As I was working on my WebQuest I was perusing the internet in search of kid-friendly online dictionary websites. I didn't want to send students to dictionary.com (my savior when it comes to words I don't know) because I wasn't sure how schools would feel about the ads on the site. SO, I searched and searched for a site that was better for students. I finally came across one that gave AMAZING definitions in kid-friendly language (www.wordsmyth.net). If you need a dictionary website for students I would definitely suggest using this one. It gives them the opportunity to look up definitions and spellings of words without having to leave the computer.
Also, this is more of a question than an opinion or statement, but does anyone know of a good website that can do puzzles online? I know puzzlemaker, but I was looking for one that the students could create AND fill out exclusively online. I must confess, I didn't do a lot of surfing, but it seems as though all the puzzle makers out there were print outs. Anyway, if anyone comes across any please let me know!
Jen :D
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Growing Up Online
This video was such an eye-opener..especially since I was pretty much in these kids shoes. I have basically grown up with the computer, I remember when I was like 9 years old and had an AOL account. My parents were always monitoring what I did on the internet. Back when we had straight AOL I was only allowed to go nick.com or other kid-friendly websites. I didn't have access to instant messaging, so I could only e-mail my friends back and forth. I remember when I switched over from AOL to AIM, because it was free to use and I wanted in the worst way to be able to instant message with my friends online. After that my internet usage bumped way up and I would be online for hours at a time.
I don't think anyone is safe from the internet. When I was in high school I remember being concerned about what I had on MySpace, not because I thought I might get hurt in some way from it, but because I was concerned about my "image". I wanted to fit in, and I did, but as a teenager I wasn't fully satisfied with my "fitting in" status. I wanted more. Thank goodness I never went as far as looking for trouble or anything, but I was always looking for ways to make my profiles more interesting by putting up pictures, adding songs, changing the backgrounds, etc.
It really scares me to think that I could have potentially hurt myself in some way. I never realized that even if I delete it from my computer or from my MySpace that someone could still access it. Luckily I was smart enough, like many students, to be weary about friend requests or instant messages from people I don't know, especially if they ask personal questions. The good news is that children today are more aware of the dangers, I think, because they hear about it on the news all the time. When I was growing up with it, there weren't many stories about the dangers of the internet.
This video definitely opened my eyes to how children use the internet and how they aren't always aware of the consequences of what they post.
I don't think anyone is safe from the internet. When I was in high school I remember being concerned about what I had on MySpace, not because I thought I might get hurt in some way from it, but because I was concerned about my "image". I wanted to fit in, and I did, but as a teenager I wasn't fully satisfied with my "fitting in" status. I wanted more. Thank goodness I never went as far as looking for trouble or anything, but I was always looking for ways to make my profiles more interesting by putting up pictures, adding songs, changing the backgrounds, etc.
It really scares me to think that I could have potentially hurt myself in some way. I never realized that even if I delete it from my computer or from my MySpace that someone could still access it. Luckily I was smart enough, like many students, to be weary about friend requests or instant messages from people I don't know, especially if they ask personal questions. The good news is that children today are more aware of the dangers, I think, because they hear about it on the news all the time. When I was growing up with it, there weren't many stories about the dangers of the internet.
This video definitely opened my eyes to how children use the internet and how they aren't always aware of the consequences of what they post.
Digital Nation
I found it difficult to watch this video only because it was taking forever to load and I'd have to constantly pause the video so it could continue to load. I found myself being a victim of multi-tasking throughout the video as well. I was actually laughing at myself because I was listening to the video talk about how it's not very effective to multi-task, that the brain can't physically do more than one thing at a time. My thought process behind it was, "Well I can still hear the video, so I must be getting something from it."
People died in Korea from gaming!? That shocked me. I can't believe people can become so addicted to the internet that they don't eat or drink water to stay nourished! They were basically starving themselves so much just for a computer game. Knowing this now is kind of scary. Here in the US we aren't as consumed by the internet as the culture in Korea, so we haven't seen as much drastic impacts. However, if we continue to use and implement technology, especially computers, into the classrooms and teach children that it is okay, and even important to use computers, are we going to go down the same path? Are we going to start having people die in internet cafes because they forgot to eat and drink because they were on the computer???!!! I know it's important for technology to be in the lives of children because our world is becoming more and more digitalized every day. But it is a scary thought that we could potentially doing them a disservice if they are going to become so reliant on computers that they can't do other important and vital things.
People died in Korea from gaming!? That shocked me. I can't believe people can become so addicted to the internet that they don't eat or drink water to stay nourished! They were basically starving themselves so much just for a computer game. Knowing this now is kind of scary. Here in the US we aren't as consumed by the internet as the culture in Korea, so we haven't seen as much drastic impacts. However, if we continue to use and implement technology, especially computers, into the classrooms and teach children that it is okay, and even important to use computers, are we going to go down the same path? Are we going to start having people die in internet cafes because they forgot to eat and drink because they were on the computer???!!! I know it's important for technology to be in the lives of children because our world is becoming more and more digitalized every day. But it is a scary thought that we could potentially doing them a disservice if they are going to become so reliant on computers that they can't do other important and vital things.
So Far So Good
So I'm really enjoying the class. I am learning about so many different tools that are a piece of cake to bring into the classroom. I've actually already used two of the tools myself, one in a lesson with a fourth grade, and another I used to do a presentation for another class.
I used Wordle with a fourth grade class after we completed a language arts lesson. I had the students basically create their own Mad Libs. When they finished creating their own Mad Lib, they switched with a partner to fill out their Mad Lib. When everyone finished writing, filling out, and then sharing their Mad Libs, I called them over one by one to write in the Wordle text box about one thing they liked about the lesson. When everyone submitted a response, I clicked 'OK' and printed out our word cloud. I projected it on the screen and we talked a little about the words that were bigger/smaller. It was really cool to see this actually implemented in the classroom.
I used Glogster to create a poster for my Ethics of School Law presentation on a famous court case. We could use some sort of visual to help us with our presentation. I didn't want to go the old PowerPoint route, especially since I had just learned about Glogster, so I decided to make a glog about my New Jersey v. TLO court case I had researched. It was really cool, and the rest of the class was really curious about how to make the presentation I had made. I found it rather humorous that instead of asking me questions about the court case, they were asking me questions about the technology. Many of the students in my Ethics class are current teachers, so hopefully I gave them an idea to use in their classroom. :D
I used Wordle with a fourth grade class after we completed a language arts lesson. I had the students basically create their own Mad Libs. When they finished creating their own Mad Lib, they switched with a partner to fill out their Mad Lib. When everyone finished writing, filling out, and then sharing their Mad Libs, I called them over one by one to write in the Wordle text box about one thing they liked about the lesson. When everyone submitted a response, I clicked 'OK' and printed out our word cloud. I projected it on the screen and we talked a little about the words that were bigger/smaller. It was really cool to see this actually implemented in the classroom.
I used Glogster to create a poster for my Ethics of School Law presentation on a famous court case. We could use some sort of visual to help us with our presentation. I didn't want to go the old PowerPoint route, especially since I had just learned about Glogster, so I decided to make a glog about my New Jersey v. TLO court case I had researched. It was really cool, and the rest of the class was really curious about how to make the presentation I had made. I found it rather humorous that instead of asking me questions about the court case, they were asking me questions about the technology. Many of the students in my Ethics class are current teachers, so hopefully I gave them an idea to use in their classroom. :D
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Equal Access--Is It Possible?
I believe providing equal access to the digital world to all students is definitely a possibility. There are so many technological tools out there that there surely will be something for every learner. As a teacher, it would be up to me to search for those tools in order to guarantee there is equal access among all my students.
It is also extremely important to provide time for the students to work with the technology. It should be factored in to each school day on a regular basis, rather than just for special activities or lessons. Providing the students with the ability to use technology on a regular basis can be difficult to do, but not impossible. Even you have a class of 20 students, you can set aside time for the them to interact with the technology. One way to do it, although not ideal, would be to set a schedule for the students. Since there are five days in a typical school week, each day four students can have a good amount of time to interact with the technology. This would work, but not ideally because the class isn't always working on the same activities or lessons on Friday as they did on Monday, therefore the students who go on either end of the week would be at a disadvantage. However, there is a way to fix this. Each week, the students could switch days, so the same four students wouldn't go on Monday.
In order to successfully provide equal access for the students, it takes a lot of time, energy, and compromise from the teacher.
It is also extremely important to provide time for the students to work with the technology. It should be factored in to each school day on a regular basis, rather than just for special activities or lessons. Providing the students with the ability to use technology on a regular basis can be difficult to do, but not impossible. Even you have a class of 20 students, you can set aside time for the them to interact with the technology. One way to do it, although not ideal, would be to set a schedule for the students. Since there are five days in a typical school week, each day four students can have a good amount of time to interact with the technology. This would work, but not ideally because the class isn't always working on the same activities or lessons on Friday as they did on Monday, therefore the students who go on either end of the week would be at a disadvantage. However, there is a way to fix this. Each week, the students could switch days, so the same four students wouldn't go on Monday.
In order to successfully provide equal access for the students, it takes a lot of time, energy, and compromise from the teacher.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
What can we gain through collaboration
I am actually glad that I waited until the last minute to answer this question because I was lucky enough to attend the NHASCD conference in Concord today (I will also be going tomorrow). Towards the end of the session today, we talked about what it means to be collaborative. Collaboration isn't just working together toward a common goal, it's working interdependently toward a common goal. By working collaboratively with colleagues teachers can see ways to improve instruction, and more importantly improve student achievement. Doing it in the right way is of course important, for instance you shouldn't have a science teacher working with a music teacher, because their goals are going to be different. You should have all the science teachers working together, all the math teachers together, and so on.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
EdTechTalk
I chose to listen to the April 1, 2010 Seedlings show on EdTechTalk. I really like the flow of the show. It's very conversational and very easy to listen to. Just in the 25 minutes I've listened I've heard a few different ways to implement technology into the classroom. One thing I loved which was mentioned was that a Kindergarten class in NH is using WebKins and NintenDogs (sp?) to teach students responsibility skills. I can see myself listening to this show often as I can imagine the list of technology resources I can gather.
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