Cellphones in the classroom

Through my experiences observaing high school classrooms the use of personal phones for instruction is a tricky subject. Currently, i notice many students hiding cell phones behind bags/under desks to text and search the internet. it has become a problem for many classrooms across the nation. In the future, I do not plan to rely on cell phones in my lesson but if i were compelled to do so i would attempt to use it as a survey/pre-knowledge activity. I would plan to measure students knowledge of a subject by asking open ended questions and providing answers that students would text and i would monitor results. this would allow me to gauge where the students stand and give me a better idea of where to proceed in the lessons. Another idea i had would be to use it as a way to monitor class attendance/participation. each class i would have a question to answer through text messaging. this would allow me to know who is in class without wasting classtime on attendance. In addition, it will be a way to assess class involvement by gauging how many questions they responded to or missed.

2 classroom resources:

1) Student Sit-In class room videos

http://americanhistory.si.edu/freedomandjustice/learning_resources.html#classroom

This resource could be effectively used to demonstrate to students the atmosphere of racial prejudice and more specifically, the videos highlight uses of civil disobedience and nonviolent protest.

I would plan to use these series of videos, depicting re-enactments of the sit-ins and protests of the civil rights movement for African Americans. I would utilize these videos to help students better understand the context of the civil rights era and the ways in which blacks organized themselves to accomplish their goals.

2) Civil rights evolution of the Supreme Court: QL#614

I plan to use this resource to demonstrate to my students that changing views of the Supreme Court decisions over time and how they reflected/affected American society. This resource is great because it allows students to clearly, understand specific court rulings and makes it less difficult for comparison between them. In addition I would use this resource to highlight the role of the Supreme Court in over government and the power they have over society.

Licenses and Copyrights in the classroom

Teachers presently face many questions and challenges in terms of using copyrighted materials in the classroom. Before the lesson on copyrights, I had many questions regarding which materials could be used and the legality of that use but those questions and concerned were eased by the end of the lesson. First of all teachers must be aware of what materials they are able to use by determining what licenses the material possesses. The most crucial factor is recognizing which materials are usable and which ones are not. During the lesson my group mate and I researched the license CC BY-SA, which was a type of license that allows the materials to be used/adopted and altered as long as the one doing the adopting recognizes that they post license the new work under the same license and same criteria. For instance, if I were to compose a song and license it under CC BY-SA, it would be available to the public on my website. However, if someone were to take my song and change the chorus, their new song would need to have the same license as my original work and this new piece would also be available to the public for adaptation or alteration.

           In the case of the students, a teacher must be aware of what can legally be used and posted on the internet. Teachers must be capable of preventing copy right infringement of their students by understanding the different licenses.

           I feel the best way to address copyright in the classroom is to limit students ability to take/gather others materials and present them together in a project. Instead, I would encourage the use of such items as tools to developing and expanding ideas and I would do my best to discourage any unlawful materials to be used. The exception to the rule would be materials licenses under terms that allow them to be freely altered, in this instance I would allow my students to utilize these resources as long as I explain the terms of the license. I would also feel an obligation to alert the students to the fact that since they took parts from others work to make their own, that new work must be released under the same conditions.

Flipped classroom

I think the flipped classroom is a great idea. It enables teachers to utilize classroom time more efficiently and have a more direct impact on answering questions or leading discussions. By using video and audio online to teach students at home and using the class time to clarify and help the instruction teachers are able to double their impact on the students. The video benefits students because they can use it as a tool for learning, they are able to pause, rewind and re-watch the videos so that the instruction can be fully understood. In the future I plan to use the idea of the flipped classroom more and more once I am comfortable with my teaching technique.

2 Blogs:
History=http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/mission-dialogue-christianity-wake-indian-independence-audio  while both of these podcasts are meant for higher education classes, they offer great advantages to both students and teachers. The podcasts featured by Oxford offer an in depth look at India in the wake of British control and they can teach a great deal on the subject. While this particular podcast is a bit advanced for students in high schools, there are many more in the internet that can be used with great success, the trick is finding an accurate, detailed, credible podcast to feature in the classroom.
Other=http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/intergenerational-justice-what-do-we-owe-future-generations-hilary-term-seminar-series-2011  this podcast examines our decisions in the past and present and the effects they will have on our future generations and the planet. This is more a human behavior and sociology theme but ties closely with social studies and social sciences. This podcast could help my students better understand the decisions we have made and the consequences of those decisions.

Computers and technology in the classroom-2/1/12

 I hope that this class will better help me understand different strategies and ideas in my instruction. The use of technology and computers will help me better convey my content and material to the students in various ways in hopes that they in turn will have a better understanding. By using technology and computers, i believe we as teachers are speaking to kids in a langauge and atmosphere in which they were brought up and are familiar with. As the students become more technology savvy and so do my lessons, the material covered will be easier for them to see, understand and relate to.