Web 2.0

         Docsteach or Docsteach.org is a website that allows a teacher to create unique lessons using primary source documents.  The website has several different lesson formatting tools that allow a teacher to start discussions, highlight facts, compare and contrast primary source documents, view primary source documents spatial and chronologically, weigh options, etc.  The website has pre-formatted presentations that a teacher simply needs to drag and drop primary sources into.  There are many primary source documents available on the website that make for quick, easy and pain-free lessons planning.  This tool is designed for education and it seems like it work great.
      There are a few drawbacks. The primary sources available are limited and adding outside source seems to be complicated.  Since the resources are pre-formatted it is very easy for the final product to become boring and repetitive.  The tool could also pose problems for a middle school teacher because the activities created by the tool are online and require students to view them on their own.
      This tool could be used in many different ways.  It could be used to create an online presentation that students could view to prepare them for an in class discussion.  It could be used to create a format for students to compare and contrast two primary source documents in a structured online environment.  The tool could also be used to help students use specific primary source documents to create an argumentative research paper.
      This web 2.0 tool relies heavily on being able to access the activities the teacher creates. If there is limited internet access or computer trouble many hours worth of work creating activities could be wasted and the teacher could be required to come up with something completely different on the spot.

Professional or Hobbyist?

I've been doing a lot of menial tasks in the last few weeks and I cannot stop thinking about ways to improve the American Educational system.  I've mulled over a lot of different scenarios, but the one that keeps reoccurring in my thought process is heavily centered on teacher education.  In America we expect high school teachers to have a degree in the discipline that they will be teaching and we also expect them to have some background in educational instruction.  We expect teachers to learn everything they're going to teach and more plus educational methods all in a four year undergraduate course.  I can't help thinking that educators, secondary educators in particular, would benefit from a full bachelors degree, four years in their specific discipline, plus a separate certification in teaching.  I think we put too much emphasis on time spent in a classroom learning how to teach during undergraduate education.  I think all teachers should be required to have a "masters" or separate certification in education before they set foot in a classroom.  Education specific graduate degrees would limit the number of people qualified to teach and hopefully this limitation would allow only the best of the best into our nations classrooms.