Week+3

= =

=
How to motivate elementary students to give for Haiti relief: Mr Power (the music teacher) has donated a really neat t-shirt. The class who donates the most money will decide who will get the shirt.Check it out: electric rock guitar t-shirt I'm not sure about the washing instructions :-)======

After thoughts =Thursday Jan. 21st: My thoughts __before__ the class:= I have had a look at the web site to get a feel for where we are going. With respect to **podcasts**, I really do think that they are neat. I do not own an MP3 player or i-pod so I do not listen to podcasts when I am 'on the move', but I will listen on my computer. I enjoyed the variety of examples which are posted. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a podcast, in fact it probably does not, but I have been known to listen to Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe as it was broadcast in NB because I knew that I would be busy when the same program was being broadcast in ON. I know that I can download broadcasts from the web site, but I think that what I did was live streaming. I have downloaded other podcasts (usually audio) in the past though I cannot remember which topics other than they were science and technology related :-)

But do all of my friends need to know my every move? NO! I do not use twitter. I don't have a blog, though I have contributed to ones for classes. I still keep in touch with Canada Post and the telephone :-) I send Christmas cards, a Christmas newsletter, birthday cards, Valentine's cards, Mother's Day cards and Easter Cards. One older lady shared with my mother how she enjoys receiving our mail and the fact that all of us sign it. In our house, at least once per month, there is a row of cards which must be signed so that we can move them to eat breakfast/lunch/supper, and I can put them in the post. I care about postal rates:-) We send postcards from our holidays,even if we mail them upon our return.
 * Social networking** is prolific. It is interesting to note that we, as BEd students, have been told many times to "clean up our Facebook pages". I do have a page on Facebook, but this is because I wished to be my daughter's friend. I have quite strict privacy settings and less than a dozen friends. I'm not worried about somebody searching for me and finding me. For this site I have decided not to name my children, but I am not too worried about the images which I have posted. My daughter has uploaded some images which she has scanned to her Facebook account, but we did discuss the inclusion of other family members and friends (don't). Considering that all members of my family have had their photos in the newspaper and I have been interviewed on both tv and radio, it is clear that we are not too worried about having our names and photos appear in public.

//**How does this relate to education and schools?** ​// High school students are usually connected. With the increased number of wifi locations, the fact that you can get on-line at Starbucks quite easily, and the fact that an i-pod touch can be used to do it, it is now cheaper and more convenient to get on-line. I live in an affluent area. I wonder how different it is in other neighbourhoods. I am sure that many teens use the money from part-time jobs to be connected, even if their parents won't/can't pay for them to be, but at some point there is simply no money for it. We do not have 100% accesssibility, even with free access at public libraries.

Cell phones: every day use and in the schools
Me and cell phone - well, Rogers thinks that I own three: own with a monthly plan and two pay-as-you go. There are four of us in our house so you know that somebody is going without :-) These days it is my son in Grade 7 who did not use his pay-as-you-go enough to keep up with what was in the account ($100 for 1 year). When my husband lost his work cell phone he took over the family cell (monthly plan) from me and I started to use my son's. Nobody's touching my daughter's phone. She takes less than a year to use up her minutes/dollars but does not use so many to the point where pay-as-you-go is not the cheapest option. I did once make the mistake of having her use the family cell on a weekend when we have free minutes. For the next few days I kept on receiving calls from her friends because they would simply hit reply to missed calls. Not good when I was at work and had accidentally left it on!! Won't do that again.

I cannot hear the **moquitotone** very well, if at all. Most of the time I don't hear it, but occasionally I think that I do. I don't care if a cell phone vibrates and a text message is delivered. I do care if a phone rings/warbles/whatever and disturbs those who are trying to listen and participate in class. Please don't even think of talking on the phone or replying to the text! My husband has been known to text my daughter when she is in class (especially between noon and 12:35pm)(Doesn't everybody go for lunch at noon !?!) One way a parent minimizes this is to **not** purchase unlimited text messages and/or minutes. My teenager knows that there is an expectation of moderation. If her account balance goes down too fast, she knows that she will have to explain why her usage is at the level it is. I still think that cell phones are for safety and brief messages, not general conversation.

While I am paying for the cell phone I do not think that the school should be forcing the students to use them. The teenager won't care and won't want to be left out, but I want to know why I need to pay for the participation. I would be much happier if an e-mail were required. I don't pay for each one of those (thank goodness) so I am quite happy for the school to ask for them to be sent, for example.

My husband wants an i-phone. A few of his friends have them. He wants one too. I say use the cell phone and bring along the son's i-pod touch and you have the same result, but it's cheaper:-) Who really needs all of those features everywhere? Not me, at the moment. I do however expect my children to have cell phones and not land lines when they are away at university (not for a few years). They will have laptops, printers, and mp3/i-pods with them too. I won't get started on printer options, scanning and faxing! So far, my husband has no i-phone. Ask me again in 6 months. I have been known to be convinced, but I am not an early adapter of technology. I wait until I see how I want to use it, and how it will benefit me. I have been using Photoshop for years. It's one software package where I am more able than my husband.

Thoughts after class (Friday January 29th):
I enjoyed this last class and experienced a degree of satisfaction in getting the software (Audacity and Windows Movie Maker) to work. I always feel more comfortable when I know that I have a person nearby who will help me. I have had some frustrating experiences in the past. We have a found a microphone which seems to work and **Audacity** was already on this computer. I will work on recording over the weekend. I will post an audio version first and then sort out the software for still photo accompaniment. I have to sort out the music first.

There has been 'buzz' in the media about the **new apple i-pad**. I have not listened very hard yet but it was even mentioned on Q on CBC at the moment I had the radio on briefly one day. If there's time I will scan the newspapers for info. I'm sure that I can find out a bit more. My son does say that he can afford one, but that is not a purchase we will be supporting. He is only 12 years old and does not need the technology. He did buy his own i-pod touch and Nintendo D-Lite, so he has thoughts on the value of technology :-)


 * Remember the frustration factor?!?** I have just spent close to an hour working on my wiki and trying to set up an **anchored link**. SO far it does not work, despite following the help as best I can. This is what has made me less inclined to embrace technology. I cannot trust that I will succeed. Maybe later, when/if this works, I will have something 'nice' to say.