I am actually excited about podcasting, which is the main focus in Chapter 8. It's a way to get students engaged in the classroom. There are ways to incorporate podcasting in any subject. In history, students can have political discussions or give oral reports. In science, students can verbally share their results of an experience or explain a process. For any teacher, podcasting is a great way to keep parents involved and up to date, and to share what was missed for students that didn't attend that class. As a special education teacher, I feel that podcasting can bring in a new element to learning. For the students with a learning disability, podcasting might be an easier way to learn about something. For example, if they are struggling with reading, creating a podcast will help them practice speech and fluency, and then listening back to it is another way to "study" or review the story again, and can be saved for a later time, too. For students with behavioral or emotional problems, this is a way to keep them engaged in school. It adds the "fun" component to school! For students in the English Language Learners program (ELL), this is a way for them to practice speaking English and listening to English.
As a teacher, I will definitely add the technology component, especially podcasting, after I practice it more on my own, of course! Kids today are growing up practically with technology in their bones. It is important for them to learn as much about technology that they can, since most employers will want those fluent with technology. As a special education teacher, I feel that adding technology to the classroom will give my students an even greater opportunity to succeed in life! What is really great about the podcasting is that students are able to do it without having to purchase extremely expensive technology. They can do it simply with an iTunes account or off of a school computer. This can make sure that those students that are lower socioeconomically can always participate with technology, even if technology isn't available at home.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Growing Up Online
Before watching this video, I recall that all I used to think internet did was give out information and be a resource to students. However, this video reminded me of the dangers the internet pose. The internet allows people to share their opinions; however, immediately in the introduction, students were posting videos of themselves dancing to rock music and complaining about their parents! The internet has become a place for people to share stuff.. which is all that it is.. stuff. Stuff that can stay in their own lives, that will NOT benefit anyone else! Not only this, but the internet has now become a place to bully others, and get away with it because adults are just learning technology. Kids these days have grown up with technology practically in their bones. Watching these clips have scared me. Before, I was okay with teaching technology, but now, I am hoping that I will have enough knowledge on how to teach youth how to not let technology control them and their actions. Honestly, though, I doubt I will be able to reach the youth. They've already had so much access to what the internet offers, and know the internet better than the back of their palm. Not only do the children know how to use the internet for bad things, but adults do too, to creep into young childrens' lives.
As a teacher, I will do everything in my power to prevent today's and the future's youth to avoid people that attack young people, and to promote positive interaction among each other. I have heard of schools actually taking time out of the day to practice positive interaction among everyone, bringing all of the cliques together and getting people talking and interacting with new people. In the end, they have stated that there is less bullying since they've started this. I would like to do this with technology.
As a teacher, I will do everything in my power to prevent today's and the future's youth to avoid people that attack young people, and to promote positive interaction among each other. I have heard of schools actually taking time out of the day to practice positive interaction among everyone, bringing all of the cliques together and getting people talking and interacting with new people. In the end, they have stated that there is less bullying since they've started this. I would like to do this with technology.
Chapter 4 and 5 continued
In chapter 5, it says that RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a technology that those in an education program need to start using immediately, so that when we become teachers, we can teach it to our students. Instead of searching through 30 or 40 different sites that will all have relevant information for a project, RSS feeds will go through feeds that you have subscribed to, file them for later use, and when you want to look through them later, you will be given the chance to keep the truly relevant ones and delete the rest; you don't have to do the work keeping all of the sites and then looking through them later. In other words, you can read more content in less time. RSS feeds also have a feature that allows you to use keywords, so that the RSS feed will look for sites that have that keyword in it. As for a benefit for students, they will be immediately updated when new information about topics is published. The chapter also discusses the importance of Google.
After reading this chapter, I am more encouraged to use what the internet offers in my classroom and in my own life. Students growing up in this technological age are introduced to the internet at a young age. That is a lot of information all at once; having an RSS feed is like having a personal assistant sift through all of the sites and find the safe and relevant ones. With the use of RSS feeds with blogs, instead of looking through all of your students' blogs, you can use their RSS feeds to scan through all of the class content in one place, make sure it's appropriate, and then comment on it.
After reading this chapter, I am more encouraged to use what the internet offers in my classroom and in my own life. Students growing up in this technological age are introduced to the internet at a young age. That is a lot of information all at once; having an RSS feed is like having a personal assistant sift through all of the sites and find the safe and relevant ones. With the use of RSS feeds with blogs, instead of looking through all of your students' blogs, you can use their RSS feeds to scan through all of the class content in one place, make sure it's appropriate, and then comment on it.
Chapter 4 and 5 of Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts
Before I started reading, I remembered back in high school when teachers would tell us that we couldn't use Wikipedia as a source for papers because it wasn't "trustworthy" enough. We were told that people always hack into Wikipedia and put fake pages on there. This concern was addressed immediately in Chapter 4. "If anyone can edit anything on the site any time they want, how in the world can you trust what you read there" (56). As a teacher, I know that I will encourage students to use Wikipedia, even with this concern. However, as it explained in the book, most people get the "pedia" part of Wikipedia, which is just the encyclopedia. Most don't know what the "wiki" means. With this said, I would like to teach my students the benefits of using Wikipedia as a source of information, as well as what Wikipedia is, and why people can break into Wikipedia to create false pages but how it is easily fixed.
As a teacher, it is important for me to go through the pages beforehand to get a feel for what the students are reading. If it doesn't sound or isn't correct, either don't allow students to use that page or share my results and show that you can't trust everything on the internet.
Knowing that the internet does in fact allow fake pages and information is scary and dangerous; however, it is important to take action against using pages that don't sound right.
As a teacher, it is important for me to go through the pages beforehand to get a feel for what the students are reading. If it doesn't sound or isn't correct, either don't allow students to use that page or share my results and show that you can't trust everything on the internet.
Knowing that the internet does in fact allow fake pages and information is scary and dangerous; however, it is important to take action against using pages that don't sound right.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Favorite meaningful blogging strategy
After reviewing the 14 steps to a meaningful student blog, I first note that all of the steps are very important and crucial to creating a true blog. However, the one that stuck out the most to me was number 11: Don't Grade. Maybe it's just because I was always graded on everything that I wrote, but I just don't feel that students' free thoughts and opinions should be graded. Yes, grammar and language should be emphasized on during class time; however, no student should receive a "b" or "c" just because they have terrible spelling but really good content. I feel that allowing students to freely express thoughts and opinions and know that they aren't being graded will encourage more critical thinking and allow those that are quiet to say anything they feel. It will bring out more expression, and people can learn more about others because no one is afraid of getting a bad grade for saying what is on their mind. I would have loved something like this in high school. I don't know if this would be an effective assessment, but it might be interesting giving students blogging tests, to get a better feel for what the students know.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Chapter 3
Our chapter is mainly about blogging and the technicalities of it, as a spinoff of chapter 2. An enduring understanding is as a teacher, to look over the options out there for blogging, as well as the actual blog before introducing it to other students. Get to know the ins and outs of the site before attempting to teach it. Also, start out small. Instead of encouraging jumping into a large blog about anything, start out small with links or small ideas to get the feel of the blog and its purpose. Before choosing a blog site, know your school's software and hardware to make sure computers are compatible.
2 essential questions:
What are some potential activities to get students started with blogging?
Have students answer questions about blogging after showing them your blog. Have the students discuss the purpose of blogging as well as certain details and precautions, like language and appropriate topics. Also, encourage them to ask questions.
What are some precautions to take when blogging? How do you make it safe for your students?
Parents will want to understand what their child is getting into before signing the consent form, so have the students set up a password, use psuedonyms, or sign in with just first names. Also, promote confidentiality.
2 essential questions:
What are some potential activities to get students started with blogging?
Have students answer questions about blogging after showing them your blog. Have the students discuss the purpose of blogging as well as certain details and precautions, like language and appropriate topics. Also, encourage them to ask questions.
What are some precautions to take when blogging? How do you make it safe for your students?
Parents will want to understand what their child is getting into before signing the consent form, so have the students set up a password, use psuedonyms, or sign in with just first names. Also, promote confidentiality.
Multitasking
The main points of these three resources were that technology has a great influence on our minds and the tasks we try to finish. There are ways to multitask efficiently, but overall, attempting to multitask has the risk of not absorbing or completing tasks well. These resources really made me see that my mind is truly "hotwired." I feel the urge to constantly jump around from task to task, but in the end, none of the tasks are completed to my expectations. Not only do I jump around, but I listen to music with lyrics and I have the television on in the background. At the same time, I try to read difficult material from a book and realized after an hour, that I have read maybe three pages when without that extra technology, I could have read the whole chapter.
As a teacher, I want to encourage my students to learn efficient multitasking but also that it is okay just to focus on one task and make it complete before jumping to another task. A way to do this is by creating stations in the classroom. Each station will have one activity, and children will work on only this one activity for a time period. This way, they don't have to think about what other activities need to be finished before going home. At a school I tutored at, students would listen to i-pods, have email up on a laptop, and do homework. I don't know how these students were "honors" students because in their shoes, I could never get homework done well enough for an "A." In my classroom, I would promote music without lyrics and have it on for the whole classroom. Some may get distracted by this, even without lyrics, but I would give options. I would also promote efficient studying habits and homework techniques that do not promote multitasking, but rather efficiency.
As a teacher, I want to encourage my students to learn efficient multitasking but also that it is okay just to focus on one task and make it complete before jumping to another task. A way to do this is by creating stations in the classroom. Each station will have one activity, and children will work on only this one activity for a time period. This way, they don't have to think about what other activities need to be finished before going home. At a school I tutored at, students would listen to i-pods, have email up on a laptop, and do homework. I don't know how these students were "honors" students because in their shoes, I could never get homework done well enough for an "A." In my classroom, I would promote music without lyrics and have it on for the whole classroom. Some may get distracted by this, even without lyrics, but I would give options. I would also promote efficient studying habits and homework techniques that do not promote multitasking, but rather efficiency.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Creating my autobiography
http://www.vuvox.com/collage/detail/05d9bd8255
Before I began creating my digital autobiography, I will admit that I was terrified. Not being any good with technology, the thought of me producing this autobiography that everyone would be able to see worried me that this would be the end of me succeeding in this class. However, I was proven wrong. Setting up a vuvox.com account took about five seconds, and beginning the actual collage was even easier! I especially appreciated how easy it was to navigate the page, whether it was uploading photos or organizing the arrangement. I have always wanted to find a website like this, especially one that allowed me to tilt the pictures to make it look like a true collage. The only effort needed to make a basic autobiography was looking through over a hundred pictures only to pick out eight to post on the site! To make things a little more interesting, I added some color. I chose colors that resembled me, which was easy because of the range of color choices. One day, it might be fun to try to add some music!
Creating this autobiography has benefits for both me and other viewers. For me, it is a way to share my story and to remind me of the things that are most important in my life. For the viewers, whoever is interested, can get the true picture of who I am as a person. In the future, as a teacher, my students and coworkers can see that I am an honest person but also fun and lovable. This autobiography shows that I know how to stay connected, and also gives others a preview into my life.
Overall, this was a fun experience, as well as new! It gave me great insight into the potential that the internet can offer! I know that ever since I've discovered this autobiography, several friends have wanted to try it out too, and in a classroom, I feel this would be a great icebreaker activity, as well as a way to understand a computer and internet.
Before I began creating my digital autobiography, I will admit that I was terrified. Not being any good with technology, the thought of me producing this autobiography that everyone would be able to see worried me that this would be the end of me succeeding in this class. However, I was proven wrong. Setting up a vuvox.com account took about five seconds, and beginning the actual collage was even easier! I especially appreciated how easy it was to navigate the page, whether it was uploading photos or organizing the arrangement. I have always wanted to find a website like this, especially one that allowed me to tilt the pictures to make it look like a true collage. The only effort needed to make a basic autobiography was looking through over a hundred pictures only to pick out eight to post on the site! To make things a little more interesting, I added some color. I chose colors that resembled me, which was easy because of the range of color choices. One day, it might be fun to try to add some music!
Creating this autobiography has benefits for both me and other viewers. For me, it is a way to share my story and to remind me of the things that are most important in my life. For the viewers, whoever is interested, can get the true picture of who I am as a person. In the future, as a teacher, my students and coworkers can see that I am an honest person but also fun and lovable. This autobiography shows that I know how to stay connected, and also gives others a preview into my life.
Overall, this was a fun experience, as well as new! It gave me great insight into the potential that the internet can offer! I know that ever since I've discovered this autobiography, several friends have wanted to try it out too, and in a classroom, I feel this would be a great icebreaker activity, as well as a way to understand a computer and internet.
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