My philosophy of education features a young man Wah'fe. We share a great story although I doubt he knows the whole story. On the first day of school I thought he would be trouble for me the entire year, a varsity football player as a freshman he as no lack of confidence.
Day one he was looking around the room, head on a swivel, seeking out attention. I naturally find that attitude irritating and thought he was going to be trouble all year. Instead, he has turned into one of my favorites, constantly respectful and eager to be an athlete and a student, he has shown a dedication to raising his grade.
Making the video was both challenging and interesting, it is always fun to learn new software. My only wish is that I had more time to dink around with the program and learn how to do even cooler things with it.
You can see my video on youtube. Follow the link http://www.youtube.com/user/bpautzke
If you have trouble search for bpautzke philosophy of education. For some reason youtube has cut the last two seconds of my video, all that is missing are the words "while I am doing it".
Friday, December 7, 2007
Reflection on Presentation
I watched my Mellow Yellow presentation several times and my overall impression of my teaching is "yep, looks like me". Overall the presentation is simple, I move around a little more than I thought but I feel like a did a good job. You can hear me keep the students involved, telling one of them to put his phone away and later telling another to sit up. I explained what a citation was when I was asked and made a few jokes. My topic and personality lend themselves to those jokes.
I also feel as though it was not a very good portrayal of my teaching because I never use Power Point. For most of the presentation I am facing the wall and am tied to the computer making the whole scene feel a little awkward.
You can see my presentation on the cd that has been sent via mail.
I also feel as though it was not a very good portrayal of my teaching because I never use Power Point. For most of the presentation I am facing the wall and am tied to the computer making the whole scene feel a little awkward.
You can see my presentation on the cd that has been sent via mail.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Tools for the Mind
I. Brian Pautzke bpautzke@yahoo.com 12/6/07
Tools for the Mind by Mary Burns
II. The article, Tools for the Mind argues that while technology in the classroom is a great advancement in education, schools are not employing this technology to its fullest potential.
Educators became very excited about the prospects of teaching with technology and how much it can provide a classroom in terms of broadening the students experiences and piquing their interests. The question became "are the students actually learning?"
The article goes on to say that higher order learning is not being accomplished with technology and that often times learning becomes reduced to show-and-tell instead of interpret and conclude. To back this up Mary provides data which shows that 81 percent of students have used technology to do electronic presentations but less than one percent use technology to access data bases.
The problem as she sees it is that students and teachers are not maximizing technology and reaching the depths possible with both learning and teaching.
III. 1. When technology first appeared in the classroom it was believed that it could transform student learning.
2. With NCLB legislation teachers are moving away from technology integration, favoring instead a “back to the basics” style teaching.
3. Four behaviors have reinforced the idea of technology being exceptional and a handicap in achieving higher-order thinking.
a. professional development that focuses on teaching skills instead of teaching how computers can enhance learning.
b. districts are failing to provide accommodations which allow for long-term development in technology integration.
c. districts have confused student engagement with higher-order learning.
d. the classification of all software applications as instructionally equal, in reality there are differences in the level of cognitive learning happening between different programs.
IV. This article is very insightful, I often wonder how much my students are learning. I question whether or not I am providing them a quality education, I assume one day I will. I also think to myself that it would be really neat to integrate more technology but alas technology at Bartlett is pretty scarce. I think Mary makes a great point about how educational the technology usage is, one wonders how much students are learning when they are creating Power Point presentations. I doubt very much beyond how to make a Power Point presentation.
The aspect of technology I think can add to a student’s education is by increasing interest through visual stimuli. I have great pictures of Machu Piccu and would love to show my 9th graders those photos during the Inca section of history but I really don’t have great access to the kind of technology or atmosphere that would create a learning environment.
In summation: technology is good, reliance on technology is bad, and teachers have to constantly ask themselves “what are my students learning”.
Tools for the Mind by Mary Burns
II. The article, Tools for the Mind argues that while technology in the classroom is a great advancement in education, schools are not employing this technology to its fullest potential.
Educators became very excited about the prospects of teaching with technology and how much it can provide a classroom in terms of broadening the students experiences and piquing their interests. The question became "are the students actually learning?"
The article goes on to say that higher order learning is not being accomplished with technology and that often times learning becomes reduced to show-and-tell instead of interpret and conclude. To back this up Mary provides data which shows that 81 percent of students have used technology to do electronic presentations but less than one percent use technology to access data bases.
The problem as she sees it is that students and teachers are not maximizing technology and reaching the depths possible with both learning and teaching.
III. 1. When technology first appeared in the classroom it was believed that it could transform student learning.
2. With NCLB legislation teachers are moving away from technology integration, favoring instead a “back to the basics” style teaching.
3. Four behaviors have reinforced the idea of technology being exceptional and a handicap in achieving higher-order thinking.
a. professional development that focuses on teaching skills instead of teaching how computers can enhance learning.
b. districts are failing to provide accommodations which allow for long-term development in technology integration.
c. districts have confused student engagement with higher-order learning.
d. the classification of all software applications as instructionally equal, in reality there are differences in the level of cognitive learning happening between different programs.
IV. This article is very insightful, I often wonder how much my students are learning. I question whether or not I am providing them a quality education, I assume one day I will. I also think to myself that it would be really neat to integrate more technology but alas technology at Bartlett is pretty scarce. I think Mary makes a great point about how educational the technology usage is, one wonders how much students are learning when they are creating Power Point presentations. I doubt very much beyond how to make a Power Point presentation.
The aspect of technology I think can add to a student’s education is by increasing interest through visual stimuli. I have great pictures of Machu Piccu and would love to show my 9th graders those photos during the Inca section of history but I really don’t have great access to the kind of technology or atmosphere that would create a learning environment.
In summation: technology is good, reliance on technology is bad, and teachers have to constantly ask themselves “what are my students learning”.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Water Conservation Spreadsheet
The Water Conservation Spreadsheet is available to view on my googledocs portfolio, you can follow the link to check it out. http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pZgvW5Hq4SvB6FrtLoeS1SA
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Mellow Yellow
The Mellow Yellow conservation project is an excellent example of how a small change can add up to great gains in conservation.
For a week my housemates and I kept track of our trips to the bathroom. If we only took a pee then we did not flush, if we did more than that we flushed. The savings in water were incredible.
The power point presentation (http://www.slideshare.net/bpautzke/mellow-yellow/) lays out my findings and takes you through the project step by step.
I hope you enjoy the presentation, the toilet in the pictures is the actual toilet!
For a week my housemates and I kept track of our trips to the bathroom. If we only took a pee then we did not flush, if we did more than that we flushed. The savings in water were incredible.
The power point presentation (http://www.slideshare.net/bpautzke/mellow-yellow/) lays out my findings and takes you through the project step by step.
I hope you enjoy the presentation, the toilet in the pictures is the actual toilet!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Energy Conservation Project Intro
Energy Conservation Project
Mellow Yellow
How much water can a house with three guys living in it save by only flushing when necessary?
Google:
• Toilet water consumption accounts for 40% of household water usage.
• In 1992, Congress passed regulation limiting toilet tank size to 1.6 gallons, significantly reducing water waste.
• Other options to reduce toilet water waste are dams and displacement devices.
Data needed:
• Amount of water used by our toilet.
• Amount of flushes avoided by letting it mellow over 7 days.
• Amount of flushes over 7 days.
Data Collection Methodology:
There will be a tick sheet taped above the toilet and for 7 days anyone who uses the toilet will make a mark. Either they used the toilet and did not flush, a “no flush”, or they used the toilet and needed to flush, a “flush”.
Mellow Yellow
How much water can a house with three guys living in it save by only flushing when necessary?
Google:
• Toilet water consumption accounts for 40% of household water usage.
• In 1992, Congress passed regulation limiting toilet tank size to 1.6 gallons, significantly reducing water waste.
• Other options to reduce toilet water waste are dams and displacement devices.
Data needed:
• Amount of water used by our toilet.
• Amount of flushes avoided by letting it mellow over 7 days.
• Amount of flushes over 7 days.
Data Collection Methodology:
There will be a tick sheet taped above the toilet and for 7 days anyone who uses the toilet will make a mark. Either they used the toilet and did not flush, a “no flush”, or they used the toilet and needed to flush, a “flush”.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Read/Write Web Assessment
I. Brian Pautzke bpautzke@yahoo.com 9/18/07
The Educator’s guide to the Read/Write Web by Will Richardson
II. In this day and age the internet is used for more than just information gathering, people now use it as a world sounding board where they can post their own work. It also provides the opportunity for students use blogs to collaborate with each other as well as with professionals, enriching their education. The article addresses the benefits of self-policing and self creating websites such as Wikipedia, an open forum which allows users to change the information. Social bookmarking opens the doors for teachers to create website portfolios and share those with interested teachers.
I really like the idea of a classroom portfolio blog, where students have to share their writing with others. A critical point that Richardson brings up is about the evaluation of the material, there is so much information on the web that teaching critical reading skills is crucial. He concludes that the new read/write web will provide students of disparate backgrounds unique opportunities to learn from each other.
III.
1. The Read/Write web allows students to collaborate.
2. Blogs allow easy online communication.
3. The community of wiki writers maintain a high level of accuracy and appropriateness.
4. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) allows people to subscribe to a stream of information.
5. Social book-marking sites: furl.net and del.icio.us
6. Giving the student the feeling that they are “publishing” their work can have positive effects.
7. Filtering out the questionable information will become a crucial skill.
8. Student privacy could become an issue as they publish their information.
IV. Will Richardson does not work at Bartlett. That was my initial reaction to the article. He is idealistic, thinking that high school students will get into publishing their work and going the extra mile. My students have a hard enough time turning in in-class work let alone trying to get them to publish their material. Also access is a point he did not address, a good percentage of my students do not have access to the internet, so unless we were planning on spending a lot of time in the library the idea of web writing does not work. However, I like the idea , and I like that we have an opportunity to do web writing in this class.
Blogging is not there yet, reading and writing blogs is not mainstream. I don’t have to wonder how many people have read my blog page, I would be crazy to think it is more than two. This notion of some amazing easy access new world of trading information and thought is interesting and some day it might shape how we learn and how we teach but I am skeptical that a school like Bartlett will be ready any time soon.
The Educator’s guide to the Read/Write Web by Will Richardson
II. In this day and age the internet is used for more than just information gathering, people now use it as a world sounding board where they can post their own work. It also provides the opportunity for students use blogs to collaborate with each other as well as with professionals, enriching their education. The article addresses the benefits of self-policing and self creating websites such as Wikipedia, an open forum which allows users to change the information. Social bookmarking opens the doors for teachers to create website portfolios and share those with interested teachers.
I really like the idea of a classroom portfolio blog, where students have to share their writing with others. A critical point that Richardson brings up is about the evaluation of the material, there is so much information on the web that teaching critical reading skills is crucial. He concludes that the new read/write web will provide students of disparate backgrounds unique opportunities to learn from each other.
III.
1. The Read/Write web allows students to collaborate.
2. Blogs allow easy online communication.
3. The community of wiki writers maintain a high level of accuracy and appropriateness.
4. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) allows people to subscribe to a stream of information.
5. Social book-marking sites: furl.net and del.icio.us
6. Giving the student the feeling that they are “publishing” their work can have positive effects.
7. Filtering out the questionable information will become a crucial skill.
8. Student privacy could become an issue as they publish their information.
IV. Will Richardson does not work at Bartlett. That was my initial reaction to the article. He is idealistic, thinking that high school students will get into publishing their work and going the extra mile. My students have a hard enough time turning in in-class work let alone trying to get them to publish their material. Also access is a point he did not address, a good percentage of my students do not have access to the internet, so unless we were planning on spending a lot of time in the library the idea of web writing does not work. However, I like the idea , and I like that we have an opportunity to do web writing in this class.
Blogging is not there yet, reading and writing blogs is not mainstream. I don’t have to wonder how many people have read my blog page, I would be crazy to think it is more than two. This notion of some amazing easy access new world of trading information and thought is interesting and some day it might shape how we learn and how we teach but I am skeptical that a school like Bartlett will be ready any time soon.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Bartlett Technology
Bartlett Technological Assessment is complete. For this assignment I used previously gathered student information to assess their tech use and asked my mentor teacher about the facilities provided at Bartlett. Ms. Gwynn led me in a fruitful way to Mr. Barlow who is the technology teacher at Bartlett and he was able to satisfy any other inquiries that Ms. Gwynn could not answer.
I learned:
--That Bartlett is lacking when compared with other schools in the Anchorage School District.
--That there are strong student leaders in technology that are very helpful and a great resource.
--Bartlett has 4 computer labs.
--If I want to use the specialty gear I need to get in line at the library.
--That Bartlett is first on the list for new technology but when it does finally get LCD projectors it will still be lacking relative other schools within ASD.
My final report can be found here http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcsmq5nm_0grj5nn
I learned:
--That Bartlett is lacking when compared with other schools in the Anchorage School District.
--That there are strong student leaders in technology that are very helpful and a great resource.
--Bartlett has 4 computer labs.
--If I want to use the specialty gear I need to get in line at the library.
--That Bartlett is first on the list for new technology but when it does finally get LCD projectors it will still be lacking relative other schools within ASD.
My final report can be found here http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcsmq5nm_0grj5nn
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Listen to the Natives Assessment
I.
Brian Pautzke bpautzke@yahoo.com 9/18/07
Listen to the Natives by Marc Prensky
II.
Marc Prensky’s argument is that teachers are not using technology to its fullest potential and in so doing are creating a boring if not false half-world for the students. The argument is that for the majority of student’s lives they are surrounded by technology from cell phones to video games but when they enter the classroom they step back in time into a world where technology is looked down on as distracting or worse as enabling cheating. Prensky encourages collaboration with high achieving students in curriculum development arguing that teachers must now decide with instead of for our students. He goes on to say we must avoid “teachherding”, students’ involuntary assignment to specific classes or groups. Instead he would like to see adaptive teaching and self-selected groups. He finishes with the bifurcation of student’s education between during and after-school education. Prensky claims that if schools do not start incorporating technology the real learning will take place after school and schools will become no more than a day-care.
III.
1) Digital Native-someone born in the digital age, fluent in technology VS digital immigrants-someone born before the digital revolution.
2) Engagement before content; incorporate how students would want to learn.
3) Incorporate “gameplay” education, that is to use desirable goals, opportunities to “level up” and immediate and useful feedback.
4) Use alternatives to “teachherding”- either one-to-one personalized instruction or having self-selected learning groups.
5) Allow the use of students digi-tools e.g. cell phones, calculators, MP3 players. Teachers are worried when students use cell phones in class they are voting with their attention.
6) During VS after school education- if teachers fail to incorporate technology they will make themselves antiquated and while students may still have to be there they will check out mentally.
IV.
This article, while at times frustrating and seemingly ridiculous, made valid points about the need for teachers to rise to the new challenge of keeping students engaged in a digital world. As a teacher the article becomes useful by exposing me to the idea that education in the 21st century will need to evolve to be effective. Teachers need to include high achieving students in curriculum development and allow more in-class decision making. I really took to the idea of encouraging programming and not calling it cheating when a student programs a calculator or cell phone. To program a digi-tool takes a creativity and intelligence that will serve students well in their future. His suggestion of one-on-one instruction is not useful however the concept of online student groups is interesting and would be a good teaching tool. Problems will arise when it comes to student access to technology and synchronizing the school work.
Brian Pautzke bpautzke@yahoo.com 9/18/07
Listen to the Natives by Marc Prensky
II.
Marc Prensky’s argument is that teachers are not using technology to its fullest potential and in so doing are creating a boring if not false half-world for the students. The argument is that for the majority of student’s lives they are surrounded by technology from cell phones to video games but when they enter the classroom they step back in time into a world where technology is looked down on as distracting or worse as enabling cheating. Prensky encourages collaboration with high achieving students in curriculum development arguing that teachers must now decide with instead of for our students. He goes on to say we must avoid “teachherding”, students’ involuntary assignment to specific classes or groups. Instead he would like to see adaptive teaching and self-selected groups. He finishes with the bifurcation of student’s education between during and after-school education. Prensky claims that if schools do not start incorporating technology the real learning will take place after school and schools will become no more than a day-care.
III.
1) Digital Native-someone born in the digital age, fluent in technology VS digital immigrants-someone born before the digital revolution.
2) Engagement before content; incorporate how students would want to learn.
3) Incorporate “gameplay” education, that is to use desirable goals, opportunities to “level up” and immediate and useful feedback.
4) Use alternatives to “teachherding”- either one-to-one personalized instruction or having self-selected learning groups.
5) Allow the use of students digi-tools e.g. cell phones, calculators, MP3 players. Teachers are worried when students use cell phones in class they are voting with their attention.
6) During VS after school education- if teachers fail to incorporate technology they will make themselves antiquated and while students may still have to be there they will check out mentally.
IV.
This article, while at times frustrating and seemingly ridiculous, made valid points about the need for teachers to rise to the new challenge of keeping students engaged in a digital world. As a teacher the article becomes useful by exposing me to the idea that education in the 21st century will need to evolve to be effective. Teachers need to include high achieving students in curriculum development and allow more in-class decision making. I really took to the idea of encouraging programming and not calling it cheating when a student programs a calculator or cell phone. To program a digi-tool takes a creativity and intelligence that will serve students well in their future. His suggestion of one-on-one instruction is not useful however the concept of online student groups is interesting and would be a good teaching tool. Problems will arise when it comes to student access to technology and synchronizing the school work.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Epic 2015
The video School Train would receive an “A” in my class.
It was an excellent example of:
∙Using technology in a creative way to show comprehension of a lesson.
∙Creative and thoughtful ways of using metaphor to show the relationship between a school and a train.
∙The video showed a lot of effort.
They managed to do things with the video creator that were very creative and difficult. I really enjoyed the digital outlining of people scooting along the floor.⇐
“It was important for me to watch it more than once because the first time the audio grated on my nerves and I was inclined to grade low. But after watching with peers I no longer mined the electronic music.”
Something I think about when mulling technology use over in my head is how much time the students spend on troubleshooting the technology versus understanding the lesson. Technology can be a great asset but as anyone who has used it can tell you sometimes it seems like we have not gone forward at all but simply found new ways to complicate our lives.
It was an excellent example of:
∙Using technology in a creative way to show comprehension of a lesson.
∙Creative and thoughtful ways of using metaphor to show the relationship between a school and a train.
∙The video showed a lot of effort.
They managed to do things with the video creator that were very creative and difficult. I really enjoyed the digital outlining of people scooting along the floor.⇐
“It was important for me to watch it more than once because the first time the audio grated on my nerves and I was inclined to grade low. But after watching with peers I no longer mined the electronic music.”
Something I think about when mulling technology use over in my head is how much time the students spend on troubleshooting the technology versus understanding the lesson. Technology can be a great asset but as anyone who has used it can tell you sometimes it seems like we have not gone forward at all but simply found new ways to complicate our lives.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Fox Becomes a Better Person
This video would receive an A in my class.
My friends and I discussed how well she told the story. To be able to tell a story that long with such composure and recall is incredible for someone that young. Hannah’s use of technology, having her own drawings as a background, is fantastic. Another of my favorite parts in the video was the use of native songs.
The technology was not as involved as it was with School Train which allowed more time for Hannah to nail the telling of the story which I felt was the more important part of the assignment. She will grow into a great story teller.
My friends and I discussed how well she told the story. To be able to tell a story that long with such composure and recall is incredible for someone that young. Hannah’s use of technology, having her own drawings as a background, is fantastic. Another of my favorite parts in the video was the use of native songs.
The technology was not as involved as it was with School Train which allowed more time for Hannah to nail the telling of the story which I felt was the more important part of the assignment. She will grow into a great story teller.
School Train Assessment
The video School Train would receive an A in my class.
It was an excellent example of using technology in a creative way to show comprehension of a lesson. Not only was the video interesting but the students managed to have creative and thoughtful ways of using metaphor to show the relationship between a school and a train. The video showed a lot of effort. They managed to do things with the video creator that was very creative and difficult. I really enjoyed when they did the digital outlining of people and had them scooting along the floor.
It was important for me to watch it more than once because the first time the audio grated on my nerves and I was inclined to grade low. But after watching with peers I no longer mined the electronic music.
Something I think about when mulling technology use over in my head is how much time the students spend on troubleshooting the technology versus understanding the lesson. Technology can be a great asset but as anyone who has used it can tell you sometimes it seems like we have not gone forward at all but simply found new ways to complicate our lives.
It was an excellent example of using technology in a creative way to show comprehension of a lesson. Not only was the video interesting but the students managed to have creative and thoughtful ways of using metaphor to show the relationship between a school and a train. The video showed a lot of effort. They managed to do things with the video creator that was very creative and difficult. I really enjoyed when they did the digital outlining of people and had them scooting along the floor.
It was important for me to watch it more than once because the first time the audio grated on my nerves and I was inclined to grade low. But after watching with peers I no longer mined the electronic music.
Something I think about when mulling technology use over in my head is how much time the students spend on troubleshooting the technology versus understanding the lesson. Technology can be a great asset but as anyone who has used it can tell you sometimes it seems like we have not gone forward at all but simply found new ways to complicate our lives.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
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