I guess I never realized…

As per our class discussion tonight on how high, the numbers are for a students who plagiarizes or purchase papers from websites. I guess I can see why this sort of conduct among students is occurring. Just the other day when I was on campus, I heard a young woman crying. I asked her what was wrong and she stated that she not going to receive an A in one of the courses’ she was taking, and went on too say that, her parents were spending a lot of money to send her to Nazareth and she knew that they were going to be disappointed in her.

As a mother myself, I could not imagine placing that kind of pressure on my son, especially, if I know that he did his best. As I begin to reflect on that moment maybe the problem is not the students who are buying the papers maybe the problem is parents who are sending the wrong message to our young people. Although, there is nothing wrong with being competitive, there is something wrong when the love you have for your son or daughter is based on their grades. This probably explains the high suicide rates among college students. I know this is true because I use to be a suicide counselor! While there is nothing wrong with working towards an “A”, however, there is something wrong when you convey this message to your son or daughter that this is the only grade that you will accept even when they have given their best…

I learned about plagiarism the hard way..

I remember an incident that happened to me when I was asked to write a paper a couple of years ago for a course that I was taking. As part of the project, the class was asked to submit a first draft of our paper, two weeks before the due date. While writing my paper I came across a paragraph that I felt was conducive to the subject that I was writing about placing quotation marks after each paragraph. However, when I submitted the final paper I forgot to place the quotation marks around the “borrowed material” and my professor caught the mistake. The professor accused me of plagiarism, however, I was able to show him the first draft, which showed I had given the author the credit but had just forgotten to place them in my final paper. Now when I write a paper I make sure that if I am using someone else’s work that they receive the credit!

Something I would like to share with you all..

Last week on the radio, I heard something that was quite interesting about blogs and the power of free speech. A mother who has a child attending a private school in Florida is not happy with the schools performance and posted her dismay on her blog site. The school is now suing her for slander because her negative comments were posted for all to see. The point in questioned here is if a person has a right to post their personal opinion over a public site and if they can be hold liable if their opinion causes a negative affect on the other party. The radio announcer went on too say that the schools position is that it would have been different if the mom had told a few friends but by posting it over a public website she was acting in the same role as a news reporter. I cannot wait too hear how this will play out in court!

Watch out Hollywood there is a new director in town…

Although, I have created presentations that involved using PowerPoint I found this project extremely difficult, especially, when used in a non-traditional format. Since Dana and I are more familiar with the PC, we used it to create our PowerPoint presentation never realizing that some of the programs are not compatible with the Mac. Trying to transfer the information to the Mac was a bit challenging. However, we did it and I have the gray hairs to show for it. At the end, I felt like a Hollywood movie director ready to charge admission. PowerPoint is a wonderful tool for creativity and can aid the teacher when used with explicit instruction.

Could ipodcasting be the next best thing to reinventing the wheel?

Ipod casting is a wonderful tool! It has so many positive aspects that it is hard too list them all. It is like the reinvention of the wheel. The hands on demonstration that we did in class tonight has opened my eyes to all of the wonderful possibilities that this type of technology can bring to the classroom, especially for students who learn best when content is presented in a visual and auditory medium. Although, I am not a pro and find this type of technology rather intimidating, I can visualize myself one day (with a lot of practice) as a teacher using ipod casting as a part of my explicit instruction.

And I thought that IPOD’s were just for music…

I consider myself right now as primitive as a an eight track tape ! I know must of you don’t have a clue of what an eight track tape is. But this is how out of touch I am with your whole ipod era. 

How effective is educational software when used in calibration with explict instruction

My research article was on how effective is educational technology when used in calibration with explicit instruction. I chose this subject because of all the “hype” that I have read about the effectiveness of these tools.

As a city resident, I have witnessed firsthand some of the expensive educational programs that RCSD has invested or rather wasted taxpayer’s money on ( America’s Choice) with very little or no results

Nevertheless, researchers who examined educational software’s use in experimental studies found that when used in an educational setting it could improve a student’s complex problem solving and making inferences and engaging in inductive reasoning.

This sounded like the wheel had just been re-invented but in this case, it was the answer to the current high school student dropout rate occurring across America.

While I do believe that educational technology, is a wonderful tool when used with good explicit instruction. However, several variables need to be considered such as, economics, the availability of the resources, (computers) and the teacher that can recognizes the student’s educational needs, which can hinder their ability to learn.

I feel that all of these factors have some relevance. All of these factors have to be addressed in order to improve the students learning environment.

Nevertheless, all of the research conducted on how effective educational software is in improving standardized testing scores was in conclusive. However, as a future teacher, I would still use educational software in my classroom.