Internet Watching

This was a great activity. One thing that I thought was really interesting was in a video I watched from the NetSmartz kids website where a girl had been missing for three weeks before she was found with the man she had met online. After they were caught and he was put in prison, she felt an emptiness, despite the fact that his intentions were not good. She still wanted to have that relationship now that it had been taken away. This reminded me that when these types of situations occur, it is usually because there is a deeper issue, not just "I was bored so I started chatting with someone." Teenagers especially feel that they need these relationships as they are learning more about themselves and going through hard times learning to grow up. But even as an elementary school teacher, I think it's important to be aware of these issues and make sure my kids know about them, too, so that when they are tempted to abuse the internet, then they can remember what they have been taught.
I definitely think these videos were great resources for my classroom. I loved how many kid-friendly videos there were out there. Many of the videos were also told from the youth's point of view and not an adult, which I think is a lot more meaningful to kids. I also thought the animation from BYU was a great idea and of course I'm always going to support my school. But really, making a cartoon to teach a serious concept is a good way to get to kids especially in elementary school classrooms.

PLE Reflection

Creating a PLE was a wonderful idea for the class. The thing that I liked most about it was how practical it was. Not only can we use the blogs or wikispaces in our classroom, but we can also use them in our personal life to keep the fam up to date and all that jazz. I will definitely be using these in the future. I didn't try out a wikispace, but it seemed like there were a few more problems with that, so I'm glad I chose to do a blog. It was also so easy to access other people's ideas that they had posted on their PLE. I kind of wished we would have had a list of everyone's blog, just so we could check them out, but overall I really liked it and thought it was a perfect way to start the class and use it throughout the semester.

Internet Readings

At first I was pretty skeptical of this assignment, just more busy work. But when I saw that most if not all of our reading was either by a general authority or put out by the church (I LOVE BYU!), I knew it would be good. Elder Ballard's talk was so powerful. He was straight to the point and concise, completely right on. So many people outside the church say that these men that are our leaders are so out of touch, but just by reading that talk I knew that these men are the most on top of things out of anyone in the entire world. And let's think about the Proclamation on the Family that was put out 13 years ago and how much we refer to it now and how much insight it had into the evils we would face today. Amazing.
Anywho, Elder Ballard stressed so many times the effect that the media and pornography had on our families. He felt it was Satan's direct assault on the family, calling it a "pernicious evil" that is coming directly into our homes. I thought this quote was powerful:

"When he [Satan] wants to disrupt the work of the Lord, he doesn’t poison the world’s peanut butter supply, thus bringing the Church’s missionary system to its collective knees. He doesn’t send a plague of laryngitis to afflict the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He doesn’t legislate against green Jell-O and casseroles. When evil wants to strike out and disrupt the essence of God’s work, it attacks the family."

Elder Ballard also said that the choices we make in regards to media are reflective of the choices we make in life. If we decide to indulge in filthy material, it is most likely that our actions will begin to show that. This talk was given five years ago and I'm sure it has gotten even worse since then. (Let Our Voices Be Heard)

After reading Dr. Graham's article, Lisa and I talked about taking the time as parents and teachers to know what's out there. Keep up to date with the technology your kids are using. You won't know how to help your students make good choices if you are completely ignorant to the choices that are available. Of course, that doesn't mean to go out there and immerse yourself in the evils of the media and the internet, but being able to guide your kids in what and how much they do on the internet is beneficial to all. I also loved how Dr. Graham said that as parents and teachers we can show our kids what good things you can do with technology like creating a family blog or recording a family video and posting it on the internet. My favorite part of the article was when he talked about creating a nurturing environment where TV and the internet are not the only sources of entertainment or family time. (Technology and a House of Learning)

For our fourth article we read "Rated A" by Marvin J. Ashton. The thing that intrigued us most about this article was the fact that it was written in 1977. Again, he was dead on. I love having leaders who are so in tune with the Spirit. Elder Ashton said this:

"A person who becomes involved in obscenity soon acquires distorted views of personal conduct. He becomes unable to relate to others in a normal, healthy way. Like most other habits, an addictive effect begins to take hold of him. A diet of violence or pornography dulls the senses, and future exposures need to be rougher and more extreme. Soon the person is desensitized and is unable to react in a sensitive, caring, responsible manner, especially to those in his own home and family. "

1977. How much more prevalent is this today? The principles that were discussed in these articles I have been taught before, but what a reminder! Especially going into a profession where I'm dealing with children and trying to guide their decision making. And not only that, as a parent in an age of growing media and technology, it is imperative for me to understand the dangers and evils that persist. But now I also know how to use technology for good, uplifting activities. The use of technology in spreading the gospel is the best example of the benefits of technology.

Internet Safety Tips

Notes from i-safe America video

1.  Have positive resources

2. Beware of pop-up ads; kids are more likely to look.

3. Typo squatting -- when popular names are spelled wrong they come up to inappropriate sites. This is done purposefully.

4. High tech teasing and cyber bullying--now teasing goes beyond the playground, affects the student at school

5. Cyber bullying leads to depression, suicide, and murder.

6. People online may not be who they say they are.

7. Predators will pretend to be someone they are not to become friends with children. Don't chat with people you don't know.

8. i-Safe America, how to have a positive experience on the internet

9. Don't give your agency to someone else

Technology Report

Mrs. Adams has introduced our second graders to different kinds of polygons for her math lessons. The coolest thing I saw her do was scan a picture book into her computer and create a powerpoint with it. First off reading a book in math is great because it gets the kids interested in what you are doing. And because she used the technology she wasn't glued to one spot in the room which made it easier for her to keep tabs on her students and move around. She also used the smart board to flip the pages and point to certain things she wanted the students to notice. She also used the audio enhancer which makes it easier on her and the students. I think I will be using this device for my next lesson in shared reading because I've got a lot of interactive practice so it will be nice to have the louder voice.

Go Mrs. Adams!

I was really impressed with our teacher, Mrs. Adams, this week. She used a smart board a couple times to teach math. When you first look in her room your first thought would not be "Oh, wow, she's got a lot of technological resources." But she totally just whipped it out the other day and I was like "Dude, where did this come from?" Anywho, the best quality of the smart board is that she can stand anywhere in the classroom and still use the computer, switching slides, drawing on the screen and pointing out to the students what she wants them to focus on. Then on Election Day, she pulled up this kid-friendly website all about the election. The kids loved it and where really able to learn about the country without the teacher having to put together this huge presentation.

Hallie and I also taught this week. Hallie put together this freaking amazing powerpoint (everyone was asking for it later, you should totally ask her about it), that showed the kids the part-whole concept of fact families and adding and subtracting. Then we played a jeopardy game at the end of the lesson using a template Hallie found online. It worked out really well. The only thing that would have been better is if we would have had the remote to the computer for the powerpoint. It confined Hallie to the side of her computer and I couldn't really help out because I would have just been in the way of the kids. That's also the benefit of the smart board, but we didn't have the technology installed on her computer. Plus we would have had no idea how to use it and would have looked insanely ridiculous. Well at least the kids would have laughed. . . wouldn't have gone over too well with our observers though.

Reflection Midway

I was really impressed with some of the technology that they had out there in Midway. Almost every classroom has a microphone system for the teacher to use while she is teaching. It just hangs around her neck while she teaches so it doesn't get in the way. There is also a microphone that you can pass around to the students if they are presenting or if they are giving an answer. This way everyone can hear and the teacher doesn't have to speak loudly. There was also a CD/Cassette player with headphones that the students can use to listen to stories while they followed along. There were also six computers along one of the walls that the students work on everyday during reading centers. They seem pretty proficient and enjoy using the technology. I think I might use the video we watched in class today and have the students either write something about it or write a sequel to it. they can even writ the movie from the aliens perspective or the monsters perspective.

Technology Integration in Literacy

Readers' Workshop
Attributes: Theater performance of a work that was read.
Increases fluency and prosody
helps with comprehension (retelling and acting out)
gets everyone involved
allows those who may struggle with reading feel successful in another way
why a text is written
Technology:
Videotape their performance: shows the importance of plays and the advantage of performing; rehearsal and costumes-show to another class or at parent night.
Show clips of people acting to help enhance their own acting abilities. Choose clips that are pertinent to the story you are acting out with the same emotions or situations. This will not only help their acting, but it will also help them bring other stories to life and increase prosody as they read stories in the future.
Shared Reading:
Attributes: text needs to be accessible to everyone, predictable, point to words and follow along, students can actively participate.
Technology: ELMO, digital story telling (introduce book), powerpoint, promethium board
Read Aloud
Attributes: Little bit of a harder level, teach fluency, motivate students to enjoy books, comprehension
Technology: Book trailer, author studies (google earth), storyboards, digital recording using different expressions (interpret expression)
Shared Writing
Attributes: Teachers and students collaborate and negotiate ideas, teacher writes students' ideas.
Technology: SMART board, ELMO, digital pictures for ideas, projector (computer images), internet for details/info, powerpoint, watch video and write a story about it or the sequel.
Guided Reading
Attributes: Small group instruction, everyone has text, mumble voices, picture walk, predictions, phonics mini-lessons
Technology: Narrated powerpoint, Just use tech at beginning
Writer's Workshop
Technology: Use a blog! Yoohoo!

That's right . . . I made my own virtual tour on Google Earth

Although this project was insanely time consuming, it was totally worth it. I made sure to use material that I could potentially use in the practicum coming up next week, and I think the kids would really like it. Heck, I had fun going through it. And of course I added a clip from Disney. Anywho, I took a look at Courtney's about the Revolutionary War and thought it was such a good way to help the students understand where things happened and why it was such a big deal. I couldn't get her video to pop up, but it just goes to show that you can't always count on technology.  I also checked out Alisia and Austin's tour which just proved how you can use Google Earth for practically anything, even local things. This especially would get the kids excited because they are familiar with these places. Overall, this was an awesome activity and I think it would be a very useful tool in my future classroom. 

Google Earth . . . pretty sweet

Today we really got to jump into Google Earth. The only time I've used it before was to find my house, so that's the only thing I really knew how to do. This class period was basically a whole new experience for me. I really appreciated that we just got to explore a bit before we got into the instruction because we were able to get familiar with it. There are so many ways you can apply this to teaching. First of all, just to get familiar with it and to be able to explore on their own, the students could look up their own houses. They'd get a kick out of that. Heather found a really good kmz on the Civil War, so you could guide the students through those events. I remember studying ancient civilizations in elementary school especially Egypt. We learned about irrigation and why the people decided to live there. There was a great kmz about the Nile showing the most fertile parts of it. I think it would also be fun to have the students put together a tour of a book we were reading or a period in history that we were studying and then present it to the class. Basically the options are endless. You could even incorporate it into your relief society lesson and show all the temples throughout the world. Heather found it and it was sweet. Overall I'm pretty excited to use this not only in my classroom, but with my family, planning trips, and preparing lessons and presentations.

Digital Storytelling

I attribute this story to my dearest roommate Steffy Sue. She wrote this story for her Astronomy class a few weeks ago and she gave me permission to use it for this assignment. When she first read it to us, we knew that it needed to be made into a children's book. But we made it into a movie instead! Go figure. Anywho, thanks Steph!




I loved looking at my peers' digital stories. Each one was unique and had something different to offer to students. I liked how the group read things together in Tara's story. This could help develop collaboration between the students in our future classrooms. I loved the pictures that were used in Mallory's story and then the tie to teacher and her students at the end. Both of these stories were by the same author and I liked them both so I think I'll have to look into reading some more of his books. I also thought that the music in the background really added to the mood of the movie. I also watched one of "Where the Wild Things Are" and it had some pretty scary background music that set the tone for the rest of the storytelling. I also watched a book trailer for "Charlotte's Web." It was nice to see something different besides just telling a story. It was creative and fun. Definitely an idea that can easily be applied in the classroom. For example, students might be grouped into different reading levels and be reading different books. Using photostory, each group could create a book trailer for the book that they read. This allows for creativity and time for them to learn how to work together in groups. It would also be a good, creative way to assess if the students understood what they read. Creating a book trailer would probably be more efficient to assess because you don't have to create anything besides the photo story if you are just story telling.

Storyboards

This week we started our storyboard projects. I was really excited when we started going over what the project entailed and as we watched examples that others had done. What a great idea and tool to use with your students to make language arts more exciting! Heather and I met outside of class to put our story together because we are using a story that my roommate wrote for her Astronomy class. It's a really fun and original story. Heather and I did find that it sure takes a lot of time to put these kinds of things together. If you were going to do it in your classroom, it would definitely be a project that took a couple of weeks. As a teacher I feel it would still be a good tool as long as you really planned for it. The kids would absolutely love it and it would be a change from the normal Language Arts lesson. I'm excited to get further training on this next week, so that I can better help my students understand how to do it.

Week Four Reflection

Today in class we created our Tech Savvy Articles. As I looked at other's articles from the class, I realized how much we truly have to benefit from technology. Of the two blogs that I looked out, they both used a completely different type of technology than Rebecca and I did. There are so many options that I never even thought of, especially in elementary school. One group used the thermometer which would be so useful because the data is already recorded for you both in numerical and graphing form. The microscope is a nifty tool for a number of reasons, but I love that you can record video and broadcast what you are seeing on a screen so everyone can see what you are talking about. Our article didn't use either of these types of technology. Instead we used an interactive program from the internet. The variety of articles and techniques makes me realize that it might not be as hard as I once thought to incorporate technology into my own classroom. 

The Tech Savvy Teacher

The Tech Savvy Teacher

Are you tired of the same ole science lessons you have been teaching for years? Are you done with asking your third grade students how to work your own computer? Well put those technology-less days behind you! This article overviews just one of the many ways that technology can be incorporated into your science units.  Simply by downloading a program from the Internet, you can bring the wonders of the solar system into your classroom.
Celestia is a free 3D interactive real-time astronomy tool from NASA that lets you explore the solar system in a similar way to how Google Earth lets you explore the earth. This program allows the students to see the earth and other planets as they are seen from space. For this particular lesson, we are going to be studying the similarities and differences between the earth and moon. The second half of the lesson will deal with the affect of the sun on the moon.
Have a group of two or three students share a computer and open the Celestia program. They will start off looking at the earth. They can choose to speed up the earth’s rotation in order to see the whole planet. Next have them go to the moon using the Location tab. Now that they have seen both the moon and the earth, the students are ready to discuss the similarities and differences. Guide their discussion and record their findings on the board using a Venn diagram. Let the students know they are free to move their screen in between the moon and earth during the discussion to use as prompts.
Now guide the students in locating the sun. From the sun have the students find the moon. This helps them see the connection between the sun and the moon. Focusing the screen on the moon, have the students increase the rotation so they can go through one rotation of the moon around the earth. This will show, in fast motion, the phases of the moon and how the positions of the sun and earth make these phases possible. As a follow up activity, the students can get into groups of three and demonstrate the rotation of the moon around the earth and identify its phases.
And so, with a few simple clicks and a little guidance, technology can greatly enhance student learning. This program alone helped the students understand the properties of the earth and moon, and better visualize the rotation of the moon around the earth, all within the confines of your classroom. So don’t be afraid to try new things and add some technological spunk to your teaching!

Filling up Space

Testing, testing, 1 2 3. Hello out there.

Mostly I just wanted something to be here. It was just way to empty. That is all.