When I was a senior in high school, physics class was always the highlight of the day. The teacher, an eccentric individual with a certain passion for the insane, was known for putting on quite the show. Between building K'Nex roller coasters that spanned a classroom, to launching rockets on the football field and throwing flaming tennis balls down the hallway, he certainly gained a reputation for doing things differently.
In one of the last days of school, he decided to treat my class (made entirely of seniors itching to graduate) to a movie, something related to physics but still entertaining; The Hurt Locker. At this point the movie had just come out on DVD, and my friends and I never actually had the chance to see it, and so we gathered around the small TV screen to watch. After reading the articles and watching the movie on what determines fair use, I now question the legality of what my teacher did, but also reconciling the question; if it is illegal, is it really that bad of a crime?
Fair use as best I understand it is the idea that copyrighted material and intellectual property can be used in some cases without permission, usually meaning not having ti pay for rights to the material. The big cases when this is acceptable are for use in news coverage, critical analysis, parody, and of course, education. Anyone who has ever gone to school knows what this looks like; copied pages or select passages from some other book, playing a clip from a documentary or some historical speech, or even showing a full movie on the grounds of educational need. Speaking strictly in the educational realm, this allows teachers and districts to save money while still using a comprehensive set of materials in their classroom. If a teacher only wants to use a chapter or two from another book, why should the school spend hundreds of dollars on an entire set of the books for a mere 15 page article used for one lesson? Granted, that section will most likely be used more than just the one year, but that doesn't the justify spending the money on numerous copies of the book.
At the same time however, as a writer myself, I understand the value of my intellectual property and would hate to see a short story of mine being used without proper consent or reimbursement of some kind of my entire work was taken wholesale. For example, if a teacher were to use a poem of mine or a part of a short story in her lesson (assuming of course my writing career has taken off!) I have no objection. However, if I were to publish the comic book I am currently writing and a teacher were to copy the entire book and distribute copies to her students, I would feel infringed upon, considering the going rate for a 32-page comic never exceeds 4 dollars, unless we're talking about a special edition or incentive cover, which is a story for another day.
The long and short of it is, I understand, and I don't all at the same time. While I will agree that violating terms of use on programs or peer-to-peer sharing is an offense that needs to be monitored and policed by the district and self-enforced by each teacher, using fair use allows to create a more comprehensive list of material to be used in lessons. If a teacher were to buy every book for which they took a page out of or used a segment from an anthology, teachers would be drowning in debt and have personal libraries that may very well rival the school library. The idea of intellectual property is an issue constantly in flux, and one that needs to be monitored and tracked as it changes. That said, while I wold never steal someone's full intellectual property or use it for my own gain, if my students can learn something more from a passage in a book I own for a lesson, I don't see a problem with it.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Screencasting Research
For my screencast lesson, I decided to show off how to conduct research using an Internet Database. Not only is this informative and helps the student to better understand what a database looks like and how to use it, but when used in conjunction with some other pedagogy in the lesson, it creates a seamless research environment.
The students will inevitable need to use internet databases to find peer-reviewed history literature to help write papers or work on their larger research project, and JSTOR is by far the easiest and most in-depth history database I know. Students would watch the screencasts on a library day or even at home the day before a trip to the computer lab, to better acquaint themselves with the system and point out important tools, like tracking citations, converting files into PDF format, and also using what is given to help put together an appropriately formatted bibliography.
After watching the video, the students would then come into class and begin compiling the research, me having modeled the procedure for this task in the screencast. I would have them do this in class because I would want to make sure students were staying on track and were not confused on what sources to use and how to access the software. While this could be done through E-mail communication, it's easier to address these larger problems in class because more likely than not there are numerous students with the same question. Going through the entire research process as a class instead of just interacting through quick messages encourages a more collaborative effort between the students, allowing for group research or sharing of articles that might be relevant to someone else's research.
While the screencast is certainly not one entire lesson, when put in this framework of modeling then guided practice while clarifying any loose ends makes using an internet database a smooth and not so mysterious process, something that students have often complained about. Using an internet database should not be hard or shrouded in mystery, but should instead be as natural in research as searching library stacks for a book. In this way, students can utilize research tools and methods in all mediums.
The students will inevitable need to use internet databases to find peer-reviewed history literature to help write papers or work on their larger research project, and JSTOR is by far the easiest and most in-depth history database I know. Students would watch the screencasts on a library day or even at home the day before a trip to the computer lab, to better acquaint themselves with the system and point out important tools, like tracking citations, converting files into PDF format, and also using what is given to help put together an appropriately formatted bibliography.
After watching the video, the students would then come into class and begin compiling the research, me having modeled the procedure for this task in the screencast. I would have them do this in class because I would want to make sure students were staying on track and were not confused on what sources to use and how to access the software. While this could be done through E-mail communication, it's easier to address these larger problems in class because more likely than not there are numerous students with the same question. Going through the entire research process as a class instead of just interacting through quick messages encourages a more collaborative effort between the students, allowing for group research or sharing of articles that might be relevant to someone else's research.
While the screencast is certainly not one entire lesson, when put in this framework of modeling then guided practice while clarifying any loose ends makes using an internet database a smooth and not so mysterious process, something that students have often complained about. Using an internet database should not be hard or shrouded in mystery, but should instead be as natural in research as searching library stacks for a book. In this way, students can utilize research tools and methods in all mediums.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Screencasting Class
Last week I created the back to school night presentation, and it allowed me to create a means to communicate 21st Century Skills to parents, also while framing it in the context of a history or social studies class. Now, by introducing the screencast element, the walls of the classroom are only further expanded here.
The powerpoint, by its very nature, is short and abbreviated. The most that anyone can get simply out of a presentation is some bullet points and ideas which in all honesty might leave a parent with more questions than answers. By adding the narration, even if it is only a five-minute narration, the presentation is expanded and more detail can be added and the larger picture of the class can be explained. In addition to this, by posting the screencast on a blog or some website that parents and students can check, it allows people who can't come to back to school night to also enjoy the presentation if they so choose. While I wouldn't want to replace back to school night by putting this online because I feel that making more personal connections with students and parents is important, I think that if people can't attend back to school night, they shouldn't miss out on the opportunity to see the information, and not totally miss out on it.
The powerpoint, by its very nature, is short and abbreviated. The most that anyone can get simply out of a presentation is some bullet points and ideas which in all honesty might leave a parent with more questions than answers. By adding the narration, even if it is only a five-minute narration, the presentation is expanded and more detail can be added and the larger picture of the class can be explained. In addition to this, by posting the screencast on a blog or some website that parents and students can check, it allows people who can't come to back to school night to also enjoy the presentation if they so choose. While I wouldn't want to replace back to school night by putting this online because I feel that making more personal connections with students and parents is important, I think that if people can't attend back to school night, they shouldn't miss out on the opportunity to see the information, and not totally miss out on it.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Well Here Goes Nothing
In thinking about back to school night, I couldn't help but think of Billy Madison and the scene where Adam Sandler is waiting for the bus singing this song, and how I would feel a similar way on back to school nights growing up. The anticipation of knowing who would be in my classes, which bullies I'd have to avoid, but more importantly learning about my new teachers. While I mostly spaced out during the presentations to the parents, one thing I always remember was the larger goal, the big picture that the teachers wanted the class to walk away with at the end of the year. In crafting my presentation I wanted to make a quick overview of the 21st Century Skills and how I would use them in the class.
By laying out the ideas of the research project and the 21st Century Skills at the same time, and using the major project as an example, the parents can be aware of the overarching themes of the course. As a history teacher I would want to let the parents know that while the students will be learning the major historical concepts needed, they will also become proficient in research and collaboration. In this way, the parent and students are aware that this is not just names and dates and dead people, this is a living, breathing class environment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMtkiS1SU_c
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The Prosecution Podcast
For this Tech Lab we looked at podcasts, and how we could use them effectively in the classroom. As a history teacher, I've thought long and hard about how to make this effective, and I thought of a few methods that seemed to work in other fields as well. Sending out podcasts with paper corrections is something I feel like will definitely be used in my classroom, but I didn't want my example to just be me reading off corrections for a fake paper, or reciting some famous speech or even recording a lecture. I felt that in a history classroom these would only be means to make what students already consider to be boring and force them to encounter that outside of school. Because of these thoughts I took a project I loved doing in high school and brought it into the 21st Century.
The mock trial was one of my favorite projects in AP US History, and the one we did the most. Through the course of the year we ended up doing three mock trials, and each one kept all of us engaged, entertained, and most importantly taught us not only about the eras of our trials and their ramifications, but also about the judicial system and how trials can play out. In a way, we had the opportunity to put on our own historical episode of Law and Order, something that students would love to do.
For the assignment, the class would be divided into prosecution and defense, with an outside jury presiding over the case to avoid jury tampering. The groups would decide amongst themselves who would be lawyers and witness, and with documents and evidence articles given to them by me, they could prepare their case and how they are going to approach it. In addition to library research days, the students will be told to do their own research into the case, trying to find differing perspectives or analyses to help strengthen their case. In terms of courtroom procedure, in addition to a quick handout of bullet-points to remember, I will record for each side of the case a quick podcast, a short lecture or discussion of some strategies to help prepare the case and to help them anticipate what the other side might try to do. By using the podcast, little class time is lost in terms of covering content or trial preparations, and this can be used when the groups get together outside of school, and something they can listen to without having to deal with the distraction of learning these strategies in class. Not only does it open up the classroom beyond the traditional class time, but it creates a new dynamic between teacher and students, where not everything can be just a paper handout to look over, but a more interactive experience.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
In With The New, Don't Forget The Old
In reading about the 21st Century Skills and their applications in the classroom, I find myself conflicted between the critics and the advocates, and what happens when pure ideology takes over the discussion, and the pedagogical talking heads stop caring about the students and caring more about being right.
It is without question that some of the 21st Century Skills are important to a student's development, and making sure that students can think critically and are learning skills and having experiences in the classroom that prepare them for future careers and "the real world."While this is great in science in mathematics where students can use graphs and do hands-on science experiments, or even in the video we watched last week where the students could go out to the abandoned river bed and solve problems. In the social sciences field these kinds of skills are, in my view, hard to translate, and fail to address and very serious and pressing concern that was raised in the all the critical articles of 21st Century Skills.
While critical thinking and practical skills are important in education, it cannot exist and thrive without the backbone of knowledge to support it. In particular, the Ravitch article perfectly demonstrates this idea, and presents a situation where knowledge is sacrificed for skills in the classroom. She talks about the inevitability of the social sciences being pushed to the sides, and being marginalized in the 21st Century world. The Willingham article article also works partly on this idea, operating on the assumption that knowledge and skills are separate. This kind of thinking is just as flawed as saying that only knowledge or skills is needed in the classroom. I used a quote in my last blog post referring to facts as empty sacks, and that we use our own views and education to fill them with meaning. Based on what I've heard and read in the articles, 21st Century Skills are all about moving forward and looking to the future, but as a student of history, I can say safely this is the wrong way to approach education.
Though cliche, the quote "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" is relevant here. While we can't constantly be looking to our past to illuminate our futures, the important thing to remember is that for hundreds of years the way people learned was through memorization and retention of facts, and there's something to the fact that it was used for so long. When I was in AP US History, my teacher, the man who became my mentor and the reason I'm studying history education, opened his class with one very important idea. In order to consider the present implications, or do academic research of any kind, and even in the real world to think for yourself as a member of society, you MUST know your facts. History is about making connections and conclusions as it relates to you, and contributes to your own personal story, but you must know the names and the dates and the facts and the dead people before you can back up your answer.
How does this relate to the 21st Century Skills? Simply put, experience can't thrive without knowledge. To place all the emphasis on one over the other cheapens the education process, and essentially defeats the purpose of having school in its curent state. As more and more state and federal regulations strive to regiment and "reform" education on the whole, the question must be asked, is this in the student's best interest? Is the president consulting the average teacher, and numerous teachers, to help guide his reform policy, or his he listening to people like those who head the NEA, who have said on numerous occasions they don't care about the students, and only about their own agendas and interests. Like anything that appears to come from talking heads or mouthpieces serving to accomplish an agenda, I have my share of skepticism and apprehension of whether these ideas can be put into my own classroom. WHile I will work to operate within core content standards, my classroom will be a place that focuses now only on knowledge but experience, taking the facts and having them form ideas, conclusions, and to create a body of students that can become intelligent, curious, and thinking members of our society.
It is without question that some of the 21st Century Skills are important to a student's development, and making sure that students can think critically and are learning skills and having experiences in the classroom that prepare them for future careers and "the real world."While this is great in science in mathematics where students can use graphs and do hands-on science experiments, or even in the video we watched last week where the students could go out to the abandoned river bed and solve problems. In the social sciences field these kinds of skills are, in my view, hard to translate, and fail to address and very serious and pressing concern that was raised in the all the critical articles of 21st Century Skills.
While critical thinking and practical skills are important in education, it cannot exist and thrive without the backbone of knowledge to support it. In particular, the Ravitch article perfectly demonstrates this idea, and presents a situation where knowledge is sacrificed for skills in the classroom. She talks about the inevitability of the social sciences being pushed to the sides, and being marginalized in the 21st Century world. The Willingham article article also works partly on this idea, operating on the assumption that knowledge and skills are separate. This kind of thinking is just as flawed as saying that only knowledge or skills is needed in the classroom. I used a quote in my last blog post referring to facts as empty sacks, and that we use our own views and education to fill them with meaning. Based on what I've heard and read in the articles, 21st Century Skills are all about moving forward and looking to the future, but as a student of history, I can say safely this is the wrong way to approach education.
Though cliche, the quote "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" is relevant here. While we can't constantly be looking to our past to illuminate our futures, the important thing to remember is that for hundreds of years the way people learned was through memorization and retention of facts, and there's something to the fact that it was used for so long. When I was in AP US History, my teacher, the man who became my mentor and the reason I'm studying history education, opened his class with one very important idea. In order to consider the present implications, or do academic research of any kind, and even in the real world to think for yourself as a member of society, you MUST know your facts. History is about making connections and conclusions as it relates to you, and contributes to your own personal story, but you must know the names and the dates and the facts and the dead people before you can back up your answer.
How does this relate to the 21st Century Skills? Simply put, experience can't thrive without knowledge. To place all the emphasis on one over the other cheapens the education process, and essentially defeats the purpose of having school in its curent state. As more and more state and federal regulations strive to regiment and "reform" education on the whole, the question must be asked, is this in the student's best interest? Is the president consulting the average teacher, and numerous teachers, to help guide his reform policy, or his he listening to people like those who head the NEA, who have said on numerous occasions they don't care about the students, and only about their own agendas and interests. Like anything that appears to come from talking heads or mouthpieces serving to accomplish an agenda, I have my share of skepticism and apprehension of whether these ideas can be put into my own classroom. WHile I will work to operate within core content standards, my classroom will be a place that focuses now only on knowledge but experience, taking the facts and having them form ideas, conclusions, and to create a body of students that can become intelligent, curious, and thinking members of our society.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Planning the Technology Integrated Lesson
For this assignment, I have chosen to use the wiki as my web tool for my high school history class. While a vital part of the research experience is going to a library and immersing yourself among the texts, not everything can be found on a bookshelf, and some research must be down outside the classroom, and on the computer. The following Core Content Standard is what I have chosen for my class to use.
Section 8.1, Strand F. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision-Making
CPI: By the end of grade 12: information accessed through the use of digital tools assists in generating solutions and making decisions.
- Select and use specialized databases for advanced research to solve real-world problems.
- Analyze the capabilities and limitations of current and emerging technology resources and assess their potential to address educational, career, personal, and social needs.
In more basic language, this is the process of using databases to answer a personal historical question, in addition to this learning the how to use their historical knowledge in the real-world, bringing the history to life and beginning the practice of "doing history."
For this project, each student will pick a historical question, something that interests them about a certain period, whether in the social, political, or economic field, and research the event itself, it's prelude and aftermath, and additionally the lasting consequences of said event. In a separate lesson, the students can keep a blog as a research journal, saving sources and conclusions they have drawn about the topic. By using databases such as EBSCO, JSTOR, and even the National Archives and the New York Public Library online content, the students will research and become experts in their historical question, and as a result be able to form their own answer based on in-depth review of primary source documents. This is only one half of the project, and where the wiki component begins.
The historical question the student has selected of their own accord should relate to a historical event or trend, but at the same time should in some way be dominating the current social or political conversation. It was famously said that "facts are empty sacks unless you fill them with meaning" and here we are going to give our facts the meaning they need. The Wiki will be established on the given topic and historical question, giving the background information and major research cited, along with the author's major conclusions about the historical event. A final sub-section will be added called "The Present Connection," in which the student will discuss how his conclusion and his research can relate to a dominant social issue and possible ways to learn from or prevent a decision as we have made in the past. Students whose topics overlap or who just have interest in the topics can add information to the page, citing new sources, data, etc. to reach new depth of understanding. They will also edit the Present COnnection page, a vital part of the assignment. Much as Wikipedia has talk pages for highly debated topics, the students will engage in pragmatic and intellectual discussions, bringing the knowledge from their own topics into this current issue, and eventually reach a consensus on a solution to the issue, or at the very least a list of possible ideas to present.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Effective Teacher Websites
Much as the Internet has become ubiquitous in our lives, it has become so also in the classroom. Every school district, college, and any other educational institution has a website that ideally communicates the values of the school, while also allowing students and parents to stay in touch with the faculty throughout the student's educational career. The success of these websites varies greatly, offering a spectrum from the cutting edge of websites and communication to websites that look like they haven't been updates since the long-forgotten days of Dial-Up connections. When used effectively, websites have the potential to bridge the gap between home and the classroom, and serve to streamline education into a more natural process.
Through my research, I found the personal website of Mr. Delucca, a social studies teacher at Dunellen High School and the website he set up for his US History II classes. Though not overly complicated, his website is an ideal example of how teacher websites can be used to streamline the classroom experience. The main page outlines his idea for the website for his classes, saying that this website is meant to create personal accountability in his students, and also allows parents to check up to make sure that their children are doing the assigned work. He also offers numerous ways of getting in touch with him, additional websites and resources for his students to use for research, and that week's assignments. The main purpose of the website is to offer supplemental materials and work based on the chapters and learning units. Each learning unit page features the week's homework assignments in greater detail, project prompts, and brief summaries from the in-class texts as a refresher. Numerous primary-source documents are available in PDF and word formats, along with some class nots and assignment rubrics, inadvertently saving paper costs and making the class as paperless as possible.
This website brings parents, students, and the teacher into the classroom no matter where they are, and are extending as much help as possible for their homework and projects. While it may seem to some that putting all this information is in a way babying the students and making them dependent on the teacher putting out notes, but in my opinion teaching isn't about making good note-takers. What's important, especially in my field of history, the students know the facts and dates but also the significance of those dates, and how they fit into the larger historical picture. I would definitely create a website like this for my students, as a way to keep in touch with them and to let the learning process extend of the time I spend with them solely in the classroom.
Through my research, I found the personal website of Mr. Delucca, a social studies teacher at Dunellen High School and the website he set up for his US History II classes. Though not overly complicated, his website is an ideal example of how teacher websites can be used to streamline the classroom experience. The main page outlines his idea for the website for his classes, saying that this website is meant to create personal accountability in his students, and also allows parents to check up to make sure that their children are doing the assigned work. He also offers numerous ways of getting in touch with him, additional websites and resources for his students to use for research, and that week's assignments. The main purpose of the website is to offer supplemental materials and work based on the chapters and learning units. Each learning unit page features the week's homework assignments in greater detail, project prompts, and brief summaries from the in-class texts as a refresher. Numerous primary-source documents are available in PDF and word formats, along with some class nots and assignment rubrics, inadvertently saving paper costs and making the class as paperless as possible.
This website brings parents, students, and the teacher into the classroom no matter where they are, and are extending as much help as possible for their homework and projects. While it may seem to some that putting all this information is in a way babying the students and making them dependent on the teacher putting out notes, but in my opinion teaching isn't about making good note-takers. What's important, especially in my field of history, the students know the facts and dates but also the significance of those dates, and how they fit into the larger historical picture. I would definitely create a website like this for my students, as a way to keep in touch with them and to let the learning process extend of the time I spend with them solely in the classroom.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Practical Technology In The Classroom
It is almost backwards thinking at this point for anyone to say that technology doesn't play a major part in teaching, and will continue to do so. Much in the same way we have moved from cell phones to the size of bricks to basically carrying computers in our pockets, classrooms and teachers are bringing technology into the classroom as seamlessly as possible.
Throughout my time as a student, I saw numerous different pieces of technology at use, all of which seemed to enhance the classroom experience. Most classrooms had at east one computer, in middle school more and more projectors were seen, and in some math class we used special math software on specially designed Palm Pilots instead of just the standard graphing calculator. In high school came the smart board, though I very rarely saw them used to their full potential, as the effort required to set them up and learn them didn't seem to register to most of my teachers.
Moving into college, professors began to rely on their laptops and in-class projectors, and in my observations in Public Purposes of Education, I found in my few short years away from high school that technology was making leaps and bounds in the classroom. Every classroom I saw had an up and running Smart Board, and every teacher I talked to had been thoroughly trained and were at this point adept and integrating their smart boards into their lesson. To them, it had become as ubiquitous as a chalkboard, and no less useful. Some teachers made the leap even further to out of school technological advances, using websites like Dropbox to host homework and other important materials for the students, and in once case creating a class Twitter account to assign homework, the teacher knowing that if they didn't pay attention in class, they would at least see the tweet at some point during the day.
While all of these "modern conveniences" have begun to change the way the classroom operates and how learning happens as a whole, there is a danger to all of this technology, the flipside to the coin, as it were. Digitized primary source documents and programs like Friends and Flags, as mentioned in the article "Four Takes on Technology (http://imoberg.com/files/Four_Takes_on_Technology_Allen_S.M._Dutt-Doner_K.M._Eini_K._Frederick_R._Chuang_H._Thompson_A._.pdf) act as extensions of classroom material and of what the teacher is presenting, and in a very positive way making the world a little bit smaller and more accessible to the students. Even the use of Dropbox and to a certain extent, Twitter, can act as supplements to the class, or replace methods with something a little more convenient. My fear for this though is when does it become too far? When does the technology start doing the teaching, and like many methods, the teacher and classroom becomes the way of the past? The key to this is integration, to treat the digitized documents no different than copies made from transparency sheets like I had in school, and to make them just ubiquitous parts of the classroom. Education is at its finest when the teacher and the students are collaborating face-to-face and learning from each other, and using the best tools for the subject area to accomplish that goal. Like anything, moderation and balance is key to making technology play a pivotal role in classrooms moving forward.
Throughout my time as a student, I saw numerous different pieces of technology at use, all of which seemed to enhance the classroom experience. Most classrooms had at east one computer, in middle school more and more projectors were seen, and in some math class we used special math software on specially designed Palm Pilots instead of just the standard graphing calculator. In high school came the smart board, though I very rarely saw them used to their full potential, as the effort required to set them up and learn them didn't seem to register to most of my teachers.
Moving into college, professors began to rely on their laptops and in-class projectors, and in my observations in Public Purposes of Education, I found in my few short years away from high school that technology was making leaps and bounds in the classroom. Every classroom I saw had an up and running Smart Board, and every teacher I talked to had been thoroughly trained and were at this point adept and integrating their smart boards into their lesson. To them, it had become as ubiquitous as a chalkboard, and no less useful. Some teachers made the leap even further to out of school technological advances, using websites like Dropbox to host homework and other important materials for the students, and in once case creating a class Twitter account to assign homework, the teacher knowing that if they didn't pay attention in class, they would at least see the tweet at some point during the day.
While all of these "modern conveniences" have begun to change the way the classroom operates and how learning happens as a whole, there is a danger to all of this technology, the flipside to the coin, as it were. Digitized primary source documents and programs like Friends and Flags, as mentioned in the article "Four Takes on Technology (http://imoberg.com/files/Four_Takes_on_Technology_Allen_S.M._Dutt-Doner_K.M._Eini_K._Frederick_R._Chuang_H._Thompson_A._.pdf) act as extensions of classroom material and of what the teacher is presenting, and in a very positive way making the world a little bit smaller and more accessible to the students. Even the use of Dropbox and to a certain extent, Twitter, can act as supplements to the class, or replace methods with something a little more convenient. My fear for this though is when does it become too far? When does the technology start doing the teaching, and like many methods, the teacher and classroom becomes the way of the past? The key to this is integration, to treat the digitized documents no different than copies made from transparency sheets like I had in school, and to make them just ubiquitous parts of the classroom. Education is at its finest when the teacher and the students are collaborating face-to-face and learning from each other, and using the best tools for the subject area to accomplish that goal. Like anything, moderation and balance is key to making technology play a pivotal role in classrooms moving forward.
Hello!
Hi there, and welcome to my blog! My name is David Trachtman, I'm a Junior here at Montclair State, and I am a History major studying to be ideally a high school or middle school history teacher. I'm 20 years old and when I'm not burying myself under mountains of homework, I'm usually going to concerts, reading a good book, or in some cases writing my own! Here is where I'll be posting blog responses to readings and assignments for the semester.
Hope you enjoy!
Hope you enjoy!
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