http://perosevic.blogspot.com/

See you there:)

As a teacher, I feel the need for a major reform in the way we deal with these “entitled” students and as a parent I want to not get caught in the trap that most of today’s parent’s seem to be ensnared in.  Either way, I encourage everyone to watch this and form their own opinion.

Things like grade inflation, no late penalties, students skipping class with no penalty, students not handing in assignments or missing tests with no penalty are all adding to and fueling this general sense of entitlement that is pervasive in today’s high school.

Another MAJOR problem is a noticeable lack of motivation and effort on the part of most senior students.  I have never had an academic year worse than this  one in terms of student apathy.  I try to make my classes interesting and dynamic mainly through the use of technology, however, it almost seems like it is now not enough.  These students seem to need more and more stimulation in order for us to gain their attention.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem dealing with this current “learning” environment.  I have a huge problem with how this will be affecting our society at large in the near future.  I really believe that we need a paradigm shift in public education that moves us away from this model of “factory education” and towards a student centered project-based learning approach.  In order for this to happen, we need to spend more efficiently (not more) on education AND we need to make ties with local businesses so that we can develop meaningful learning opportunities that relate to real world careers.

I would not hold my breath for this to happen because the current education system is so fraught with bureaucracy that any attempt to make any wholesale changes is simply futile.  Our only hope is that the public begins to demand change and votes accordingly during any upcoming provincial election.  Once again, I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

On another note, I recently completed a PD in-service for some fellow teachers (about 100 or so) on how to use Google Apps effectively in the classroom.  I was amazed at the positive response I received because it proved to me that people really do want to move forward with their teaching.  Unfortunately, most teachers do not like to teach themselves about new technology and require more hands-on training (my next challenge).  I just can’t stop thinking that if we all just embrace “cloud” computing for what it is worth the result will be collaborative education beyond our wildest expectations.

Anyhow, I just wanted to update some of you on how it was going with my Google Apps experiment.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I had planned on running a fundraiser to help our schools new robotics team anyhow, so this seemed like a perfect fit.  And so, the Drive One 4UR School Event was in play.

I decided to have my grade 12 management class run the fundraiser.  The students were quite enthusiastic about the entire thing and we had to plan the entire event in about 3 weeks.  We decided to use the Internet to spread the word about our event.  We used Facebook and Twitter to promote the event and we used Google Docs to help organize the planning of the event.  The students were broken up into teams with different responsibilities and each team had a Google Doc which they shared with the class to update us on their progress.  We also set up a Google Spreadsheet and shared it with anyone who had been invited to our event via Facebook.  People were able to pre-book their test drives by vehicle online and many did so with great enthusiasm.

To make a long story short, we had a very successful day.  The weather was beautiful (On November 7th believe it or not) and we actually managed to get just OVER 300 test drives.  In fact, we were informed that no other school in Canada had done as many test drives thus far.  As such, our robotics team is looking at receiving a great windfall thanks to some hard work on the part of the students and the philanthropic efforts of Ford of Canada.

It is without a doubt that we could not have achieved our goal without the use of the Internet.

As such, I have decided to try to use Google Apps for all of my classroom projects this semester.  The students will, depending on the class, be assigned to groups.  These groups will in turn be responsible for working on various projects using either Google Docs or Google Presentations.  The beauty of this concept is that students will be able to collaborate with one another on projects remotely from their own homes.  Each group member can contribute to the project on their own time and if the group members need to consult with one another, then they can get together using Google Talk.  As a teacher, I can monitor group progress at any time and I can also monitor the contributions (or lack thereof) of each member.

I should note that I have tried to engage the students with similar projects in the past with mixed success. In this case, however, I feel the collaborative potential offered by Google Apps will bear fruit and this form of collaborative learning will become the norm in my classroom.  I am quite interested in the project-based learning approach to education and this experiment will serve as a precursor to eventually revamping my courses to include true project based learning in the future.

Stay tuned for some updates in the near future…

I cannot believe how intuitive this thing is. It is so easy to use that sometimes I find myself looking for a more difficult manner in which to accomplish a specific task.  All of this beauty and functionality comes at a price (about 300-400 more than a PC-based all-in-one) but it is worth it to me for my children to be able grow up with a Mac in the house.

Right now, I am in the process of setting it up with Parallels which will allow me to use Windows if I need it but I can see a day in the not too distant future where I never use windows again!  Each day, I am finding new features that literally leave me wondering why I have been suffering with PC’s all these years.

Stay tuned for more updates!

I would love my school and board to give this a try.  I really think going this route will free up the money necessary for the hardware upgrades we need so dearly; specifically notebooks and wireless access.

I would love to hear from anyone who has actually used this in a classroom setting on a large scale.

The program focused on explaining the various uses people have found for Second Life and it presented the information in a very non-biased manner.  What intrigued me the most was how much interest this virtual world had attracted from so many “virtually” unrelated individuals.

Professors are using Second Life to present life-like case studies on a wide variety of subjects (Schizophrenia being the most famous of the lot), businesses are conducting market research on potential real-world products, entrepreneurs are making money buying and selling items within this virtual world and now regulators are looking at whether or not to tax the profits being made within.

Somehow, I find it fascinating that something so Sci-Fi (hence the Star-Trek reference in the title) in nature can actually exist and thrive due to the global connectivity of individuals with similar interests.  Don’t get me wrong here…I’m not about to devote hours of my busy life to a virtual world but I do believe that we can learn something from Second Life.

Indeed, it would be amazing to use it as a teaching tool at the secondary level to enhance the  critical thinking skills and creativity we so desire to develop in our students.  Perhaps I’ll take some time out of my summer vacation to explore the possibilities of using second life applications in my classroom.

Until then, stay tuned…

This is my response…

Interesting article…

Firstly, MOST of the students I teach are NOT like you!  You must understand that students like yourself are not the norm in terms of being in touch with the digital world and having the passion to use the tools available to them in the pursuit of knowledge.  Most of these students head off to university (and our new inflated grading system is making it easier) with little self-initiative and passion for learning.  I have been using technology in the classroom for 3 years now but I still fall back to the lecture style often because most of my students are not mature enough to embrace student-directed project based learning.

That being said, the first two years of university (as I recall them) are designed to “weed out” those who really do not belong, so to speak.  Although most of my professors in the 80′s and early 90′s used the lecture style, their classrooms became more open to critical thought and discussion after second year.  From what I am told, this is still the case.

Right now, I have reached a point in my classroom where I cannot proceed any further with student-driven methods due to lack of technology and support.  We do not have the bandwidth nor the requisite hardware in place to allow students to develop their critical thinking skills using web based applications.

I sympathize with the universities somewhat.  Many of these professors grew up without technology and are now being pushed to adopt it.  The process will take time and embracing a digital pedagogy does not ensure critical thinking skills will be developed.  The passion for learning must come from the students and that passion is something that transcends generations.

What I mean to say is students, like yourself, who have a passion for learning always embrace the latest technology the world has to offer to enhance their critical thinking skills and understanding of concepts.  The fact that you are using Twitter, etc. to accomplish this is no different than a student in the early 1980′s using one of the first computers to be more productive or a student in the 1950′s using a slide rule to do the same.

We need to work on fueling the passion for learning if we want to produce a generation of critical thinkers.  I try to use technology to inspire students to become passionate about knowledge.  The technology on its own is merely a conduit to critical thinking.  The passion for learning must come from within.