Journal Article Blog The Fourth

“Don’t Feed the Trolls. Using Blogs to Teach Civil Discourse” by Karen Work Richardson

Richardson’s article talks about teaching students how to be civil when using the Internet to publish their own comments. There’s potential to abuse Internet technology, like attacking other students and posting harmful comments and rumors about each other. Richardson says that incivility is part of Web culture. Teachers need to show their students that there are guidelines of civil discourse on the Internet, just like there is in the real world. The rules of civility in the classroom are the same rules of civility that should be used on the Internet. She wants teachers to teach their students that with “push-button publishing” then need to use reflection and self-restraint. They should talk about ideas instead of people and getting personal with their comments. Teachers need to create a comfortable and safe environment for their students to feel like they can discuss without the fear of being attacked. One thing Richardson mentions is the rule about “don’t feed the trolls.” You’re supposed to ignore the posters that are being very negative and trying to start trouble. If you don’t respond to them and pretend like their comment was never made, then the troll will have a difficult time starting the trouble they were hoping to start.


I think teaching civil discourse on the Internet is very important. First, you want to make sure your students will feel comfortable when the class is using things like blogs and discussion boards. If they are afraid that they will be attacked by fellow classmates, they may be reluctant to post, and that could have an impact on their grade and learning experience. Second, these guidelines could be very important outside of class, as well, in helping to try and create young people that are more civil to each other than the adults are who re using the Internet now and who are running our society. People seem to feel like it’s okay to be a total jerk to someone as long as they are posting their comments on the Internet. In my opinion, they seem to forget what effects they have on fellow human beings and lose sight of the fact they're talking to a real human being, not a cumputer. You could hope that civil discourse instruction in the classroom would translate outside the classroom. You hear a lot about, I think it is called cyber bullying, where young kids get extremely hurt by what their peers say and do to them on the Internet. Some kids end up trying to harm themselves, and some succeed. Obviously that won’t stop just by teaching civil discourse guidelines for the Internet, but it should at least make you’re Internet classroom environment safe, and maybe it will enlighten some kids.

Journal Article Blog The Third

“Remixing Chemistry Class “by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams

This article discusses how the authors decided to do all their chemistry lectures on vodcasts, so that the students could watch them on their own time and more class time could be used for experiments. They originally used the vodcasts just for review or for students who were absent, but then they realized that if they pre-recorded their lectures they would have more class time to do lab activities, demonstrations, and to help students who were struggling. They make the vodcasts available in many different ways. They have them on their Web sites, on Google Video, iTunes, classroom computers, and DVDs. They were concerned that students wouldn’t watch the vodcasts, so they got a system than allows them to check if the students have watched them. Students have said that they like the vodcasts because they are able to pause and rewind the lecture and learn things at their own pace. One student said she had her grade raised a letter and wished that her other classes would use vodcasts. The authors compared state science test scores from before and after their change to vodcast lectures, and they found that the average score post-vodcast was nearly identical to the scores before.

I like the idea of recording lectures. I’m not sure if I would only use vodcast lectures, though. I think they are definitely a good idea so that students can review information and, like the authors said, they will be able to go back and hear information they missed and listen at their own speed. You would be able to devote more class time to discussions, answering questions, doing creative lessons, and other activities that don’t involve just sitting and listening to the teacher. I would still be a little concerned about my students not watching the videos even if I had a system to check if they had watched them. Just because they had the videos playing doesn’t mean they were paying attention to what was being said. It also requires students to have some kind of technology available to listen to the lecture. I know most kids have some kind of access to computers, and probably more so by the time I’m teaching, but it could still be a potential problem for some kids.

Journal Article Blog The Second

“Too Cool for School? No Way!” By Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler

This article talks about how teachers can use popular technology as teaching tools. They reference things like blogs, iPhone, YouTube, Flickr, and Google Earth as technologies teachers may not look at as things they could use to teach their students, but if they are modified to be used as an educational tool they could be used as new creative and fun ways to teach. They call their concept technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). They added on to a concept called pedagogical content knowledge created by Lee Shulman. Shulman said that what makes a teacher a teacher is that they have the ability to understand how to allow children to learn. They can apply strategies to make learning accessible to students. Mishra and Koehler say that technology needs to be added to how teachers can teach their students. They need to be able to transform technology that wasn’t necessarily made for educational purposes. They gave three examples of current popular technology that could be used in the classroom. They suggested microblogging as a way for students to interact with each other about classroom discussions outside of the classroom. They talked about specialized search engines to help students understand intertextuality. Students would search for a target phrase and look at the different ways it’s used in different places, and they could record and annotate what they find. The last technology they mentioned was music DJ software. This can help students learn about math concepts like ratios, fractions, and percentages.

I think it is a good idea for teachers to use technology that is popular with their students in an educational way. It would be something different than what they are used to, and they may be more willing to use it because it’s something they enjoy using all the time. They would most likely be used to having online conversations, so things like blogging and discussion boards could be very useful in getting students to talk, and some students may even feel more comfortable discussing their views online than in the classroom. There’s potential for things to get out of control on blogs and discussion boards, though, so there would have to be rules and the teacher would have to closely monitor what’s going on. I think the music DJ software is a very good suggestion. Most kids love music, so they may actually be a little more enthusiastic about the lesson than if it was just a regular lecture. Technology can be very useful if you know how to use it, so creating ways to use technology to help students learn will not only teach them the subject matter they are learning, but also how to use technology to their advantage.

Chatting It Up Online Journal Article

Chatting It Up Online by Pamela Livingston.
In the article Pamela Livingston writes about how she and other school employees arranged for some of their third grade and second grade students to participate in an online chat with one of their favorite authors. They were trying to encourage their students to read frequently and enjoy reading, so they thought being able to ask questions to an author they liked would be a good experience for them. The students got to choose what questions they wanted answered and ended up having most of their questions answered by the author. It was probably a very good experience for the students. Personally getting to chat with the author of their favorite books, getting to know her, and learning more about how she goes about writing the books may have made the book series and other books seem more real and interesting. Livingston made a good point about being prepared when using technology. They made sure to get all of the equipment ready ahead of time, made sure that the connection would work, and had their questions prepared before the chat. You want to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible when you’re using technology in the classroom. If you aren’t prepared you can waste a lot of valuable time and you may not be able to do what you had planned on doing, which could be a big disappointment to you and your students.

Using technology like Internet chats to encourage a student’s academic interests is an idea I could use with students when I’m teaching. If you can provide your students with the opportunity to chat with someone they admire or who could be a good role model, it could have a very positive impact on them. Being able learn through interacting with computer technology can teach them how to use it effectively and learn different ways they can use it to enhance their lives. Computer technology will most likely be important in their lives while they’re in school and after they’ve completed school. It would also provide something different in the classroom, and something they can fully participate in.

For this article, relevant ISTE NETS for teachers would be Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments and Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. ISTE NETS for students would include Communication and Collaboration and Technology Operations and Concepts.