Blog Post 10

The Cartoon

In the cartoon, I’m Papermate I’m Ticonderoga by John T. Spencer, there appears to be a hidden message. At first glance you see two men, one drawn with a dark thick manner, and the other in light wispy manner. The first man has the caption “I’m a papermate. I cost less, but I break all the time.” While the second man has the caption “I’m a Ticonderoga I’m the most expensive purchase a hipster will ever make.” After taking a closer look at this cartoon the only thing I could really come up with is that sometimes even though the cheap pencil will get the job done the more expensive pencil is sometime a better choice because the outcome is twice as good.

From Mr. Spencer

In the blog post, “Rebel without a Clue” by John T. Spencer, Mr. Spencer discusses the red tape he is confronted with while trying to allow his students to use a certain website. He tells the story of one of his students pointing out the school district doesn’t stick by their motto and how that inspired him to take a little trip to the central office.

Mr. Spencer says he stopped by the superintendent’s office to find out that the site he wants to use, which is free and easy to use, isn’t available to be used because the school district has already paid for the use of another site. Even though Mr. Spencer tries to reason with the superintendent his efforts are a lost cause.

In reading this blog post I really felt discouraged for Mr. Spencer. It seemed like he was doing his very best to better his students and provide them with the knowledge they need for their futures and he was blocked and every turn. I think there is a good chance this will happen to me in my career as well and just like Mr. Spencer I will have to find a way to work around it.

In the blog post, “Why Were Your Kids Playing Games” by John T. Spencer, Mr. Spencer gives an interesting description of a conversation between a teacher and their principal. Mr. Spencer says the teacher was called into the principal’s office and told he was caught playing games with his students today. The teacher does everything he can to explain that even though the students appeared to be playing a game they were actually learning, but with no success.

The principal seems to have his mind made up. The principal reminds the teacher of the last professional development day and the lessons taught. He reminds the teacher that strictly memorization type activities should be taught and that there is no time for games. After a while the teacher rewords his activity to the principals liking and the discussion is over.

After reading this story I think Mr. Spencer made a great point sometimes we may have to reword our lessons to make them fit the state standards, the school board’s standards, and please the principal but we shouldn’t take the fun out of learning. I’m not 100% sure that’s what Mr. Spencer was going for when he wrote this blog post but that’s what I got from it. I think it is easy to do the bare minimum but it is not in our student best interest to do so, therefore, it is my personal goal to never take the easy way out and to always put my students first.

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please!

In the blog post, “Don’t Teach you Kids This Suff. Please!” by Scott McLeod, McLeod takes an interesting approach to fighting for the use of technology in schools. He spends most of his time in the post saying how we shouldn’t teach our students to use all of these types of technology and then in a surprising twist at the end says “I’m teaching my kids these things, lets so who is better off in a decade.”

I think McLeod does a great job of confronting the common hazards society sees when discussing technology in schools. He sheds light on cyber bulling, sexting, and inappropriate websites; yet he still says he is teaching his students to use technology. Why, society may ask. The answer is simple it is our job as educators to provide our students with the knowledge and abilities needed to be successful and technology is a part of that.

To cast my vote I think the students who have been proper taught how to use the resources they have available to them will be far better off in a decade than the students who spend their childhood shelter from the hazards.