Year in review

Well as it turns out I cant stay away from the blogs for very long. I felt I should elaborate on what I learned this semester and give you an idea of where I'm at. For the most part, I wish I was still in the field, or that we could student teach for a longer period of time and spend less time at the university. I just feel our time would be better spent in the field with the students. One thing I really enjoy are my classmates. We all seem to get along and work well together which makes the long days at school go by much easier. As far as classes go, ICT and Professional Teacher have been my favorite courses. ICT as given us many tools to use in the classroom. PT has also given us tons of info on the legal issues that go along with teaching.

I think the role of technology will only get bigger as time goes on. At some point, text books will be gone, students will have iPads of some kind with all the work on it and teachers will email students the handouts rather than give them hard copies.

As much as I like using technology in the class, we have to make sure students still get the face to face interaction with each other. It is a shame that that is something we may have to teach students at some point when in the past it just happened on its own through...living and working, I guess. That sounds really sad, actually.

I do like how we can use technology in classes like English and History by using blogs, websites and other things to get kids interested in writing and sharing information. since kids use communications sites like Facebook and twitter all the time anyway, we should get them using it for school as well.

As far at technology goes, I still have a lot to learn. I'm not that engaged with tech to the point of keeping up with the youth of today. Perhaps I should make a twitter account? we shall see....

Here is a little slide show I made using animoto...its really cool for making short videos...

Year in review

Other cool things to use in class are things like audacity for making pod casts, which I have actually used in a class when giving a presentation while talking about technology and how we can use it when differentiating lesson plans. I also liked using glogster which is really cool for accommodating presentations.

Thanks again, and see you soon!

Whelp this may be my last blog of the semester, though I will probably come back in the new year and update you on all the happenings in my life.

There was some crazy football action going on this weekend. First I was watching the Phili-Detroit game which they played in 6 inches of snow, the first half was kind of boring but by the second half the Eagles got their running game together and McCoy ran for over 200 yards himself. Really good game. Then, I turned to the Minnesota/Baltimore game to watch the last two minutes in which 4 TOUCHDOWNS were scored in 90 seconds! I haven't seen ball like that in....ever!

I only have one in class test this week, the rest of my week in getting assignments in, finishing up group projects and presentations and all that jazz. In a few weeks Ill be on a beach in Mexico soaking up sun and cocktails...mmmmmm, warm weather sounds great about now...

Thanks for following me all semester, I learned a lot these last few months, in the field and in the classroom. Lets see what next semester brings.

In the meantime, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and stay warm folks!

Cheers,
Doug S

ps, here is one of my all time favorite songs done in the style of Peter, Paul and Marry...Enjoy!

So this Saturday I bought my first ever pro-line ticket. I picked five teams to win and only three won...did I learn my lesson? Whelp I haven't bought another one yet, so only time will tell. I only spent two dollars and with the odds of the teams I picked to win I could have won $19 which would have sustained my coffee habit for the week. Maybe next Saturday Ill pick up a ticket again, it at leas makes it more fun when you watch the games.

Lately we have been looking at the issue of bullying and online bullying and how to prevent it at a teacher. Unfortunately I don't think bullying will ever not be an issue in school, the form of bullying may change but the intent to hurt someone will always be present I feel. We were looking at one case study where the victim had complained about being bullied online on things like facebook. My opinion? first, GET THAT KID OF FACEBOOK! By being on that site and allowing other kids to post on your wall, you enable them to attack you. Don't go on facebook, don't give kids your cell phone number and don't give them access to your twitter account. Or don't have a twitter account, or at least create one with a fake name. I'm not saying this will stop the bullying but with technology kids can be bullied 24/7 as oppose to the few hours a day they are at school. At least then you can be at home, in your room without the incoming texts and messages bullying you. That is just my two cents on a huge issue. But I think students and adults alike need to be aware that no one is forcing you to have an online presence. If you don't like what people are saying, get off!

Likewise, in ICT we discuss online responsibility and posting inappropriate things. Kids HAVE to be aware of the potential results of posting inappropriate things online, not just for future job prospects but also for bullying reasons.

Big issues being discussed lately. Heavy topics but important for anyone who wants to be a teacher as we are guaranteed to deal with this issues further down the road in our career.

Have a good week, folks!

Here's a nice little mellow song to make it feel like summer on this snowy Monday afternoon!

Hey all, it's the busy time of year where profs give students a pile of homework at once and laugh diabolically to themselves in their offices. At least that's what I imagine they do. That how I feel anyway. Two weeks left and then its Christmas break, until then its panic mode, which somehow seems to get me through finals time at university. If I don't write again for another weeks its probably because I'm working diligently on my work or I have succumbed to the cold weather and gone into hibernation and wont be seen until spring. Lets hope its the former.

cheers!

After five weeks of student teaching I have come to the conclusion that I no longer want to be a student. Give me a classroom. I'm done with coming to class everyday (paying money), having an hour off, going back to class, doing homework....If I could get a job at my last placement right now I would take it. My placement felt like it was given to me. I had no real discipline problems, no serious problem students, everything was fantastic. I loved my kids, I loved my co-teacher, I loved the subject matter. I feel like I can ride this high for a while and I'm even more stoked about teaching now than I was before.

Here is a nice little tune from 1969 for a sunny afternoon....

This is the last week before student teaching and there is a general bad mood swinging through the doors of the ED building. People are grouchy, sick, grumpy, nervous and its really annoying being around such attitudes. Being sick is one thing, but we are here because we want to be. I encourage everybody to be optimistic and have a positive attitude about our first student teaching placement. enjoy it, make some mistakes (I fully expect to) learn from them, listen, work hard, and know that you are making a difference in some kids life. This week is full of assignments, tests, runny noses, etc. Next week will be better people!

This song makes me happy

have you ever failed at something that compromised your sense of self? this is the subject of our group presentation for one of our classes. I got a really bad grade on a paper a few years ago that was really important to me. It made me question my whole degree and what I was doing in school. I can totally relate to the question. it takes time to create a strong enough sense of self that a bit of failure cannot compromise your goals or derail you in any way.

happy Monday. a little Kings of Leon anybody?

Good morning Ladies and Gents. Whelp, my cold is in full swing and my nose is running like Forrest Gump in a football game. The hockey season is only 2 days in and already people are whining about fighting in hockey. Fighting is part of the game, people, let it go. If you want to watch a nice sport with whinny babies watch European soccer or American Basketball. I will admit that were fighting to be eliminated form the sport, most people would hardly  notice after a while, like the playoffs for example. It would certainly make room for the more skilled players. Having said that, hockey is the only sport which is self policing to a certain extent. I think that makes it unique from other sports. The game moves so fast and things happen in the heat of the moment sometimes a little prick like Sean Avery just needs to get his faced pounded a few times. That's the game, folks. Take it or leave it.  

 Last day of school before the weekend where Ill go back home and put in some hours for my Dad on the farm. Next week is going to be a long one with mid-terms and presentations. I haven't done a midterm in like 4 years. so we'll see how that goes.

One more week till student teaching. I was going over some curriculum material from my co teacher and I couldn't get through all of it as there was just so much. I don't feel nervous though, and I'm kind of nervous about not being nervous. I think once I am in there I'll learn much more than I expect.

Cheers for the weekend. here is some more K pop to get you there.

'Morning everybody! The cold season is upon us and unfortunately I too have become victim to the autumn bug. Not to worry, I got Halls, tea, and a few episodes of Sons of Anarchy to catch up on, so all is swell. I met my cooperating teacher yesterday and learned a bit about what Ill be teaching during my practicum. Ill be teaching mostly 'fiction' and whatever that encompasses. I cant wait to finally be in the classroom.  My cold got me up supper early this morning so I put on some tea and some Pearl Jam, here is what I was listening to this morning. Enjoy!

Monday the 30th, last day of September. Ill be student teaching in two weeks and feel like I should be more nervous than I am. This makes me feel good yet nervous that Im not nervous. Maybe its a sign that I am were Im supposed to be and doing what Im supposed to be doing. My ICT course is proving to be pretty informative and giving us lots of ideas to use for the classroom. Ill be teaching English during my first placement and Im already starting to think how students can use things like pixlr, iMovie, prezi, storybird, etc. in the classroom either for group assignments to accommodate class presentations, or even for those whose first language is not English, perhaps those students can use things like twitter or prezi to help enhance their language but also feel good about doing an assignment and use these projects to inform their language.

here is a little k pop for a nice sunny fall afternoon....

Ok, so here is my first official written blog on my new site. I just read an article about a group of 300 teenagers who broke into the house of an ex NFLer and threw a party, trashed the place, spray painted the walls, caused about $20 000 in damages and now the parents of these kids are threatening to sue the man who owns the house. That's right, the man who wasn't even in the same state at the time of the Labour Day weekend party is being threatened with lawsuits by the parents because he found out who the kids where and outed them. the kids posted pics online and tweeted the party all night long, so of course it wasn't hard to figure out who was there. The culture of parents believing their children can do no wrong and are perfect little angels all the time has to come to and end. The fact that these kids can THOW A PARTY AND POST PICTURES ONLINE ABOUT IT proves that they do not fear any consequences. Any punishment that comes their way would probably just be a slap on the wrist. What sense of entitlement to kids have that they can trash another mans home, do illegal drugs in his house and leave it a squatters mansion ? why is our culture not raising children to be more accountable for their actions? Why are these parents suing the guy how now has to pay $20 000 worth of damages that were done to his home? Link to the article here

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/ex-nfl-star-face-lawsuits-parents-house-crashing-teens-article-1.1462008

Marshall Davis Jones : "Touchscreen"

Sept 16

Hey, everybody, this is my blog. Here you will find my thoughts on everything!