Week+5+Monday+Feb+8


 * Old is not Dead**

Bruce, I was a bit miffed by your comment about **the teachers you teach over 40 and how they are so slow**. I'm over 40 and I'm slow and yes, I need to ask for everything step by step. --remember your own words about teachers. **It's easy to be a teacher for the top third of the class**. What about the bottom third? --It's hard to be me, doing pretty well in other classes and being such a beginner in this one. Another thought: Those teachers that are dumb at tech may be smart at lots of other stuff.


 * Digital Natives Marc Prensky**

--what stands out most is Prensky's point that **Digital Immigrants** (DI's) who keep wishing kids would be the way they were are like immigrants to North America who keep **wishing things would be as they are in the old country.**

--I am like that!

--especially when I read about kids needing **instant gratificat**ion versus slow step-by-step learning

--"instant gratification" is kind of a bad word to me

--I.G. seems rather hollow and shallow, like me checking my email many times a day. When you want instant gratification, you are never satisfied.


 * From Class Discussion

Bruce** asked: "Is it ok to be a nerd these days?" --not really, according to my sons. They still want to be cool. --Bill Gates: "Be nice to nerds; you're going to work for one one day."

Gifted kids sometimes lack social skills. --they sure do! for example, my older son. A sweetie, but often socially clueless.


 * Blog Native**

I have been blogging for about 6 years on **livejournal** and it's an ingrained part of my life.

Here are two friends who I met through blogging; we were all part of a vibrant Harry Potter community. Most of my friends online are from this community.

Things I hate about blogs: --bullying and flaming on blogs --stupid memes on blogs --the transience of blogs. sometimes web friends and even whole communities disappear for good into the ether

Things I love --connecting with people who share the same interests --finding kindred spirits who you'd never otherwise have met --reading the thoughts of many different kinds of people --getting to explore topics that you are too shy to talk about in RL

My main blog, which I've had for years (personal posts are friendslocked, so you won't see most of them)

[]


 * Smart Board Intro**

It is so fantastic to have a tech feature explained by a woman! --almost all tech gurus are men --we need more female tech guru role models!

That said, I very much enjoyed the clip about making your own interactive white board by J. Chung Lee.

Smart Board looks like it could be high tech or just a smart whiteboard as the name implies, depending on how tech savvy the user is.




 * Google Translator**

Oh, no...this is like **crack cocaine** for me. I tried it and it works pretty well. I shouldn't use this for my French homework...but it's so tempting...

ETA: Our French teacher mentioned this program, too! I actually have been using it a little bit for homework, but **I don't feel guilty**. **Here's why**: I am not using it to write the whole thing in french, but to **test out possible phrases**. "How wld Google Translator say that?" (If I wrote my assignment in English and plugged it into Google T that wld be just cheating.)

--you have to know French well to know if the translation is correct or not, and as such **it's a bit like using a spellcheck program**. I think as long as you use it that way it could help improve your French rather than being a substitute for doing the work yourself.


 * What We Learned In Class Feb. 8**


 * Rubric**

In class today we worked on a rubric for our multimedia presentation. I can see why it's good to write the rubric with students. --it makes the actual assignment clearer. "What the heck does he want?"

Some criteria for level 3 or 4 for this assignment were: --uses 3+ technologies effectively --looks professional --clear sounds/voices --no pregnant pauses --doesn't skip --not blurry --credits at the end --effectively communicates how students learn differently in 2010 --need to show a comparison with other ways of learning --about two minutes long -spelling perfect (well, that's the part I can do.)