Blog Post #10

In Mr.John Spencer Blog Post titled Adventures in Pencil Integration, the black and white cartoon picture of the two different men with two different titles "Papermate" and "Ticonderoga" are basically talking about how they are different, but to me all that I got out of this photo was that ultimately they have the same capability. Yes one costs more than the other and one is more reliable then the other, but they both have faults and they both are just "tools". It's what you do with them that matters most. How well can they benefit the person who is using them is the question.
Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?
Which discussed a conversation he and his principal had about the style of his teaching habits. In the principals' eyes having fun in a classroom does not equal learning. Instead it is viewed as just another "thing" that parents will find some sort of way to have a problem with.One year a parent found it offensive when she learned her child had been playing "Hangman" at school and took the issue up with the principal. This was a rare thing and I don't believe all games should be banned from the classes, as the principal is suggesting it. I think that at the beginning of each school year, teachers should send a letter home describing the types of games that will go on in the classroom, and have that students parents sign the letter. That way if a parent has an issue with their child playing a particular game, special arrangements can be made for that particular student rather than to punish a whole class, whose parents may not feel the same. So to keep from having future problems, with future parents, over games that are quite educational, the principal decides to nip it in the bud sort of speak and just cut out games in the classroom period. The comment that I left for his blog post was as follows:Hello Mr.Spencer, I think it is great that you found a way to get your students to learn while at the same time having fun learning. Although it is unfortunate that not everyone thinks this way. Some people are more by the book kinds of people. I think that Principals take a step back sometimes and allow the teacher to be flexible in their teaching styles, and only step back in when their is something that needs to be addressed, when it is concerning the mental well being of a student. (as far as learning things that aren't appropriate or that could be racially bias etc.) I really did enjoy reading this post, while it did sadden me that the principal was discouraging something that is obviously good for the students.

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please This blog says everything I want to say. We shouldn't give up or abandon old traditions just because something new comes along. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is evil, because everything thing has positives and negatives. I think that with the right level of security both by the parent and the teacher, students will be able to reap the benefits of using the internet both in and out of the classroom.

In a decade or two I think parents then would be able to handle and cope more so with technology and how to go about protecting their kids because they will know what dangers are actually out there,because them themselves would've been somewhat tempted by some of the bad things that happens on the internet.

Scott McLeod is a leading academic expert on K-12 school technology. Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor in the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University. Dr. McLeod blogs about technology leadership issues at Dangerously Irrelevant and occasionally at The Huffington Post. He is the creator of LeaderTalk, the nation’s first group blog written by school leaders for school leaders. Dr. McLeod also was a co-creator of the wildly popular video, Did You Know? (Shift Happens).