The Seiter Press (Dr. J's Blog)

Just got back from an orientation meeting for CC students to apply to our program. Several of the prospective applicants are beginning 2d or 3rd careers, and we did our best to do what all teachers are supposed to do…we give our students the hope of a better life. Apologies to Taylor Mali, but “What do we do…?” We don’t teach or help students learn – that’s ancillary to what we DO…we give hope…if we don’t have that as a focus, we need to quit.

Season Mussey & I just submitted an article we hope will be published soon.  If it is, we will write a series of followup articles on what it means to be a professional teacher.  We have to put the concept of a professional teacher- not a well-meaning amateur or an enthusiastic part-timer- but a person who has the comittment and the ‘right stuff’ to teach in the modern American classroom.

Summer is the best time for professional development.  I really get peeved at the people who think professional educators have ’3 months off’…

I invite you to use the wiki and the blog to comment and reflect.  Use class time to question and participate.  Help me make the class useful and informative for you.

Our discussion in class the other night was very interesting.  I like to be praised; we dislike criticism.  But in a collegial and progressive community, we must be able to give and accept honest assessment ofr our work.  Please post on the EdTech page part of this blog any and all crtiticism of the course.  I trust everyone to be fair and honest.  And, I welcome the critique as an opportunity to make the course better for the next class.

The issues with education and with reporting and, to a certain degree, with government have me wondering…

Do we need schools, or TEACHERS…?

Do we need news organizations, or REPORTERS…?

Do we need government, or LEADERS…?

Let me make the case…

To be ‘in school’ does not mean to be in a place or time anymore.  School and learning may take place anywhere, but the student NEEDS a teacher.

To be informed, I no longer need a newspaper, or any particular news clearning house source, but I do NEED a reporter.

To be taxed and nit-picked and lectured to…well, never mind.

Much of this posting is copied from my wiki under Educational Technology.
My position is that, while the ability to write with a pencil or pen (or crayon or finger in the dirt) is a component of literacy, handwriting has been superseded by the keyboard. I write with a pen or pencil for one audience these days – myself. Rarely do I write for another person – maybe a note to my wife or the odd letter to Uncle BobEd. Even texting has replaced most of the notes from Kathy to me. As teachers, we want to prepare our students for THEIR future, not OUR present. With this in mind, I believe that 2nd grade is the starting point for keyboard use. Secondgraders have a basic understanding of the alphabet, but are certainly NOT fluent or literate. They must learn as they develop their skills. Their writing (keyboarding) will be slow, sometimes painful, full of misspellings and gramatical errors. That’s OK. They can learn to LEVERAGE the power of the word-processing program by using the spell checker and the grammar tools. They can learn to edit and copy & paste AS THEY LEARN where the keys are.
The pen is NOT dead, but it has been replaced, and we should recognize this.

12 Reasons to Ditch The Pen & 10 Businesses Smartphones Have Destroyed: What we have to UNLEARN

My grandmother had beautiful handwriting and wrote with an elaborate fountain pen. She would fill it up from an ink jar and it always seemed a treat to get a card or letter from her. As much as I miss that, I realize we will never go back to that time unless it is for aesthetic or historical purpose. Lisa Nielsen wants us to “get over it” and embrace the 21st century. She points out that digital writing is faster, easily editable, accessible anywhere, searchable and publishable. It is also better for the environment and more in keeping with the promise of 21st century goals (2010).

Douglas McIntyre and Charles Stockdale list ten businesses the smartphone has made obsolete. Their article for www.izzit.org show that sales of PDAs, cameras, MP3 players, handheld video games, GPSs, PCs, cellphones and watches all declined in 2010 due to the iPhone and their clones. A recent Yahoo News item supports this by comparing the number of iPhone apps downloaded last year (300 million) and this year (5 billion).

Here’s a challenge for my students and followers…comment on what learning style (or use Gardner’s Intelligences) match with the use of various tech tools. In other words, who uses Twitter, Flikr & Facebook most? Who lurks, who comments, who blogs and vlogs? Who uses IM, Rss and bookmarks most? Think about it and comment. Btw, in terms of LS, there are lots of variants, so do explain which version you reference.

I agree! Let’s frame the “How can we fix education?” debate into a collaborative one instead of the adversarial one we currently have. I think sometimes those outside of education forget that we are parents and taxpayers too. No one ever says, “Education is bad-we shouldn’t promote or fund it.” But we should seperate the issues of the BUSINESS of education (in which the unions and large government organizations have their stake) with the PROCESS & PRACTICE of education, in which teachers and administrators work.

I was waiting for the Chicago/Seattle game and browsed through PBS.  Interesting interview with the former governor of PA.

Watch the full episode. See more Overheard with Evan Smith.

If you can read the heading, you are well on your way to communicating with your students.  All my C&I courses are about connecting with students and helping them to get along without us.  It’s one of the hardest jobs in the world.  There are policemen in the roughest neighborhoods, brave soldiers and caring doctors in the worst environments on earth who would not trade their job to become a teacher!

This blog is for my students to share their ideas, hopes and fears without critique or judgement.

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