Journal 2

The third article titled The Laptops are Coming gave an in depth viewpoint of a teachers experience with the assigning of laptops for each student in her secondary school. At first she was thrilled at the idea and all the potentially amazing class activities she could now conduct. As the year progressed she found that these computers became more of a curse than a blessing. Between mandatory assignments from the faculty and the ability of the tech team to monitor he computer it became a distraction rather than a helping hand. She found herself trying to determine if her students were looking up certain research materials or if they were e-mailing their friends. She reflected towards the end of the article that in hindsight she wishes they had better planned for the perils that may come with the introduction of emerging technology into the classroom.

As a future teacher I found this article very surprising. Most people would see the addition of this technology to their school as a blessing, but she gave many examples of how the lack of preparation for the new computers lead to many downfalls within the program. It gives all the people who have read this article a heads up on how to handle this inevitable situation that we will all face in some way or the other.

Question: How do you prepare for incoming technology into your school?

Answer: I believe that the only way to prepare for incoming technology is to research the pitfalls of each addition to the classroom. Also by brainstorming with staff and faculty about potential problems many of these problems can be avoided by using administrative controls on the computers.

Journal 1

I thought that the first article, Extreme Makeover, was very interesting regarding the options within emerging technology that teachers now have in the classroom. Because I have been a little late on this entry I have participated in EDU 422 many of the classroom tolls they describe in this article. It gave me an interesting perspective on how to truly utilize these tools when I have a class of my own. Through class we have learned how to blog, use google docs, and share ideas with social bookmarking.

The Blogging Right Along article gave a few ways teachers can use a class blog as a way to gauge students understanding of material. There are several measurable ways in which a teacher can grade the blogs by content and knowledge of the subject. In EDU 422 we also maintained a personal blog that reflected our learning progress throughout the class. It also gave feedback to the professor when a student was having a hard time grasping a certain concept or project.

Question: How can google docs be utilized in a high school classroom?]

Answer: Google Docs is an excellent tool to use when attacking a group project in which sections are divided up between group members. Each student can pull up the project on their own and add their work to the existing document.

Cal State San Marcos

Journal Number 3

I chose a thread that discussed the use of gaming as a teaching tool. Several teachers contributed their feelings on the subject and also interjected their own personal favorites regarding games and websites. There were several helpful summaries from the teachers experiences with each of the gaming tools they have utilized in the classroom. I found that most of the gaming options discussed were related to history and civilization development. The game "Civilization" was one of the more popular games that were being used as a teaching tool. Also mentioned were "Sim City" and "Age of Empires". There were mentions of some websites that were available to younger children that were used for learning basic computer programming. The three sites that got the best reviews were Blender, Scratch, and Stagecast.

Gaming has become a several billion dollar industry and its influence on today's children is immeasurable. Therefore as teachers we must adapt to the changing ways in which we can reach our students. Incorporating gaming into the classroom can have profound effects on your success as a teacher. One of the main obstacles of teaching is finding a way to get your students engaged into the lesson you are giving. I believe by introducing gaming aspects into the curriculum this can be accomplished.

Intro to Joey Schwartz

My name is Joey Schwartz. I was born in Saginaw, MI. I moved to Grand Blanc, Michigan when I was two and attended kindergarten through eighth grade in the Grand Blanc School District. In the summer before my freshman year in high school I moved to Tucson, Arizona where I attended all four years at Mountain View High School. I then attended Spoon River College in Canton, Illinois to play baseball. After graduating with my associates degree from Spoon River I went on to finish my Bachelors Degree in Communications as well as my baseball eligibility at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois.

Technology plays a vital role in my everyday life. I am in sales by day and my laptop is my connection to the company's product database from out in the field. Between keying in orders and sending e-mails to customers, buyers, and executive staff members i usually log around 4 or 5 hours of screen time during the day. Both my work laptop and home desktop are pc's and I have little experience with the mac. I consider myself some what computer literate and feel like the transition from one operating system to the other should be relatively seamless(knock on wood). I rely on my home computer for all banking and bill paying as do many of us today. All in all I feel a strong co-dependency on technology to get me through each day.

The mission statement of the CSUSM/COE speaks of the advancement of professional practices which is very important to me. I believe that as future educators we have a responsibility to continue to make ourselves better teachers for our students. This can be accomplished through newly developed teaching techniques and also by ever advancing technology. However we choose to develop the teacher within we must be committed to making the effort to reach our potential as educators.