Blog Assignment #10

I'm a Papermate. I'm a Ticonderoga.

This cartoon depicts how more expensive purchases are usually made because of how people will view you and cheaper products may cost less, but usually do not have as good of durability or quality. This cartoon is poking fun at the Mac vs. PC commercials (like the one shown below). I believe that a person should purchase things of quality rather than quantity. I understand that some people may not have the money to buy nicer things and have to settle for a cheaper product, but if you have the opportunity to buy a more expensive item that has proven to be a good product, do it! I have found this concept to save me a lot more money in the long run rather than having to keep buying something because it is broken.



The Con Academy-Mr. Spencer
This post on Adventures in Pencil Integration relates to a conversation the author of the blog had with a representative from the Kahn Academy. The promoter of the Kahn Academy is reveals his idea of "flipping the classroom", but truly the teacher will be giving the students a bunch of busy work that will help them "learn on their own". This is different from the concept that we learned in a previous blog post about Flipping the Classroom. He goes on to say that it is difficult to help every child at every moment, so by the kids working independently, they will learn more. Spencer does not agree with this and adds a lot of humor throughout his post. This includes when he says "This con academy is a free gift. However, so was the Trojan Horse." By this, he means that the Kahn Academy may be free, but the gift may not be what you expect it to be. I highly recommend reading the comments on the post because there are a few people that refute his argument. They are quite entertaining.

I sent Mr. Spencer a tweet and he replied!

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please?
In this post, Mr. McLeod sarcastically talks to teachers, administrators and board members about their view on technology in schools. He lists several things that teachers say about technology and the effects that it has on their students. I loved Mr. McLeod's post because I know for a fact that this is how many of my teachers thought throughout grade school. They want to "protect" the students from things like sexting and looking at porn because they do not trust the students. Only a small number of kids do what they are not supposed to do and teachers always place their focus on them. I believe this is the main reason many schools have not provided their students with technological devices. They believe the small percent of students will steal these devices or use them to do bad things. We will have to put some sort of system into place or trust these students because we are only holding back the kids that continually do what they are supposed to do.