RSA Animate Video on Drive/Motivation

Amazing and engaging! Look at that artistic talent... Wow!

Philip Wollen Gives an Amazing Speech

I'm not only to preach, I love a steak, burger, chicken breast, etc. But this is enough to make me think twice...

RubiStar Review

This is just a quick review of the site, RubiStar. RubiStar is a sit that allows teachers (or anyone really) to create, share, and use rubrics. This is useful because creating a rubric just adds time to everyone's work load, whereas RubiStar has preloaded sections you can choose from. This means a teacher could make a rubric is less than ten minutes, when it used to take much longer.

All you need to do when working with this tool is to click "Create Rubric" and then choose what type of assignment it is...

Then you need to choose what the criteria you want to grade by are and fill in the rubric, with either pre-made RubiStar evaluations or with your own...

Then you click the submit button (as shown to the left) to preview your rubric. At this point you can click the modify button to tweak your rubric until it's perfect.

Then choose from two options for displaying/presenting your rubric to your students.

And that's how it's done! Simple, right? RubiStar isn't going to change your life all that much, but it is going to allow you to have more free time and it gives you a break from all your paperwork.


If you would like to start using RubiStar, just click here! You will be redirected to the site, which you can explore to find out all of the little tidbits it gives you access to.


Here are some videos for a more in depth tutorial on using RubiStar:

Memorize or Analyze?

It’s time for another point/counterpoint article! This time the focus is on whether or not students need to be memorizing facts in the digital age. Robert Mahoney thinks they do.  He starts by describing a scenario that is meant to illustrate everyones’ obvious preference towards working with someone whom has memorized their facts. Here is what he said:

“You find yourself in an unfamiliar town with a car that appears to be taking its last breath. You have a choice between two garages. One has the fastest diagnostic tool and mechanics who have trained extensively in computerized analysis, and the other is staffed by mechanics who have worked on cars for years and use computerized diagnostics as a tool to assist them. Which would you choose? Most of us would prefer the latter, as their abilities are backed by personal factual knowledge that makes them more valuable and likely to diagnose the problem correctly, whether or not they receive assistance from the computerized diagnostic software.” (Mahoney & Daggett, 2010)

Mahoney goes on to argue that this can be applied to education as well. Students need to have a foundational knowledge in order to succeed outside of the classroom. Mahoney also thinks it’s unreasonable to expect students to acquire procedural knowledge without memorized facts as the foundation. He feels that having the world at your fingertips means giving students a way to get all the information anyone could ever want, and no idea how important this knowledge could be or how to apply it. One example is a calculator; students whom can multiply on their own do better than students that use calculators. This is because they can access their previously stored data.

Willard Daggett Does not agree; he feels that the most important skill we gain from our younger years in education is not memorizing but analyzing. He feels that analyzing is also a much better way of learning because it creates new neural pathways in the long-term memory portion of our brains. He wants us to focus on active thinking and learning, rather than working on our short term memory functions. Daggett also responds to Mahoney’s calculator comment by stating that when he multiplies he does not simply remember what the answer is, but he calculates from another number. Daggett does admit that the retrieval of knowledge is slower, but learning without memorization makes itself useful in development, not just retrieval.

Have you ever tried this? I remember being a kid and doing it once. It was ridiculous.

Before I state which I agree with, I would like to say that I think Mahoney’s example is awful To me this just shows the difference between experience and inexperience. Mechanics usually don’t just memorize the parts of a car and their locations under the hood and then they are the best at what they do; they work on cars and eventually learn from experience. This is actually a better example for his opponent’s arguement. The mechanics whom have never worked on a car would be a good example of someone whom is operating on memorized knowledge and has not been able to put it to use yet.

This is an interesting argument that I have been wondering about in my own studies. So many of the standardized tests, especially the CSET, have us recite previously memorized knowledge, which I wouldn’t think would be important to test. Why would our short term memory need to be flawless instead of our ability to look things up when the time comes? I see the need for memorizing small things from time to time, and the ability to do that is important, but so is the ability to find things worth memorizing.

Let’s look at the traditional history class as an example; students sit listening to their teacher and trying to store all the events in their memory. When they leave the class, this stored memory will deteriorate, unless they have some super human abilities or techniques. Instead, it is important to teach these students how to research a topic on their own. Want to know about the battle of Gettysburg? Here’s how to find out about it!” The way we teach them now, these students are developing a textbook crutch, which is even worse when you consider how awful the information and wording in a textbook can be.

That being said, I do think that memorization has it's place in the classroom, especially when learning a new language or vocabulary.

This article could be applied to NETS 3 and 4. NETS 3 covers research and information fluency, which students would be doing if we got them out of textbooks and into journal databases and online sources, which can be a helpful learning experience in itself. (Please click here for my tips on researching on the internet and finding credible sources!) NETS 4 covers critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, which is a very important aspect of the researching process; when looking at a source, students would have to decide how they could fit this into their argument or where they could find a source that adequately displays what they are trying to prove.

To see the original article, please click here! 
Image is from All Mighty Dad

Mahoney, R. & Daggett, W. (2010, February). Point/counterpoint do students need to memorize facts in the digital age?. Learning and Leading, 37(5), 6-7. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Point_Counterpoint_Do_Students_Need_to_Memorize_Facts_in_the_Digital_Age.aspx

My Group Video Project!

I dunno if anyone would want to watch this, but I'm proud of it so I figured I would post it! Just to give a little detail, in this project we all filmed together, but we edited separately. In the end there are four different videos using the same footage. Here is my completed video:



For editing it I used iMovie HD, since I had the most experience with it and the new iMovie makes me want to rip off my nails.

Interactive Whiteboards; Amazing or Overrated?

In this article, two educators take sides on whether or not we should all push to use interactive whiteboards (“IWBs” as the article puts it) in the classroom. Jocelyn Johnson is enthusiastic at the prospect of all classrooms adopting their own interactive whiteboards. She argues that these boards are known to increase a student’s engagement, which could never be a bad thing. Johnson thinks that these boards also allow for student-direct learning and independent student learning. With these boards, teachers are able to connect different technological devices, such as the document camera, so they are able to create a very interactive lesson.With these things in mind, thee boards are actually money savers


Jim Hirsch disagrees with Jocelyn Johnson on the importance of interactive whiteboards. He states that this engagement is mainly due to the projector that it is linked with. By just using that projector in the classroom, there is a comparable effect on the students’ learning. Hirsch also does not like how putting an interactive whiteboard in the classroom results in less small-group work sessions. In order to bring the whole class into the lesson, there are additional accessories, such as a wireless keyboard and mouse, that are meant for students to pass along so they can answer questions from their seats. Hirsch asks what happened to them just walking to the front of the classroom to write on the board? Finally, Hirsch states that quality of the student’s performance is based on the quality of the teacher, not the white board. Focus that money on improving our teachers, not technology.

Are these worth it?

I would say that I agree with Jim Hirsch the most; while I think that this interactive whiteboards are able to improve learning, the software that I have seen kids interacting with seems like a short step up from a form of arts and crafts. Also, I would disagree with Johnson on her statement that it increases independent student learning. These boards seem as though the best way to utilize them would be with the whole classroom, not an individual. I would want to have the focus of my classroom not be on individual learning, but group work. I feel that students get enough individual learning practice at home when they do their homework.


In the end, I think these interactive whiteboards are too expensive to replace what we have been doing in the classroom without them. There are specific students that I might feel would learn best from them, but not all.


The use of these whiteboards would fit with NETS number 2, which addresses communication and collaboration. Students would be able to work in groups, with the additional technology purchased. It could be quite easy to develop cultural understanding, especially when combining with a Google Earth tour.


For the original article, please click here!

Johnson, J. & Hirsch, J. (2010, June/July). Point/counterpoint are interactive whiteboards worth the investment?. Learning and Leading, 37(8), 6-7. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Point_Counterpoint_Are_Interactive_Whiteboards_Worth_the_Investment.aspx

Neil Gaiman Being Amazing

Here is Neil Gaiman being amazing, as usual. If you haven't read his stuff, it's definitely worth a glance or two. I personally most love his comic about Alan Moore, one of the premier comic book authors of our time. In case anyone was not aware of this before looking at the comic linked, Alan Moore is a... complex person...