From a principal’s publication in 1815: “Students today depend on paper too much. They don’t know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?” From Rural American Teacher, 1928: “Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education.” From Federal Teachers, 1950: “Ballpoint pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American values of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Businesses and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries.” From a science fair judge in Apple Classroom of Tomorrow chronicles, 1988: “Computers give students an unfair advantage. Therefore, students who used computers to analyze data or create displays will be eliminated from the science fair.”
I'm a former classroom teacher whose job is to work with other teachers to integrate technology into their instruction. My primary goal in life is to prevent the horror situation you describe.
We try to show teachers models of integrating technology so deeply into instruction that it becomes another tool (kind of like how most of us use it at work). We also push teachers to introduce the tools, present problems to the kids, and then let THEM choose the tools they use to solve those problems.
If you are interested here's a link to one of the models we use.
We are slowing bringing iPads into the classroom in my district (I do tech integration with teachers) and you are right, the ease of use is great in lower grades. The big problem with iOS, is that it's primarily a one-user devices. It gets hairy to manage a class set of 30 of them. The system for buying and installing multiple copies of apps is Byzantine and glitchy too. I think those aspects will get better though.
I lean more towards Chromebooks for upper grades. If the district has a Google Apps domain, (which is free) device management becomes very smooth. The keyboard also makes it a more useful too for doing real creative work as opposed to scripted lessons (which are the devil).
Agreed. As someone who works in schools with technology, the vast majority of us hate monoculture. Ironically, the Apple and Google products we are getting are actually the first steps out of a Microsoft monoculture.
Keep in mind, many, many school systems have been hard pressed for cash lately and are mainly using 6-10 year old machines running WinXP.
I'm doing my best to push Chromebooks, Apple and anything else that makes sense.
As someone who does classroom technology in schools, you are right about the size. The iPad screen size is just fine for the majority of K-12 uses. I don't know what "too small for collaborative work," even means.
That's right. Every time the UPS driver leaves a package on my porch, someone comes by and steals it. Oh wait. They don't. I guess they are waiting for a coptor to come down so they can risk getting chopped up by it's 8 spinning blades of death.
Back when I was a kid and dirt was new and shiny, lots of people had crazy misconceptions about seatbelts. They thought they would kill you in a wreck, or that you would be trapped in a burning car. I remember not wearing them in the 70s and early 80s.
First, they weren't Americans. Second, they were in a crowd of Iraqis advancing towards a group of U.S. soldiers while carrying assault rifles, RPGs and RPG rounds. Watch the video without the helpful wikileaks explanations of what's going on. If I had been in that helicopter under those ROE, seeing what I saw on that video, I would have fired on them as well.
It was a tragedy. Like that whole damn war was a tragedy. But they weren't murdered.
Well, that and I didn't gleefully admit to murdering nearly 3000 people. I also wasn't continually calling for and plotting the murder of more. But yeah, other than that, we were exactly the same.
Yes, I guess it is high-minded idealism. But running has placed him in a situation where he has to hurt his country to survive and/or remain free.
I guess it all comes down to why he did this. If he did it because he loves this country and doesn't want to see it harmed by the people who are running it poorly, then he's failed, because he's causing it harm by helping oppressive countries who don't have our best interests in mind. If it was because he's opposed to nation states having any power over individuals, then I guess doing Russia and China's dirty work doesn't bother him that much. Of course he's not much of a patriot then, is he?
I think his leaks have obviously put a spotlight a on major issues that many of us know about but that most people didn't see. I think he's caused the major political players to realize that they have to move on this issues. These are good things.
But his running first to China and then to Russia ended any possibility of the title "patriot." Both of those places probably got access to everything he had. That's the first problem. The second problem is that he's now dancing on the Russian's strings like a puppet. And no matter how bad you think the U.S. has gotten with regards to civil liberties, Putin is much worse. Snowdon is now serving Putin's agenda.
So no. He's no patriot. He should have revealed the problems and faced the justice system. If he had, I would probably be one of the people calling for him to receive whistleblower protection. He had good intentions, but he thought he was smarter than he was and he got played by the serious bad guys.
Oh please. They are staggering the releases to do maximum harm to the U.S. and to keep their own names in the news longer. It's showing their blatant anti-us bias more than anything.
A professionally trained, well-paid human teacher eh?
If this is true, then how come our schools are so awful?
For the most part, they aren't awful. Where they are, it just so happens that everybody who lives there is super poor. Coincidence?
We the people have been throwing more and more money at schoolteachers, and requiring ever-increasing levels of training and education to maintain their license to teach, yet the educational achievments of our students have been flatlined for 40 years, and have even fallen dramatically in some districts.
Again, income inequality has been increasing too. And those are the kids doing worse.
Meanwhile home schooled children, taught by parents with no formal training as teachers, outperform government-schooled students so often that the high achieving home schooler has become a cultural meme, if not a cliche.
Hmm. Would student:teacher ratio have anything to do with that?
Charter schools have also been able to deliver superior results at lower cost.
Um, no, not really. Some do well, some do poorly or the same. And again, these schools are able to skirt rules and dodge students with parents who don't care.
No, I don't think we need professionally trained well paid teachers. What we need are voucher programs, more home schooling, teachers and schools that have to compete, the utter end to tenure of any kind, and pay/bonuses based on classroom performance instead of seniority.
In many states, "tenure" simply means you have to have a reason to fire someone and a process to follow. Unsurprisingly, states with weak tenure like this often have the worst-rated education systems.
Opening up the teaching profession to anyone with a bachelor's degree and a demonstrated knowledge of a subject (english, math, science) would be even better. There is no evidence that having a master's degree in early childhood education helps someone teach 3rd graders how to multiply. Let those who want to teach and who are good at it take the field, and get rid of parasitic space takers for whom a teaching job is a state-paid sinecure.
Wow. Ever worked in education? These so-called lateral entry teachers sometimes turn out to be great. Some even hang around 3-4 years before going back to their original profession where they actually get paid. Most lateral entry teachers are terrible at their jobs because they have no idea how to teach that subject that they know so well.
Most of all, outlaw public sector unions so that groups like the NEA aren't able to block real education reform.
That's why the Southern states with no public sector unions are doing so much better than the other . . . . oh, wait.
And that's what worries me about this project. They are handing out complicated tools and not showing the teachers how the tool is best used. That could be..... bad.
You have a really skewed vision of what metropolitan areas are. The area where I live is really pretty built up. I'm 30 minutes outside downtown Charlotte. I don't live "in the sticks." AT&T offers DSL a mile and a half away from me, but not at my place. Charter runs cable down the road outside my subdivison but they won't run it.2 miles into the subdivision into my house.
The truth is that the telecoms don't want to extent out into the suburbs any further than they have. They want to wait and get us with craptastic home wireless.
Slashdot Mirror
From a principal’s publication in 1815: “Students today depend on paper too much. They don’t know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?”
From Rural American Teacher, 1928: “Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education.”
From Federal Teachers, 1950: “Ballpoint pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American values of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Businesses and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries.”
From a science fair judge in Apple Classroom of Tomorrow chronicles, 1988: “Computers give students an unfair advantage. Therefore, students who used computers to analyze data or create displays will be eliminated from the science fair.”
QFT
I'm a former classroom teacher whose job is to work with other teachers to integrate technology into their instruction. My primary goal in life is to prevent the horror situation you describe.
We try to show teachers models of integrating technology so deeply into instruction that it becomes another tool (kind of like how most of us use it at work). We also push teachers to introduce the tools, present problems to the kids, and then let THEM choose the tools they use to solve those problems.
If you are interested here's a link to one of the models we use.
https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model
We are slowing bringing iPads into the classroom in my district (I do tech integration with teachers) and you are right, the ease of use is great in lower grades. The big problem with iOS, is that it's primarily a one-user devices. It gets hairy to manage a class set of 30 of them. The system for buying and installing multiple copies of apps is Byzantine and glitchy too. I think those aspects will get better though.
I lean more towards Chromebooks for upper grades. If the district has a Google Apps domain, (which is free) device management becomes very smooth. The keyboard also makes it a more useful too for doing real creative work as opposed to scripted lessons (which are the devil).
Agreed. As someone who works in schools with technology, the vast majority of us hate monoculture. Ironically, the Apple and Google products we are getting are actually the first steps out of a Microsoft monoculture.
Keep in mind, many, many school systems have been hard pressed for cash lately and are mainly using 6-10 year old machines running WinXP.
I'm doing my best to push Chromebooks, Apple and anything else that makes sense.
As someone who does classroom technology in schools, you are right about the size. The iPad screen size is just fine for the majority of K-12 uses. I don't know what "too small for collaborative work," even means.
That's right. Every time the UPS driver leaves a package on my porch, someone comes by and steals it. Oh wait. They don't. I guess they are waiting for a coptor to come down so they can risk getting chopped up by it's 8 spinning blades of death.
Back when I was a kid and dirt was new and shiny, lots of people had crazy misconceptions about seatbelts. They thought they would kill you in a wreck, or that you would be trapped in a burning car. I remember not wearing them in the 70s and early 80s.
Kent State was bad, but don't forget what China was up to at the time. Not exactly the same.
Do I get a suit of nuclear-powerd battle armor? If so, I'm in.
These guys sound like Bond Villains. And not Bond Villains from one of the good movies. More like the bad guy from Octopussy or For Your Eyes Only.
How many ran over heavy, jagged pieces of metal at highway speeds?
First, they weren't Americans. Second, they were in a crowd of Iraqis advancing towards a group of U.S. soldiers while carrying assault rifles, RPGs and RPG rounds. Watch the video without the helpful wikileaks explanations of what's going on. If I had been in that helicopter under those ROE, seeing what I saw on that video, I would have fired on them as well.
It was a tragedy. Like that whole damn war was a tragedy. But they weren't murdered.
Well, that and I didn't gleefully admit to murdering nearly 3000 people. I also wasn't continually calling for and plotting the murder of more. But yeah, other than that, we were exactly the same.
Yes, I guess it is high-minded idealism. But running has placed him in a situation where he has to hurt his country to survive and/or remain free.
I guess it all comes down to why he did this. If he did it because he loves this country and doesn't want to see it harmed by the people who are running it poorly, then he's failed, because he's causing it harm by helping oppressive countries who don't have our best interests in mind. If it was because he's opposed to nation states having any power over individuals, then I guess doing Russia and China's dirty work doesn't bother him that much. Of course he's not much of a patriot then, is he?
Actually, yes, I question his patriotism.
I think his leaks have obviously put a spotlight a on major issues that many of us know about but that most people didn't see. I think he's caused the major political players to realize that they have to move on this issues. These are good things.
But his running first to China and then to Russia ended any possibility of the title "patriot." Both of those places probably got access to everything he had. That's the first problem. The second problem is that he's now dancing on the Russian's strings like a puppet. And no matter how bad you think the U.S. has gotten with regards to civil liberties, Putin is much worse. Snowdon is now serving Putin's agenda.
So no. He's no patriot. He should have revealed the problems and faced the justice system. If he had, I would probably be one of the people calling for him to receive whistleblower protection. He had good intentions, but he thought he was smarter than he was and he got played by the serious bad guys.
You got the anonymous coward part right. Go dryclean your hood.
Oh please. They are staggering the releases to do maximum harm to the U.S. and to keep their own names in the news longer. It's showing their blatant anti-us bias more than anything.
A professionally trained, well-paid human teacher eh?
If this is true, then how come our schools are so awful?
For the most part, they aren't awful. Where they are, it just so happens that everybody who lives there is super poor. Coincidence?
We the people have been throwing more and more money at schoolteachers, and requiring ever-increasing levels of training and education to maintain their license to teach, yet the educational achievments of our students have been flatlined for 40 years, and have even fallen dramatically in some districts.
Again, income inequality has been increasing too. And those are the kids doing worse.
Meanwhile home schooled children, taught by parents with no formal training as teachers, outperform government-schooled students so often that the high achieving home schooler has become a cultural meme, if not a cliche.
Hmm. Would student:teacher ratio have anything to do with that?
Charter schools have also been able to deliver superior results at lower cost.
Um, no, not really. Some do well, some do poorly or the same. And again, these schools are able to skirt rules and dodge students with parents who don't care.
No, I don't think we need professionally trained well paid teachers. What we need are voucher programs, more home schooling, teachers and schools that have to compete, the utter end to tenure of any kind, and pay/bonuses based on classroom performance instead of seniority.
In many states, "tenure" simply means you have to have a reason to fire someone and a process to follow. Unsurprisingly, states with weak tenure like this often have the worst-rated education systems.
Opening up the teaching profession to anyone with a bachelor's degree and a demonstrated knowledge of a subject (english, math, science) would be even better. There is no evidence that having a master's degree in early childhood education helps someone teach 3rd graders how to multiply. Let those who want to teach and who are good at it take the field, and get rid of parasitic space takers for whom a teaching job is a state-paid sinecure.
Wow. Ever worked in education? These so-called lateral entry teachers sometimes turn out to be great. Some even hang around 3-4 years before going back to their original profession where they actually get paid. Most lateral entry teachers are terrible at their jobs because they have no idea how to teach that subject that they know so well.
Most of all, outlaw public sector unions so that groups like the NEA aren't able to block real education reform.
That's why the Southern states with no public sector unions are doing so much better than the other . . . . oh, wait.
And that's what worries me about this project. They are handing out complicated tools and not showing the teachers how the tool is best used. That could be ..... bad.
Did you write that in your flying car?
Yeah, Your "sources" take all their facts from either the Russians or the Syrian regime. I'm a bit inclined to not believe them.
You are assuming that Morsi was going to allow round 2. It wasn't looking like it.
Yeah, until some enterprising guy with a bb gun realized that you are really just another balloon.
Buzzkill.
You have a really skewed vision of what metropolitan areas are. The area where I live is really pretty built up. I'm 30 minutes outside downtown Charlotte. I don't live "in the sticks." AT&T offers DSL a mile and a half away from me, but not at my place. Charter runs cable down the road outside my subdivison but they won't run it .2 miles into the subdivision into my house.
The truth is that the telecoms don't want to extent out into the suburbs any further than they have. They want to wait and get us with craptastic home wireless.