Week 5 Blog : Due February 14, 2010

Wikipedia

The controversy about Wikipedia is not a new one. When I was in high school, my teachers would go crazy if they found out we used Wikipedia as a source for an essay or research paper. It was always a little annoying to us as the students because Wikipedia was usually the source with the most information. It was also the first source on a Google search, and convenient. This WikiScanner that Griffith created may provide a service that was already possible, but it makes it much easier to do. After reading the NPR blog and comments, most people agreed that this wasn't a useful program because it was already possible to track edits on an entry. This may be the case, but, for me, this program makes tracking much easier. I have no idea how to trace edits on an article or find IP addresses. For someone like me, this program is very helpful.
The podcast and article about Wikipedia provided much of the same information as the blog. They both essentially said that, because Wikipedia can be edited by anyone from any computer, it is not a reliable source. This is very true. They gave multiple examples of people and companys who have changed information in an article that pertains to them. Many negative and controversial articles about companies are simply erased by said company. Political parties can change word choice to make their views heard. The WikiScanner would theoretically fix this problem by showing you who edited information on a particular article. However, WikiScanner is not foolproof. If a company wants to make changes to an article about them, they can make these changes from a personal computer or an internet cafe. The only way the changes would be traced back to the company is if they were made from a computer within the company's building.
Essentially, what these articles and blogs are saying is that Wikipedia can be edited, making information found on this free encyclopedia subject to personal opinions and such. WikiScanner is a start to fixing this problem, but it is not the final answer. I use Wikipedia for a source to look up quick facts about a random topic, but I would never rely on it for an important subject or research paper.

What I Have Learned This Year

Mr. McClung had some very useful advice for a first-year teacher. I believe that I am much like him in planning and expecting it to go exactly as I had planned. I like to think of myself as flexible, but, in all actuality, I am probably going to be upset the first time my activity does not go as smoothly as I had hoped. By reading this blog post, I know I am not alone which is one of the most comfortable feelings for me. I will also try to focus more on the students and their personalities when teaching. I want to get to know my students and build a strong teacher-student relationship with them. I remember my elementary school teachers very well, and I want my students to remember me as well. Of course, I want them to remember what they liked about me, not what they didn't. This just gives me a goal to get to know them and to present the information to them in a manner that benefits them best.
Another good point Mr. McClung made was to be reasonable. Kids in this day and age are more mature than they were years ago. I know that the kindergarten of today is the first grade of 10 years ago. I was talking to a current K-5 teacher and was a little surprised that her students no longer took naps. They are not able to do as many arts and crafts as they used to do. This teacher has been teaching K-5 for 25 years so she has seen the change first-hand. The point I am trying to make is that students are more mature now, and I believe because of this, teachers have raised their expectations for them. This is obviously necessary, but I believe some teachers expect way too much. While these kids can handle much more than I probably could at their age, they are still 5, and you have to keep that fact in mind when teaching and disciplining. Mr. McClung had some very insightful information for future teachers, and I really enjoyed reading it.

Comments4Kids

This week I was assigned to comment on Avoca School District 37 Blog. I commented on Zakaria's blog entitled "Book Blurb." He read one book in The Boxcar Children series. It seemed like he really enjoyed it. I loved this series as a child, and it's nice to see that children are still enjoying it!