This is a Wiki page I created to show students how to use a photo enhancing website.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
NETS PowerPoint Presentation- NETS V
NETS Powerpoint(2)
This is a PowerPoint I created to show how I would incorporate various forms of technology into my classroom.
This is a PowerPoint I created to show how I would incorporate various forms of technology into my classroom.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Journal 7: Beyond Social Networking
Citation: Reynard, R (July 15, 2009). Beyond Social Networking: Building Toward Learning Communities. THE Journal, Retrieved July 29, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume_35_2007_2008_/MayNo7/L_L_May_2008.htm
This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of integrating social networking sites like Facebook into a classroom. The author made a point to mention that while creating a special group on a social networking is a great way to reach out to your students, students may not be receptive of it unless there is an education basis for the group. Students don't usually want to socialize with their teachers outside of the class and may feel like their private space is being invaded. The author also talked about how sometimes one technological skill can lead to the learning of another, so it is important to start somewhere. As teachers, we should look for opportunities to teach our students at every chance we get, whether it be related to our specific class material or just a basic skill that needs to be developed. By introducing computers/the internet/social networking sites to students that are unfamiliar with such technologies, the teacher is giving students the opportunity to feel more comfortable sharing their ideas with others because they realize that it will then be part of a community.
Do schools have restrictions on how teachers can use social networking sites in the classroom? I would imagine that administrators would initially be concerned with a teacher having a Facebook account that is accessible to students. If the teacher kept the page strictly professional, I would think/hope that the administration would see the value of using such a tool in the classroom to reach students. I think it is really important for educators to take advantage of technology that most students already use heavily anyway.
Are there any studies or information available about the success rate of teachers integrating social networking sites in the class? It still seems a little far out to me to think that students would allow their teacher to have access to their Facebook page. Most kids, at one point or another, have said something like "Man, I really hate our English class" or something similar on a friends site, so I find it hard to believe that such kids would want the said English teacher to have access to that information. While it is a cool idea, I just don't see it being practical, at least not on a site as popular as Facebook. It might work better on something that students set up specifically for the class, much like we did when we all created our blogs with Blogger.
This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of integrating social networking sites like Facebook into a classroom. The author made a point to mention that while creating a special group on a social networking is a great way to reach out to your students, students may not be receptive of it unless there is an education basis for the group. Students don't usually want to socialize with their teachers outside of the class and may feel like their private space is being invaded. The author also talked about how sometimes one technological skill can lead to the learning of another, so it is important to start somewhere. As teachers, we should look for opportunities to teach our students at every chance we get, whether it be related to our specific class material or just a basic skill that needs to be developed. By introducing computers/the internet/social networking sites to students that are unfamiliar with such technologies, the teacher is giving students the opportunity to feel more comfortable sharing their ideas with others because they realize that it will then be part of a community.
Do schools have restrictions on how teachers can use social networking sites in the classroom? I would imagine that administrators would initially be concerned with a teacher having a Facebook account that is accessible to students. If the teacher kept the page strictly professional, I would think/hope that the administration would see the value of using such a tool in the classroom to reach students. I think it is really important for educators to take advantage of technology that most students already use heavily anyway.
Are there any studies or information available about the success rate of teachers integrating social networking sites in the class? It still seems a little far out to me to think that students would allow their teacher to have access to their Facebook page. Most kids, at one point or another, have said something like "Man, I really hate our English class" or something similar on a friends site, so I find it hard to believe that such kids would want the said English teacher to have access to that information. While it is a cool idea, I just don't see it being practical, at least not on a site as popular as Facebook. It might work better on something that students set up specifically for the class, much like we did when we all created our blogs with Blogger.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Journal 6: Don't Feed the Trolls
Citation: Richardson, K (May 2008). Don't Feed the Trolls: Using Blogs to Teach Civil Discourse. Learning & Leading with Technology, 35, Retrieved July 27, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume_35_2007_2008_/MayNo7/L_L_May_2008.htm
This article talks about the responsibility teacher's have when using blogs in the classroom to teach students proper on-line etiquette. Many sites that students use on a regular basis have a code of conduct, but students probably don't pay any attention to them when they sign up to the site. Teacher's need to take the time to discuss appropriate behavior with students so that they develop good practices early on. This will also (hopefully) help to eliminate the amount of cyberbullying that takes place. It is important to discuss what exactly constitutes inappropriate behavior and give examples so students can't claim they didn't realize something fell into that category. In the article, Timothy Campbell suggested that the best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them, and I don't agree with that. If you ignore it, you ignore the fact that they have done something wrong and miss an opportunity to teach them about the consequences of their action.
How early (what age) do teacher's need to introduce this to students? Some people would argue that it's never too early to teach the students good behavior, others might argue that if you bring this up when kids are too young, it might actually give them malicious ideas. It might depend on how heavily you plan on using blogging in your classroom, but I think that, in general, you should always teach your students the proper way to handle themselves in any situation you put them in.
What sort of consequences exist when students violate the code of conduct rules? Kids post negative things about other people on-line all the time, and it seems like there are very rarely consequences for it. While I don't think kids should be severely punished every time they say something bad, there does need to be some sort of accountability for what they do. Should the teacher be responsible for setting up consequences related to the classroom, such as taking points away if it's discovered that a student has acting in violation of a policy?
This article talks about the responsibility teacher's have when using blogs in the classroom to teach students proper on-line etiquette. Many sites that students use on a regular basis have a code of conduct, but students probably don't pay any attention to them when they sign up to the site. Teacher's need to take the time to discuss appropriate behavior with students so that they develop good practices early on. This will also (hopefully) help to eliminate the amount of cyberbullying that takes place. It is important to discuss what exactly constitutes inappropriate behavior and give examples so students can't claim they didn't realize something fell into that category. In the article, Timothy Campbell suggested that the best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them, and I don't agree with that. If you ignore it, you ignore the fact that they have done something wrong and miss an opportunity to teach them about the consequences of their action.
How early (what age) do teacher's need to introduce this to students? Some people would argue that it's never too early to teach the students good behavior, others might argue that if you bring this up when kids are too young, it might actually give them malicious ideas. It might depend on how heavily you plan on using blogging in your classroom, but I think that, in general, you should always teach your students the proper way to handle themselves in any situation you put them in.
What sort of consequences exist when students violate the code of conduct rules? Kids post negative things about other people on-line all the time, and it seems like there are very rarely consequences for it. While I don't think kids should be severely punished every time they say something bad, there does need to be some sort of accountability for what they do. Should the teacher be responsible for setting up consequences related to the classroom, such as taking points away if it's discovered that a student has acting in violation of a policy?
Journal 4: Blogging as Assignments
Blogging is on-line journaling that users can make either public for anyone to see. Blogging is picking up in popularity and usage as the years go on. There are many free blog sites available for people to use that require nothing more than an email address to sign up. Much like this class, teachers are beginning to integrate blogging into their lesson plans to give students a place to share their ideas. Reading the threads I learned that many teachers are worried about students posting inappropriate content on their page, or comments on other students pages, but most find that students respect the parameters set up for them. I think I would worry about that too, especially wanting to teach high school, but you could incorporate that into teaching them about freedom of speech.
Blogging can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. If it's an English class, teacher's can use Blogs as a place for students to practice their writing, whether it's for a creative writing assignment or answering specific questions. History teachers can have students reflect on current events and how they tie in to the past. Math teachers can have students write creative word problems, and the students could answer in the comment section. If students are familiar with additional tools on Blogger, like embedding, assignments can get even more creative and educational. As long as both teachers and students are aware of proper etiquette, it is a great opportunity to do something besides a traditional paper, etc.
Blogging can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. If it's an English class, teacher's can use Blogs as a place for students to practice their writing, whether it's for a creative writing assignment or answering specific questions. History teachers can have students reflect on current events and how they tie in to the past. Math teachers can have students write creative word problems, and the students could answer in the comment section. If students are familiar with additional tools on Blogger, like embedding, assignments can get even more creative and educational. As long as both teachers and students are aware of proper etiquette, it is a great opportunity to do something besides a traditional paper, etc.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Journal 3: Assessment Made Easy
Citation: Zucker, A (2009).Assessment Made Easy. Learning and Leading with Technology, (June/July2009). 18-21.
This article is about a charter high school in Denver that has a one-to-one laptop ratio with its students. The school graduated it's first class in 2008 and saw a tremendous success rate with all of it's seniors being admitted to a four year college. I found this article very interesting because it sounds like there is a very supportive administrative staff at the school, which makes this program possible. It was also interesting to read about the teacher's being able to select which programs and software they use in the class, with only a few things being mandatory. That really gives the teacher freedom to create lesson plans that he/she feel will benefit the students the most.
Did the teachers have to go through any extra, specialized training to be hired at DSST? I think it would be hard to teach in this school if you don't have a solid technological foundation, which makes me wonder how much on-site training the school did/does of it's teachers. I imagine that to do such training would cost a significant amount of money so I am curious as to whether or not this type of program would be as successful, or even possible, in a lower-income area. If they didn't do any on-site training, was the teachers level of technical competency a factor in being hired?
Do the students get to take the laptops home to facilitate homework assignments? The article talked at length about the use of the laptops in the classroom, but how much students get to use computers at home could make a big difference in the success rate. I would think that the ability to take the laptops home would greatly drive the success rate of the program, versus if the students only had access to them during school hours.
This article is about a charter high school in Denver that has a one-to-one laptop ratio with its students. The school graduated it's first class in 2008 and saw a tremendous success rate with all of it's seniors being admitted to a four year college. I found this article very interesting because it sounds like there is a very supportive administrative staff at the school, which makes this program possible. It was also interesting to read about the teacher's being able to select which programs and software they use in the class, with only a few things being mandatory. That really gives the teacher freedom to create lesson plans that he/she feel will benefit the students the most.
Did the teachers have to go through any extra, specialized training to be hired at DSST? I think it would be hard to teach in this school if you don't have a solid technological foundation, which makes me wonder how much on-site training the school did/does of it's teachers. I imagine that to do such training would cost a significant amount of money so I am curious as to whether or not this type of program would be as successful, or even possible, in a lower-income area. If they didn't do any on-site training, was the teachers level of technical competency a factor in being hired?
Do the students get to take the laptops home to facilitate homework assignments? The article talked at length about the use of the laptops in the classroom, but how much students get to use computers at home could make a big difference in the success rate. I would think that the ability to take the laptops home would greatly drive the success rate of the program, versus if the students only had access to them during school hours.
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