Reflection 5

My “aha!” So many. If I had to choose one, it would be my e-portfolio. It was a combination of all the effort required during the semester. Graduating from a bit in the beginning to a byte, gave me a sense of gratefulness and accomplishment. However, I still live among the unknown world of the net-tech generation. From wikis to iGoogle gadgetry, there were some extremely gratifying moments. The Joneses (the net students) know a lot of stuff and are our next creative generation of entrepreneurs... the Steve Jobs of this planet. My simple concerns are 1) What else is out there? 2) Is there more to come? 3) Can we cope? Questions, questions, and more questions from people like me. We do have some real concerns with advancing technological issues. In my technological philosophy, when I stated that I believe learning new technology should be a fundamental subject taught to every student from K through 12, it was a statement for the 21st-century schooling. This ensures that our next generation, when more technology comes, will be savvy enough to cope in a very technological society without intimidation or fear. Of course, there always will be more to come because it's just in our human DNA to invent and create. As I was reading through several of our blogs, I was amazed when a student took computer science and had no computer. How did she do that? She's pretty much on top of all this stuff now; therefore, there must be hope for us all... I think. In essence, my philosophy has guided me in a way which has assured me that all should be well with learning the high technological advancements right along-side of our net generation and digital natives. Certainly, it has inspired me getting with your program and completing the projects. Again, nerve-racking at times, but it was fun learning and gave me hope. As Nike would say, "Just do it!"

INTERVIEW with Mr. Meadows

Few have been granted interviews with Mr Meadows.

Reflection 4

"Is it Age or IT" was an interesting article and very true. The next generation is the future, appreciate or not to appreciate, it is here to live. As to the eight questions, I found myself scratching my head for several different reasons on how I would answer. I still find myself composing most of my written work by using the established way, pen and paper. Why? It helps me with the brain waves going from brain to pen... crazy, I know. I still use the old book technique to store most of my vital information... just a lack of faith and trust in the crashing computers we have today. I do drag my lap top along with me sometimes, but rather grudgingly. I prefer to use my satchel so I know where all needed information can be found with certainty and confidence. Cell phones are only used in emergencies like roadside flat etc. I don’t always feel a need to be connected. To me, it’s a crutch! It seems to be a wasted effort of one’s time. In fact, cell phones going-off in meetings are rather rude and extremely distracting for most people. And it always seems to happen! Engaging in one topic at a time is just good focus and that's what I try to do. In essence, one giant step for man at a time, it’s a virtuous slogan. Focus, focus, and focus more. Video games were great until I found myself totally hooked on the practice. It's much like drugs, hard not to engage in its pleasures and excitements. With the ease of technology and what it brings to the modern table of civilization, I think most will have a mixture of using technology. Especially with the established rituals learned in our past generation, regardless of one's age, from age six to one hundred. Change for our youth comes most easily while with our older generation, it comes with a substantial price. However, change is unvarying in life and it must be looked upon as an investment for human growth at any age and especially when it helps ease life’s hardships. However, in many cases, change is just used to say, "Not Your Way but My Way"!

Reflection 3

Although I felt all 10 researched principles relating to the AFL were extremely appropriate and well defined, I am drawn more toward the AFL which recognizes the full range of achievement by all learners. To me, it's in the same category as Ron Edmonds would have put it, all students can learn. The fundamental nature of recognition for all learners, which includes a full range of the learning environment, is a profound statement for teachers to adhere to. I believe it sets the stage for involvement between teacher and student. It also seems to have an effect of engagement so teachers have the game plan of student learning right up front. Achievement calls for an immediate association to all sorts of action such as best practices, proper pedagogy, better analyzing, more hands-on, and projects. When teachers make a full range of achievement by their students the focus, students benefit.

Electronic Portfolio assessment gives a clearer picture of what a person has created throughout his career in one neat little electronic package for possible assessment. It offers a way to analyze someone’s work, possibly in the selection of candidates for a job, via the Web. The potential is there for all types of purposes. For instance, an artist turns in a portfolio of all of his paintings, electronically. It’s a show-and-tell story of his creative efforts without hauling in the many pages of his/her artistic work. In earlier years, portfolios were stored in boxes and three-ring binders and other such devices. This worked fine for the paper years, but it misses many ways of communicating one’s thoughts and ideas. Recently, teachers, students, and business people have found electronic portfolios as a very effective way to present his/her information through visuals, audio, and video formats. Documents are now stored on hard drives, CD-ROM in digital formats such as text documents, picture files, web pages, digital video, Excel files, and Powerpoints. As you can see, we have come a long way BABY! This is OUR potential in today’s world.

My portfolio just might cause me to seek a job back into the education field one day. A glimpse back into the past of my principalship was somewhat satisfying. To see past work which was successful is inspiring.

Reflection 2

My findings were just "Shocking". When I went to the "Dihydrogen Monoxide" website and dissected its structure, I realized Dihydrogen Monoxide really was... H2O. At first, it really looked legitimate, but after further investigation, it led me to a very cleverly designed hoax. It was completely concealed from the initial appearance. However, further investigation led me to the belief that it was just an intellectual way of showing people why they should not believe everything read on the Internet. It was masterfully done so people would acquire that "watch out" syndrome while doing their research on the Internet. Now I know why most people think the web is the "truth and nothing but the truth". Very startling! As the saying goes, if it's on the net it must be true, of course it's NOT. What an eye-opener. My thinking now reflects caution when searching on the web. No more taking the first website that pops up without analyzing the structure first. No longer will I just use the most popular browser. Analyzing the URL will be one key in establishing good and sound research. Although my past research projects, I feel now, might not have been well rooted, I feel reasonably assured my research was sound. Using a variety of sources which include books, periodicals, magazines, newspapers, etc., which I do, establishes the needed checks and balances. But now this gives me new tools to trust.

Implications for students who do not have the proper instructions for researching on the net are alarming. If students believe the Internet is a sound, empirical source of truth, and a plethora of final information, they are surely doomed to being deceived and in danger of enslavement. A society just cannot remain healthy with this trend of thought. A remedy could begin in our schools by making all students take classes which incorporate "Internet savvy research". I think mid-management would be the starting point for this change to take place. They have the power to get courses approved and implemented. However, knowledge is the major key in making educators cognizant of the Internet's fallacies and schemes.

Google Reader is an excellent tool in keeping data at your fingertips. It certainly can enhance your organizational skills. There are so many feeds one uses today while exploring the net for research and reading pleasures. Now that I know what Google Reader is and how it works, I will begin using it to help organize my URL stuff.

Wikis have arrived for me at the right time. I am planning a camping trip in August with my wife and her sister. Her sister lives miles from us and we just can't always catch each other by phone most of the time or it's just not convenient. E-mails are okay but a wiki is a much better communicator to get group projects done. I will be incorporating my wiki for our August camping trip. Yes, it is up and running at http://whiteswikione.wikispaces.com/. It is not an original idea but it gets me into a project by using it which is a learning device. When the time comes to do other projects, I will have the needed skill to implement this technology. One advantage of a wiki is its flexibility and using it as a collaborative communicator. Wikis evolve as a result of the group adding, subtracting, and moving material within the document. A disadvantage could be people being mischievous. Since all the participants who have been invited can edit and modify the wiki, a real potential for danger is present. Personally, I think it can only handle small to medium-size groups (3 - 75): otherwise, it can become quite cumbersome.

I would like to investigate other 2.0 technologies such as podcasting and Flickr. I believe this would be just great fun and beneficial for me in my new career, retirement.

Reflection 1

Having my own technological philosophy could not have been stated better than your four points.





1) Your philosophy serves as a foundation for planning and/or assessment of teaching/training/doing
2) Being aware of your philosophy helps one to see your goals and values as a teacher/trainer/individual/stated more clearly
3) Your philosophy can serve as a guide to help you find and develop teaching/training/personal/professional practices
4) Sometimes you will be required to substitute a current philosophy with your job application and/or discussion of your philosophy in a job interview
5) However, I might add one to the list: over time, as you add years to your teaching experience, you might see an evolution of gained growth in your philosophy.

I see two different perspectives here as being helpful to me. As a student, it certainly has the means in getting your story out to the public concerning our educational issues. Blogging enhances and hones your written skills, it gives you an avenue for getting creative, too, and it might allow others to sound off about your point of view and thoughts.
As a teacher, blogging has potential for communicating with students and to the general public. It helps students with needed information keeping them informed on current events or their assignments. It also acts like a journal, keeping a record of your thoughts. That’s great for documentation, too. In essence, it's a multipurpose logbook. B) Heavens NO! C) There should be nothing preventing this, but there is. Is it know-how, lack of desire, time, overload? Probably a combination of several things. But at the same time, this phenomena called blogging is catching on like wildfire.

The article by November was extremely interesting and informative; however, I did have some disagreements with a few points in his discussion. His third point stood out in my mind most vividly. His lead statement was extremely true. As teachers and administrators, we do not make our case-in- point to the general public very well. Also, we hardly ever communicate with the non-teaching community. Two days a year is hardly communicating. Many times, we are just led to the slaughter by those who don't even have a clue about how teachers educate their children. Yes, we collaborate with each other, educator to educator, but not to the powers "that be" and to the overall American public. Teachers just continue what they do best and that is to teach, no complaining and no whimpering most of the time. We just don't have a clue how challenging our profession really is. Teaching is special and it's a gift that is not intended for everyone. Teachers need to begin to shout their profession from every house top and to every neighbor about our profession. We need to let those who are not in the profession know that teaching is a high calling. I have a slogan on my coffee cup that states, “Those who can, teach. Those who can’t go into some less demanding profession.” We, who are in the educational field, need to be proud of who we are and what we represent... "America"!

My concept map (or definition) explains my outlook and philosophy of educational technology itself. The 20 words used represent the wide horizontal expanse of technology. The words which are capitalized; technology, philosophy, pedagogy, supporter, informating, trained, and knowledge , represent the supporting pillars of educational technology in schools of the 21st century. Today’s schools just cannot survive without modern technology, period! In essence, it's our survival link. That is what it means to me personally, a survival-link in today’s overcrowded public schools. Because of all the demands from both federal and state governments, if we are without this link, schools would come close to a total collapse. How important is that?

My Technological Philosophy

Philosophies of a teacher’s educational view have a tendency to come and go throughout time in their career. Life just changes as well as philosophies! However, a technological philosophy might be more stable and durable throughout our teaching careers. Technology is one of many important wheels that turns the heart of knowledge for students, teachers, and administrators. It embraces the educational learning that produces greater success and leads to being more productive. It also allows teachers to be better expositors of their subject matter by using technological advancements such as PowerPoints, spreadsheets, databases, and other software inventions which improve their own pedagogy of teaching.

As a believer in using science, the scientific method, and newly upgraded technologies in the classroom, I believe these are fundamental subjects for every student and should be taught in every grade level from K-12. All students should be introduced to a practical knowledge of these subjects and be held accountable for this information. This will allow them to learn rudimentary concepts and apply them every day in our technologically challenging society. Good moral values should be established to produce good character development in each student so that technology will be used in a careful and mature manner. Authors like Ron Edmonds, Larry Lezotte, and Terrence Deal should be required reading assignments for all teachers, new or seasoned. These authors have established some educational norms and present excellent statistical data for teachers; hence, helping teachers become masters. Along with applying their do's and don'ts, teachers can be very successful in our modern classroom setting. In essence, I subscribe to the realist way of thinking and am a supporter of Informating. Teachers must always be an initial part of the process dealing with technology because they have been trained with the proper pedagogy. Yes, I know, students often have more of a grasp in this area, but they don't have the know-how of using proper pedagogy to get premium learning results.

If our technological philosophy changes throughout our careers, and more than likely it will, it should be aided with statistically verifiable facts that a change is needed. If a change is needed, changes must be made in alignment with sound educational pedagogy. If proper pedagogy can be established for your newly changed philosophy, keep it in alignment with good sound research authors, like Larry Lezotte, Ron Edmonds, and Terrence Deal. They are solid rocks for a fundamental educational process in today's society.

-Richard White