What tech time meant...

High school tech time meant only one thing to me.
SNOOD!!! one of those silly little video games where you are shooting similar shaped objects at a wall of other differently shaped object to try and get three matching connecting thus making them dissappear until all of the wall was gone. This was what my limited tech time was. Playing snood, needless to say i did not have a lot of tech time..... which is probably just as well because there was never a time where i was taught about the benefits of actual technology like word processor secrets, or decent research techniques. perhaps with some more education about technology i would have been able to get more out of my tech time than snood, but as it was, tech time in high school meant it was time to snood it up.

Blog on Technology

So what has technology done for teaching: Good or bad??
Well it is helpful by making more information more accessable, right at our fingertips
But on the negative aspect plagarism and poor research tactics are easier.
It makes writing papers more convienent with word processors and all that
But it does not make the writing better, and often gets students to rely on spell checker.
It allows presentations to be more entertaining than just a teacher lecturing
But that does not mean that the powerpoint (etc) will stay entertaining for the kids.
It gives us a chance to blog and write while in class
But it gives us a chance to check emails, play games, and goof off quietly in class.

Technology in the classroom has been both a blessing and a curse, no matter the way you feel about it technology is going to continue to adapt and change in the classroom, teachers need to be ready and willing to adapt and change with it.

picture poem slam

Uncle needs to shave his beard:
Every year he comes to visit
and every year it gets bigger
Always with the hug and kiss
never with the shave and cut
I cannot help but question
does food get stuck in it?
do birds nest there?
does it keep his neck warm?
is he ashamed of his chin?
I love my uncle dearly
but Uncle needs to shave his beard!

original poem

Heres my poem y'all used:

Cut in the Endzone, I know I can
Run run run leap reach
catch him despite him being taller man
life is stilled, grass looks like a beach
close, very close maybe he'll drop
body sweat leaving me damp
noonday flight, he came out on top
curse my legs and that bad cramp...

rewritten, ripped poem

Why is there so much anger
Security of home is now gone
You hide there in specs
While I am from antiques and candles
I am from family and friends
and pictures in every room
I'm not told no
and in that death what may rise to live

Weekend to Friends:

Damn them. Damn their negative 18 rushing yards. Fuck them for sucking ass on a game they shouldve easily managed, and fuck them for me still loving them and expecting them to make a playoff run. Oh was that an ugly game, dammit it was just upsetting, ruined my weekend... bastards.... at least Roy got me huge fantasy points, but id rather have a fucking "W" oh wellguess ill just get over it and move on to the week, gonna be a crappy week though, this stuff always affects me more than it should

not to sound like a toper (thank you crossword puzzles!) but lets go get a drink

My Weekend to my professor....

Dear Professor,

This weekend was ruined all because of sunday afternoon. Most sundays this semester have been fairly good, in fact id say 6 out of the past 8 weekends have been great. And why, because the Lions were 6-2 heading into the weekend against an inferior Arizona Cardinals team. Sure normal people dont let their moods and weekends be defined by the performance of a sporting event, but i guess im not that normal of a person. Friday and Saturday were standard normal weekend days, hanging with friends and causing small amounts of trouble. But sunday, oh sunday, the day of rest and the day where i can relax, enjoy a good game of football and end the day with alittle homework and planning for the upcoming week. But this sunday, oh this cursed sunday, that crappy game ruined any good notion or feeling for school work and concentration. Well thats what i did this weekend.

Sincerely,
Dave Mandrick

Picture Poem

Cut in the Endzone, I know I can
Run run run leap reach
catch him despite him being taller man
life is stilled, grass looks like a beach
close, very close maybe he'll drop
body sweat leaving me damp
noonday flight, he came out on top
curse my legs and that bad cramp...

Found Poetry

From Shakespeares Macbeth soliloquy:

A poor player in this petty pace
frets his hour with lighted fools
Out, out brief candle!
full of sound and fury
Life's but a walking shadow;
Told by an idiot.

Why stars shine...

Long ago the sun was very proud of its Light, so proud in fact that it bragged and bragged about its glorious rays and brillance until everything else around it wanted to spend no time with it. As a result the Moon, a much more humble entity became very popular. Stars and planets spent more time with the Moon than with sun. For a long time the Sun never noticed because it was so full of its own radiance, but eventually nobody was around for the Sun to brag to, and the Sun began to sink. The Moon is a kindly soul, and felt pity for the oft-arrogant Sun, knowing in truth that Sun was just another Star that simply thought too much of itself. As a result the Moon began making trips out to Sun during the day, Eclipses!! Now when the stars saw this they began to worry that both the Moon and the Sun would become arrogant and leave them out by themselves in the vastness of space. Stars unfortunately do not understand the complexities of love, they only grasp Shining, Radiance, and Brightness. so the Stars did the only thing they knew how to do best, Shine. And they continue to shine for fear that the Moon will leave them for the Sun. The Moon is a wise old rock, he is aware of the Stars envy and the Suns arrogance, but there is one other thing He knows of, He knows of me and you.

Firey post of dislike

Things i dislike....

Well i was having a hard time till i saw ryan seacrest up there, so here is my list of people i feel disspassionate too:
Ryan Seacrest
Terrell Owens
Tom Brady
Mike Vrabel
Bill Belicheck
Matt Millen
Adolf Hitler
Johnny Damon
Ben Wallace
Gilbert Arenas
the guy that tore my underwear in our flag game
Drew Rosenhauts
Mr. Quick
"Dr." Phil

PART TWO

Dear "Dr." Phil,
I hate you. I want you to stop being on TV, radio, and any form of public forum. I would also think it swell if you stopped clubbing baby seals, puppies and small children. Last i checked they dont give doctorates to people for being idiots, and yet you continue to have that "DR" in front of your name. If we ever meet in a dark alley i hope for your sake you have taken some self defense classes because i dont think i have the self restraint not to pummel you like you pummel the respect real doctors should have. I have to give you credit for one thing though, i never realized that "Jackass" had its own accent, thank you for clarifying that for me. In closing, you suck. Have a pleasant day and for goodness sake stop calling OCB your office!

Sincerely,
Dave Mandrick

Re-introduction

Hello everyone, again!

My name is still Dave, i wear the Lions hat. I am from Grand Haven originally, and really enjoy sports. I am 23 and do my student teaching next semester!!! After my student teaching i will graduate(hopefully) and be an adult. I hope in the future, to continue my education, but for now i look forward to being out of college and teaching in the classroom. After college Ryan and i are going on a cruise around the Pacific rim. We hope to discover deeper more meaningful ways of teaching while on our cruise.

boys v girls blog

So how do i write with this prompt never ever really wishing i was of the opposite gender? i could go off the "cold hard facts" offered by mr. miller on the hand out, but really i see alot of them as fairly factual. Even though i never wanted to be a girl, i would have a hard time seeing why girls would want to be boys, aside from the whole being able to write our names in the snow. Girls have the whole non-verbal communication thing down, like theyve evolved beyond mans simple brains. Of course there is the whole economic downside to not being male, the glass ceiling, the difficulties in professional attaire, the having to spend a day in heels. So perhaps it is a social constraint that builds this notion of wanting to be one gender over the other, i have a hard time imagining one gender is a set "better" gender. Certainly there are, or seem to be, generalizations of attributes that one gender is more apt to master than the other. The sexist male would mention kitchen work here i think, i was more referring to attributes or jobs that fit specifically to genetic/biological differences. Though i suppose most all of those are still socially influenced...

Lets do something different!

Overcorrecting and the love of the red pen is bad.
Encouraging and using technology is good.

I realize those two sentences do not completely cover all the information, ideas, and suggestions offered in our two readings, but when a friend asked me to summarize what i had been reading, that is all that came to my mind. There is certainly much more both readings offer, but as i reflect on them i have decided that really those two sentences show most accurately what i gleaned from the reading.

There was one other underlying theme to both the readings that i really love, despite it being a difficult thing to do: try something new!! This is daunting to consider with an internship looming and the first year of teaching in the distance, ruffling feathers never is a good way to keep ones job. But i am encouraged by the reading to stretch the creative wings alittle and give some new idea or notion a shot. After all nobody wants to be that last dinosaur of a teacher who is still doing things the way they were done "back when i was in school."

Online Resource

For you future teacher out there who hate making rubrics, or need some help with them:

Rubi-Star

I am from

I am from golf courses and sand dunes,
swim practice and saturday cartoons.

I am from Butches, Rays, skipped classes,
and a plethora of smart asses.

I am from heckling and the occasional boast,
and Michigan's grand west coast.

I am from James and Peggy,
learning to drive in a hand-me-down Chevy.

I am from more heart than height,
and learning when not to fight.

I am from the tourists destination,
a simple part in God's creation.

I am from sledding across the street,
and always having enough to eat.

I am from too much time in the pool,
and being raised as an individual.

I am from a family of love and care,
despite me keeping them up in prayer.

I am from an exceptional past,
with the future approaching fast.

Second Questions

" To discover your voice, write fast and write out loud."

I selected this quote from "Starting to Write" because it reminded me so much of how I like to write and the connection between the two readings. The connection is the personality that yuor writing takes, it is yuor personality. Writing is a personal thing, it comes solely from inside you and is something that you can pick up years later and still see yourself in it. The "Read Around" piece talked about hte importance of including a students family and home life in their classroom, allowing the student to be themselves in the classroom. Allowing that connection, encouraging that connection is vital to a childs development as a functioning adult. The student needs to know that their different roles, child, brother, sister, student, etc. all fit together to make themselves, these roles should not be considered seperate but rather should play an intricate role with each other.

The second part, which i mentioned first, is that i think writing should sound like how a person is talking to you. Writing is a conversation on paper. I love the notion that one shuold turn off their monitor on the first draft, a feat that would probably kill me, or that one should turn up the velocity to out-write the censors, all fo them, teachers, classmates, colleagues, even your own voice. That is why there are spelling errors in this blog. I wanted to make it more like i was just talking with people, more like i was just referring to what i had read to someone who may be interested in English teaching stuff. It is hard, i keep wanting to slow down and check and see what i wrote and fix all the little red lines that are appearing, but i know that as long as i go fast enuogh to block the critics i will have answered teh question and followed the wuoute that i liked best from the reading. Good luck reading, sorry on the typos!!

First Questions

Daniels & Bizar:
1) Best practice teaching is about putting the student's learning first and foremost. The method behind that varies per teacher and per student, but most important aspect is that the students well-being is put forward.

2) The tenets of best practice teaching include a classroom that is holistically student learning centered, uses social education, and collaborative work strategies.

3) Best practice is not where students feel like they are in a memory Olympics, it is not teacher centered, and it does not rely solely on reading and rote work.

4) I think the best way to get best practice involved in an english classroom is Literacy circles. It would open up students socially, get them to collaborate and deal with varying viewpoints. Literacy circles would also help build a community in the classroom which aids the best practice theory.

Murray:
1) To be a writer means to be self conscious of one's self. Murray really stresses the point home about how writing becomes an extension of the writer, and how a person re-lives, or first lives, because of their writing. Being a writer gives a person power, it gives the the power to escape, the power to create, the power to do and be things they could never be in reality.

2) "Nulla dies sine linea" I picked the Latin line from Murray because i love what he is trying to express about writing with it. Translated it means: never a day without a line. And that is so true, writing, like any sport or talent, takes practice. When I was a kid coming back to school after the summer was hard, not just because there was so much less freedom, but because I had not written during the summer, my hand was not used to having to hold a pencil and make legible sentences, I could however play tag with the best of them. And that was all because the muscle I had exercised all summer was my running, not my writing. I think with practice everyday writing will become easier, and develop into bigger and better things.