Research Portfolio Entry 1

1.)Bringing Technology Into the Classroom Lewis, Gordon. Bringing Technology Into the Classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. This book focuses on the issue of technology in today's classroom, looking both at the positive and negative effects of this transition. This book also gives insight into successful ways for teachers to adapt to incorporating technology into their classrooms. I would use this book to look at the ways technology is effecting that classroom and all of the changes it is putting in to action in the classroom. I feel like this book would be beneficial to use as a source of research for our project because it will give me an idea of how technology is being used in the classroom. This would help me get a better grasp of how exposed kids are to technology in the classroom. By having a good grasp on this I think it would help me see how texting in the classroom is managed. Are classes that incorporate more technology more lenient about texting rules? 2.)"Cell Phones in the Classroom: A Practical Guide for Educators" Kolb, Liz. Cell Phones in the Classroom: A Practical Guide for Educators. Eugene, Or.: International Society for Technology in Education, 2011. Print. This book focuses on how cell phones are effecting the classroom and the students in it. It is kind of like a help guide for teachers so they can adapt to the change. I would use this book because it covers pretty much every aspect of my research question. The book would also supply me with some valuable tips for teachers dealing with cell phone use in the classroom.

Blog Prompt 9/24/12- Peer Review

Peer review is important because it gives us as the writer a chance to have someone else go over our work and find grammatical and punctuation errors as well as make sure we are properly using citations and that our arguments/sentence flow makes sense. Some ways that you can tell if an article is peer-reviewed or scholarly is to look at the author, the peer reviewed pieces are not often written by experts but scholarly journals are written by experts in the topic. Peer reviewed articles are usually shorter in length and less detailed than scholarly pieces. Basically, peer-reviewed articles are more "laid back" and often for casual reading while scholarly articles are professional and for serious reading. Using peer review once you have your first rough draft can be very be beneficial as well as right before you turn your assingment in. Peer review is not always accurate and should not be the "end all, be all" of your research but it is a good start and it is always good to get a second eye to look at you work. One way I use peer review in my everyday life is with clothing. I have to have my mom‘s or another woman approval before I will by anything. I count on them to review my outfit and see if it needs some changes. Word count: 245

Blog Prompt 9/17/12

For our project, I think the resources that would be the most useful would be newspapers, popular magazines and governement documents. I feel that these are the most useful because texting in the classroom is a relatively recent topic of interest but I don't toss away the use of the other resources. If we could find any scholarly books about texting, we could use them to get an expert perspective on the effects that texting has on a student in the classroom. Also, if we could find a scholarly book about delinquency and misbehaving in the classroom, we could use that information to look at the way the inforcement of rules effects student's behavior. Popular magazine would be useful in finding the youth's perspective on the topic, also a good source of survey based information. Newspapers are the sources of information that are constantly being updated and released to the press in a quick fashion, allowing for up to date information. Government documents will provide us with statistics, criminal reports and school progress information. The encyclopedia will be a tough one, mainly just using it to find basic information about texting. We could use the scholarly journal entries in the same way we use the scholarly books. We could use them as expert information on our topic. Word Count: 217

Wednesday 9-12-12 Blog Prompt

My research question did not really change. I consulted my fellow group members because I was concerned that my question was too broad. They assured me that the question was fine, not too broad and not to narrow, which gave me a definite boost of confidence. So, as it stands today, my research question is, "What negative effects is texting having on student's grades and their behavior in the classroom?" I decided not to change it after speaking with the other group members and hearing their research questions. All of our questions flow really well together and we are all looking at the negative aspect of our respective topics which, I think, will make for a solid argument. Some of the resources I think will need are statistics about student’s grades, showing whether or not texting in the classroom is having a positive or negative effect on their grades. I would also like to talk to some of my friends who are teachers and see what they have to say about students and texting in the classroom. I would like to see if they see a change in behavior and grades in students when texting is banned from the classroom. Word Count: 200

Monday 9-10-12 Blog Prompt

As of now, my research question is, What are the negative effects that texting is having on student's grades and behavior in the classroom? I think it is a good research question because it has a solid 2 stance platform (someone could look at the positive side, if there is one, of texting in the classroom) and it is not a topic that is too broad or too narrow. What knowledge did you gain about your topic as a result of the research you’ve conducted so far? So far, I have learned that texting has taken a toll on students grades and behavior. Also, texting policies have caused issues on student/teacher realtionships, causing students to act out and cause tension in the classroom. The aspect of this topic that I would like to learn more about is the teachers side of this subject. I would like to know what they think. Do they think texting is ok? How strict are their texting policies? Do they find students do better in the classroom when a texting policy is instilled or when there is not a rule against texting in the classroom? I would also like to hear from the students and see what they think about this issue? Do they think texting is as big of a deal as we think it is? Word Count: 222

Our group's topic for our research project

Our group chose texting as our research topic. I think this is a solid research topic because there are a lot of aspects of texting that are relevant to the world we live in today. We looked at many different aspects and effects of texting like; the dangers of texting and driving/walking, the effects of texting in the class room, “sexting” and its effects on our society, and the medical issues and concerns linked to texting. I think you made us choose our topics from pulling news sources because finding our topics from up-to-date news sources makes certain that our topic is relevant and it gives us a chance to use the knowledge we acquired in class about finding a research topic and putting it to use in a practical application. The aspect of this subject that interests me the most about texting is the effects of texting in the classroom. I am interested in looking at how texting effects students grades and classroom performance, also how teachers banning texting in their classroom effects students behavior. Does it make the issue worse? Are students more likely to rebel? Or does banning texting actually result in a positive outcome in the classroom?