C4T #2

Comment#1 Dean Shareski posted a blog on June 12th about what he calls the "lurkers".  He explained how he has a course much like EDM310 and that lurkers will not be successful. He describes the lurker as the quiet students  who usually do well on exams and papers. These students sit back and can not offer much to their other classmates. Dean wants his students to be able to show what they have learned. Like in edm310, it is simply not enough to just spill out information. Can you show others what you have learned?
I commented:
Hi! I am a student in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I have been given the link to your blog as an assignment. This class is much like yours. Lurkers will definitely not get very far in this classroom. We have created blogs and are not given exams either. You can visit mine at here Angyl White's Blog .  Since this class, I have come to realize that more and more teachers are leaning towards this form of classroom. As a future educator, I don't really know where I stand. I agree with the idea of technology in the classrooms, I just don't know if I want it to take the place of the "traditional" classroom.In relation to your post, I agree with William Chamberlain in saying that if you make it clear that lurking students will not be successful, then it is completely up to them to be successful in your class. In our case, this class is mandatory  so lurkers must put aside these ways to complete the course. Courses like ours teach students to have a voice, prove what you have learned and demonstrate it through writing. This is a great way to open the eyes of lurkers to a new way of learning.

Comment#2 I chose to read   Shareski 's post from June 11th. This blog was entitled, "Keeping the "Professionalism" in the Profession".  The post argued the importance of not using the word accountability and instead using responsibility. This post also argued the importance of keeping professionalism in the education field. A video was posted on the blog that told of an experiment that was done with 4th grade students. The teachers were given the same curriculum but different directions. One group were given directions that stated, "You are going to be held accountable for raising standards in your classroom." "Your success will be judged on the basis of how well your students do on a test given at the end." The other group of teachers were given these instructions; See if you can facilitate your students' understanding of this material." Needless to say, the first group's students did worse on the test. 

I commented:This was a great post that showed how important it is that we keep professionalism in the education field. Teachers are by nature professional and should be treated as such. When teachers feel micromanaged and are given instruction using words such as "accountability" they cannot perform effectively! They begin to be too concerned with data and cannot focus on the student.