C4T #4

C4T #1

In Brian Crosby's blog Rethinking School District Social Media Policies for Teachers/Students he discusses how schools block sites that could be used for educational purposes. Fortunately, the school he teaches at blocks very little so he is able to incorporate technology into his classroom. However, most schools do block twitter, youtube, wiki's, and blogs. Teachers and students are not allowed to give their input about this issue. Mr. Crosby wants school districts to rethink their policy regarding this situation. Students could use these websites for educational purposes and enjoy learning. Teachers could adhere to the Common Core standards because students are suppose to collaborate globally.

I commented on his post saying this was a great topic for a blog post. I completely agree with his discussion. School districts really should rethink their social media policies. I recently started blogging for educational purposes in college and it makes me wish I had this option in high school. My high school was very strict on social media sites and we did not have this choice at all. I believe that as advanced as technology is teachers should be able to incorporate it into their lesson plans. Technology is a very important resource and students need to be technologically literate so they are better prepared for their future. It is wonderful that his school blocks very little media sites. Overall, I really enjoyed reading his blog post.

C4T #2

In Brian Crosby's blog STEM: Cantilever Spans he discusses how he participated in a school's family STEM/science night and it turned out to be a blast. Mr. Crosby had the parents watch and participate with their students in an entertaining classroom lesson plan. The students were given washers and paint stirring sticks to use for this experiment. Crosby gave as little input as possible since it was an inquiry experiment. However, he explained that the objective was to make the longest possible span by placing a paint stirrer out on the table and than using the washers as weights. Soon, the students were very engaged trying to build the longest span possible. The student got really creative and some of the parents even participated too. Crosby said that he had to eventually wrap the event up because the students were having so much fun at that one station.

I commented on his post and said that this was such a creative idea! It seems like your students had a blast for sure. I think that having a school family science night is very interesting. We never had a program like this and I would have truly enjoyed doing soemthing like this. Not only is this a fun learning experience for students, but it also allows the parents to participate. It helps the parents to see what their child is learning about as well as getting to know their child's teacher. I would love to do something like this in my future classroom one day.