Blog Post 10

1. I'm a Papermate. I'm a Ticonderoga.



After looking at this cartoon from John T. Spencer's blog, Adventures in Pencil Integration, I was a little lost. I had no idea what it meant. So, I went to his blog and read the comments to see if I could find my answer. Sure enough, the last comment was from Mr. Spencer himself explaining that is was a mock of "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commercials. Again, I was still lost. Thanks to DVR, I don't watch a lot of commercials. Luckily for me I went to YouTube and found this video of "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC" commercials. Now, finally I get it. I Guess I was having a PC kind of day (slow). The cartoon is comparing a PC to a papermate pencil, they are cheap, but if they are always breaking, what good are they? The cartoon is also comparing the Ticonderoga brand pencil to a Mac. It is a better quality and lasts longer. Personally, I prefer Ticonderoga pencils, and I'm beginning to strongly dislike my PC. I just wish a Mac was as affordable as a Ticonderoga pencil. Oh well, we can always dream!

2. Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?

John Spencer's post, Why Were Your Kids Playing Games?, is about a teacher that gets called into the principals office because he was caught playing games with his students in the classroom. The teacher tries to explain that they were not just playing a game, they were drawing, reading, and learning. The principal is only concerned with the students passing a memorization test and wants the teacher to focus on memorization skills.
Personally, I believe that students are more likely to actually learn material when they have hand on experiences. Playing learning games and participating in activities will increase the likelihood of students not only learning , but retaining the information. Often, information that is only memorized, goes into our short term memory and is soon forgotten.
After spending some time looking around John Spencer's blog, Adventures in Pencil Interrogation, I also decided to include his post entitled, Are Pencils Making Us Narcissistic? in my post. In this post, Tom's principal warns him that using pen pal networks may make the students narcissistic. Tom argues that, "self-centeredness is a social and psychological rather than a technological issue". Tom also suggests to his principal that they should get rid of the school mirrors if narcissism is a concern. The fact is, students need to be taught how to correctly use technology so that it is not all about them. They need to learn how to use technology in a manner that helps others and not just as a way to "toot their own horn" on social networks. John writes in the last sentence of his post, "The issue isn't the technology we use, but the tone of voice that matters". This is such a profound statement. People often fear technology, but the fact is, it doesn't matter what technology you are using, but the manner in which you choose to use it.

3. Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please!

Dr. Scott McLeod is one of the nation’s leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. He is also serving as the Director of Innovation for Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency 8 in Iowa. Dr McLeod has has received many national awards for his technology leadership work.
I completely agree with Dr. McLeod's position in his post entitled, Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?. If we are not teaching our kids this technology they will be left behind, because somewhere someone is teaching them this stuff. I mentioned in my comment to Dr. McLeod that cheating, bullying, and porn have been around long before technology and will continue to exist with or without it. We can not use these excuses to keep our children from advancing. We have to teach them how to use technology correctly so they can move forward with the rest of the world.