Inspiration

Journal # 7 My PLN NETS-T 5

My PLN is a great way for me to connect with a community of people who have resources and knowledge in education and technology. I have found a vast array of tools and information that will allow me to provide my students with valuable experiences using technology in the classroom. Twitter is a great resource that I used to people add to my network who are connected to education and technology. I am currently following these five profiles on Twitter: EdTechUNcon, Vibe Teaching, Learn Boost, Game Classroom, and our professor-Jeff Heil. EdTechUNcon provides website and links to webtools. It talks about a screen cast which is a live conference that teachers use to grade student assignment. The conference is a video that allows students to view comments that were made on their assignments and refer back to them. The teacher can talk to students as if he/she is right in front of them.

Vibe Teaching also provides great websites. The best children books of all time is one in particular that I love because children books are my favorite. There is also a video about UK schools teacher recruitment which is pretty interesting. Learn Boost offers lesson plan software, calendars, scheduling, attendance tracking, and more, and it's all free! Game classroom offers educational games, worksheets, and homework help for students in grades K-12. This website that offers kinder games and homework help: http://bit.ly/b022xU, is very useful for me because I am currently working with that grade level in an academic enrichment program. Lastly, and most importantly I am following our professor because he has great resources in his network that I can view and add to my network.I also participated in a educational chat on twitter on the topic of teacher evaluations.

The tweets that other people responded with were very interesting. The one comment that I agree with completely is, "the focus should be on the level of engagement of the kids and what the teacher is doing to foster it." That is exactly what administrators should be looking for in classrooms. When students are engaged they will learn something. Someone else in the chat said that what the teacher is doing is not important, what's important is that the students are engaged, but that doesn't make sense. Unless the teacher continuously works onon keeping the students engaged their level of focus will diminish and learning will also diminish.Participating in the edchat was interesting and I learned useful information about the opinions formulated on the topic. I have used delicious to research a lot of useful information about education.

I will use the information I learned about technology to integrate it into the classroom and I will continue to research and bookmark sites with technology tools on Delicious. My PLN tags on delicious are a variety of technology resources. I tagged a site called "12 Coolest Search Engines You've Never Heard Of," that provides twelve different ways to search for information online. That is going to be very useful for me as a teacher and for my students when they are researching something on the Internet for assignments. I also tagged Teacher Tube, a website for teacher videos. Another tag I chose was a media literacy education site which offers lesson plans for different subjects and all grade levels. T-box planet is a student and teacher community website that I also tagged because it provides great resources and tips that will help me to build a virtual community with my students.A fifth and final tag I chose is an article titled: Project Red: Do 1:1 Right or don't do it at all, about one-to-one use of computers in the classroom because I feel it provides great tips for the effective use of computers in the classroom.

I joined a digital discussion forum on Classroom 2.0 and I found a blog post in the forum that discussed the question: should teachers be add current students to their facebook network? The discussion was interesting,because the responses were pretty much divided. Some people think that it is ok for teachers to be involved with their students in a social networking community and others think that it is not a good idea. Some people think that it might be ok if the teachers were to have contact with their former students when the student reaches the adult age. My personal view on the topic is teachers should not contact current students on facebook, but once they are adults and no longer a student in the class it is ok to be friends on facebook. Of course that means teachers need to make sure their facebook accounts are representing themselves in the most professional way, but they should be representing themselves in that way in their every day lives regardless of situation.


Visit Classroom 2.0

Journal # 3 Bring the world into your classroom NETS-T 4,5

McDermon, L. (2010, September/October). Bring the world into your classroom. Learning and Leading with Technology, 38(2), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october.aspx
BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION:
McDermon, L. (2010, September/October). Bring the world into your classroom. Learning and Leading with Technology, 38(2), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-september-october.aspx
[NOTE: Italicize "Learning and Leading with Technology" and the volume number - "38"]

Summary: Linda McDermon shares the multiple benefits to integrating videoconferencing programs into the classroom. Students can visit places around the world virtually with these programs without ever having to leave the classroom, so in that sense it is cost effective. Videoconferencing also allows students to interact with other students from all over the world using a number of web based communication tools including virtual face-to-face meetings. Her students have had the opportunity to connect with scientists and historians at museums, high school teachers, and interact with classrooms of their peers in other states as well as Great Britain. Read Around the Planet (RAP) and Megaconference Jr.are two videoconferencing programs that Linda mentions. Janine Lim and Sue Porter are the cofounders of RAP, they started the program in Michigan in 2002. The program uses videoconferencing to match up two classrooms to share reading. Students have shared stories and performed skits and plays for the other classroom online. Linda says students have become very enthusiastic about curriculum with the opportunity to share their projects with another classroom.

Megaconference Jr. is another great program that allows students from around the world to participate and present for free at any time in a 12-hour time span. The project has held once a year since 2004. One group of students who participated last year even took it a step further and posted a wiki they created after the presentation to show students their progress on the project. Linda explains in detail the numerous ways videoconferencing can be added to any classroom. One way is to use a video camera and free software with computer and data projector using H.323 technology. Another way is to use a desktop camera connected to a data projector. It can also be done with the use of commerical videoconferencing equipment. The important point Linda is focusing on in this article about videoconferencing is the valuable experience it will give the students. According to Linda, the collaborative work students will be participating in along with videoconferencing such as e-mail, websites, and wikis will enhance their learning and give them a competitive edge in the world of education.

Question 1: How might high school students use videoconferencing differently than some of the ways elementary school students use it?

High school students could use videoconferencing to virtually visit college campuses and talk to professors in their field of interest. This would especially useful for students who are interested in attending colleges out of state because they would get a sense of whether or not they were really interested in the campus before making a trip out to the college. High school students could also talk to professors on universities in other parts of the world to gain even more knowledge about the area of study that interests them. Classroom to classroom interactive projects can also be done in high school and they can connect with other high schools nationally as well as internationally.

Question 2:Are there concerns that need to be addressed before using web based communication tools and videoconferencing programs to communicate with other classrooms and students?

I think that there are some guidelines and expectations that need to be discussed with students prior to beginning their participation in the videoconferencing collaborative programs. Students need to discuss digital citizenship and cyberbullying since they may be communicating via email or on websites and with wikis. They also need to talk about how they should behave when they are virtually meeting with students from other classrooms. It is important for the teacher to clearly explain that any behavior toward another which is hurtful will not be tolerated.

Internet Safety Site NETS-T 4

This was a collaborative website about internet safety I created with my peers through Google docs. The page I contributed is about cyberbullying.

Newsletter, NETS-T 1, 2

This is my classroom newsletter that I created to share information about the class with parents and students. This incorporates digital citizenship and models a creative way for students to use digital tools in the classroom.

revisednewsletterpc

My Delicious Tagroll NETS-T 1,3

My Wiki Page NETS-T 5

I created this wiki page to share with my peers an online tool that I found on the website Cool Tools For School. The tool I chose is a creativity tool that I found on What2Learn.com which offers many options. You can play or create games with educational subjects. I created a maze game with California trivia questions. I also created this wiki page to describe the tool in more detail for anyone who is interested in using the tool in their classroom. My game is embeded on this page as well.

Journal # 10

100 Things that make me happy!

1. Knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior
2. My mom
3. My dad
4. My sister
5. My friends
6. My dog, Chiquita
7. Warm weather
8. My boyfriend
9. The freedom to pursue education
10. Making a difference in someone’s life
11. Going to church
12. My childhood memories
13. My mom’s cooking
14. Surprising people
15. The opportunity to give to people
16. Celebrating other people’s birthdays
17. Getting my hair done by someone else
18. Being taken care of
19. Having gas in my car
20. The opportunity to inspire someone
21. Turning in excellent work
22. Playing with my niece
23. Playing with my nephew
24. Having alone time
25. Going to the beach
26. Spending the holidays with everyone I love
27. Providing for someone
28. Independence
29. Recognition when it is unexpected
30. Hearing my niece say cute/funny things
31. Watching funny movies
32. Making other people happy
33. Reading
34. Seeing animals being well taken care of
35. Buying shoes
36. Buying clothes
37. Memories of my late grandparents
38. Keeping up my grandma’s traditions
39. Having unlimited texting
40. Getting text messages from my friends
41. Going to the pumpkin patch in October
42. Getting dressed up
43. Going dancing with friends
44. Listening to music from my childhood
45. Watching a beautiful sunset
46. Exercising
47. Walking/hiking
48. Listening to music I love
49. Playing with my dog
50. Playing Super Nintendo
51. Dressing up my dog
52. Watching pretty much any show on Bravo
53. Days that I do not have to wake up early
54. Eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
55. Being at Disneyland with my family
56. Learning anything new
57. Teaching children about Jesus
58. Worshiping the Lord
59. Accomplishing goals
60. Meeting new people
61. My uncle Dwight
62. When God blesses me
63. Sharing my experiences with other people to help them
64. Helping other people make decisions
65. Spending the day with my sister
66. Going on trips to places I have never been before
67. Spending time off just relaxing
68. Doing really well on an exam
69. Giving my dog a command that she actually listens to
70. Chocolate chip ice cream
71. Organic food
72. Knowing other people care
73. Hearing other people compliment my dog
74. Seeing my dog have fun playing with other dogs
75. Celebrating my birthday with everyone I love
76. Remembering funny movie quotes
77. Putting up photos of my friends and family places where I spend a lot of time
78. Finishing a semester of school strong
79. Getting my nails done by someone else
80. Having someone else drive me places
81. When someone actually learns something I have taught them
82. Taking my family to dinner
83. Being successful at anything I love to do
84. Finishing any interview successfully
85. Having long hair
86. Wearing heels
87. Getting things done on time
88. Having the freedom to worship and pray to God
89. Prayer
90. Praying with my mom
91. Listening to KWVE radio station 107.9
92. Going to lunch with friends
93. The month of March
94. Finding sugar-free foods
95. My car
96. My ability to get the most out of limited resources
97. Getting a really good discount
98. Being told I am beautiful
99. Staying in when it rains
100. Seeing a rainbow in the sky