Blog Post # 10

I'm a Papermate. I'm a Ticonderoga.
When I saw this cartoon, I thought of the commercial that was seen a couple of months to a year ago comparing a PC to a Mac. The Papermate would be the PC in this cartoon, and the Ticonderoga would be the Mac. The Papermate is saying he costs least, but he breaks more, which I feel is like PCs now. I feel that my PC might just shut down sense I said that. While the Ticonderoga says that he is the most expensive purchase a hipster will ever make. I know that there is a joke in there that I am not aware of or do not understand. Yet what I do understand is that even though Macs are more expensive, they are more trustworthy and have technology that is easier to use once you understand how to use them.

This reminds me of a comparison I found which compared PC and Mac owners. Which made me think, which person do I what to be?

Adventures in Pencil Integration
In "Why are your kids playing games?", John Spencer uses his a satire approach to get people's attention. In this story, a principal calls in his character and scolds him for allowing students to play games. John Spencer's character even says that doctors use the approach of playing games to learn, but the principal will not listen.

I think that this way of writing is fantastic. It makes people think about how silly they are thinking, especially about a topic such as this. Students need to be able to play games. Playing games helps them learn and helps them to connect what they are learning to the bigger picture.

I read several more of John Spencer's blog post, but another one stood out to me. This blog was titled "The Con Academy". This post has the same unique way of spelling out John Spencer's thoughts on a topic. The topic though was flipping the classroom. He has quite a different view on flipping a classroom than other blog post and videos I have seen. Spencer's post mentions that this is not a true flipped classroom, yet it appears that he has some strong words against it.

Don’t teach your kids this stuff.
Dr. Scott McLeod's blog titled Dangerously Irrelevant. Dr. McLeod is the co-creator of the Shift Happens series which have been seen by over 40 million people worldwide. In his biography, I found that he is also "is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues." Dr. Scott McLeod's blog post, "Don't teach your kids this stuff, Please", had great sarcasm to it. It spoke how parents, teachers, administrators, and board members should not teach children about computers. Dr. McLeod did not stop at computers though. He continued with scanners, PLN, how to make videos, do social networking, and so much more that I do not think he missed one. I also think he did not miss one of the reasons why parents, teachers, and so on do not teacher the children about all that is listed above.

I enjoyed reading this because I know these people. They are in my family. I will not say any names. Yet after learning how much technology can help in schoolwork and in a classroom, I wonder why it is that people are afraid of technology. I think it is because they do not understand it. It is the American way. If you do not understand something than it has to be bad for you, we cannot learn what it is.