effort he pout in to it. He is incredibly intelligent and always willing to learn new things but I truly believe that his brain is fundamentally different than that of a digital native.
This is most likely the case with most of our teachers from the aging baby boomer generation. Its not really there fault, but that won’t save them from falling away into history, pushed aside by the next wave of brain power. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my teachers and I probably am more like them than I would like to admit, but it’s clear that there are irreversible changes taking place in the way people learn and unless one is part of it they probably don’t even know that they are out of the loop.
So to answer the three questions 1. Yes I believe that video games should be used in schools. They should compliment not take the place of traditional instruction. Education should always have an entertainment value; I have never understood the people who force students to suffer through torturously boring stuff. If you can’t explain it clearly you don’t know what you are talking about, and if you cant make it exciting than you should not be a teacher. 2. “what learning principles that Gee claims video games incorporate have you personally agree are lacking in education?” ,Don’t know what this means, so I will move on to question 3. As I will be teaching art, most likely ceramics, there probably are not any video games that would apply. The practice of creating art with your hands and manipulating the material would be very hard to reproduce in a video game but I would not pout it past the geniuses that create such games. The real advantage I have as an art teacher is that I and my students get to actually do all the things that we will be learning about. Un like a history teacher who can not take the class to 1066 to watch the battle of Hastings, I get to take my students to the kiln, and potters wheel, and create thing right there and then. Video games are amazing and wonderful tools for learning and entertainment, I am not sure how to bring them in to teaching art other than the obvious application of teaching students to be the artists that create the video games, but I will keep thinking about it.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Reflection on Wikipedia
Reflection on Wikipedia
Joe Hoffman
I rarely use Wikipedia as a resource for researching a topic because I have found that it is full of information primarily that every one already knows. That’s the point of an encyclopedia isn’t it? It’s a brief general knowledge resource. When I was young I must have read the entire encyclopedia set my family had, at least twice. I loved the pictures and would read at least the first few sentences of every subject. The internet is an indispensable tool for research and I fully support its use in school projects. As a teacher I would accept Wikipedia quotes from my students, in the right context.
The right context would be as an example of the contemporary level of understanding of a given subject. For example, take the subject of slavery. A student would do well to compare the definition, cultural perspective, and level of knowledge exhibited on Wikipedia as it compares to that of the times and places when or where slavery exists. Wikipedia can serve as a good source for finding generally excepted basic knowledge, but should not be taken as a true authority any more than your average encyclopedia should.
The article about Wikipedia did not make any strong arguments in ether direction other than his personal endorsement of Wikipedia use. I don’t feel that my opinion has changed about what to do with my students on this topic. I will except Wikipedia citations for basic info and comparisons, but will require that other sources be use in conjunction.
My policy surrounding internet research is simple. One has not done adequate research if they have failed to compare previously confirmed information with contemporary debate and speculation, making the use of the internet a necessity. However If one has not given great consideration to the previously established knowledge found primarily in books, then they have not don adequate research ether. In short, I will require both.
Joe Hoffman
I rarely use Wikipedia as a resource for researching a topic because I have found that it is full of information primarily that every one already knows. That’s the point of an encyclopedia isn’t it? It’s a brief general knowledge resource. When I was young I must have read the entire encyclopedia set my family had, at least twice. I loved the pictures and would read at least the first few sentences of every subject. The internet is an indispensable tool for research and I fully support its use in school projects. As a teacher I would accept Wikipedia quotes from my students, in the right context.
The right context would be as an example of the contemporary level of understanding of a given subject. For example, take the subject of slavery. A student would do well to compare the definition, cultural perspective, and level of knowledge exhibited on Wikipedia as it compares to that of the times and places when or where slavery exists. Wikipedia can serve as a good source for finding generally excepted basic knowledge, but should not be taken as a true authority any more than your average encyclopedia should.
The article about Wikipedia did not make any strong arguments in ether direction other than his personal endorsement of Wikipedia use. I don’t feel that my opinion has changed about what to do with my students on this topic. I will except Wikipedia citations for basic info and comparisons, but will require that other sources be use in conjunction.
My policy surrounding internet research is simple. One has not done adequate research if they have failed to compare previously confirmed information with contemporary debate and speculation, making the use of the internet a necessity. However If one has not given great consideration to the previously established knowledge found primarily in books, then they have not don adequate research ether. In short, I will require both.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Reflection on Cell Phones
Joe Hoffman
Cell phones in the class room
Cell phones are a tool, employed by our culture with wonderful success. They are perhaps just as important as computers, TV’s, and automobiles, to the productivity and forward movement of our economy. The integration of cell phones with education has happened already and as is often the case, will not be reversed. I do not think it is a good idea to have students freely using their cell phones while the teacher is lecturing, but then again isn’t that what we all do when we are stuck in a meeting or conference.
The cell phone is to the world of communication that the calculator is to math. It is simply a tool allowing us to work faster, harder, and more efficiently. Imagine doing complex math equations and functions without a calculator. The level of communication and networking taking place in the lives of our students is so far above and beyond the level the school is functioning on its no wonder schools don’t allow cell phones. It’s about like a math teacher who is teaching the multiplication tables and says “no calculators”, and with good reason of course. Calculators would make it to easy thus none of the students would actually learn the tables, but the students are all math geniuses compared to the teacher and are simply bored out of their minds.
That’s what the teachers and administrators are missing. The students are on a totally different level than them. Restricting the use of the most dominant communication tool of the real world, can in no way prepare them to function effectively in it. Clearly as with all things there must be rules and boundaries in the class room, and it has been demonstrated to work quite well in other settings. Elementary and high school teachers could take a lesson from collage instructors who often encourage the use of technology like phones in the class room.
Students if given the opportunity will use these devices to supplement and improve upon what is being taught to them. While a teacher lectures for example on US History, the student can check the validity of what the teacher says right there and challenge some thing they feel is untrue or find the answer to a question that the teacher did not know or didn’t wont to answer.
This is how real learning takes place. Simply soaking in what the text book or teacher says, can only give you a small piece of the big picture. I feel that students should be encouraged to employ all forms of technology at all times.
Cell phones in the class room
Cell phones are a tool, employed by our culture with wonderful success. They are perhaps just as important as computers, TV’s, and automobiles, to the productivity and forward movement of our economy. The integration of cell phones with education has happened already and as is often the case, will not be reversed. I do not think it is a good idea to have students freely using their cell phones while the teacher is lecturing, but then again isn’t that what we all do when we are stuck in a meeting or conference.
The cell phone is to the world of communication that the calculator is to math. It is simply a tool allowing us to work faster, harder, and more efficiently. Imagine doing complex math equations and functions without a calculator. The level of communication and networking taking place in the lives of our students is so far above and beyond the level the school is functioning on its no wonder schools don’t allow cell phones. It’s about like a math teacher who is teaching the multiplication tables and says “no calculators”, and with good reason of course. Calculators would make it to easy thus none of the students would actually learn the tables, but the students are all math geniuses compared to the teacher and are simply bored out of their minds.
That’s what the teachers and administrators are missing. The students are on a totally different level than them. Restricting the use of the most dominant communication tool of the real world, can in no way prepare them to function effectively in it. Clearly as with all things there must be rules and boundaries in the class room, and it has been demonstrated to work quite well in other settings. Elementary and high school teachers could take a lesson from collage instructors who often encourage the use of technology like phones in the class room.
Students if given the opportunity will use these devices to supplement and improve upon what is being taught to them. While a teacher lectures for example on US History, the student can check the validity of what the teacher says right there and challenge some thing they feel is untrue or find the answer to a question that the teacher did not know or didn’t wont to answer.
This is how real learning takes place. Simply soaking in what the text book or teacher says, can only give you a small piece of the big picture. I feel that students should be encouraged to employ all forms of technology at all times.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Reflection on Cyber Bullying
The topic of cyber bullying is an obsolete idea. It seems to me to be a sign of the lack of awareness by principles and teachers that there students are living and communicating on a whole other level than they are. As I read the articles about the topic it was making me laugh the way they talked about new technology and what to do about the bullying that may be happening in a realm that they are not involved in. The truth is that the kids in school today don’t think of it as “cyber bullying”, any more than we thought of our bullying situations as “face to face bullying”, or “Snail mail/land line bullying”. It was just bullying. Humans operate, communicate, and manipulate in the culture, context, and language of there time. The law and liberty for students has not changed just because communication technology has.
A school can not punish a student that ran in to another student on a Sunday afternoon far away from campus and got into a fight, It is a mater for the police to handle, and only if the other student wishes to pres charges. In the same way a school should not be able to punish a student for merely saying some thing on line to another out side of school locations and hours. While I condemn all bullying on or off of school property, it worries’s me considerably that the first amendment rights of young Americans would be tossed aside for the sake of hurt feelings. I get hurt feeling and quite upset by some of the political rhetoric and down right bullying that goes on in our country, but that’s America. Discomfort is one of the prices we must pay for liberty. It can be hard to swallow some times, but we must always remember that free speech can not be limited to only positive speech.
The laws already in place can sufficiently handle any problems happening in the cyber world. As long as the language of the laws concerning harassment, liable, and threat/fight speech, include digital communication, than no further action needs to be taken. Good intentions are most certainly what drives parents, teachers, and school administrators to reach out of the bounds of jurisdiction in an attempt to make things better, but as the saying goes “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. I do not mean to say that what they are doing is worthy of damnation. It only serves to illustrate that good intentions do not necessarily come from sound reasoning or produce good results.
A school can not punish a student that ran in to another student on a Sunday afternoon far away from campus and got into a fight, It is a mater for the police to handle, and only if the other student wishes to pres charges. In the same way a school should not be able to punish a student for merely saying some thing on line to another out side of school locations and hours. While I condemn all bullying on or off of school property, it worries’s me considerably that the first amendment rights of young Americans would be tossed aside for the sake of hurt feelings. I get hurt feeling and quite upset by some of the political rhetoric and down right bullying that goes on in our country, but that’s America. Discomfort is one of the prices we must pay for liberty. It can be hard to swallow some times, but we must always remember that free speech can not be limited to only positive speech.
The laws already in place can sufficiently handle any problems happening in the cyber world. As long as the language of the laws concerning harassment, liable, and threat/fight speech, include digital communication, than no further action needs to be taken. Good intentions are most certainly what drives parents, teachers, and school administrators to reach out of the bounds of jurisdiction in an attempt to make things better, but as the saying goes “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. I do not mean to say that what they are doing is worthy of damnation. It only serves to illustrate that good intentions do not necessarily come from sound reasoning or produce good results.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Reflection on Google and My Name
Joe Hoffman
Reflection on Googleing my name
I am not a digital person. I don’t face book, blog, except when forced to, or even email people. I only got a cell phone five years ago. It was no surprise to me that I am an internet nobody. After I went through the Google and Pipl searches, I didn’t really find much about my self. My full name (Joseph Paul Hoffman) turned up nothing my common name (Joe) gave me a few images of myself fishing on a boat that someone else had posted at some time and some art shows I have been in. My handle (joehoffman82) produced more results but not much, a few blog posts that a previous teacher had assigned. If you search my name in Google videos you will find two films that I made “David Lane the Guru”, and “God and His Fishermen”. I am glad that I have nothing to be embarrassed of that can be found on line.
There is nothing that I would like to change on the internet about myself. Its not that I have never done or said anything embarrassing, I’m just lucky enough to not have hade anyone post it on the internet. The worst thing one may find about me would be my criminal record which includes some misdemeanors I was convicted of in high school. I have changed my life significantly since then and I would gladly explain the transformation to anyone who had problems with my record. Thank God all of the stupid things I did when I was young were done in a time when no one could afford a digital camera.
I absolutely believe that teachers should be held to a standard higher than that of the rest of the community. What a teacher writes and wrote in the past should be a mater of serious consideration. I stand by everything that I have ever written no mater how offensive or politically incorrect it may be. I have never written anything mean, hateful, or untrue. When I say that what a teacher writes is a mater of consideration, what I mean is that it should be considered during the hiring process. I do not believe that when someone becomes a teacher that they suddenly lose there first amendment rights. Teachers are Americans just like the rest of us and while we may hold them to a higher social standard they can not legally be treated any different than the rest of us.
I don’t think I am going to do anything in particular to protect my reputation or my job other than being myself and perhaps watching what I say a little closer. I know that my religious and political views are not shared by most people in the field of education. Being philosophically outnumbered is something that I will have to contend with however, I refuse to cowardly hide my feelings or beliefs for fear of confrontation. This approach may someday come back to hurt me but I could not live any other way.
Places I found myself on line
flickr.cwww.coopkiosk.com/.../Hoffman/hoffman.html
www.coopkiosk.com/.../Hoffman/hoffman.html
http://www.coopkiosk.com/TheCoopKiosk%20folder/TheCoopKiosk/meettheartists.html
google videos search +Joe Hoffman
Reflection on Googleing my name
I am not a digital person. I don’t face book, blog, except when forced to, or even email people. I only got a cell phone five years ago. It was no surprise to me that I am an internet nobody. After I went through the Google and Pipl searches, I didn’t really find much about my self. My full name (Joseph Paul Hoffman) turned up nothing my common name (Joe) gave me a few images of myself fishing on a boat that someone else had posted at some time and some art shows I have been in. My handle (joehoffman82) produced more results but not much, a few blog posts that a previous teacher had assigned. If you search my name in Google videos you will find two films that I made “David Lane the Guru”, and “God and His Fishermen”. I am glad that I have nothing to be embarrassed of that can be found on line.
There is nothing that I would like to change on the internet about myself. Its not that I have never done or said anything embarrassing, I’m just lucky enough to not have hade anyone post it on the internet. The worst thing one may find about me would be my criminal record which includes some misdemeanors I was convicted of in high school. I have changed my life significantly since then and I would gladly explain the transformation to anyone who had problems with my record. Thank God all of the stupid things I did when I was young were done in a time when no one could afford a digital camera.
I absolutely believe that teachers should be held to a standard higher than that of the rest of the community. What a teacher writes and wrote in the past should be a mater of serious consideration. I stand by everything that I have ever written no mater how offensive or politically incorrect it may be. I have never written anything mean, hateful, or untrue. When I say that what a teacher writes is a mater of consideration, what I mean is that it should be considered during the hiring process. I do not believe that when someone becomes a teacher that they suddenly lose there first amendment rights. Teachers are Americans just like the rest of us and while we may hold them to a higher social standard they can not legally be treated any different than the rest of us.
I don’t think I am going to do anything in particular to protect my reputation or my job other than being myself and perhaps watching what I say a little closer. I know that my religious and political views are not shared by most people in the field of education. Being philosophically outnumbered is something that I will have to contend with however, I refuse to cowardly hide my feelings or beliefs for fear of confrontation. This approach may someday come back to hurt me but I could not live any other way.
Places I found myself on line
flickr.cwww.coopkiosk.com/.../Hoffman/hoffman.html
www.coopkiosk.com/.../Hoffman/hoffman.html
http://www.coopkiosk.com/TheCoopKiosk%20folder/TheCoopKiosk/meettheartists.html
google videos search +Joe Hoffman
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Joe Hoffman
10/24/09
I am not a digital native, I can’t even figure out how to get on to the WebCT thing. The strange thing is that many of my closest friends are digital natives and we are the same age. I graduated from high school in the year 2000, a transitional period in digital history. Some of my friends were born into a world of digital technology but I certainly was not. I don’t view this to be a disadvantage in any way other than my ability to participate on the same level as the digital native.
I grew up in the country on 40 acres of forested land that was my personal playground. My father would not let a Nintendo in the home and I am glad he had this rul. I was able to enjoy video games at my friend’s houses but my real passion was for nature and real life adventure, hunting, fishing, exploring, and so on. I probably would not be anything close to the person I am today had my father not been so strict on this subject. Now that I am an adult and free to do as I will, I play video games often and enjoy them quite a bit however they don’t satisfy my real needs for real experiences.
My high school experience with technology was limited to using the computer to type papers, research a few things on the web, cell phones, and video games. I enjoyed games but my natural inclination towards most other forms of technology was one of resistance and reluctance. When I went to collage I found that with the maturation of the internet and its usefulness, it made school les difficult for me and I really began to embrace the change. I took courses with teachers that had us turn in papers on line and meet in group discussions in chat rooms and much more. I would say that the university system is much farther ahead of the high school and elementary school systems as far as submitting to the irreversible change that has occurred in our culture and especially our young students.
I did not need any convincing on this subject I am right there with Prensky when he says that “students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors”. As an art teacher I will have the opportunity to incorporate all kinds of technology in my class room and I fully intend to do so.
10/24/09
I am not a digital native, I can’t even figure out how to get on to the WebCT thing. The strange thing is that many of my closest friends are digital natives and we are the same age. I graduated from high school in the year 2000, a transitional period in digital history. Some of my friends were born into a world of digital technology but I certainly was not. I don’t view this to be a disadvantage in any way other than my ability to participate on the same level as the digital native.
I grew up in the country on 40 acres of forested land that was my personal playground. My father would not let a Nintendo in the home and I am glad he had this rul. I was able to enjoy video games at my friend’s houses but my real passion was for nature and real life adventure, hunting, fishing, exploring, and so on. I probably would not be anything close to the person I am today had my father not been so strict on this subject. Now that I am an adult and free to do as I will, I play video games often and enjoy them quite a bit however they don’t satisfy my real needs for real experiences.
My high school experience with technology was limited to using the computer to type papers, research a few things on the web, cell phones, and video games. I enjoyed games but my natural inclination towards most other forms of technology was one of resistance and reluctance. When I went to collage I found that with the maturation of the internet and its usefulness, it made school les difficult for me and I really began to embrace the change. I took courses with teachers that had us turn in papers on line and meet in group discussions in chat rooms and much more. I would say that the university system is much farther ahead of the high school and elementary school systems as far as submitting to the irreversible change that has occurred in our culture and especially our young students.
I did not need any convincing on this subject I am right there with Prensky when he says that “students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors”. As an art teacher I will have the opportunity to incorporate all kinds of technology in my class room and I fully intend to do so.
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