The following are examples of my postings and my reflections to my posts as part of my reading journal.  These are examples of my postings and not the entire collection of my postings.

Langer Book Reaction

As a math teacher, I think in the concrete, which is not they way Dr. Langer comes across in this book. I can understand where she is coming from, but I do not think I could jump in with both feet with what she would like to se from teachers. She talked about how practice made imperfection, because people mindlessly go about their work because they have over practiced. I do not think that this EVER happens in a high school math classroom. We push our students to learn a vast curriculum, and don't spend a lot of time drilling on one concept. I believe that if we had more time, we would make sure our students skills with basic operations was more concrete. When it comes to creative distraction, I agree for the most part with Dr. Langer. I believe that creating a different atmosphere than straight rows of children who do not peep until called upon is important in the learning process. Students need to be allowed to move around, discuss with others, offer ideas, etc... I have had ADHD student in my classroom that have coped very well and some that have not. I instruct my ADHD students to sharpen their pencil, or throwaway paper to get then to move about the classroom when they are feeling confined and constrained. They are to do these activities without drawing a lot of attention to themselves in the process. These are not very creative distractions on my part, but they do help those students who need the movement to keep their attention. Those who did not cope well could not contain themselves within the boundaries of my rules and disrupted class when they did get up to sharpen their pencil or did other things which took the attention of others in the class. I needed to find ways for them to have other creative distractions without impeding on the rights of the other students to learn. In her chapter on delayed gratification, I would love to turn Algebra into play instead of work, but I haven't found an effective way of doing that. I have played different games such as math jeopardy and math bingo, which was more like play than work, but activities like this are more for review instead of new learning.

In the chapter about the hazards of rote memory, I can understand what Dr. Langer is getting at about students learning in a traditional manner do not remember as much as students who made the material meaningful to themselves. That is common sense. I do think that certain facts need to be memorized. In math, I think the order of operations must be memorized, because doing a problem in any old order will not result in a correct answer. Knowing the order of operations gives students rules about solving expressions and equations. Without knowing those rules, students will not be able to solve multiple-step equations, which occur in the real world. In the chapter about forgetting, I understood that forgetting is good is certain instances. My students conveniently forget to do their homework at times. If we could have students forget certain things and retain other information that we needed them to, that would be great. I just don't think we truly have control over what others or we forget. In the chapter about mindfulness and intelligence, the author points out differences between intelligence and mindfulness. From my view, mindfulness is open to more perspectives than intelligence. Besides that, there are not many large differences in the two groups. In the final chapter, she discusses about the illusions of the right answer. Again, as a math teacher, I work with concrete problems instead of problems that can have multiple answers. I do understand that there are many different correct paths to the correct answer, but many times there is only one correct answer. In other situations, like in debate, there are many interpretations of the correct answer. In situations like that, I can see what she is getting at in this chapter. In summary, she has some mindful ideas, but transforming them into the educational world will take a long time.

I didn’t really enjoy reading this book all that much. I do understand that if we could get student and teachers to think mindfully, it would be a great advancement of the whole educational system.  This would involve the students thinking critically during their classes and making cognoscente decisions based upon their critical thinking.   Dealing with school in the day-to-day activities, I don’t see us having a transformation anytime soon.

Langer Reaction to others postings

After reviewing many people’s comments about then Langer book, I can see the obvious. We shouldn't practice too much, because we might be practicing it wrong. But what if we are practicing it correctly? Then could there be too much practice. We can never be perfect, but I would sure like my students to practice towards perfection.

If we have our students practice the correct way, then they cannot practice too much. I feel that there is not enough time to practice the skills that a student needs in school. Especially as a math teacher, I think students need to practice more, and use the calculators less.

Palmer reaction

I think that Palmer makes to very good statements at the start of the book. "The subjects we teacher are as large and complex as life", where we will never totally have a true grasp of our subject matter. Secondly, "The students we teach are larger than life and even more complex." How true those statements are. I know how to work through various levels of math problems, but my subject matter has complexities that I am not about to touch. With my students, there are so many little intricacies to their lives that I will never realize who they really are. All of us know how many things that go through a 15-year-olds mind, now they have to attempt to understand the abstract nature of Algebra while worrying about the opposite sex, sports, zits, what they are going to do on Friday night, etc... It is impossible to truly understand and deal with everything going through a students mind, so we just have to attempt to understand them as good as we can. Palmer wrote that the better we know ourselves, the better we know the subject matter and the students. I know that the understanding of myself and who I am has changed since I started teaching. When I was fresh out of college, I was unmarried and ready to take on the world thinking I had a clue about it. Now, married with a family, I can see the world from a whole different view. As a parent, I can much better understand the needs of some of my students. Palmer also wrote, "Good teaching cannot be reduced to a technique, good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher." If you don't know yourself and are not as good, grounded person, it will be difficult to know your students and be a good teacher. In Palmer's chapter about fear, he remarks about students and teachers and their various fears. Dealing with your own fears as a teacher instead of putting them aside, will help a teacher be able to work with students to overcome their fears. Palmer goes on to write about paradox in teaching and in the classroom. He talks about the "space" of the room and how the space needs to be for "charged" leaning. He also talks about tensions in the classroom is a necessity for deeper learning. Palmer continues with knowing in community, teaching in community and learning in community. Palmer's definition of community is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace, the flowing of personal identity and integrity into the world of relationships." To know, teach, and learn in the community, we must embrace it and become it. Distancing ourselves from the learning community only distances us from the learner. We are responsible for engaging our students in the community of truth. What I can take from Palmer and this book is that I need to constantly look at my teaching and reflect on it. Am I teaching just the subject matter, or am I immersed in my students and the subject matter? Am I teaching the students, or trying to gain a deeper understanding of my students to better equip them to be better members of the community?

If we do not immerse ourselves in the educational process, we are not doing our jobs as teachers. Fear is common in education. I know teachers who use fear as an educational stimulant. I think that this approach is wrong, as the students will have a fear of the educational process and not want to take part in the educational process when they are on their own. A little fear on the part of students is a good thing. Too much is bad. Teachers need to find a happy medium.

Reaction to someone’s posting on Palmer – Fear

Fear is a constant in education. Fear of not being prepared for the students. Students fear of not being prepared for a quiz or test. I believe fear is not good in education. A little anxiety is good. Being a little uncomfortable pushes teachers and students to be a little better. Being too comfortable can make a person complacent. Turning fear into a little anxiety is a positive step when in a new situation with an age level of students that you don't normally work with.

Reaction to Someone’s posting "Courage to Teach" (Palmer)

Samuel mentions teacher mentors, which I feel is a good idea. On KELO the other night they did a feature on SF Washington's teacher mentor program. I was a little surprised to see that the mentor comes from a different subject area, but I can see that this person doesn't answer curriculum questions. The mentor is there to help the new teacher adapt to the "big" high school and help them through those interesting student situations.

Gordon book part 1

In reading the Gordon book, I could really relate to what he was saying. At TTL' and DTL's the last three years, our discussions around the dinner table has focused on some of the myths that Gordon brings up. I think Gordon focussed on Gov. Janklow with his first myth about the more computers that are put into a school, the better the learning. We need teachers who have the training, appropriate software to fit the computers into the curriculum, and technical support behind the computers. His third myth also hits home with our discussions. Most teachers now have basic computer operation procedures down, but that doesn't mean that they can use computers in the classroom to their fullest potential. His fourth myth hits home for me, as a new member of my school's technology committee. A technology plan is just a goal for technology, not a curriculum plan. Technology plans need to be implemented with curriculum plans in mind. If they don't, then they can go in a different direction than the curriculum itself. I was also interested in the chapter on special needs students and technology. If the correct equipment is bought, it can really help certain students with disabilities that limit their use of a keyboard or a mouse. At our high school, we do not have any student that is too physically handicapped that they cannot use a keyboard, but computer use in our resource room is effective. For those students who have sight handicaps, items are scanned into the computer and enlarged so they can see them. I know that a copy machine can do the same thing, but this way the scanned material can be edited to suit the needs of the student. I believe that this is a pretty effective use of technology. I also related to his chapter on distance learning in the digital age. He makes the statement that online courses are not a new version of the old correspondence courses. By using e-mail and online chats, and bulletin boards, the communication between students has greatly increased, thus teaching essential cooperative learning skills that are needed throughout life. The shy kid in class is not always the shy kid behind the keyboard. Fear and inhibition that the student shows in the classroom is not present in a chat. I think that it is amazing to have people in Alabama and Pennsylvania in our class. Soon, we will have people in foreign countries in our classes. Gordon discusses these principals in his chapter on the global schoolhouse. In the chapter about preparing teachers for the high-tech classroom, I can see relationships between what he is talking about and my experiences in the TTL's and DTL. Teachers learning the technology, and then mentoring other teachers. Teachers implementing technology into the curriculum. Students helping teachers, such as in the regional TTL's this summer, as high school students did help the teachers at many of those sites. I also related to the chapter on math. I have been to the Math Forum site that Gordon lists, and I do see relevancy in what is being done. I have links on my website to various homework help resources, but that is one I have never linked to. Instead of the tutorial that fits everyone, math forum gives the student a personal response. I think that is great for the students and their self-confidence.

This book hit home with me. Gordon does a good job of finding articles and authors who speak my language. There are definitely certain steps a school should take in implementing technology in the curriculum and working with the teachers and other staff to support it. This is a great book for people who want to get ideas on technology and education in the classroom.

Reaction to someone’s post for Part I

I noted some of the same things from the book. Because of the DSU Master's Program, I now understand the networking and other costs of a computer network. Most people do not realize the cost difference for maintaining an ink jet printer compared to a laser printer. The up front cost of a laser printer is more, but in the long run a laser printer is more cost effective. Most people don't even think about this. New computers are great, but software and networking need to go with them. Also, more tech coordinators are needed. Tonight, our school board in Madison is discussing hiring another tech person full-time to help our current full time network administrator.

Gordon Book Part II

The rest of the Gordon text is excerpts from various people discussing technology and their roll in it. The first author is a tech administrator and discusses planning, development of resources, training of teachers, and assessment of a technology plan. The next author talks about financing technology in the schools. One idea that has come up before is having corporate sponsorship of technology in the schools. We have had that happen at our middle school. Our middle school has technology modules that were purchased in part by the school district and in part by local business and corporation support. The next author discusses the local talent that exists to help the school district with its technology. Madison is extremely lucky to have DSU right here and a guys by the name of Dave Z. and Smurf (Mike Waldner). They have helped the school deal with technology issues and help when we had problems with our network. We have also tapped college students as a resource for lab monitors and even classroom teachers (Brad B. and Rob H. from this 711 class). The next section is about gaps between rich and poor and boys and girls. It discusses how some students who have computers at home and others do not. Those with computers at home are at somewhat of an advantage, which increases the education gap between rich and poor. There is also a gap between girls and boys. Part of the reason for this is that computer games are geared more for boys, so they spend more time playing them compared to girls. This is a turn off for girls. Before reading this, I hadn't even thought about it. I think with the advent of MSN and e-mail, I think that girls are much more confident and comfortable with education. All in all, this Gordon book did a good job discussing technology in the schools and its role in education.

This opened my eyes a little to what type of gender differences there are in technology education. I know our Cisco and Aires Technology teacher complains about the boy to girl ratio in her classes being so one-sided. Girls tend not to want to tinker with the guts of a computer. The opposite has happened in several of my DSU Master’s classes. I have been the only male involved in several of my classes. It is just one of those things with technology integration and technology guts.

Reaction to posting from 2^nd half of Gordon Book

I liked how Brad stated about the constant teacher training on technology. Many of our staff needs just a few mini-trainings each year to keep up to date on technology. By not keeping up to date, it bogs down our technology coordinator to tedious little tasks that he shouldn't have to worry about on a daily basis.