Fires, Chapter 10

This chapter was about going beyond the classroom. Different ways mentioned to do this are recommending summer programs, suggesting summer activities or books, and bringing people from the outside world into your classroom. I think that it is important to bring the world into your classroom, because kids aren't going to learn what they think is irellevant or meaningless.

Fires, Chapter 9

This chapter was about when things go wrong in the classroom. I am a total advocate for asking students how they feel they are doing, how they feel about the course work they are doing, and what grade they feel that they deserve. You also need to be careful with your discipline, if you are too degrading (i.e. "I'm glad you graced us with your presence.") than you will loose a student forever. I loved the quote, "We're gonna crush your hope and pride. Teachers need to get a harder shell. After that, students won't see that you're scared." I feel like that is so true. If you are the type of person that can't take critisism well or gets their feelings hurt easily, than teaching is simply not for you.

Fires, Chapter 8

This chapter discussed the best ways to connect with students who are still learning English. I did not connect with this chapter as much as I did with other chapters, but only because in my high school where my passion for teaching started we didn't have any students who were still learning English. I did appreciate how the students wanted to be asked questions about their language and about their cultures. I feel that this would be important even if they spoke perfect English.

Fires, Chapter 7

This chapter was about teaching difficult academic material. I am a firm believer in letting the text books perhaps be a guide or a resource, but NEVER your entire class or the basis for everything you teach. That is simply a waste of your students time, and frankly, it's a waste of your time and the education you received as well. I also think that it is important not to drill things into kids when they already know them, it will just breed contempt for the skill, not concrete knowledge. Videos can be used wonderfully to help with a lesson, but should never be used in place of teaching, or in place of reading.

Fires, Chapter 6

This chapter was about motivating students. I loved it when Vance talked about teachers with passion, and about how when teachers are truly passionate about their subject and what they are teaching that students can tell and want to learn the material. I also agree that it is important to let kids know where they are going to need the knowledge you are teaching them in the real world, so they can make those connections and care about the material as such. Bringing in people who used the knowledge you teach to get ahead in life into the classroom also can be a valuable tool that I had never thought about before. Maybe I could bring in a CSI person who can talk about how she learned through character analysis how to recognize a criminal... I loved the table about when the best and worst times to do things are, like how the day before a huge break you should have a make-up day or something because no one is going to be focused.

Fires, Chapter 5

First of all, I love the usage of the word "foibles" on the first page of this chapter. That being said, this chapter was about teaching to the individual student while working with the group at the same time. I myself was the queen of bullshit when I was in high school, I could pull the wool over the eyes of any teacher and get away with it as far as completed homework or a reading assignment. When I read about the student whose friend couldn't even READ and she bullshit her teachers into thinking she could all through high school, I was astounded. It is so important for teachers to pick up on patterns like this, and that is why when I am a teacher I will have a private notebook with a page for each student that I will write something about them in every class. That way, ideally, I will see these patterns. I also think that students should not be used like crutches, that the one kid that knows all the answers should not be the one that is always called on to save time. Also when quiet students are called on they should be called on right away, and students who are probably bluffing should be called on it. I also think open ended opinion questions are important, versus questions that have either a right or a wrong answer.

Fires, Chapter 4

This chapter was about creating a culture of success, and I totally agreed with the part that said that you should never compare your classes or your students. You might have to tweak a lesson completely for one class compared to another, but that is all about the challenge and the beauty of teaching. Giving students the opportunity to revise their work is another teaching theory that I will totally adopt when I am a teacher, because students aren't as likely to get down on themselves or do poor work when they know they will have the opportunity to fix things, that they get more than one set-in-concrete chance. I also am a firm believer in feedback, in actually writing on students papers if you think a certain part is well done, or needs improvement, and HOW to improve it. Too many times my teachers just put, GOOD JOB! On the top of important papers, and gave me like an 85-90. I wanted to know WHY!!! Of course, with standards based grading this won't be as much of an issue, as you will have to justify your grades anyway, but still. I also hate teachers who call out grades. The smart kids then feel badly and the kids who didn't do as well feel even worse. This is just creating animosity where it doesn't need to be in the classroom.

Fires, Chapter 3

I loved this chapter on classroom behavior. Students need the structure of the classroom, with teachers who listen and respect their opinions while not trying too hard to be their "friend". I really liked the idea of always putting the class agenda on the board, that seemed like a pretty unanimous thing that the students in this book wanted their teachers to do, and I intend to do this in my classroom. I also thought it was interesting what one student wrote about how most teachers are far too concerned with the ENTIRE classroom being dead silent, and that this is just annoying to the students who want to learn. In my experience in the schools, I found that this was true, and that if you just power on through the students will be quiet for you if you give that air of authority. I also agreed that notes should not be read aloud, because they could be harmful to the students, and that it's really the quiet kids you need to worry about, not normally the loud ones.

How Can I Productively React When Students Misbehave or Act Up?

The Essential Questions for the Technology Integration portion of EDU 221 are:

* Why might it be important for students to learn with technology?
* How can you effectively integrate technology into your teaching and learning?

The Essential Questions for the Classroom Management portion of EDU 221 are:

* Which strategies are most effective for maintaining order in the classroom?
* How can I productively react when students misbehave or act up?

Which Strategies Are Most Effective For Maintaining Order in the Classroom?

The Essential Questions for the Technology Integration portion of EDU 221 are:

* Why might it be important for students to learn with technology?
* How can you effectively integrate technology into your teaching and learning?

The Essential Questions for the Classroom Management portion of EDU 221 are:

* Which strategies are most effective for maintaining order in the classroom?
* How can I productively react when students misbehave or act up?

How Can You Effectively Integrate Technology Into Your Teaching and Learning?

The Essential Questions for the Technology Integration portion of EDU 221 are:

* Why might it be important for students to learn with technology?
* How can you effectively integrate technology into your teaching and learning?

The Essential Questions for the Classroom Management portion of EDU 221 are:

* Which strategies are most effective for maintaining order in the classroom?
* How can I productively react when students misbehave or act up?

Why Might It Be Important for Students to Learn with Technology?

The Essential Questions for the Technology Integration portion of EDU 221 are:

* Why might it be important for students to learn with technology?
* How can you effectively integrate technology into your teaching and learning?

The Essential Questions for the Classroom Management portion of EDU 221 are:

* Which strategies are most effective for maintaining order in the classroom?
* How can I productively react when students misbehave or act up?

How to Help Someone Use a Computer

This article states very clearly that although computers might be familiar and easy to you, they aren't to everyone. It is important to remember that some people have no knowledge about computers at all and that this lack of knowledge can be very frustrating. Also when you are showing someone how to preform a certain operation on a computer it is important that you don't do it yourself but that you let your student do it with your verbal instruction. This is the only way they will properly learn.

In my presentation my group will have all of our audience navigating our site on their own without our assistance so they can learn it better. Everyone in our class is familiar with our technology, but practice makes perfect!

Type I and Type II

The Type I use of technology in the classroom is basically teaching the same things that teachers have always taught in about the same ways that they have always taught them. Type II is using technology to find new and exciting ways of teaching.

Some examples of Type I would be perhaps a program where math questions were flashed on the screen while the student enters in the answer, a program used solely for spelling words correctly, or a program where students make art on the screen in a basic fashion.

Type II examples would be perhaps using Google Earth to study local geography, creating web-pages instead of writing book reports or composing a song using Garageband to accompany a project.

Fires in the Bathroom Chapter 2 QR

This chapter suprised me and cemented ideas I already had at the same time. I thought it was very mature of these students to recognize that whil they might like some teachers better than others, it is the teachers that push them to do their best and go the extra mile that end up being the ones that teach them the most and whose influence has the most lasting effect. They also spoke openly about the hardships of being a teenager and wanting to do your best at the same time, and I thought that it was excellent on how there was a whole section about how we as teachers need to rise above and forgive transgressions when our students are going through so many changes that they might be one person one month and a whole different person the next.

Fires in the Bathroom Chapter 1 QR

I absolutey adore this book so far. In this chapter there were a lot of valuable tips about getting to know your students, ad real students chimed in about how much they are willing to let a teacher know about them, how much they would like to know about a teacher, and how different activities would make them more likely to open up than others. Personally, I have always planned on having my students keep journals that I will allow maybe ten minutes a class for them to write in, and I liked reading the feedback here. I also liked how the students stated that they want the guidelines and rules right up front about what the class is going to be like, because that is the way I plan to teach.

Copyright and Fair Use LR

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14. On Back-to-School night, an elementary school offers child care for students' younger siblings. They put the kids in the library and show them Disney VHS tapes bought by the PTA. This is permissible.

False. Video (like everything else) is not covered under fair use for entertainment or reward. The use described is entertainment, pure and simple. However, Disney will sell you a one-time license for $25 that makes this legal use. Call Disney at (818) 560-1000, ask for "Rights," and prepare to trade faxes.
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First and foremost, I feel that Disney movies are like sunsets: To be enjoyed by all be they old or young, student or teacher, covered by copyright laws or flagrantly violating them. This example states that the VHS tapes were bought by the PTA of the school. There was no charge for the childcare; therefore no money was changing hands so that the children could watch these movies. How is this different than watching Finding Nemo with the kids I babysit so they will stop screaming?? They didn't buy Finding Nemo, and neither did their parents, and it was in their parents' home. I bought the movie. I should sue those law-breakers!

Truly though, I think this is ridiculous. Just because the video happens to be in a school setting it makes it copyright violation. If the circumstances were the same, but the childcare was held across the street from the school, would that change anything? Too many questions, loopholes and ludicricies arise here. This is madness at its basest level. Can you therefore not display art in schools, where children who did not purchase the art can view it? MADNESS, I tell you.

Copyright and Fair Use SR

1. (Photoshop Available on Server) I thought that the law about this example are a little ridiculous. While people are allowed to use the program, more than one person cannot use it at a time?? That is hardly practical for teaching, when it is quite probable that many if not ALL the students in a class would need to be logged onto the program at the same time to receive instructions or work on a project.

2. (Schools Buy Max Amount Possible of Software Before Copying) This guideline is one that seems to be solely based on the moral integrity of the "Powers-That-Be" in a given school. While one school without a lot of money might buy as many copies as they can before copying, perhaps a school with a higher budget might spend funds elsewhere and then take advantage of the loophole, copying nearly all of the needed software? If I were an administrator, I'd want the rule to be a little more defined to prevent moral ambiguity.

3. (Marine Life Picture OK to Use) I think that this is one of the parts of the law that is most beneficial. Nothing gets the point across like a picture, and nothing dresses up a student poster like some quality jpegs. Hats off to this part of the rules. But be prepared to put them back on.

4. (MP3.com) I feel that there are so many resources out there now for people who want to download pretty much ANYTHING that it is very difficult to tell which sites are legit and which ones are legal, even for educated adults. I feel that there should be some kind of standard for these sites and perhaps a comprehensive list of legal sites to use presented to all schools for reference. Maybe there is. If so, good job!

5. ("Psycho" Won't Copy) This entry pretty much just made me laugh because it says we as teachers should snap up all the laser discs we can. I don't think I would know one if someone lobbed one at my head. But seriously? I think that manufacturers have that right to prevent copying. But that they should make that same material available to teachers through a website or something for educational purposes if they insist on preventative technology.

6. (Recycled Holocaust Interview) As a teacher myself, I would not allow this in my classroom as more than just an aid to a bigger part of the lesson, because using the interview that other kids worked hard to produce shouldn't be used as though the work was done by myself or my own students. I just don't feel that this is ethical in the moral sense, even if it is legal.

7. (No Compilations) I think that it is a bit ridiculous to allow such willy-nilly copyright limitations on teachers, but then not allow material to be used in shorter, more manageable clips such as in a compilation. This kind of blows my mind and seems like the companies are saying, "Well, if you can copy our stuff, than you should have to suffer through owning ALL of it, not just the part you want!!"

8. (Yearbook Tunes) I feel personally that if the music that is being played in the background of the yearbook slideshow was originally purchased properly (i.e. from a legal download site, on a CD) than it should be allowed to be played no matter what. That is like saying that if I play my CDs in the parking lot of the school I have to keep my windows up so some law-abiding student doesn't walk by, hear my music, and break a copyright law for hearing music they didn't buy.