Internet Safety

These are the notes I took that tell about the most important "take-away's" that I took from our readings:
Let our Voices be Heard --M. Russell Ballard
“Television … has replaced the family, the school, and the church—in that order—as the principal [instrument] for socialization and transmission of values

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing -

“Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in entertainment that in any way presents immorality or violent behavior as acceptable. …

7 things parents can do to minimize negative effects- establish family standards on media, make family a greater influence over media,make good personal media choices, limit screen time, filter internet sites and lock tv shows, have screens in common rooms, watch appropriate media with children.

Things as they really are:

We live in a time when technology can be used to replicate reality, to augment reality, and to create virtual reality.

Don't let our addiction keep us from person-to-person communication --interpersonal relationships

Nothing is really done in "secret"

Consider 2 questions: 1. Does the use of various technologies and media invite or impede the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost in your life? 2. Does the time you spend using various technologies and media enlarge or restrict your capacity to live, to love, and to serve in meaningful ways?

Pornography:
-Don't open emails from people you don't know, keep in high traffic areas, teach not to share personal information, tell children to inform parents of any problems with pornography that pop up so parents can take care of it and block it.

Internet: I have a question:

3 suggestions to help parents avoid dangerous areas online
1. parental awareness 2. Family Rules 3. Filters
*Recognize that people online aren't always who they say they are.

-I completed parts 1-3 for week 14.

Internet Safety:

For my "doing part" I talked with my dad. My dad has very little experience with the computer/internet, so I was curious to see what he knew and didn't know. He already knew that it was very easy to end up on internet sites just by typing in one wrong letter, and he has always told us not to get involved in any chat rooms, or even be friends on facebook with people we don't know. However, he didn't realize how many people really were involved in chat rooms, which ended up in problems such as rape, murder, obsession, etc. I think he was also surprised at all the different articles that have been presented by general authorities regarding internet safety. He was well aware of the things they mention about getting into pornography on the internet, but not other internet safety issues. Although there hasn't been any problems yet with my own family concerning the internet, there are still two young kids at home that spend a lot of time on the internet. Our computer is located in our office, which is generally supervised, but not always. I think after what he has learned, he will be more aware of what things my siblings are doing on the internet, how much time they spend on the internet, and making a greater effort to make sure even if they are on the computer, that doesn't take away from interpersonal, one-on-one communication with their family, friends, etc. He also realized how lucky he has been since he hasn't had to deal with internet problems with his older kids since he wasn't very observant or strict on internet rules before.

TPACK PROJECT

These are pictures of the students using the ELMO to explain how they solved different math problems

Technology Used By Teacher

There is a wide range of technology that is available to the students and teachers at my school. Although my teacher does make good use of the technology she has, she definitely doesn't use all of her many resources to her advantage. The technology resource she uses the most is the ELMO. She is constantly displaying different worksheets or papers up on the board so that the students can see exactly what she is referring to. It is supposed to be shared among all the 2nd grade class, but it seems to stay in her classroom majority of the time. If she ever needs it, she has it, and teachers always have to come to her to borrow it. I think it is a great resource because it is convenient for the teacher, and also easy but beneficial for the students to work with. She also frequently uses her own computer. During writer's workshop, she often plays soft music to help the students focus better [also more fun for the students], and she uses it to show student's different websites that they can use when they want to learn more about something. The attendance is also done through a program on her computer. When we were doing our technology inventory of the school, we learned that there were mobile computer labs [40 laptops] that can be easily shared, but our teachers rarely use them. There is also time for students to use the actual computer lab, but teachers have to sign up for times, and I haven't seen them go there once in the 3 weeks I have been at the school. This is unfortunate because computer skills are crucial to a students education, and not all of the students have access to one at home.

After watching the video, the general theme and thing that I felt was most important to learn and remember was that technology really can influence a students way that no other lesson or activity can. It provides students with more hands on activities. it allows them to create things that can easily be fixed or changed without taking too much time. It introduces them to new technological resources that are available to them, and gives them the advantage of already knowing how to use them properly. Many studetns come to school with very little on no access or experience with any type of technology. Techonology, specifically computers, are used so much in society, and if school don't provide students with opportunities to work with and explore those types of technology, they will be seriously behind. I think they made if very clear of all the possible lessons and programs that students can be easily taught to use, but that will enhance their learning process tremendously. It seemed that the two things they seemed to think that stuetns benefit the most from are learning how to use the internet appropriately/effectively, and also using programs for different project (art) related activities. I think it is important to learn from these videos that it is the responisibility of teachers to feel comfortable using different technology resources, and also provide opportunities for students to learn from it too.

Technology Inventory

There are many different forms of technology available for the teachers/students, but everything is shared either among the entire school or each grade level. In the classroom that I am working in, the only technology they always have in their classroom is a tape player, CD player, and the teachers personal laptop. The teacher occasionally uses the audio devices to let students listen to recorded stories or songs, but she uses her own laptop for that purpose most of the time. She is able to connect her computer to the Elmo to project certain things for the class. I was surprised that there wasn't a single computer for the students to use, but I guess if the teacher wanted to use the computers, it wouldn't be too difficult to get access to some. The students watched one movie, and the tv had access to VHS and DVD. However, that also had to be shared among all of the second grade-maybe even with third too. It seems that they have a lot of resources, but the teachers don't really take advantage of everything they have.

-I completed the mid-course evaluation, informed consent, and technology inventory

Science Challenge Video

I made comments on Karyn, Heather, and Heidi's constellation activity using stellarium. Just from the activity my group did and the other groups activity with stellarium, it was clear that implementing different types of programs and technology with science makes understanding the information much more clear and engaging. I think it makes talking about concepts that sometimes feel abstract like stars and temperature, but more real. It is also easier to make connections, and see how the concepts actually work. It provides much greater understanding when you can actually see what the constellations look like, and/or watch the temperature rapidly increase or decrease with the temperature probe. The downsides may be that the technology can be slightly distracting. It's always exciting to use new things, but students might get so involved in experimenting with the pieces of technology that they struggle to focus on the content intended to be taught.When using new technology, you also have to be careful what grade level you allow to use the equipment because temperature probes and other instruments are probably expensive and slightly fragile.

Science Challenge

In our science challenge activity, we chose to have the students test and record the different temperatures of water in its different states. This activity covers the content area for fourth grade science in the first objective, standard 1, part d. This core standard states that students will "investigate and record temperature data to show the effects of heat energy on changing the states of water." Th teacher will begin by talking about the different properties of water. She will also introduce how to use the thermometer and show how large of a temperature range different materials can have. We will have the students use a thermometer as their technology device as they measure and record the temperature for freezing water, room temperature water, and freezing water. Students can also experiment with checking the temperature of the water as it is melting and/or as the boiling water starts to cool. This will simply help the students gain more opportunities to practice with the new technology and understand better the extreme temperature range of water in its different states. The teacher will provide the students with all the necessary materials, including the different water states (frozen, room temperature, and boiling), the thermometer, and a graphing chart to record the information they gather.
I think this activity is a great way for students to understand the different properties and states of water. This is a beneficial way for students to see first hand what water looks like as it is boiling, freezing, melting etc, and measure the temperature as it is actually happening. Without doing this activity, the only way to really teach the properties of water would be to relate it to snow for freezing water, or a pot of boiling water in the kitchen which is not really applicable for all students. This activity helps teach the goal of the objective better because students are able to actually see and test with the thermometer how water can be represented in multiple different forms/states.

Google Tour

He is the link to my classes virtual google tour:
Dances Around the World
I made brief comments on Heidi, Kindy, and Heather's virtual tours. I thought it was very interesting to see how this activity can be useful for so many different activities and subject areas. This is a beneficial technology skill to have because it is a great way to get students interested and active in their learning. Using a virtual tour in an elementary classroom is also a good things because it allows students to gain more experience with technology and multi-cultural activities. Some of the downsides to using a google earth tour is that there might not be enough computers for all the students to participate in the activity, and it would be quite difficult to follow the map and activities just by looking at it. This type of activity also makes it hard to see the world as a big picture. Depending on how close or far out you are from the specific place you are looking at, it's sometimes difficult to compare where you are in relation to the United States. I liked being able to see exactly what the specific places looked like, but it was confusing to make connections geographically with where we are in the US.

The lesson I chose to do came from the fourth standard of the sixth grade fine arts curriculum. The first objective is to perform and understand dances from different time periods, and cultures; specifically, in objective 2 to compare traditional folk or ethnic dances from around the world. I chose to do this lesson because I knew it would be fun and interactive as they get to travel the world and watch different dances, listen to various music, and create their own dance costume. I also thought it would be interesting for the students to see how different dancing is compared to their own style. Dancing is also seen as a masculine performance, so it would be a way for even the boys in the class to make a connection to the fine arts/dance. This tour is much more beneficial for the students then just reading books and articles about the dances, because they can see first hand what the dances look like, what types of music they use and how it is produces, and how the different dances relate to the countries culture. Instead of just reading that the ladies are graceful, and the men are masculine and powerful, they can interpret that knowledge through critical thinking on their own while watching the videos and looking at the pictures.

VIrtual Tour Planning Table

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Philippines	watch video and create dance	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi_ymNIVMNU
2. Africa	Look at pictures of costumes used in African Dances, and create your own costume.	http://image04.webshots.com/4/2/80/87/70728087ilClsD_fs.jpg http://www.friendsofbrockportdance.org/images/sankofa2009.jpg http://www.ukgameshows.com/page/images/f/f4/Strictly_african_dancing_cast.jpg
3. Israel	Watch video of Japanese and Israel Dance-compare and contrast the dance, costumes, music, style, etc.	http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/rWakhiw4JHY/default.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D-VTAuUZQM4w%26feature%3Drelated&usg=__kRfWpm1wP8Q3V3xOC-1aCThHCi0=&h=90&w=120&sz=3&hl=en&start=9&sig2=7JKI6cLikdi2R83l3BviQA&um=1&tbnid=9vPHQbOreDH7KM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMayim,%2BMayim%2Bdance%2Bfrom%2Bisrael%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=VujDSoSlAonytQPkoYWrCg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gsdYS1DTkI
4. England	Analyze and compare the costume styles used for English Country dancing and Women Chinese dancing	http://dancewithjaneausten.com/images/jane-austen-emma-1.jpg http://www.friendlyplanet.com/images/tang-dynasty-show-dancers.jpg

Using Digital Stories in the Classroom

Digital story telling is a great way to add variety and fun into classroom instruction. It is easy for teachers to stick to assigning reading from students' textbooks and then doing a typical worksheet to go along with it, but that isn't always engaging or beneficial for the students that are actually trying to learn. I think the biggest challenge will simply be finding the time to make the video and be sure that it is presented in an interesting and creative way. It wouldn't be beneficial to have pictures and narrate in a tone that sounded like they were reading from a textbook. If a teacher is going to use digital story telling, they need to make sure it is engaging and informative. Also, they need to make sure that the video is easy to understand, clear, and not too long. It seemed simple enough to create the video, and it wouldn't be hard to set it up so the students could watch it, it would just be a matter of taking the time as the teacher to make the video and put the effort in to making it engaging.

StoryBoard

Importance of TPACK in a Classroom

TPACK outlines the necessary knowledge that every teacher needs to be truly successful. The three areas that it encompasses are content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge. Content knowledge is knowing facts and information about different subject areas, pedagogical knowledge means having the necessary teaching management knowledge, and technological knowledge means that the teacher is competent in using various different technologies as a helpful tool. The three areas can be combined between two of the areas, or all of the areas. Teachers need to be able to acquire all three of those areas so that they can become a teacher that has the knowledge to manage a class, and then incorporate technology in lessons over specific content. We learned that not all students learn in the same way, and it is important to teach in a variety of ways so that each students learning needs can be met, and the teacher can keep all of the students engaged. Technology can be used for instruction which will be more interesting to students that just reading textbooks or completing worksheets every day. It is also important that teachers have all the skill incorporated in TPACK because our society has becoming very dependent on technology, and it is constantly being upgraded, so its crucial that teachers can help educate the students in this area. As the standard in society increases, teachers competence level in content, pedagogy, and technology must also improve so the students in every class have an equal opportunity to learn the necessary information to succeed in this life.

Useful Skills Learned in the Last Week

The assignment we did the last week took a while and included many skills that I had never done before, and some I did not even know were possible. One thing that I found particularly useful and helpful was creating a calendar. This will be very useful in a future class so that all of the students can know where to look to make sure they have all of their assignments done and are prepared for certain activities. This is also a great way to incorporate students' parents in the classroom because then they can be aware of what is going on and can help make sure their children stay on top of their work. I thought it was great that we were able to customize the calendar based on one specific day, weekly, and/or monthly. Having all this electronically makes it so as a teacher, I can create the calendar quickly, but also, if changes needed to be made, everyone will be aware of them. Creating a calendar using technology provides for a clear and efficient way to organize a class, as well as keep everyone updated and aware of what is going on in the classroom. It seemed so difficult before, but now I see how helpful it is because it is actually quite simple to create a calendar.

Technology Experience

Technology has never been a strong point for me. I grew up taking a computer class maybe once a week in elementary school, but a majority of that time was spent simply learning how to type correctly. We always played a typing game called Maves Beacon. My family had a computer and i frequently watched my two older sisters play the sims or other fun games, but I always thought they were too confusing so I generally avoided the computer. I then took a computer class in high school that really helped me. I remember it being quite basic, just learning more in depth about researching on the internet, and working with different programs in Microsoft Office such as word, powerpoint, and excel. This helped me feel much more comfortable using computers, but I still feel very inadequate and know that I have a lot to learn. I have had many assignments/projects in college that have forced me to learn more about the technology world, but it was always a struggle. I was just lucky to have a roommate that was great with technology. I realize technology plays a crucial role in education and society today, so I hope as a teacher, I can become literate enough to help my students succeed and keep up with our growing and developing technologially-based society.