As I think about the prospect of using technology in my classroom, the first potential issue that comes to my mind is not that some students have limited access. I imagine that most students have computers at home and even if they don't I am sure that they have found ways to go online for recreational use so they can use those same resources to use a computer for educational use.
It is hard to picture what my classroom will look like, and if it will have computers. I am sure there will be some sort of computer lab in the school and I do not think it would kill a kid to use a study period to actually study on a computer if that is the only chance they have to get on a computer.
We are lucky in Portland to have such an awesome library system and an abundance of libraries. Students can use computers there for free, it will just require planning on their part. Most students probably have a friend or relative who would let them use a computer, that is what I had to do when I did not have the internet at home. If it came down to it I would be willing to stay after class or come in early once in a while if that was the only way for a student to get computer time. As the first acticle said, we do need to make sure that students lean enough technology to make it in the world.
The issue that coms to my mind is what will this technology training be replacing? If we are adding technology instruction to the curriculum then we will have to take other things out. We have to anticipate that students will be at all different levels of knowledge so if we integrate technology that we will have to teach it as well.

Powerpoint Pros & Cons

I really liked watching the Powerpoint presentations today, it was fun to learn more about my classmates and get a peek into their lives outside of school. I really liked the creativity in Josh's presentation, his slides had a good mix of text and photos and I loved his opening collage. I also liked how Kelsey used photos to give insight into her life and passions, they way her photos floated up into the slides (I don't know how to do that) was cool and the effect created by her final slide was great. She used the animations in a limited way which made them effective.
Rachel did a great job evoking emotion with her slides and video but some of her slides were really wordy, which I found distracting. Alexis and Scott both demonstrated a good use of graphs and graphics.
The things I found less engaging or more ineffective were the overuse of animations and too many words on a slide. The things I saw that bugged me the most were grammar and spelling errors. I think that as teachers those types of errors are unacceptable, especially when you are broadcasting them on a Smart Board.
If I were to redo my presentaion I would try to use a little more creativity and mix up the format of my slides. I think my preseatation was very "busy" and I relied too heavily on photos. I really need to learn everything that Powerpoint is cabable of so I can make my presentions more pleasing to the eye. I think that Powerpoint can be effective as a visual tool but it can also be overused. I was guilty of doing that in my mini-teach. I think I will use Powerpoint as a teacher when I want to show a series of photos or images but I don't think it is good to use as a crutch for lecturing.

turn em off!

I read the point/counterpoint on cell phone use in classooms. In my opinion, cell phones do not belong in classrooms at all. Perhaps I feel that way because I barely know how to use my own Blackberry and not have a cell phone until my 3rd year of college, but I honestly feel that cell phones in classrooms will be more of a distraction than a learning tool.
Josh Allen says "You cannot expect every student to come to school with a Blackberry"
and he is completely right. I remember how important the brand of jeans you wore was when I was in middle school, I think cell phones are probably even bigger status symbols than jeans and it is unfair to require them. There will be students who don't have them. And there will be students who will have them but without the bells and whistles that their peers have. Anyone can see the problems that will be caused and worsened by encouraging this socio-economic division in the classroom. There will be the haves and the have-nots and it will be obvious who is in each group.
Liz Kolb, who argues for implementing cell phones into classrooms, says "As an alternative to spending time and money creating policies to fight cell phone use
in schools, teachers and administrators could spend their time finding useful ways
to integrate these devices." I don't understand how it costs time and money to create policies to fight cell phone use, and she doesn't explain. I don't see the need to create a policy to fight cell phones, and the idea is actually pretty silly. In my classroom, I will tell students that if I catch them texting in class I will take their phone. I will have a container to put them in on my desks. I won't automatically take them away but I will as soon as it becomes a problem, which is how I think teachers currently handle things that are potential problems.
I suppose the main question that arises from this argument is "Can cell phones be used as useful tools for education?" Sure they can, but is it appropriate to require this technology, which we know will be used more often for non-educational purposes in class? Cell phone use is not a necessary or even useful addition to curriculum and I think it will cause more harm than good.

The new way to be a bully

So cyberbullying seems terrible yet inevitable. With the growing dependency on technology and the increased access to it what did we really expect? The parent involvement part in some cases does really surprise me but it really shouldn't considering some of the things I have seen and heard of parents doing.
Cyberbullying is basically the new and improved yet more vindictive and malicious version of the slam book (I really hope I am not dating myself too much by using that term!). The slam book was passed all around the school and everyone worthy had the chance to write in it. It was where you learned who had the biggest boobs (and who stuffed their bras),who was the best dancer, who was the best kisser and who would never let you find out, who wrote love letters who was a bullshitter. I really wish I could remember more of the pages but I remember the stigma attached. To be listed in the slam book was a great fear, but not to be listed was even worse. Teenagers are going to gossip and there is nothing we can do about it. I have never been a cyberbully and I have never been cyberbullied, but I completely understand the concept.
I really think it is unfair to place the regulation of cyberbullying on the teachers, because it is largely out of our control. Teenagers gossip and they are terrible to each other and unfortunately that is just a part of growing up. Teachers in my schools growing up tried to stop the slam books but we found more and more ways to hide them. The more the teachers tried to stop us the more elusive and cool it became to pass the books.
I am not saying we should be blind to bullying of any sort, I think we need to keep our eyes and ears open as teachers to anything that we think is a potential problem or to anything that crosses the line. We should address problems in class if they arise, but I do not plan on spending my nights and weekends as a teacher perusing my students' facebook pages for evidence of bullying.

Social Networking
In google-ing myself I found a ton but very little about me. I searched Kim and Kimberly and I found that there is an actress, real estate agent, convicted embezzler, dentist, chemist and photagrapher with my exact same name. My myspace page came up, as well as my goodreads profile (neither of which I have used in over a year) and 2 articles I wrote for my college newpaper.
links below:

http://barometer.orst.edu/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=d886d6c8-f78c-4b03-b584-79db499d7df5

http://media.barometer.orst.edu/media/storage/paper854/news/2002/07/10/News/Disturbance.Shakes.Up.Park.West-2295400.shtml#5

http://www.myspace.com/kdunbar

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/611639-kim-dunbar

So nothing bad came up, not that I was worried! I would not want my students looking at my facebook page though. My facebook page represents my personal life and I think that teachers deserve to have a personal life. It is a really hard thing to decide what teachers should be held accountable for when they are not at work. I really think that as long as they are not doing anything illegal that teachers should be entitled to do and say anything they want, but in reality that is not the way it works. Teachers are role models in and outside of the classroom and I do not think they should be depicted doing anything that they would not want their students to do. Unfortunately students will be curious about their teachers, and I can totally see a student who is angry with a teacher actively looking for something incriminating.
I do not think teachers' speech should necessarily be held against them, but I do think that teachers should be prepared to be held accountable for things they post on the internet, even if they do not intend their students or their parents to see them. I don't think a teacher should be fired for expressing an opinion on the internet, but teachers need to be aware of their professional reputation and seek to preserve it.
The most interesting thing to me was the teacher who got fired for the nude photos. At first I was totally in agreement that she should be let go until I read what they were for. Artistic, professional photos by her photoagrapher partner. I think that is perfectly innocent, but on the other hand I would not want my students to see me naked. Eeeeek!
As a teacher I will just make sure that I keep my facebook page private and make sure that I review anything (pictures, etc) that people post, and I will think twice about anything that I post. If I do decide to communicate with my students via the internet I will set up specific sites for that purpose. I think I am entitled to my private time and I will do everything I can to keep it private.

Digital Immigrant

I am most definitely a digital immigrant, and it looks like this class is going to speed up my immigration to the digital world. When I was in high school the internet was just gaining popularity and I thought email was pretty cool and Microsoft Word sure beat typing papers on a typewriter. Other than that I didn't take much interest. I partly blame this on the fact that my little brother was absolutely enamored with computers so I didn't need to learn anything about them, he would happily (and sometimes grudgingly) do any tech-y things I needed done. He is a Network Engineer now and the trend has continued. In fact, he embedded a video for me in the Powerpoint presentation I did today (my very first experience with Powerpoint).
My high school was not very high-tech, I was an editor for our school newspaper and we did all the pages by hand. Cutting and pasting them meant scissors and glue. In college, although I went to a big school, I don't remember any technology being implemented into my classes. I remember one video class where the professor recorded himself giving all the lectures and we all had to go watch them in an auditorium style classroom, but I think he was just lazy rather than cutting edge. I am sure there were more resources available to me had I taken the time to find them and learn how to use them. Shoot I have had a Blackberry for almost a year and I still don't know how to post a picture from it to facebook.
I thought it was interesting that the first Pensky article seemed to assume that all teachers were digital immigrants, because there are definitely some natives in our class. And those natives will have an edge on me, because as Pensky said "I am not sure which is actually harder - "learning new stuff" or "learning new ways to do old stuff". I suspect it is the latter." I agree. It is like learning any new language, the younger you start the easier it is to pick up. But I fully intend to try to catch up.
Another interesting thing I gleaned from the article was the idea of "edutainment" (Pensky). I understand the concept of speaking the language that the students know and respond to, I guess I am just sorry that I missed out on classes in which the teachers sought to entertain me while teaching! But the opportunities for us to integrate technology into our teaching are everywhere, and I definitely think we will reach more students if we use them.
I was really interested in the statistics given in the video, particularly that there are 2.7 million google searches per month (T4 video). Who were people asking these questions to before google? Chances are, most of those questions weren't being asked when the technology wasn't available to give a quick and easy answer. Does that mean we are smarter now because we ask more questions? The other stat that struck me was the one that said that the average student only gets to ask one question every 10 hours. That statistician has obviously never observed our class!

Day 1 assignment

Kim Dunbar

I would most like to teach Middle or High School English. My BA is in English Literature from OSU and I graduated in 2002. So I am coming back from school after quite the break.

My favorite animal is a dragon because they breathe fire. I like nice dragons, like Puff the magic dragon and Elliott the dragon from the movie Pete's Dragon and Dragon from Shrek