Week 14: Internet Safety DOING part

For this part of the assignment, I talked with my little sister who is 17 years old and a Junior in high school in Portland, Oregon. She is a very social person that has a myspace and a facebook which she uses often. She texts her friends constantly on her phone and also chats on aol instant messenger and facebook chat. I asked her what she knew about cyberbullying- if her friends do it; does she know someone who was cyber bullied; does she do it; and why shouldn't you do it? I then had her go to the net smartz website: http://www.netsmartz.org/resources/reallife.htm and watch the first 3 videos on cyberbullying. She said that she has heard of a similar story to those videos she watched, but she didnt know there was an actual name for it and is still happening. She said, "I didnt think that things like that actually happen. I dont know anyone that has done it and i dont do it myself. It isnt a very nice thing to do to others and I wouldnt want someone doing it to me." I was actually really surprised that she didn't know there was a name for it. She was really oblivious to it and somewhat naive. The experience was actually really positive and quite easy to talk about it with her. I do think it was valuable for her to know this stuff so that she can be more aware of things now.

Week 14: Two best ideas

There were many great examples and ideas about integrating technology that I learned from my peer's presentations, but there were two ideas that stood out to me the most. One girl incorporated both clickers (CPS- Classroom Performance Survey) and digital cameras. These two technologies tied in very well with each other. She had the students go outside and take pictures of angles and shapes and they then came inside and took quizzes/surveys with the clickers. These clickers were fun for the students to use and very different from their everyday learning. I really liked her lesson and the way technology enhanced the students' learning. The second idea that I really enjoyed was the lesson a girl did where she had the students perform a play and then she videotaped it. The students then watched the play where they focused on looking for voice inflections/emotions (which was her content/objective). This activity had the students very engaged and motivated to learn because it was so personal and meaningful. Both of these ideas I could see myself using in my teaching future.

Week 13: Internet Safety- Reading and Watching

1. What article did you choose to read for your fourth article?
I chose to read “Setting Family Standards for Entertainment” (Ensign, Jun 2001, 26) by Carla Dalton, under the topic of 'Media'. In this talk, Sister Dalton explains how important it is to set a good consistent example of proper media use yourself. By not talking on the phone too long, spending late nights on the internet, etc., your children can see healthy ways to use technology and media. She also explains how it is also important to monitor your children's choices. Be aware of what your children are doing and teach them correct media guidelines. She concludes by informing us to just leave the bad stuff alone. Anything that looks explicit or immoral or violent, don't just fast forward during those parts- just leave it alone entirely.
2. What were the most important things you learned from the readings?
Some of the important things I learned from Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk "Let Our Voices Be Heard" (Ensign, Nov. 2003, 16) was that if we chose to watch the tv shows or movies that "the trendy, the titillating, the tawdry" we will then eventually follow those patterns in life. Even though we watch it and feel we are far from those lives, we will find ourselves wanting those lives and acting like those people. I also learned in the "Provident Living Guidelines Regarding Internet Safety : Pornography" that one of the 10 ways to safeguard your home from immoral things on the internet is to teach your family that when you get on the internet you should have a specific purpose- don't just log on and wander aimlessly through the internet. This wandering can eventually lead you to inappropriate sites which can cause to you keep going back to those sites. I really liked this idea. When you have a specific goal in mind when you get on the internet you get what you need done- this way you save time and protect yourself from inappropriate sites.
3. How will what you have read influence your actions as a parent and/or teacher of children and youth?
In "Technology and a House of Learning" by Charles and Dawn Graham it is said that a great way to safeguard your home from immoral and improper use of technology and media is to provide positive and fun technological activities such as: creating a family blog and encouraging your children to post on it or creating family videos together and watching them. This is something that I will definitely remember when I am a parent and a teacher. In order to protect my children and students from inappropriate uses of media and technology I need to set an example and show them how technology can be used for positive activities and for good. Also, Elder M. Russell Ballard stated, "If we do not make good choices, the media can devastate our families and pull our children away from the narrow gospel path." This is also something that will influence my actions as a parent and teacher of children and youth because of the eternal implications.
4. How can you use what you have learned from the reading to have a positive influence on family and friends?
What I have learned from these readings can help me be a better example to my family and to my friends. I can chose to not watch the popular and trendy tv shows and I can chose to not aimlessly surf on the internet during class. Besides setting an example, I can inform them. The more they know about what dangers are out there, the more prepared they can be to combat them.

Week 12: What was Learned from Other Presentations

I had to opportunity to view Amy's, Jenn's, and Gen's PowerPoint presentations. All of them did a great job at supporting their ideas with research. Some used direct quotes from researchers which helped support what they were saying. Amy mentioned that technology cannot replace human interactions, but it can be supplemental. I thought that this was a very good point- that hands-on manipulatives and oral conversations (and things of the sort) can not be completely replaced by technology- but through adding technology to these methods, the same objectives and standards can be not only met, but understood at a deeper level. Gen mentioned the fact that we need to be careful to watch for the implications in health that some technology may have. She suggested limiting screen time and choosing programs where the graphics are not overwhelming. This is always good to keep in mind, and something I didn't think about. Some children can spend hours in front of a computer, but too long of a period looking at a screen could be detrimental to their eyes, etc. This is a great thing to remember- to monitor the students' use of technology.

Week 12: Slideshow Presentation

Technology and ECE

View more presentations from brrr810.

Week 10: Technology for teaching Literacy and Mathematics

TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING LITERACY:
Content: Kindergarten Language Arts Standard 3, Objective 5, Indicators A: "Substitute initial sound (e.g., replace the first sound in mat to /s/, say sat)" and B: "Substitute initial sound to create new words (e.g., replace the first sound in mat with letters of the alphabet)."
Pedagogy: Through this lesson, children will be taught by explicit instruction and using their inquiry process skills. In order for children to learn to read, phonological and phonemic awareness are crucial. Being able to manipulate, substitute, delete, morph, etc. phonemes within words is a key indicator of later reading success. This lesson will focus on orally manipulating phonemes which can help children recognize (orally) that the pieces of words can be taken away and other pieces can be added and you can have a new word.
Technology: Through the internet resource "Internet4Classrooms Kindergarten Resources" and then by clicking on "Phonics" you are lead to a long list of great websites and activities to help teach phonics and phonological awareness. Then by clicking on number 24 "Phonemic Segments- Deletion and Substitution" it takes you to a website called "Lanolin's Greenhouse." Here a friendly sheep holds up a picture of a simple word (man, cat, boy, etc.) and orally asks you to take off either the first or last sound and replace it with a new sound. They have 2 plants: one with a picture of the correct answer, and another with an incorrect but slightly close answer.
This can definitely be used within a literacy lesson. As the students work up the skills to get to the point where they can understand phoneme manipulation (after phoneme identification, isolation, etc), this can be used to help them solidify their skills. After teaching the students how phonemes can be deleted and added onto existing words, this program can show them that many words sound similar but are very different in actuality. In the screen shot above, it shows a picture of a man and the program asks the students to take off the /m/ sound and replace it with a /c/ sound- they do not sound out the word they are supposed to find but they have a picture of the one they are supposed to sound out (and a picture of one close to what it sounds like). So the students are to click on the can, which sounds close to van. This program will help within a lesson of teaching phoneme manipulation because it shows that there are many words that have the same sound endings and beginnings but it is important to pay close attention to what is exactly being said. The students can also look for real life examples in the classroom and compare how they are sounded out.

TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING MATHEMATICS:
Content: Second Grade Mathematics, Standard 1, Objective 2, Indicators A: "Divide geometric shapes into two, three, or four equal parts and identify the parts as halves, thirds, or fourths" and/or C: "Represent the unit fractions 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 with objects, pictures, words (e.g., ___out of ___ equal parts), and symbols."
Pedagogy: Through classifying and processing data the students will learn the symbolic relationships between fractions as a visual and as a symbol/numerator and denominator. They will describe these relationships of fractions and construct hypotheses of relationships and equivalences.
Technology: Through the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives and by clicking on "Number and Operations" under the "Pre-K-2" tab and scrolling down and clicking on "Fractions-Parts of a Whole" it leads to an activity that looks like this:
This shows the the relationship between the parts of a whole unit to written description and fraction. The students can play around with the parts of the "pie" and what it looks like in a fraction and as written out. They can change how many pieces make up a whole (5 fifths, 8 eighths, etc) and see what the fractions look like for that many pieces.

The other activity can be found under the MathTools website. By searching "Math 2" and the topic "Fractions" you come up with a long list of fraction visual manipulatives. Then you can click on "Fractions- Comparing" and you see an activity like this:
This allows students to play around with fractions. They are to find the equivalences to certain fractions. They are given the red and blue already shaded in and they can increase or decrease the pieces that make up the whole. It shows that the shaded area can be 1/2 or 3/6's, etc.

Both of these activities could tie into learning about fractions. The students can refer to either activity to solidify the concepts learned. If a student is having trouble understanding how the symbol of the "pie" equals the written version, I can send them to work with the first activity and they can manipulate the "pie" and the written fraction and see how they both change and see the relation between the two when they do. If a student is having trouble with equivalences between fractions I can use the second activity to show them that 2 written fractions may have all different numbers but they still mean the exact same thing (they can see that the shaded area never changes, no matter how many pieces make up the whole).

Week 9: Reading / One Laptop Per Child / Digital Cameras

READING:
I read the article(s) on the website "Early Connections: Technology in Early Childhood Education". I really liked how they tied technology with many other developmental aspects, such as: language skills, social development, and cognition. There really is a strong connection between all these things and technology. I also liked how they gave health tips on using technology (such as what to do when you are sitting at a computer for too long). They also gave a small list of informative sites that can help a teacher find the right software for her class. This is great to have because there are so many computer games that claim to help children and these sites help you find the ones that actually do.
ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD:
I really enjoyed learning about these amazing machines. It was neat to see a laptop that a child can completely run on their own. For a child to use just a regular computer, they usually need help starting it up, opening certain programs, or fixing errors or problems. This laptop looked and seem so simple that the child could operate it all by themselves and I find that amazing. At this price, I really think I could afford to have a few in my classroom. In the video they mentioned that introducing these impoverished children to laptops can help them to later gain jobs that they might not have because of the skills taught through using a laptop. I found this to be very true and important- to stand out from the rest of your community, you can have computer skills which can make you that much more marketable.
DIGITAL CAMERAS:
For my intended activity using digital cameras, I would draw from the 2nd grade curriculum, Content Core, Standard 3, Objective 3, Indicator B, which states, "Sort rocks based upon color, hardness, texture, layering, and particle size". I would separate the class into small groups of 3 or 4 and allow each group to have one digital camera. We would then go outside and they would take pictures of all the different types of rocks they see. They would be encouraged to get a wide variety and to try and not take pictures of the same 2 types of rocks. This would be all previous to the explicit rock instruction. They would then come inside and I would print off their pictures (around 15-20 of them). I would then give instruction on the different classifications of rocks and all their different uses. After this instruction I would give them their pictures that their group took and a poster board and it would be their task to separate them by color, hardness, texture and/or uses. This will allow for inquiry based thinking and independent learning because there is no exact right or wrong answer- they can classify them how they wish. They would glue all their pictures down and label their classification groups and present it to the class.