From the desk of Mr. Walters

An Authentic Curriculum As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I am working hard to develop a curriculum that “ Get[s] Past Teaching Apps [and helping students] Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt “ (Cool Cat).  This focus is defined in my curriculum in terms of  students’ technology fluency , which is defined in Cool Cat’s post as: the ability to determine and use the appropriate technology tool(s) for the task at hand in a manner that allows seamless transfer of created objects and documents to flow easily between the selected tools without outside intervention. I also want students to be able to think critically and solve problems within a computing environment since things keep changing. As Cool Cat notes and Karl Fisch supports, “We cannot fathom what the future holds for them but we know what it won’t hold: It won’t hold the software that we taught them this year in its present fashion.”

Okay, So I feel like I'm always ranting.  I go forever without posting, and then something annoys me, and I go off. I'm really sorry about that... really... I am.  Sometime soon, I'll write a non-ranting post.  Today, however, the Juvinalian Muse is upon me. The Quest for Authentic Instruction & Fluency Building In designing my current curriculum for CIT, I was heavily influenced by Cool Cat's post, " Get Past Teaching Apps: Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt ".  I am particularly interested in building my students' technology fluency, which is defined in Cool Cat's post as: the ability to determine and use the appropriate technology tool(s) for the task at hand in a manner that allows seamless transfer of created objects and documents to flow easily between the selected tools without outside intervention. I also want students to be able to think critically and solve problems within a computing environment.  I focus quite a bit on teaching...

Collaboration: Okay, let's face it.  The world is moving toward more and more online collaboration.  We need to prep our students for this.  One project I currently have simmering on the back burner is a "design team" project where student groups would "meet" online with clients to discuss the design of everything from logos to web sites.  The ideal tool for such an undertaking is Acrobat.com: Acrobat.com This tool is ideal for real-time online meeting, sketching ideas on the whiteboard, uploading sample files and presentations, and even sharing screens.  It's even free.  The problem is, it doesn't work on our student workstations...  It's fine on my workstation and most of my colleagues.  My students, on the other hand, always get "invalid ticket" errors.  I swear this is deep freeze, but I can't get anyone to believe me. Here are some other possibilities that may not already be on your radar because they haven't been mentioned i...

I've found it.  That's right. Amidst this tumult of uncertainty that is our current world, I've found the answer.  There is apparently one determining factor of our students' success in the 21st century workforce.  Would you like to know what it is? Despite increased globalization; the need to prepare students to access, evaluate, synthesize, and build upon information and media; and the drive to promote Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Communication, and Collaboration, the curriculum of our district's Computer Information Technology program hinges on Keyboarding . I'm not kidding. This is apparently very serious stuff. One teacher commented at a recent curriculum meeting that this is "becoming a management and discipline issue at the high school." Wow. It seems that students, who have formed bad keyboarding habits despite intensive training at the Elementary level, are resorting to the technique that works best for them ...

Okay, so you haven't heard from me for awhile because I''ve been a bit pre-occupied with the harsh realities of public education.  Specifically, the reality that the policy makers involved often have such little knowledge of the realm they're overseeing. Economics or Steel? I teach students a variety of technology related concepts and applications with in my seventh and eighth grade course called "Technology".  The course centers on the following skills:

The following is an excerpt from an academic paper I’ve been working on, hence the rather formal citations etc. As a teacher of technology, I am very interested in the “new literacies” related to information management, often referred to as Information Literacy, Media Literacy, Digital Literacy, and Network Literacy. I recently read Judy Salpeter's article, “ Make Students Info Literate ” in the May 22, 2008 issue of “Techlearning” magazine. In the article, Salpeter succinctly makes several points that I've been trying to make with colleagues for the last four years.

When I read the first three paragraphs of The Teachers Mission , quoted below, I had to give a brief but hearty “Amen!” In many schools across our nation teachers feel that their opinions about what and how to teach are ignored. Others, far removed from the classroom, make decisions on how teachers are trained, what tools they use in their classroom, and the methods that work best with children. Teachers are introduced each year to a plethora of educational buzz words. They are expected to cover the curriculum at a pace to accommodate multiple classroom abilities that may have ranges as extreme as eight grade levels. They are expected to practice classroom management skills coping with special needs along with those of their regular students and nurturing all at the same pre-set pace. Adding to this work load are state, local, and district standards for learning, state competency testing, new technology standards for students and teachers, and constant pressure from government official...