Why are we still teaching?

I'm sure I might catch a bad time about this post but I was asked this question by someone a few weeks ago. I have been pondering in my head of how to actually write this correctly so I don't sound like I'm against education, cause I'm not, it's my job. But I had a community member ask me why we are still teaching our students when they can find everything they will ever need to know on the internet. And in a way they are correct, but if we don't teach our kids how to spell or write, what good is Google. Because if when I do Googling I sometimes don't know to phrase the question I'm asking. So what happens when a student need to do some Googling? Who do they ask for help, a teacher. I mean yes it is a great tool but without the correct education of how to spell, write and read, what does doing some searching help. Yes, you can find all sorts of things on Google and YouTube on how to do certain math equations and doing some science projects. And I'm sure they even make a book, "Reading for Dummies". It seems like they have a "Dummies" book for everything. But if they can't read, then the book is useless. Right? That is my answer to why we are still teaching our kids. Although teaching is a lot different than how the teaching was when this person was in school. If fact teaching isn't just teaching anymore, it is more of a learning experience for teachers. Teachers how to be taught how to change their skills as technology changes. So for those of you who ever thought teaching was a easy job because you get three months off, you're wrong. I see why they get them months off, cause I would like them off sometimes. Anyway, that is why we are still teaching students in school and not on Google.

Facebook Safety

Most people don’t think about identity theft when they’re updating their social networking profile because they don’t store financial data on such sites. But letting your guard down on such sites as LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook could be costly for you and your friends, Mr. Krehel said.

Facebook’s privacy breach last week serves as a reminder of the potential dangers of social networking. Canada’s Privacy Commissioner expressed “major concerns” after Facebook’s application makers leaked the personal information of tens of millions of users to Web trackers and advertisers.

One common Facebook scam is for a criminal to track a victim’s online behaviour, hack into his social networking account while he’s on vacation, then use the victim’s profile to tell his friends he has been robbed and needs a money transfer.

“It happens quite often, more than you’d think,” Mr. Krehel said. Hackers sell stolen Facebook passwords online for as little as 25 cents each.

Sharing images and videos online can also make you vulnerable, Mr. Krehel said. BlackBerrys, iPhones and many high-end digital cameras are GPS-enabled and can record so-called metadata on image and video files, which can reveal when and where the files were captured, leading thieves straight to your home. While some websites will automatically strip out this information, you need to be very careful when sharing photos and clips online.

Mr. Krehel identifies several steps to protect your identity online:

Avoid quizzes and apps: They’re fun and they’re free, but they share your personal information with marketers, tracking companies and who knows what else.

Use “strong” passwords: Passwords should include numbers, letters and symbols and should be changed regularly. Use different passwords for your social websites, personal life and financial life, so that if one of them is breached, the rest are still secure. If you can’t remember all your passwords, use a secure program for their storage, such as Password Safe.

Keep a close circle of friends: Don’t accept friend requests from strangers in a misguided attempt to pad your social network numbers. Once these people befriend you, they can post malicious links on your page, compromise your computer’s security and spread viruses to all your friends. They can also gain access to your whole mailbox, including e-mails from financial institutions.

Surf at home: If you’re using a public computer, don’t expect any privacy. You don’t know how many viruses are on the computer, who’s controlling it or who could be copying your information.

Beware of links and images: Hackers often use pictures of celebrities to lure their victims; clicking on such links allows hackers to install malicious codes on your computer. A recent study found that organized criminals create approximately 8,000 malicious websites every day.

Secure your mobile device: If you use social site plug-ins on your cellphone, turn on some basic security features and add a password. If you lose your phone, your online identity is not left open to whoever happens to find it. If your phone has a camera, consider turning off the metadata or geotag function. Check your phone’s manual for instructions.

Rolling your own wireless solution.

This school year is a lot of testing and getting prepared for our next school, when we plan on rolling out a 1:1 programs with our students. Meaning that each student in grades either 7-12 or 9-12 will have their own laptop. So this year we are working the bugs out and one of them is our wireless internet. Now a lot of people told me to have a company come in, do a site survey and have them tell us where to place the access points. So I did, I had Xirrus come in and they did a site survey, made me a price of cost to do our campus and when I seen it, I about jumped out of my skin. It was very expensive but yet they are very good. But I just couldn't justify spending that kind of money it and then hoping that it does work. Instead we decided to do our own and taking the time to figure it all out. And with this job, that is what it takes, is time and patience. So since we had already place HP Procurve products, we decided to go with HP for our wireless. And not knowing what we were getting into, we bought, set up access points up and seen what they could do. Well they worked very well for the first year and still do work well but with all the technology and internet request we have from teachers, we decided to up our a.p. placement and bought new and better. And with a lot of help from our buddies at CDWG and my sales representative Erik Steffen we got this all figured out. With him and his team of networking specialist they figured out about what we need with our blue-prints of our schools. They did a RF configuration with determining where and how to place them by the thickness of our walls and all the other things that get in the way. So we went with what they told us and decided to go ahead with their ideas. So today I finished placing 8 a.p's around our High School and they testing them. Noticing that it seems to be working flawlessly. So by myself running the cable, hanging the access points, installing the controller and configuring, I know how and what I got. I mean it would have been nice to have a company come in, install everything, verify and go but I didn't see justifying that kind of extra money into a project I can do myself. So if your school or company is looking for a new and cheaper way to do wireless, look at HP Procurve and talk to Erik at CDWG.

Google Calendar

Some of you might know what Google Calendar is but others are asking, "What is this thing?". Well it is a great tool for anyone and everyone who has a lot of appointments, games, events and anything else you need a calendar for. Google Calendar is free service offered by Google and comes with Gmail. I use it a lot for everything, from any events that I have. From football games to birthdays. I have about 10 different calendars in 1 and it makes it so much easier to manage. Here is a video on using Google Calendar.

Filtering or Not? Good Question isn't it?

Filter or Not?

After reading this article about a Wisconsin school district, I see things a little different after reading his reviews of why should we filter. I still think that filtering during school is very well needed but when they go home and off of school property, let watch what they want. But if it is on school property I don't believe they should be able to for the fact that when they go to a site and get spam on a pc, the students or staff don't have to fix it. The technology manager does. To me we still need to keep filters but the Technology Director of this Wisconsin school thinks different. Whats your thoughts?

Twitter

Do you remember when you have to walk down the hall to chat with a co-worker about some project or even what the plans were for the weekend? Then email came along and you could email them, taking a few minutes for it to get to them, then Twitter came around. It has been around for a few years now but is really starting to replace email since it is so much quicker to get from one person to the next. More and more companies are starting to use Twitter to replace their emails for that reason. Here at the Emmetsburg School District our High School teachers have been required to setup an account to follow our High School Principal Jay Jurrens. He is using Twitter for that purpose, to get the word out much quicker than email. If you would like to follow him on Twitter, he I.D. is ehawkprincipal. He will be sending out message via Twitter to keep parents, students and staff up-to-date on things going on around the school. You can also sign up for Twitter by going to twitter.com. If your into following technology like myself you can follow me online by following my I.D. of mmueller2680. I try my best to keep the best tweets related to technology out there to be re-tweeted so my followers can see them also. Twitter has become a great big tool in my day for all the things I can find on it. You should give it a try, it could be very useful to you even.

Getting Ready for the New Year

Welcome back to school, or at least on Wednesday. We will soon be starting school and with that a lot of new technology in Emmetsburg. This year we were able to purchase a full scale of laptops and desktops to equip our whole staff. Also with that we got a new computer lab in our High School that will be used for our CAD Program, a few online learning classes and accounting. With the new computers will be moving to Windows 7 and Office 2010 on almost every computer in our district with then allows us to move our older machines to West Elementary giving more computer and technology use to our students there. And now with that we should have at least two to four computers in each classroom down there for students to use. Also with the two COW's(Computers on Wheels) down there moving to Windows 7 and Office 2010 we are allowing the younger generation to experience the latest technology. Also we have planned on starting keyboarding at a younger age, in fact I believe we are looking at starting all the way down to 2nd grade with keyboarding skills. So by the time our students reach Middle School they have had some learning skills and maybe tools at typing to be a efficient typer.

At the middle school we have brought in a new lab also, not new to the district but to the Middle School, since we replaced the lab at the High School. Which bring the students up to Windows XP and Office 2003. Still not the latest but very close to what they will encounter at a work environment. Also they will have access to our three COW's at the library that does have Windows 7 and Office 2010 so there they do have the access to the latest items. Also in the Middle School we have teachers who have gotten new tablets, which are like notebooks but without paper. These items will allow our teachers to move around their room and still use their computer and projector to show the kids examples. I haven't gotten a chance to use these but I have heard a lot of good things about them so I don't know all the capabilities. Also we got new document cameras for a few of our teachers which is very exciting for them. Again we have really tried getting the newest and latest technology for our staff and students.

Now at the High School we haven't gotten as much but still have gotten some great tools. We did end up with a new computer lab for various programs and classes here at Emmetsburg High. With these new machines we will be able to do more with less time. Also our staff did get new computers here too so everyone at the High School with be with Windows 7 and Office 2010.

This summer has been full of new items, computers to cameras and software. We have gotten so much new software that I don't have enough time and usage to post anything good or bad about it. But we are looking at some online courses, new special education programs and so on. Hopefully I will know more about the programs on my next post and give you an update on them and my likes and dislikes.

Also I would like to thank my assistant this summer for all his hard work. He has been really great to have on board and hopes to have him more time from now on.

Long Time No Post

I know that it has been a long time since I have last posted something but with the end of the year finally here and gone, we now have some time to go start going through machines, cleaning them up, out and getting them ready for the 10-11 school year. So with that I thought I would put a post up on something that I do for those of you wondering how to keep your computer running smooth. First and important, I use a vacuum to clean out all the dust out of the computer, desktops mostly because laptops are so hard to clean up without taking the whole thing apart. But in a desktop machine I will take the case side off and clean out everything I can with a vacuum. Making sure that I unplug the power cord to keep from any shock happening. After that I will turn it on, go to the Internet Explore, and delete all the cookies, history, ect. That will help a bit with anything infecting our computers. I also run a program, Malware Anti-bytes and run a full scan to check files deep inside the computer to find such things as spyware, malware, adaware and ect. Make sure that our scanners are up to date is the most important thing to check. After that I will have our virus scanner run, here at the school we use a district wide scanner that is for education so it isn't out there for the public to use, but you could use something like AVG Free Edition(search Google for it), it is a great scanner. Also making sure to keep it up to date is the best thing to do. From there we will run Windows Update and Microsoft Update. With your computer being up to date is also very important. With them 4 simple steps you can make sure to keep your computer running smooth.

Also with knowing what websites to watch for and keep away from will help a lot. I can't name them all because I don't have that much time.

The IPad, not just for Kids?

This is pretty funny. Just think -if a cat can use it, what can a beautiful mind do?

What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

When are they going to need this?

For those students who are always asking your teachers, "Why are we going to need this?" Read this article, it may help you understand when you will need it.

Facebook for sale? I think not...

Looks like someone is trying to buy Facebook from the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. But from the article, Mark isn't wasting no time saying no to VIACOM's CEO, Michael Wolf. Read the article below and find out more information.

Facebook for Sale

Copy Machines that hold secrets?

Watch CBS News Videos Online

21 Things for the 21 Century Educator

21 Things for the 21 Century Educator

Principal wants to block Facebook...Completely

Here is a video on a principal on New Jersey who is trying to ban Facebook and other social networking sites from his Middle School students. Watch the video below and let me know what you think.

Homework or not?

I read an article today about a teacher debating weather or not to grade his students homeowrk. And as his thoughts were that giving them homework was like giving them a test to do at home since it is going to be graded. He is thinking that grading homework might be old fashioned and needs to be looked at as just practice, not grades. My here is the article, http://101studiostreet.com/wordpress/?p=583 go ahead and read it, comment on this blog or his on what your thoughts are.

Homework done in the classroom, while lesson done at home?

Here is something for some teachers to think about. A high school math teacher will explain his thoughts in this article.

http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2010/04/transparent-algebra-homework.html

Should we really be blocking social media?

http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/social-media-ban-backfire/

This article discusses the unintended negative consequences of restrictive internet filtering policies in education, government and business. Here's the main point from the first two paragraphs:
"Humans have a natural proclivity to want what they cannot have. Our insatiable appetite for sharing information, combined with the nearly limitless ways to access the web have thus far frustrated the most sophisticated attempts to block access to social media services.
From the Great Firewall of China to the public schools of Britain, IT security experts are finding that restricting Internet access can have the unintended consequences of civic backlash, poor worker productivity, and students unprepared for cyber threats."
And here's his point regarding content filtering in schools:
"My own university bans the Internet in some large lecture halls. Yet, when I wander in back of the room before lecture, I see students hunched over cell phones, the signature blue and white colors of Facebook, and an inordinate number of students camped out near the perimeter of the hall, where a weak wi-fi signal permeates the room.
Meanwhile, some schools in Britain have chosen to “lock down” their systems, allowing access to only verified websites. However, a report from their government’s department of education found that “this approach had disadvantages in the schools visited. As well as taking up time and detracting from learning, it did not encourage the pupils to take responsibility for their actions.”
Additionally, children were less likely to understand proper Internet safety when outside of school. By contrast, in those schools that took a more educative approach to e-safety, teachers could use incidents of phishing, cyber-bullying, and inappropriate material as a way to discuss how such encounters should be dealt with in the future. Indeed, in at least one high school where cell phone use was part of the curriculum, the principal noted that inappropriate use of technology is exceedingly rare."
In other words, blocking access to social media sites may ultimately prove more distracting — and potentially more dangerous — to students."

100 Great Tools for Teachers

100 Great Tools for Teachers

Roll Up Laptops

I watched a video this morning on possible new technology on laptops. Laptops that roll up? Really, who would have thought of something like this. Not me but I guess they are really working on something like this. This video will show you all about it.



My thought is, is that it would be the greatest thing ever, but it might be more for things to go wrong. Take a look at the video and discuss it below if you would like.

Classjump

I was introduced today about a new way for teachers to make they webpages. A website called Classjump. I know that most of our teachers are now using Google Apps for their websites but this is also another great tool that we could use. Newell-Fonda teachers are using this as a daily assignment for themselves but making sure that the students no long are able to come back to school, telling the teacher that they didn't know the homework. Because what the teacher will tell them, "well you should have looked on my ClassJump site." I haven't messed with this site much but when I do, I will add to my post. Hopefully in a few days I will know more about this.

So everyone has a computer, now what? and Bytespeed

My next seminars were with the Newell-Fonda School District & Bytespeed Computers, explaining to us what to do with our laptops. Now since we are just in the early stages of implementing a 1:1 institute we still have a lot to do. But some of the things that we learned from this is to pilot them first. By doing this we need to get some students to help us with this by getting a few of the laptops that we are looking at, let them try them, get some feedback from the student, teachers, parents and other staff. Once we get them all figured out on what we want to do, we will go further. But right now we are looking at deciding between Apples and Windows. They both have pros and cons. And as a technology person I'm looking for the best things for our students. But also want to make as simple as I can for our teachers and myself. And with Apple they have some really great products, good professional development and also great support. But they have some downsides on the technician side. How ever the company we are planning on choosing for our Windows side is Bytespeed Computers, and they are working with another company from Milford, Thinix. These two are both working on a user interface that will really be easier for our students. But then the group asked with aren't that we are suppose to be teaching students how to use computer. So if we are teaching them how to use an interface that we create at our district, how are we benefiting them. And I answered back, we aren't suppose to teach them how to use Windows, Apple or Linux, we are there to teach them how to utilize the resources that they have in front of them. So if we gave them a laptop with Apple operating system, that doesn't mean that we are teaching them to like Apple, and even the same with Windows. We are teaching them to take advantage of all the stuff that we supply them.

iPad in Education

http://homepage.mac.com/reece2

Today we attended a conference on 1:1 laptops in schools. My first seminar was on the iPad, which was released this last weekend from Apple. First of all, all it was, was a big sales pitch on the iPad and first of all it was suppose to be about using it in education. Not a thing was taught on how to use it in education. That's because no body knows how to use it yet since it's so new. But my thought on the iPad is that it would be a bit harder to use them. Since they are most of a device that a tool, that's my thought. I say that because since they are more for fun and not learning. First you would have to really watch what you do on it since you can't put on an anti-virus software. Second of all, there isn't quite all the apps out there that are going to work very well for education. Also, how do you keep your students from going to the app store and downloading games and other apps that aren't needed. I didn't really catch a lot of this presentation since it was everything that I have seen on t.v. commercials and on the internet. But to me I don't think that is will work very well in a 1:1 environment. Still looking at PC over Macs.

E-hawks on Facebook

You can now find the Emmetsburg E'hawks on Facebook. Search for Emmetsburg E'hawks on your Facebook page and become a fan.

Visual WikiPedia

Found a resources for students to use, VisWiki is a site very much like WikiPedia but have videos and pictures. Very good resource for searching on all sorts of topics. Visit VisWiki for more.

Electronic Devices or Not?

Where do we draw the line on this subject. Schools are always looking at different things to keep things running smoothly but yet giving students the advantage of electronic devices such as cell phones, iPods and mobile internet devices. But when they start abusing the ability to use these devices what do we do than? Do we take them away completely or not, or do we just allow them. I'm wondering what would happen if you just allow them to use them freely and still giving them rules to follow with them. Will they still abuse the right since it isn't as much fun breaking the rules or will they continue to use them for fun and not education? Now with 21st Century Learning, we really can't keep them from using them because we are suppose to be educating students for the future job world. Studies have shown that the schools that allow these devices have had fewer problems with them school that do ban them. And with the financial situations the way they are we should not be banning them but embracing the students who use this technology. But providing guidelines for the allowed usage would have to be in play a part in this. But as the technology leaders in the schools we need to find was to bring these devices into the education side of things. There is always going to be problems with whatever side you choose but when do we stop fighting the students and try new things. Technology is always going to be changing and with that education will be always to keep up with it and also changing with the new tools that come out for computer, iPods and cell phones. So I leave it at that but there is always discussions allowed.

A good website to check out is PBS Teachers.

Google or Topeka?

Since today is April 1st, also know as April Fools Day, Google has decided to play a trick on us. Instead of having a neat Google logo up top, they changed it up a little today and put Topeka. You can read all about it name changing at Google's "Why We Changed Our Name".

Wi-Fi or...The bigger picture...

Reading an article this morning on wireless internet and how far it has come in the past few years with internet providers offering Wi-Max. Wi-fi is a basic at home wireless internet set up that has worked well for many people and will still in the future. But now they are introducing Wi-Max, a wireless internet service that will work for up to 30 miles. Wi-fi works at 150 ft indoors and 300 ft max outdoors. So now they're talking from going from feet to miles. What is something like that was introduced in Emmetsburg or even Palo Alto county. What would it be like when anyone with a laptop has the ability to go anywhere in the county and has internet service. Grant it, it is much more expensive the possibilities of having web access anywhere would be huge. What would we do with it? Well, anything you would like to. Listen to online radio, search Facebook, Twitter, and even MySpace, search Google or MSN, even watch videos across YouTube. All with no wireless and you could even be sitting in the park in the middle of the country side. But how would we pay for it? That is the question that still stands. Maybe something in the future we need to look at. One year from now, two, more? Guess we'll just wait and see.

Future of the schools...

I recently read an article about a workshop that took place in Iowa about the future of schools. The person who attended this workshop and wrote about it went on and told us about the four major subjects that discussed there:

• How are young people changing as a result of digital media?
• How should learning environments change?
• How should learning institutions change?
• What can we do with this back in my school organization?

So I'm wondering what is the future with Emmetsburg School District and how we will teach. They go on talking about whether or not teachers should be entertainers in education or not. So my question is, should teachers be more entertaining in the classrooms or still bore our students to death. I know that some teachers are very good at doing this and they do very well at keeping the students attention while others do still drill the materials them. I know that if I was still in school, I would want my teachers to be a little more entertaining in the classroom and keep my attention. Not saying that they need to sing and dance all day long but make it a little more exciting than just taking notes day in and day out.

So as I continued to read into this article he explained how they showed them three different schools that are educating in a complete different way. The first, Florida Virtual School, is a school of virtual learning that has developed its curriculum around online gaming. The second is Quest to Learn, and it's using online game. And then the third one, The School of One, has developed a model that blends the best of online instruction and face-to-face interactions.

So now the questions to ask yourself. Where is Emmetsburg heading with teaching? Where will we be in 10 year from now? And will they look anything like the schools above?

Guess we will find out in 2020?

Here is a short video of The School of One.

Program Overview from NYCDOE Teacher Development on Vimeo.

Resources found at 1:1 Schools.net

Copy from 1:1 Schools

I thought this might be a good post for someone to take a look at.

What do our students need to learn? Feedback wanted!

I frequently have conversations with educators about transforming schools. Our conversations often focus on how many of the things that are currently taught at schools aren't very relevant. So what should today's students learn?

As schools move to one to one, it presents a great opportunity for schools to address this question. I'm curious to hear your feedback about what things you think students should be learning. Hopefully, many of you can find a couple of minutes to contribute to this conversation. I've included some questions that might get you thinking.

Is it important for students to memorize things that they can find on an internet search in 5 seconds?

Do students need to know how to use cursive handwriting?

How much time should be spent memorizing math facts?

How much time should be devoted to teaching spelling?

How much time should be spent with factual recall?

Where on Bloom's Taxonomy should most learning take place?

Should schools give out computer?

Here's an interesting article, and resulting discussion, that hits on many important points that are relevant to our 1:1 vision at Emmetsburg. I'll hold off on responding for now. Discussion?

• http://link.social.com/c/twitter/1349941/1267641611/b/cl5WNw/9rhOB3

Linux Fedora 12

I just finished up reloading my Dell notebook with Fedora 12.3 and so far, I love it. It really works well compared to Windows XP. It takes a little bit to get used to but it is great. It installed everything for me so all I had to was install it. Got some great features that Windows doesn't but I'm still working on the bugs of getting them figured out.

1:1 Laptops

Here at Emmetsburg High School we are starting to talk about going with the 1:1 laptops. Which means we will provide a laptop for each student that is enrolled at Emmetsburg High School. We are just in the starting ages of this so nothing has been set in stone of what we will be doing for sure. Looking at getting notebooks so we would have a screen size of 13.3 inches or 14.1 inches. Nothing smaller or bigger will be purchased, so that our students have the mobility of a netbooks but the features of a laptop. Right now like I said, we are just in the early stages but planning has started. We are looking for different options with brands and policies.

As fast as a Pigeon

This is still my favorite post I have found, so I'm keeping it on here for people to look at. If you think your internet is slow, just go ahead and check out this link and read the article. I don't want to tell you about it so I don't ruin the surprise for you.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090909/odds/odd_us_safrica_pigeon

Instructional Videos

I am still going to be working on some new instructional videos for them to help them with some things that they might run into with the Google Docs. They will be posted on our website so be looking for them under District, Technology, Instructional Videos. If they have questions or something they need help with they can email at mmueller@emmetsburg.k12.ia.us.