Pollis,+Daniel

My name is Dan Pollis. I am from Bel Air, MD. However, since the rest of my family is originally from Philadelphia I will sometimes claim to be from there. I majored in English at the University of Maryland, College Park. After I graduated in December of 2008, I decided to try out the Peace Corps. I went to Samoa in October of 2009 to teach English, but after 3 months there I had realized that it wasn't the right fit for me. Twenty or so hours of flying later, I was back on the East Coast, where 3 feet of snow was about to fall. After fruitlessly looking for a job for several months, I realized it was time to go back to school. I have enjoyed the MAT program so far and am looking forward to student teaching down the road.



__Journal 1: Technobiography__ I have always seemed to be behind the times in terms of technology. When my friends had SONY Playstation, I still had Sega Genesis. When my friends had high-speed computers, I still had one that looked like it was from the early Cold War. It was not until tenth grade that I finally seemed to catch up. That year we got the internet at our house. I had never really minded not having the internet before we finally got it, but now I've reached a point where I can't live without it. It's such a part of my daily routine to check the news online, do a crossword puzzle, or send emails, that I just feel off if I don't log on to the computer. I certainly would not consider myself to be a tech expert, but I am pretty good at stumbling my way through things. I have an ongoing endeavor to compress all of my itunes files while not completely destroying the quality of the music. So far I have been successful. I have become really excited over the last couple months about using technology as a teacher. The world is so digitized now that if we don't engage with technology, our students will tune us out. I am excited to try out adventurous new things, like teaching via podcasts or even cell phones.

__Journal 2: Technology Integration Beliefs/ Experiences__

I remember, in seventh grade language arts, we all went to the computer lab to learn how to use powerpoint. We first had to write a brief biography of ourselves and then present it creatively in a slide show. It was an engaging lesson and I would say that everyone enjoyed it. However, I don't think I ever had to use powerpoint for the rest of the year. It seemed like a lot of times we would learn how to use a piece of technology just for the sake of knowledge, and not for future use. Now obviously, once I got to high school, I used slideshows often to present. However, seventh grade would have been a lot more interesting if we had continued to learn about and use new technologies!

Diigo Resources: This links to my list of technology activities and sites for The English/ Language Arts classroom: http://www.diigo.com/user/danpollis

__Journal 3: Syncing up with the iKid__

1.) I suppose I don't really think of myself as using web "tools" on a regular basis. However, I definitely use websites, software, and other items which, if adapted, could be considered tools. I definitely use facebook on a regular basis to post photos and messages, or to learn information about people. I also use youtube on a regular basis and have even been featured in a video. In terms of non-internet resources, I have several friends who are into recording and sound technologies. I've recorded a number of songs and have also been part of a podcast. Lastly, one of my favorite resources in the past has been Microsoft excel. My friends and I used to run a wiffleball league, and the spreadsheets and graphs were a great way to keep track of statistics and records.

Going forward, I will continue to use all of these items. However, I will definitely start to use the technologies we have been exposed to in class. Even just for my own creativity, it will be rewarding to be able to create videos, presentations, and new ways of presenting information.

2.) I hope to use web tools frequently in my classroom. As an English teacher, one of my main goals is to get my students to think and talk about the world around them. I really want to use social networking and blogs as a way to have students dialogue about topical issues outside of class. I also think that one of my roles as a teacher of language arts is to help students to learn new ways of communicating. This is not the fourteenth century anymore. People do not spend all of their time reading books or even chatting in person. They discuss and read things online. They watch television and comment on it digitally as events are happening. They even can create their own newscasts, movies, movie reviews, online books, and almost anything else that you can imagine. A person in India can instantly talk to a person in America. It is vital that in the 21st century, people be able to use and interact with technology. Our students will need to master new forms of communication in order to survive and be successful.

I expect that as each year passes, technology will become a bigger and bigger part of every classroom. My old high school was torn down last year after a new one was built. Touring the new space, I marveled at how modern it was. There were at least 10 classrooms with 20 or more computers each. There was an entire room devoted to broadcasting, with advanced recording equipment. Even the new theater was unbelievable. It had more lights than a professional theater, a bigger stage, and better sound equipment (and this is a middle-class area, not an opulently wealthy one). I am sure that it will take differing amounts of time in different regions, but eventually I think that students will be using all kinds of media in class. They will be able to learn online rather than from reading textbooks. They will be able to create digital videos within a single class period. Presentations will no longer be on poster board, but rather through advanced websites and tools. I don't think that teachers in ten or twenty years will have to out of their way to integrate technology. It will be an understood necessity and something each teacher uses from day one.

Journal 4: Copyright

After reading the copyright materials, I feel like I was already aware of most of the issues presented. I couldn't have explicitly told you what the various laws were, but I understood the basics. For example, I understood what fair use meant. I have not personally violated it, but I have seen situations on Youtube where people have violated copyright by uploading a video. I suppose a very prescient example of copyright for my generation pertains to music. I will be honest. Very little of the music on my computer is paid for, mainly because I copied it from other people's CD's or from CD's from libraries.

I did not, however, realize that there were specific protections in place for teachers. I had certainly never heard of the TEACH act. I'm surprised that such an act would be necessary. Most of the guidelines seem fairly intuitive. Obviously, you can not copy large swaths of a novel or illegally use copyrighted materials. I don't see myself having many problems with these rules. I imagine that any novels I use will have been bought by me or the school. In addition, I certainly wouldn't use more than a video clip or short textual piece in my class. Lastly, I'm not going to use any materials in a commercial way, so I don't see myself getting into trouble. However, I do think that it's important for me to teach my students about copyright rules.

Here's my rendition of "Can you Feel the Love Tonight," which I recorded for my digital story. Enjoy! media type="file" key="can you feel 2.mp3" width="240" height="20"

Below is a link to my full digital story on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi-wkm4Qhx0

http://prezi.com/prkq4nnuvy4r/rpr-case-study-using-movie-making-programs-in-the-classroom/

Journal 5: Final Reflections

I feel like I have made a lot of progress over the last two weeks. It was kind of a crazy experience, since it happened so fast. However, I feel like the main purpose of the course was to give me a taste of some things that I could do as a teacher. I will now have the next 20 or 30 years to come up with new and interesting ways to use all of these tools. I think that being a teacher in the 21st century will be incredible. I am so excited to try different things with my students and explore new areas of knowledge with them.