I can't give up now, the door is, like, RIGHT THERE!

   Education once again starts properly. No more of these Summer courses, designed to cram my noggin full of a year's worth of education into a 4 week, skull splitting stuff-stravaganza. Yet again my scholastic experience will be mostly facilitated through those magical tubes we all love, the internets. Along with more education classes for me means more thoughtful and verbose ramblings from a madman for you... Happy New School Year!!

Personal Plea.

My semester has ended and I have conquered many a mighty final. I will continue these updates in a....well... not-so-scheduled update-y way. But for now, I leave you this, very personal, posting.
Help Katie Smile

Effectively Assessing Learning.

Meaningful feedback is at the core of learning. Without knowing how the student is coping with the massive amounts of data and information being hurled at them on a daily basis, how can we expect them to preform to a standardized metric? We assign lesson reviews and quizzes, which indeed are metrics for seeing where students lie in their comprehension of  material, but by the time these are handed out and graded the time allotted for instruction has passed. We are able to determine whether or not the individual student is grasping important information, but frequently are unable to help those who are in need of further instruction in the classroom.

"You didn't understand the lesson? 

Too bad, get ready for the next unit: 'The Great Depression'."

   

   If instructors had feedback that ran parallel to the lesson being taught, specific focus and clarification could be planned for as early as the later classes that day. We rely on students to speak up if they don't understand, or to ask more questions. I submit that if this was simply the case, we would have no-one failing any classes. So, how are we to be expected to get rapid feedback from student assessments if the only bits we get are from tests and other papers that cut into classroom time? There exists an option in resources such as QUIZDOM.

I think James T. Kirk attended here...

   We've discussed asynchronous learning here before, but what about face to face instruction; how can that be aided by some razzmatazz techno-babble? Quizdom is a solution that allows the lesson to be delivered by the instructor in class (as well as out) that allows teachers to assess the learning of their students with instant feedback on a student by student basis. We all know that students are going to smuggle their phones and laptops into the class, so we may as well put those puppies to work. Quizdom calls this approach a BYOD (Bring your own device) situation, which, let's face it, would chip a little at those precious budgets that are closely guarded by dragons (sources needed). The teacher has the ability to better structure the lesson plan to accommodate struggling students or close any gaps in the delivery. Students won't have to catch up, and instructors know the efficiency of their lessons. That is a win-win.

TAMUC Locust Legacy

Locust Legacy by Rami Bdeir is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Works Cited.

“1921 Locust pg. 7”. Locust Yearbook, 1921. 1921. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use







“1921 Locust pg. 5”. Locust Yearbook, 1921. 1921. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use







“1930 Locust pg. 12”. Locust Yearbook, 1930. 1930. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use







“1950 Locust pg. 178”. Locust Yearbook, 1950. 1950. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 5 March 2014.Fair Use





“1950 Locust pg. 71”. Locust Yearbook, 1950. 1950. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 5 March 2014.Fair Use







“1975 Locust pg. 20”. Locust Yearbook, 1975. 1975. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 1 March 2014.Fair Use





“Locust Yearbook, 1920”. Locust Yearbook, 1920. 1920.  TAMUC Digital Collections.







"Professor Mayo's College". 1895. TAMUC Digital Collections. Web. 3 March 2014. Fair Use





 Photonormandie. “Crater”. 1944. Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA. Web. 8 April 2014. CC.



Photonormandie. “Foxhole”. 1944. Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA. Web. 8 April 2014. CC.



Photonormandie. “Long Road”. 1944. Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA. Web. 8 April 2014. CC.



Photonormandie. “Atillery”. 1944. Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA. Web. 8 April 2014. CC.



Photonormandie. “Artillery Team”. 1944. Conseil Régional de Basse-Normandie / National Archives USA. Web. 8 April 2014. CC.



“TAMUC”. Texas A&M University System. 2014. www.tamus.edu. Web. 14 March

2014.Fair Use.





Javolenus. “NiGiD_-_C120-GTR-impro-chillgroove”. 2013, CCMIXTER.ORG. Web. 7 April 2014. CC.

§110.32. English Language Arts and Reading, English II (One Credit), Beginning with School Year 2009-2010.
(a)  Introduction.
(1)  The English Language Arts and Reading Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) are organized into the following strands: Reading, where students read and understand a wide variety of literary and informational texts; Writing, where students compose a variety of written texts with a clear controlling idea, coherent organization, and sufficient detail; Research, where students are expected to know how to locate a range of relevant sources and evaluate, synthesize, and present ideas and information; Listening and Speaking, where students listen and respond to the ideas of others while contributing their own ideas in conversations and in groups; and Oral and Written Conventions, where students learn how to use the oral and written conventions of the English language in speaking and writing. The standards are cumulative--students will continue to address earlier standards as needed while they attend to standards for their grade. In English II, students will engage in activities that build on their prior knowledge and skills in order to strengthen their reading, writing, and oral language skills. Students should read and write on a daily basis.
(2)  For students whose first language is not English, the students' native language serves as a foundation for English language acquisition.
(A)  English language learners (ELLs) are acquiring English, learning content in English, and learning to read simultaneously. For this reason, it is imperative that reading instruction should be comprehensive and that students receive instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, and word attack skills while simultaneously being taught academic vocabulary and comprehension skills and strategies. Reading instruction that enhances ELL's ability to decode unfamiliar words and to make sense of those words in context will expedite their ability to make sense of what they read and learn from reading. Additionally, developing fluency, spelling, and grammatical conventions of academic language must be done in meaningful contexts and not in isolation.
(B)  For ELLs, comprehension of texts requires additional scaffolds to support comprehensible input. ELL students should use the knowledge of their first language (e.g., cognates) to further vocabulary development. Vocabulary needs to be taught in the context of connected discourse so that language is meaningful. ELLs must learn how rhetorical devices in English differ from those in their native language. At the same time English learners are learning in English, the focus is on academic English, concepts, and the language structures specific to the content.
(C)  During initial stages of English development, ELLs are expected to meet standards in a second language that many monolingual English speakers find difficult to meet in their native language. However, English language learners' abilities to meet these standards will be influenced by their proficiency in English. While English language learners can analyze, synthesize, and evaluate, their level of English proficiency may impede their ability to demonstrate this knowledge during the initial stages of English language acquisition. It is also critical to understand that ELLs with no previous or with interrupted schooling will require explicit and strategic support as they acquire English and learn to learn in English simultaneously.
(3)  To meet Public Education Goal 1 of the Texas Education Code, §4.002, which states, "The students in the public education system will demonstrate exemplary performance in the reading and writing of the English language," students will accomplish the essential knowledge, skills, and student expectations in English II as described in subsection (b) of this section.
(4)  To meet Texas Education Code, §28.002(h), which states, "... each school district shall foster the continuation of the tradition of teaching United States and Texas history and the free enterprise system in regular subject matter and in reading courses and in the adoption of textbooks," students will be provided oral and written narratives as well as other informational texts that can help them to become thoughtful, active citizens who appreciate the basic democratic values of our state and nation.
(Source: Texas Education Agency at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/)


    You see that unbelievable wall of text up there? That's the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) for second year High School English, well, the introduction for it at least. What it provides, however, is a basic understanding for the importance of the English and Language Arts curriculum. It helps me, as a future educator, understand and plan for the needs of the Modern Student. I can tell you that, based on the information above, that I will incorporate many discussions in my classroom. Literature is great, to me at least. I don't expect that every student who enters my door will believe the same thing. So why bang on indefinitely while the students slowly descend into zombification when I can Introduce them to the literature and then help them explore it for themselves through meaningful discussion?

"I am become scholar..."

   Why do I think this is important, in keeping with the required TEKS? My dear readers, it is because we have become a society of social inepts. Many of our graduates today have trouble communicating at the supermarket with their cashier...much less something as intimidating as sharing new ideas with the world to further our understanding as a species. This discussion of literature helps students find not only the importance of communicative ideas through literature, but also as a (small and localized) classroom society that can debate and reach consensus and understanding of complex subjects. If you tell a student "why" then they can regurgitate the answer on a test, if the student is given the ability to discover "why" then they are able to contribute to the global discourse of our world.

Visualization in Education.

   Remember that old cliche, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? Yeah, I remember reading the picture version of War and Peace (that would still make it ~590 pages.). All joking about how video killed the radio-star aside, the above statement can very well be true. I am a student of the literary persuasion (big shock, I know), but I also have studied classic art extensively. A painting can be analysed using techniques very similar to literary analyses. They are two mediums that can be used to achieve the same message. Never mind the fact that early writing and drawings were the same thing.

The original 'knock knock' joke.

   The power of the image as an educational tool is not to be underestimated. Imagine, if you will, the complexities of explaining exactly what the heck a "Krebs Cycle" is without the aid of images. I present to you, exhibit (A).

Yeah... there's a reason I study Literature.

   Look at that monstrosity up there. Now, if you have no idea what is happening up there, that's okay, needless to say that explaining the mechanics of what is pictured without the aid of images would be a stern lesson indeed. I never would have survived science or math classes without the aid of visual tools. They're just some foreign language without the ability to visualize what they represent in the physical world.

   And that's what visualization is, representation. Images already come pre-packaged with all this mental association. It's the whole reason we have modern book covers. Exhibit (B) is go!

Oh, this must be the one with Christopher Robin and that obese stuffed bear.

   If that was just a blank black cover that said "Rogue" across it...you may have trouble ascertaining it's contents, but with Future Space Captain Ninja McBlack-Ops up there, you know this book means business. Future Space Ninja business...

   

   

Mid-Term Fair Use Link

"Professor Mayo's College". 1895. TAMUC Digital Collections. Web. 3 March 2014. Fair Use

The image is used in a scholarly project, and is transformative in nature. The image is used as a direct juxtaposition to the final image in the project and shows the growth of the campus over time. The intent was different from that of the original use, used as an image marker for the change of time.

“Locust Yearbook, 1920”. Locust Yearbook, 1920. 1920. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 3 March 2014. Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1921 Locust pg. 7”. Locust Yearbook, 1921. 1921. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1921 Locust pg. 5”. Locust Yearbook, 1921. 1921. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1930 Locust pg. 12”. Locust Yearbook, 1930. 1930. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 10 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1950 Locust pg. 178”. Locust Yearbook, 1950. 1950. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 5 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1950 Locust pg. 71”. Locust Yearbook, 1950. 1950. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 5 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“1975 Locust pg. 20”. Locust Yearbook, 1975. 1975. TAMUC Digital Collections.

Web. 1 March 2014.Fair Use

All images taken from the Locust Yearbook. Collection, where used in the project in a focused and instructional way. The images represent the main topic of research in the media project. The images are critical to the instructional purpose of the project.

“TAMUC”. Texas A&M University System. 2014. www.tamus.edu. Web. 14 March

2014.Fair Use.

Image is used in an instructional media project in an academic environment. Image is transformative as a juxtaposition to the first image in the presentation, showing the change of the campus over time.

Lifeformed. "Fifty fps Forest". Fastfall, 2013. mp3. Fair Use

Song is played over images to create atmosphere and is not being recycled for it's own entertainment value. Media project is in a scholarly research project, in an academic environment.

POD PEOPLE

       We are a very fancy type of ape, you and I. All this flitting about in the sky in giant metal birds powered by explosive dinosaur juice and defying the laws of gravity like we were meant to do just feels so...pedestrian. Every day we edge the frontier of technology further and further into "holy crap" territory. Yet we seem to forget that we still have a few little quirks that could be settled with the proper application of this new-fangled space tech. I'm not even referring to some bleeding edge science here, I'm talking about podcasting.

What has alien science wrought!?

    Earlier I spoke on the uses of web 2.0 tools to aid  education all over the world. Podcasting is a simple tool that doesn't require a vast economic or time investment. All it takes is a digital audio player, and some one with access to a cheap microphone and the internet. In an age where kindergartners are marching around with $500 iPods like we used to do with PEZ dispensers, there is really no excuse as to why educators haven't been given the greenlight to provide these aids for their students.  Missed lectures become something to listen to on a commute, study groups have the entire audio notes at a buttons touch, able to be edited, paused, and re-listened to for easy access review. Can you imagine the margin these things could provide for public education? Home-schooling parents would have access to a database of lessons for their child at the price of an audiobook.

"Mommy doesn't think you need part three of World History. That $3.99 

Is going to mommy's Mary-Kay wish list."

   Granted, not everyone has access to the interwebs, but that shouldn't stop us from making these things available. Education is struggling enough without intentional hamstringing. Everyone can have easy access to cheap digital audio players, and lessons can be combined with e-activities. As a young student, I missed a great deal of school due to a surgery. If I had access to the myriad of tools available to the student today... I wouldn't have had to play catch-up... I could have gotten ahead.

WEB 2.0 !!!

   Sounds all hip and cool, right? Throw that out there at the next round table discussion at your local Starbucks and see the eyebrows rise in admiration for your competency on current terminology! Really, though, "web 2.0" is just a fancy way of saying, "HEY! You know this internet thing we've been abusing by splattering cat pictures all over the place? You can TOTALLY use this stuff for helpful education techniques!"

"There's more to the internet than LOLcats!?!?"

   We've been using this things for years without noticing their true potential. It's like King Arthur was given Excalibur and he used it to finally nail that stubborn floorboard down... you know, the one you always stubbed your toe on when going to the dungeon; totally not utilizing that tool effectively. We all grew up dreaming of a cool buzzy future where we could communicate via vid-screens and send information instantaneously. We've had that technology for YEARS now, and what do we do with it?

"I have to send Betty this cute kitten I found on the interwebs!"

   Education without boarders, people! Wikis, blogs, social bookmarking, voice thread and videoconferencing, these are the tools available to efficiently and cheaply educate the world! Sorry, my soap-box is a bit creaky so I'll step down for a bit.  

   All the logistical costs of people with disabilities, long commutes to local colleges and housing for those who must re-locate to attend become nothing when the classroom is easily accessed and available via the internet. Web 2.0 isn't the future, it's the present. We as educators have access to these wonderful tools, and it is to the benefit of our future generations to utilize them to their fullest.

Look at all that techno-stuff! Let's hope they don't fund it with "Tuition 2.0"

  Taking a look at remixing information from different sources, like a photo and a caption from a book, to make a new comment on a subject, it's time to give an example below.

          Take this image of James R. Jones, a grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. When paired with the quote, from Cedar Crossing, the nonchalant nature of a man calmly driving to a hate rally is paired with the nostalgia of an old Texan. This juxtaposition between the hatred for another man and the comfort of "the good old days" conjures up a disturbing feeling.

"Everyone knew the others, them Ku Kluxers, them clan members would get together out in the dark of night and talk about the good old days and to plan forays agin' they didn't think was upholding the old ways." (Busby, 22)

   Ah, the internet, a vast digital world in which one can venture forth into the collective unconsciousness of man, and also view a disturbing amount of fan-fiction. We sometimes forget that the internet IS a real breathing world unto it's own, complete with roads to travel... and bad people along the way who wait in ambush; who may or may not be hiding in digital bushes. We think ourselves veterans of this digital world as we march along and spread our very special opinions upon any who would read our YouTube comments.

"My thoughts and ideas are revolutionary! I better post them in a

hostile manner on an obscure YouTube video."

   In reality, any one of us is susceptible to being the victim in an information highway robbery. Why then do we expect our younger generations to fair any better? As instructors we have a unique position that can aid in the safety of online traversal. We expect that, just because these young'uns know their Pokemon Index (that's PokeDex to those cool cats out there) numbers forwards and backwards, that they are more savvy than you or I. Really though, they have simply grown in the digital age and may not realize just what exactly their online footprint reveals or impacts.

   I'm sure there are tons of commentaries about online safety and protecting yourself, but I want to focus on a specific malady, online bullying. Now, we love to characterize these would be digital ruffians as slack-jawed, socially inept, skag-trolls, but what happens when the one doing the bullying is a 12-year old who has no idea what the ramifications of his actions are?

Behold, the face of digital tyranny!

   Education is key here. The anonymity granted by the internet is a mighty power, and we just hand it to children without any sort of guidelines. Grenades are also very powerful, and we train those we expect to utilize them in the proper skills necessary (I would advise against playing hacky-sack with an M61-F). A great introduction to this world wide back-and-forth? http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents 

   A great introduction for the uninitiated or "Newbie", this site offers many paths of safety to trundle upon. The internet is a superb thing, and a natural evolution in the world wide discourse of our species that provides an almost limitless possibility for our children, but so was the Serengeti... and we taught our children to watch out for lions.

I warned Timmy about those hyenas! Now they have his credit card information.

   "It has to be true, I found it on the internet!" - Future generations of the planet.

     Anyone who takes information at face value is set up for some of the worst human interactions in history. We all know this, right? Now you sit there,no doubt in a fine tweed jacket with your monocle and bowler, reading this blog post and expound, "Jove! My information is always rightly solid. No tomfoolery to be had in my discussions". I myself would have said so without a moments hesitation as well, had I not learned of some of the easy and "been there the whole time ,you dolt, why didn't you see them" techniques available to we proud and boisterous surfers of the World Wide Web. I fancy myself quite the technophile and have been using these fancy computation devices my entire pseudo-adult life. However, it appears I was not privy to the incredibly simple link: and easywhois tools available.

NO! My precious digital street cred!

  Before, when researching a topic, I would simply bang away at a major search engine until my desired information could be sifted from all the ads about divorce lawyers and cheap cars sales. Am I interested in why Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening? Ah, here is an easy website at the top of the search results that promise me all I need for a swift completion grade. The website seems legit enough, what with her picture and name at the top. So what if it tells me that the entire book was a metaphor for her favorite can-opener that was lost on a trans-Atlantic flight to New Zealand? 

   If I knew nothing about Chopin, and fully believed her ability to time travel (to Kiwi-land of all places), I would turn in a research paper that would be destroyed, and possibly unintentionally hilarious. 

"I'm sorry, Timmy. There were no Deinonychi at San Juan Hill."

   So, how does one check the legitimacy of a website? If only I could  see what other sites linked to it... 

Just by going to Google, and typing in "link:" then entering the website address you have it right in front of you. Like finding the contact list of your hated frenimie, all of the sites friends and dirty little secrets are there for your mocking pleasure. Still not sure if it's a legit or quit site, as you kinda believe the part where Edna Pontellier is a metaphor for the Vietnam War? Try www.easywhois.com . Type in the site and watch as all the personal information on the site is made available. It's like Facebook for webpages, only they don't offer to freely share how big your aunts bowel movement was last night.

Your life is awesome and I want to be you.

   So easy! I had never even thought to check the legitimacy of the site itself, always scouring for citations available on the page. After coming upon this information, it dawned on me that I wouldn't want my students to go about their research in the way I had been. As entertaining as it would have been to grade a paper that insisted that Mark Twain was a robot overlord from the far future, I doubt that the lesson would be learned. As the massive super-highway of information that is the internet gains more drivers by the day, the march of educational technology will be more and more subjected to the influence of anonymous sources. We and our students must be more conscious of the information we are redirecting... misinformation is the death of learning. 

    It seems to me that there is a rift between the technology available to the educator and the experience and willingness to experiment. With this technology, this crazy jumbled series of tubes, we as educators have the ability to utilize these fantastic digital tools to make our lessons available, engaging and, dare I even dream, fun for those who wish to learn.

   Hi there, by the way. My name is Rami Bdeir and I am a madman. STOP! Before you scoot that little cursor over to the back button in hopes to salvage any sanity you may have expended here, let me explain. If you looked at my name and the language center of your brain slightly imploded, don't worry, it is a natural reaction to seeing those letters arranged like that. I am originally from a tiny country in the Middle East, one of the ones that hasn't been relevant since the '90s, called Kuwait. I came to stay in the U.S. when I was quite young, something about a war or some such, and have lived in North East Texas since I was a child.

 

Ahh, childhood memories.

      After getting over my initial disappointment at the lack of cowboys and gunfights I realized that I LOVED going to school here. School was this magical land where knowledge flowed from a fount of plenty that was watched over by these angelic beings called teachers.  MAN, I wanted to be one of them! 

    I was determined to become an educator, and in the true sense of the American Dream, I strove with the loving support of my family to attend University and count myself among the great scholars. Of course then reality happened, and I was left alone and abandoned by my family at 16 and suddenly becoming a teacher seemed just that, a dream.

    Put away your tissues, and NO I will not sell my story to you, Lifetime Channel! I strove onward and finished Highschool and slowly started to earn my own way into college. Who helped me with this impossible task? TEACHERS! Those saintly arbiters of success and willpower drove me onward!

My 9th Grade Fine Arts Teacher

   And now, here I am using a blog to communicate my hopes and dreams to the world! There were those who called me mad, who said that my dreams were unobtainable. But I stand...er, sit here and boldly go into the great expanse of future educational techniques. Also, possibly, because this is an assignment for "Intergrating Technology into Curriculum". You can laugh at that last part, but also realize that I, and possibly you, am standing on the edge of the evolution of education. Not only am I going to be a teacher, but in this class I am going to obtain the (l337) skills to instruct future generations of mankind, using the immensely expanding field of technology.  

   This may not be exactly what my assignment outlined, but I do believe that  future educators need to resonate on the same frequency of their students. Becoming immersed in the same Internet culture and communications that they utilize is paramount to the passing of important lessons from one generation to the next. Even if it's literature... It's not classic if it can't communicate.