Weekly Reflection

I finished reading Anderson and thought it was an interesting book. I liked that it was an easy read, and since my husband is a mechanical engineer it was fun to ask him his opinion of Anderson’s description of how Toyota engineers its cars. He commented that successful engineering departments have followed these same procedures for several decades. I will save my other thoughts on this when we do the thread on Anderson.

I finally got my I Google Page organized the way I wanted it. I added an RSS feed for YouTube for Adult ESL learners. I looking forward to seeing what new material might appear. I’m now able to easily access my Twitter, Facebook, G mail accounts, and to follow the blog.spot list. I’ve also added the sticky notes and it is a great way to track what one is doing. I’ve been doing researcher on Apex Learning Systems software, and also Lexia Learning, and Merit Software - these both have packages specifically intended for adults. Mindplay is software for struggling readers. They all, of course, promise to improve student achievement. I know cost will probably determine which software will be chosen for our lab. This coming week I want to explore a Michigan site that has free programs that are accessed through the Web.

Ethical and legal ramifications and considerations of social networking is a topic we have not discussed much in class, but I think it is all on our minds with regards to ourselves as teachers and our students. I came across this article entitled The Whole World (Wide Web) is Watching at http://www.nea.org/home/12784.htm. This article gives a whole laundry list of crazy and stupid things people posted on Facebook or My Space that cost them their jobs. The issue raised is that of free speech. Do school employees have the right, on their own time, to blog about whatever they want without fear of losing their job? According to this article, school employees can be disciplined for their actions outside of school if it would have an unfavorable effect on the school or the teacher’s ability to teach (as we have previously discussed in our Legal & Ethical Issues class). This would be the case if the teacher’s blog has sexually explicit or other unacceptable material that could be seen by students. In 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was not a violation of free speech to fire a police officer when his conduct was “detrimental to the mission and function of the employer”. In 2008 a probationary teacher was fired for his posting on MySpace and Facebook. The U.S. District Court ruled that online exchanges between this teacher and his students were “inappropriate” and added that “such conduct could very well disrupt the learning atmosphere of the school.” As I read this I thought, what were they thinking? How could they not see that this would get them in trouble? However, it made me wonder if other postings that would cause far less controversy could also get a teacher in trouble.