Sunday, April 28, 2013

Blog Post #14

I.) Summary of Teacher Knows if You Have Done the E-Reading by David Streitfeld 
  At this moment in Texas A&M several professors are creating an on-line E-Reading system after realizing that not only were their students not doing the readings they needed to do for class but that a good portion of them have never even opened their books. Thanks to the program the teachers and professors can look over and see if the students are actually reading the book to see if they need to change. Does what the program say mean that I need to make the class harder? Easier? Should I speed up or slow down? It tells them this as well as giving an early alert in case one or more students look like they are going to fail based on their scores on-line. Now the professors can alter the teaching lesson to keep everyone on track while watching over the ones who are in the red zone; this helps a lot for freshmen because a bad G.P.A. can take years to fix. Some students did not like the program at first because of "big brother" watching them at then again later because of either bugs in the system or being recorded opening the book only once when it as opened many times that day. These and other problems will be taken care of and hopefully the drop rate at the college will begin to decrease thanks to the program and its professors.

II.) Thoughts On the Article if I was a Teacher
  I like this because I can see if my students are actually reading the book, why or why not and if I need to slow down/speed up in class. If they understand the subject in class but no one is opening their books I can ask if they do not understand the chapters and contact the publishers to tell them this so that they can make betters ones in the future. This would also help me see which students are trying hard to keep up with the class but are falling behind or if someone is doing  nothing for the class in terms of grades too. If at the end I see that Amy has been working hard all year and is only a few points away I have proof that she has earned a chance to get the points but if Johnny does nothing and his parents ask why I failed him I also have proof. It is also a way to hold the students accountable for their own reading and preparing for the exams by showing that they have all that they need, other than the notes they take in class, on the website.

III.) Thoughts On the Article if I was a Student 
  I think that I would like it since everything was on-line (being green is very important to me) and everything I needed would be on one page making it so that I would not have to keep searching again and again for a term that might be different from what is said in the subject. I can prove that I have been doing the work and reading the chapters just as we would be told to do for homework in case I need a few more points to get to the next letter grade. It would also have a list of what I need to do for the week, be able to see what I have done/need to do and research information on projects. The only thing that I do not like is that if I write notes in class then I get points taken off and if I find a mistake the book will not be fixed right away which means that others will learn a false fact.

IV.) Questions to Ask a Teacher of The Class That is Described in the Article 
  1.) How do you know that the students are really reading the book and not just clicking on the chapters?
  2.) What do you do if your students show you and/or see that parts of the chapter/book are wrong?Do you call the publisher? Can you get a new book?
  3.) Is it possible to add quizzes to their reading on-line?
  4.) If the students scan in their notes from class will they still how a low score?

V.) Questions to Ask the Students in the Class of a Teacher That is Described in the Article 
  1.) Is it easier to read the book if it is a textbook or on-line?
  2.) What do you do if what the teacher teaches is not the same as what is shown in the book?
  3.) Do you like the teacher knowing if you have done the reading or not?
  4.) If there was one thing about this program you could change what would it be?

VI.) Comment 
  I would like this system because everything would be on-line, no paper trail that could get lost and I can monitor if my students are doing their work or not. I can also place the class into two parts: the on-line reading and a class blog. The on-line reading would help keep them on track, like a Checklist, so that they knew what is due when and what to do if they have questions. It can tell me if someone is falling behind or if I can speed up the class; being able to alert me if someone is going to fail is a plus too. The class blog would also have them apply what they have read, project ideas that they might want to do in class and to show that they are really listening/getting what I am teaching. I can assign them reading then have them write about what they have been doing in the class to their blog and try to apply it to a read-world event or idea. With this I cam help reach more students by monitoring their progress and their communication on all levels. 

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