Poverty US (Video)

Keeping Kids Internet Safe

This article examines different strategies to keep kids safe while using the internet.  I really like most of the strategies the first one was talking to the kids about why it is important to be careful on the internet.  Talking to kids over and over about how important this is will eventually get through to them even if it seems like they aren't really listening.  It also says it's the staff’s responsibility to know what the internet policy is.  The second strategy that they talked about was building the students trust, this seems more geared to younger students who have little idea about internet use and what a bad site looks like.  The next thing was accept the fact that kids will make mistakes; I agree with this especially in the elementary schools, kids don't always take the time to look over the description on Google before clicking on it.  Allow student personal internet use, this way they are given a privilege and they know that if they abuse this privilege they will lose their personal internet use.  The next thing is use moderate punishment, if the student is caught on an inappropriate website take away personal use not classroom use, still let them participate with the other students, I like this I think it is more likely work then just taking it away all together.  The last strategy that really caught my eye was model ethical behaviors, this is saying that if the teacher always does the right thing the students are more like to model it which I really think is important.
Johnson, D. (2008). Keeping Kids Internet Safe. Education World. Retrieved November 8, 2010, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/johnson/johnson024.shtml.

Speaking of Electronic Whiteboards

It is clear that times are changing.  It is no longer productive to have a simple projection screen and computer.  That is the purpose of electronic whiteboards.  Many people know these boards as Smart boards.  These are a definite benefit to the classroom, it allows students to write on the board as well as the teacher can highlight and interactive activities right in the front of the classroom.  The teacher can navigate the internet right in front of the students so that they can see exactly what is on the teacher's screen.  It comes with electronic markers so that the students can write on the webpage or activity without have separate handouts for everyone.  These marking can all be saved for later review making note taking less necessary.  Students became more interested in the lesson because they could be a part of the teaching by interacting with the Smart board.  The only downside the article mentions is that it is not always accessible to students with disabilities.  Students with learning disabilities that use screen readers to read what is on the screen cannot use that device with the Smart board.  This creates a gap in including that student in the lesson.  Also students with motor disabilities cannot use the Smart board in a student centered activity which could also leave them out.  Overall, I think this a necessary tool in the classroom today, it's important that the teacher is able to operate the Smart board in order to get the students involved as much as possible.

Jackson, L. (2004) Speaking of Electronic Whiteboards. Education World. Retrieved November, 1 2010, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech206.shtml.

Assistive Devices Helps All Children Learn

This article is all about how important it is to give students tools so that the students with disabilities don't feel left out or fall behind.  The first thing that they talk about is how many children actual would need these services, and there about about 6 million children between the ages of 3-17  this includes both physical and learning disabilities.  The articles listed many different tools that can help the students get involved and stay in the classroom not in a special education room.  Some of these included Speech Recognition ("Voice Recognition") Systems allow students to control their computer by simply speaking, another is Personal Reading Machines scan a printed page and instantaneously read the page out loud, and a last one Talking Calculators recite numbers, symbols or functions as keys are pressed. They also can read back answers to completed problems.  All three of these tools can be used in the classroom or in a special education room but I think that it would be most beneficial in the classroom where the students can be with their friends and not feel left out.  The technologies I have mentioned are only the "new" ones there are also some older technologies that have been in the classroom for awhile.  One of these is large print/screen magnification hardware and software function like magnifying glasses, automatically moving over a page. That allows visually impaired students to more easily read textbooks, magazines, maps, charts or fine print.  All of these are great tools and can really improve the motivation of a child to want to learn.

Unknown. (2005) Assistive Devices Helps All Children Learn. Education World. Retrieved October 28, 2010 from, http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech220.shtml.

Eight Ways to Use School Wikis

First off I agree with the opening statement of the article that wikis help to increase communication and collaboration among the staff.  The first way was to decrease disruptions of instructional time, this is helpful because the teachers and students don't have to spend 10 minutes every day listening to intercom.  The second way was making meetings more efficient, this is important because it is too easy for teachers and staff to get unorganized when the kids are all around and things might not go as planned.  To be able to have an efficient to the point meeting using a wiki sounds like a great idea.  The third way is to collaborate on important documents.  This is a great tool to get everyone's opinion on a certain activity or education plan. Sometimes the planning process can get difficult so this is very helpful way to get everything critiqued and help in troubling areas.  The fourth way is to enhance professional developement,  this could simply be not having all of those sloppy folder file cabinets.  Next, share and collaborate on curriculum mapping, this can allow other grades and departments in on what going on making it a great communication tool.  My favorite way is to save trees and time, it's important in this day and age to be eco friendly!  The last ways, to store all of you lessons and getting started are great little hints on how easy it is to get your oen wiki.
Author, Unknown. (2009). Eight ways to use wiki in school. Tech & Learning. Retrieved October 19, 2010.

Cellphone Taping a Classroom Threat

The article I read was about how teachers are being taped with camera phones while lecturing in the classroom.  From the article all of the teachers were being taped without their knowledge or consent.  This to me is not acceptable and in the long run could maybe hurt more than just the teacher's ego.  It said that some students spent days taping their teachers and they're putting ellaborate videos together.  This is a huge problem.  In one aspect I think how can the teacher have this going on in his or her classroom for so long and not know.  These teachers need to be more aware of what is going on in their classroom.  It worries me that this is going on because what else is the teacher not aware of, students could be texting or talking on the phone and the teacher has no clue.  I feel that this is not a positive thing in anyway and should be handled by both teachers and administrators.  Some students even went as far as to add sound effects or music to the video to make it funnier and then put that on youtube.  People could see this and then call the school and get the teacher in trouble for something that parents found inappropriate even if they didn't get the whole story.
Honawar, V. (2007) Cellphone taping a classroom threat. Teacher Magazine. Retrieved October 12, 2010 from http://www.edweek.org/login.html?source=http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2007/11/07/ew_videotape_web.h19.html&destination=http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2007/11/07/ew_videotape_web.h19.html&levelId=1000.

Log on to a Blog

This is Brenda Dyck's column on her beginning in the world of blogging. She begins with a comment about how blogging could get kids excited about writing and journaling again which is an amazing thing.  It's so important for kids to be excited about writing because it's something they will have to do for the rest of their lives.  She had her students record their thought on the Elenor Rigby Project.  This explored the issue of homelessness, this is such a rough topic to deal with right now because with the economy it is becoming all to real for a lot of people.  In order to grade her students on their journaling she created a special rubric.  This is a good idea because what they are doing is out there for everyone to see so the likelihood of them stepping up and doing good work is much greater.  She asks that her students use a high level of thing by analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating what they were supposed to write about.  I think holding them to this standard is a great way to get them involved on more then just a need to know level.  Overall, blogging is a great tool to use on projects that require a lot of thinking and can really get a student to dive into a topic and become more aware of what is going on outside their front door.  Blogging is something that is going to stick around for awhile and will soon be in every classroom and even every home I think.
Dyck, Brenda. (1996-2010). Log on to a Blog. Voice of Experience. Retrieved October 5, 2010, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/voice/voice123.shtml.

It's Delightful; It's Delicious

Del.icio.us is a tool to help bookmark sites in one area to make it simple for storing bookmarked websites online.  It's really nice that teachers can give each of their students their own account since all of the accounts are free.  I think this would be a really good tool so that you can see what sites the students are interested in and keep them really organized.  For younger students I can see where adding unique tags to each of the bookmarks would help them remember exactly what is on the site.  Sometimes long web addresses can get confusing and have a helpful word instead would be much more useful.  It's also great that you can store everything for a research project together and separate from everything else so that it doesn't get lost in the shuffle when using search engines and things.  The cloud which is one way to use tags puts them all together and highlights sites with links and blogs.  This is also helpful for projects and group activities, they know exactly where to look for a blog for instance that they can use for a resource in a research paper.  Overall I think that being able to bookmark sites is a fantastic way for teachers to show their students how to develop and maintain organization skills for each project that they do.  It's also important to monitor what your students are researching and make sure that the information they are receiving is true and from a legitimate source.
Johnson, Doug. (2007). It's delightful; it's delicious. Educationworld. Retrieved September 27, 2010, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/columnists/johnson/johnson017.shtml

Article A number 2

Integrating Technology into the classroom is probably one of the most important and easiest things a teacher can do.  I have never had a teacher who didn't use some sort of technology in the classroom, whether it is interactive sites or creating a newspaper/yearbook.  Of the twenty easy ways to integrate technology there are a few that stood out as extremely important.  Number 8 Make History Real is a great way of getting kids interested in a subject that can sometimes be considered boring.  Another interesting idea is number 13 Incorporate Online New Resources, this is something one of my teachers used in junior high and I still remember some of the interesting thing we discussed that I would have never known about.  One thing that is not on the list but that I think is a great way to keep everyone active is to have a class blog.  This is something I did in high school and it really kept everyone involved and was even pretty funny at times.  Students need technology that is active and useful in their lives outside of class.  I wouldn't say that I am an extremely tech savvy person but I do enjoy my social networking and even doing PowerPoint's for class. When I am a teacher I want to make some of the day to day things fun and interesting and the best way to do that is through the use of technology. Taking computer classes throughout highschool and college has really helped me to keep up on what is going on in the world of technology.