McCain Campaign

As a fellow military veteran I am always interested in McCain's political life. I chose to investigate his website and his presence on U-Tube (minus the Bomb- Iran slip). I looked at McCain's website and his You Tube links on the day that he announced his bid for the 2008 Republican Nomination and the subsequent presidential office. On his website he is clearly looking for potential voters such as myself to donate, inform themselves, and become an active member of his campaign. His You Tube announcement (which could be accessed from his website) clearly was meant to announce what most of the people who kept tabs on him knew, that he was running for president. I envision McCain using You Tube to just rebroadcast his speeches and his ads. Dean 04 really opened up the use of the WWW and the tools available to a new generation of voters. Many people called his campaign grassroots but I like to refer to it as CyberRoots. I will never publish my political views in order to keep my instruction and influence as a social studies teacher separate from my personal life, but I am still receiving emails from both the Dean for Democracy campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth organization. We are on the fringe of a new voting generation. Many young Americans feel out of touch with today's politician. People like Jesse Ventura and Howard Dean have proved that while the AARP may be a large lobby group the young people of this nation are as formidable of a force and they must be reached if you would like the office you seek.
In a similar way that presidential hope-fulls can reach a focus group with the use of the net so can classroom teachers; however, they must be more careful. Last year, in my first year teaching, I ran into a student outside of school on the second day of the school year. I was taking a train to meet my father in the city for a Yankee's game. This student asked me for my MySpace address. At first I was adamant that I would never use one to communicate to my students as I have another medium through E-Chalk; however I reflected on the situation if I was not in a tech. savvy and fortunate district as Pelham. If my district did not have the means to support a system such as E-Chalk I would most certainly use MySpace as a class page posting assignments, announcements, messages to students, and extra information meant to engage my students. The net has many tools to assist in communication and learning that we are only beginning to harness. We must do so with a cautious enthusiasm as our profession demands that we place the safety and welfare of our students above anything else.. even the quest for knowledge; and , with proper training our educators can accomplish this.

Campaign Ads Have Multiple Goals: Ease History Task

As a student of history I think that this is a great learning experience. I am exposed to many political profiles in an interactive manner. I learned interesting facts about presidential candidates that I did not know before, and I was entertained. As a teacher I was searching for a time that I might use this exact aim (Campaign Ads Have Multiple Goals) in a stand alone lesson. I would approach this as a skill that I bridge into a lesson with content that is needed to meet standards. This activity would give me a great opportunity to practice the skill of multiple perspectives and I could discuss particular candidates that I would want to expose my students to. In short I would modify the task by choosing the candidates they will research. Great task that I can see myself using.

Sony Wonder Technology Visit

After reflecting on the Sony Wonder Technology Lab the technologies that might best support learning would be engaging, real world, content specific, and reflective. I am choosing not to list any particular product at this point because I don't think that the absolute technology exists that will meet the needs of students and teachers in terms of what each group is looking for. Technology must be engaging to ensure that students want to use it. Games would be the ideal here; however, games would not meet the teachers desire for content specific. Technology to support classroom learning must be content specific in order to achieve goals laid out by curriculum requirements. The technology must be real world in order to develop 21st century skills that employers desire in the workplace. Finally the technology must allow for reflection in order to create a connection to the aim of the lesson. (NOTE:When posed the question what technology might best support learning I am not looking at adaptive technologies I am referring to an activity that might be used in the class.)

Setting Up a VTC

I have received a question on how to set up a Social Studies Video Teleconference. My best suggestion is to go through the Baseball Hall of Fame. It may sound funny, but I had the best experience. The BHOF has a great education program. Use this link to look through their program (http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/education/experience/videoconferences.html). Your next step would be to contact your IT specialist to check your tech. capability. The only down side is the cost. It is approx. 100$ to conduct one. Planning is the key and a backup is always needed.

Cognitive Flexiblity Theory/Ease History Reflections on Reading/Website

After reading the article I did not feel as if I had a good understanding of what CFT was. I did see goals and justifications of it; however, I was a little confused as to how a teacher could use CFT as the bridge between disciplines and teaching tools that CFT stated it could be. As the article stated I Google searched "Spiro cognitive flexibility " where I was able to read other articles that assisted me in my understanding such as Boger-Mehall's article.

To further enhance my understanding I reflected on the Ease History website. I was able to get a better understanding of CFT by using the site and I came to a moment- where the light went on. As I was reading the article I kept saying "this CFT sounds great, but give me a concrete example (or case as the article referred to). Then I remembered that the Ease History website matches the description of hypermedia demonstrating the use of CFT. I pictured myself using the site to create problems that my students would have to solve that dealt not just with history, but with using 21st century skills, and formulating habits of mind. Cognitive flexibility states that how students are taught has a direct influence on how they use that knowledge. If we teach rigidly and in a vacuum then that knowledge will only be used in a vacuum- such as a test. Hypermedia and technology is by its nature flexible; therefore it is the vehicle that can best suit the fundamental aspects of CFT in the classroom.

Comments/Questions:

• This article pairs nicely with the Wineberg article that asks- "Why teach history?". I wonder how many of my students ask that question. With CFT students don't learn in that vacuum, but they connect what they learn to a larger picture.
• What type of training exists for educators interested in CFT principles?
• Would an entire educational curriculum need to be developed around CFT for it to work. In other words would an entire district need to "buy in" to the principles of CFT? It would seem to me that if one teacher was the only one implementing CFT than they would be fighting a loosing battle.

Tromblee Field Experience Spring 07- Overview

This semesters field experience will be focused on seeing what a technology specialist would encounter at PMHS. I will continue to serve on the district technology committee and I will be assisting one Tech. Specialist with jobs where I am needed. I volunteered my services to him and as the jobs come up he will call upon me. My first job will be posting the daily announcements on the schools website everyday. I know it is simple; however, I must start somewhere. In addition to the previous tasks I will be assisting this semesters lead econ. teacher schedule a video-teleconference with the Baseball Hall of Fame. For a prior Field Exp. I set up the video-teleconference for one of my own classes and this time my goal is to encourage other teachers in my department to use the interactive teaching tool.

Reflections on Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts- Wineburg

As I sat reading the article on the subway this Saturday, before our visit to the Sony Wonder Lab, the article posed a question to me that I am quite familiar with... why study history and furthermore what should we teach when exploring history? As the article clearly states, in today's educational world with more emphasis on math and science history and the other social sciences are being pushed aside. As a social studies educator I feel as if I, and my fellow social studies educators, are trying to convince people that our discipline still merits attention.
The article caused me to reflect as to why a student would want to study history. I think that this is a question when designing units one must take into account. It coincides with the question that I currently ask myself- what do I want my students to know and be able to do after this unit? To expand what do I want my students to understand. There have been lessons I have taught (keep in mind it is only the second year) that while I am teaching it I think to myself... so what. An example is when discussing early civilizations we often look at the contributions of each particular civilization. Many times when we talk about an achievement I ask.. so what. If I am asking that question I know that my students are. This causes me to dig deeper to look for current examples, connect themes, and find the major historical significance, but do my students take this extra step? I think that it should be my job to guide them in taking that extra step.
Another main thrust of this article deals with what history should we teach. Should we teach the text book version that gives overview of the subject or should we examine each event in depth, using aids such as primary sources. This dilemma faces all educators in today's world. I liken the question (since I was on a subway) to visiting a city. A text book is like seeing a city from the subway- you can cover a good amount of territory with little in-depth knowledge of any one particular neighborhood- but you still get a good "feel" for the city. Using primary sources is similar to staying your entire visit in one neighborhood. You become an expert on that one area, knowing all of the ins and outs, but do you know how it fits into the larger context of the city. It is the history (I don't mind being called a history teacher) teachers job to effectively use all teaching tools (textbooks, primary sources, technology, and charisma to hook and engage the student, just as a good visitor to a city, in order to understand the city better, would take the subway to see many different places, spend time in neighborhoods that interest them, and compile all of their experiences to tell someone what the city is like.

Comments/Questions Based on Reading:

• Historical understanding comes with relating present experience with themes that endure throughout history
• Each generation, society, or individual, must adapt history to meet their needs to live/learn by a set of ideals (comment in response to Weinberg's comments regarding the two sides of Locke)
• I see the author never fully answering his questions
• Article continues to pit Classical historians against Revisionist's. I look at the "do we tell kids the bad stuff about our forefathers" and questions like that as the nature vs. nurture debate. We don't just tell the history found in Lowen's "Lies my Teacher Told Me" book nor do we teach only from a state directed text. We teach students standards based ,inquiry driven history.
• To answer the authors main question: Why do we study history? We study history to learn what it means to be human