NetSmartz

I talked to a high school senior--age 17. He hadnt really ever heard of cyberbullying and didnt know what it was. He only uses the computer for information on the current sports and homework, occasionally he will use facebook or email. I talked to him about what was appropriate to have on his profile. He was not aware of the dangers of posting personal information such as phone numbers and addresses as well as age, etc. I explained why it's important to be cautious about the information you give out on the internet. I talked to him about some of the dangers of chatrooms and some of the horrific things we viewed in class. He was a little bit taken aback and said that it was hard to understand why people would do something like that. I think it was a positive experience because I was able to share some good information and help inform someone of the dangers that exist on the internet. Hopefully he will be more cautious from now on and be aware of the information that he is giving out online.

Things I learned from my classmates

I think the number one thing that I learned was that there are a large variety of ways to incorporate technology. I never thought about using technology in guided reading, but one member of my group incorporated technology in a fun interactive way. Another member of my group used a program on the computer I had never heard about to help teach fact families.

I have been introduced to a variety of resources and I think one other important thing that I have learned is that if you put forth the effort to find something, you can use technology to enhance almost any lesson. There is so much available to us, we just need to be aware of those options.

Internet Article Questions

What article did you choose to read for your fourth article?
I read "Fighting Internet Filth" by Mario Hipol


What were the most important things you learned from the readings?
I think that the most important thing I learned is that it is important to teach internet safety to children so that they will develop good habits. I am not familiar with all of the different negative sites and content that people can access, but I know that there is a lot of it. It is important to know how to use the computer to set up a safety net. I like how the article mentioned keeping bookmarks so that you don't have to search for popular sites to visit. But really, I think the most important preventative measure we can take is to teach correct principles.

How will what you have read influence your actions as a parent and/or teacher of children and youth?
A lot of the methods mentioned for making computers safe for children were used in my home to prevent the use of any inappropriate websites. I will definitely monitor computers in my home and will invest in internet filters to avoid unwanted pop-ups. I will also limit what sites that my students/children can access.

How can you use what you have learned from the reading to have a positive influence on family and friends?
I think that keeping up to date with ways to remain internet safe is the most important thing you can do. Secondly, it is important to inform those around you of the dangers and ways to avoid them. By doing these things, I can help others be aware of what they should expect when using the internet and I can help them avoid negative influences.

Technology in the Classroom Slideshow

Tech Project.

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Week 11, Technology Experience

Today I had a great opportunity to use technology in the classroom and the students absolutely loved it. We had an engineering day at our elementary school and the students went through different rotations. In my rotation, we started out with a clip from a crew that did some experiments with different toys in space. The clip asked the students to follow along and do some experiments of their own and see how the results differed in space from on earth. I then had the students do an experiment and led a discussion asking them to predict what would happen in space.

After the discussion, we watched another clip of the experiment in space and then discussed the differences. I then asked the students what made the difference. They were able to identify the force of gravity as the main difference and we were then able to talk more about microgravity and other forces that affect objects on earth and in space. We repeated this process for two more experiments. The students loved the hands-on experiment and the clips that allowed them to see how the experiment would work in space.

One way to use technology...

As I have observed in the classroom, I have noticed that technology is not used very often in my classroom. One idea that I really like though is using CD's on tape of different books. I think that this can be a very effective tool. Students have the opportunity to listen to a book, but at the same time they can work on different projects. This allows students to be introduced to more literature.

I also think that a lot of books on tape have a great amount of expression, especially with the different characters. They are really fun to listen to. This is a good way to get kids excited about books and literature. This is one of the many kinds of technology I would like to incorporate into the classroom.

Practicum Week 1: Technology in the Classroom

Today I had the unique opportunity to take the class to their prep hour at computers. While we were waiting in the hall for the last class to finish up, I started talking to the kids about what they did during this hour and how they liked it. A lot of the students talked about how they would use the computer to do a variety of reading and writing activities and then they would play games for a while. Most of them said that they really liked it. I also talked to the teacher about a program that they are using that prepares students for the end of year tests. It asks different questions about the subjects they are learning about and prepares them for the format of the test. The only other time that the students use technology is when they are listening to books on tape, or when they are typing up writing assignments that they have completed.

I think that the technology that they do use makes the students excited about things that they might not normally be excited about. It also helps relieve some of the pressure from the teacher when the students can be directed by different programs. I think that in these cases, technology is very beneficial to the classroom and to the students.