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Assignment Reflections:

1) Introduction Video
From this assignment, I learned the importance in introducing yourself and giving a little bit of background about yourself in the classroom. It's important to establish open lines of communication when you're starting with a new class, and introducing yourself to your students and their parents helps for them to relate to you on a basic level. It also helps to know how to speak in a public but not-so-professional setting, and it gave me a heads up about what sort of things I should share with my own class one day. I struggled a little bit with making the video. It made me feel awkward to talk about myself to a camera, and I wasn't really sure what I should say. But that was resolved by the help of the girls that I was working with, and by knowing the basics from the assignment of the teacher. Just getting through it and doing it was the basics of solving the problem. I think that this is going to be a great thing to take back to my classroom. Having the video helps to know how I should carry myself when it comes to being in a less casual environment, and it's a good starter to knowing how to speak up in public. It also gives me an idea of how to conduct introductions in my own classroom. What are some good 30-second points for students to touch on as an ice breaker.

NETS Standards:
1) Inspired students to be creative in talking about themselves and making videos of others.
2) Used technology to develop digital age learning.
3) Using a video to create digital age work by making this a project.
5) Learning from making the video about how to handle introductions in casual settings and comparing that to how you would handle introductions in a professional setting.

2) TED Videos
The TED talks have had an amazing impact on the way that I view education since i've been here at college. With all of the people out there who make education such a negative experience and knowing that there are so many children who are disheartened, unmotivated, or don't want to attend school, it's awesome to know that there are people who can be such positive role models, and it makes me want to be one of those people. I learned a lot from these videos, the most significant being that your attitude can make a world of difference to children. By simply putting in the time or encouraging them to set a higher bar for themselves, you can help children love learning again. I also learned that sometimes letting the kids take the reigns can be very beneficial to their education, and you can always come up with new ideas to inspire learning. The main problem that I encountered with the John Hunter video is not fully understanding how he conducted his project and made it work as elaborately as he did. I'm sure that this problem could be easily resolved by looking it up on the internet or contacting him directly. I plan to take this knowledge with me in to my classroom as use it as inspiration to keep a positive and open mind and always look for new opportunities to get students to interact with one another.

NETS Standards:
3) Modeled digital age learning by watching to the videos and learning from what each person had to say.
5) Using the TED videos to inspire to grow in our professional worlds as leaders.

3) Concept Map
The Concept map really helped me to organize thoughts and ideas in terms of creating a lesson plan. It forced me to think outside the box and come up with new ideas that could be both fun an educational for children. I had to do a lot of looking online to find what would work best with what I was trying to accomplish, but in that I found a lot of great websites that could be very useful in the classroom for various ages of students. I loved seeing the ideas that everyone else came up with and getting to share how we would conduct a lesson in our classroom. I struggled with trying to come up with ideas that would work for the project that I chose, or coming up with the project at all. I didn't realize how much time and effort had to be put in to coming up with a lesson plan for students, especially at the various age ranges and what they are expected to learn under the Common Core State Standards. I found that once I did a bit of research, got opinions from my peers, and changed my ideas or outlook, I was able to come up with something that I felt would satisfy my standard and be fun and engaging for the students. I plan on using this as a good brainstorming idea in my classroom when I finally get to come up with my own lesson plans. The concept map is a good idea for brainstorming and then based on student responses to the activity or material, you can continually brainstorm, adjust and come up with new ideas. Having the concept map is also very useful for sharing. If another teacher needs some help or ideas, it's all in one place for you.

NETS Standards:
1) Inspired creativity by having us create our own projects with our own personal twist on each map and choosing what we were going to "teach".
2) Designed our own projects using technology.
3) Modeled the ability to use technology to create projects.
5) Learned how this project can help us in the professional world.

4) Do Not Track Me
Do Not Track Me was a foreign concept to me before this class. I was completely unaware that different websites had the ability to look through your personal information and figure out what you're interested in as a consumer. It opened my eyes a little bit more to using the internet and its effects on different people. I learned to be careful of what I am googling, and to be aware of what other people or companies could be tracking my online footprints. I struggled with getting the program to work at first. I did not realize that the program does not work with Safari on a Mac and I am still struggling to use firefox as my primary safety program because I am so used to the layout of Safari. I finally got the program to work by downloading firefox as a browser on my computer, and I was shocked by the results of who was tracking me. I hope that I can take this in to the classroom and educate students about online safety and how important it is to be aware that the internet can be used as a great resource for communication, but it can also be used dangerously.

NETS Standards:
4) Promoted digital safety by being aware of where your sources end up.

5) Augmented Reality
When we learned about Augmented Reality, I originally struggled to get a grasp on what exactly the article was discussing. I discovered though that it is being used as a way to get students out of their seats and to bring learning to life. Students have been found to be more interactive with the lesson when they have to participate in placing the pieces of an event back together. Trying to get students motivated is more of a struggle than ever, and more important than ever. I want to do a little bit more research and learn about the use of Augmented Reality in the classroom. It has potential to be a wonderful learning tool that will change the way that teachers are teaching and how students are learning.

NETS Standards:
3) Shows the potential of where learning in the classroom can go and encouraging young teachers to develop these ideas.
5) Can learn from what is being used now and how to use it in the classroom.

6) Voki
I found that Voki can be a fun and entertaining way for students to get involved in the classroom and for parents to keep track of their students' progress. It could be used as an awesome ice breaker for students to create their own character as a way of introducing themselves without the intimidation of standing in front of a classroom of staring eyes. I struggled at first with trying to figure out how the program works and what the benefits and downfalls are to the program. But the more than you work with the program, the better you learn how to use it. I worry that parents may get frustrated or overwhelmed by trying to learn how to use the website, and that students may become distracted by it. However, these problems can be used by sending instructions home with the parents and by closely monitoring the students. I hope that this, among many other tools, will be very useful in my classroom. It's an easy way to relate to younger students and to break them out of their shell and understand them and what they're interested in.

NETS Standards:
1) Inspired student learning and creativity.
2) Using technology to design our own characters and learn how to use them in the classroom.
3) Modeling the ability to use this technology appropriately.

7) Web 2.0 Sites
I learned a lot from my research and from watching the presentations of other students about the Web 2.0 Sites. It's amazing to think about how many learning tools are out there for you to use if you can understand them. There were a lot of great sources for learning and educating, but there were also a lot of sources that may not work so well, or could be a pain in the butt to work with. When I first logged on to my websites, I struggled to gain an understanding of how they worked or what they were used for, and what they COULD be used for. After a while of tinkering and trying to play around with them, I finally felt like I was able to gain enough understanding to explain what my websites could do for my classmates. I feel like a lot of these websites are going to go unnoticed and may not be worth looking at again, but there are many of them that could be incredible useful tools in the classroom when you're struggling to get organized or you need new ideas.

NETS Standards:
1) Demonstrated the idea that there are many different tools for creativity out there to be used to your advantage.
3) Modeled the ability to use technology in the classroom.
5) Came up with our own ideas about how to use these websites professionally in the classroom.

8) Website
My website was a lot of fun to put together. I titled it "Stranger Danger" and wrote it about the effects of cyber bullying on our society and the teenagers that are being targeted. It was a lot of fun to get to put the website together and I learned about how many different sources are available and how to do in depth research on a specific topic. I also learned how serious the effects of cyber bullying are and what signs to look out for. The ability to recognize when a child is being bullied and knowing how to stop it is not only a very important thing to know in your classroom, but it's very important to know in your life for your own children or the children of your peers. I struggled with finding information about cyber bullying and specific events throughout the year that are made to raise awareness and help to put a stop to it. It took a lot of time to get organized and sort the useful information from all of the rest, especially when you're keeping a general audience in mind. I think that the idea of creating your own website can be a very cool and useful project to be able to turn to, but mainly I think it's going to be so important to take what I learned about bullying to my classroom and try to be a strong participant in making sure that it doesn't happen in my classroom.

NETS Standards:
1) Allowed students to be creative and make our own choices about our websites.
2) Engaged in designing the websites on our own and learning from bad choices.
3) Demonstrated the ability to use technology to develop our websites.
4) Taught us to model digital citizenship and safety not only through creating the websites, but from the research about cyber bullying.
5) Learned how to use websites in the classroom.

9) Movie
Our final project of the semester was participating in making our own movies. The movie was a really fun activity and a cool program to get to explore. It operates very similarly to powerpoint, but can be useful in the classroom for various reasons. I struggled with making decisions about what to make the movie about and how to put it together. I wasn't sure which story I wanted to tell without making it take so long. The software was easy enough to use once I made up my mind about what I was going to do. I think this program could be a lot of fun to use to put together video clips that students record for different projects. I remember making a movie after reading the book Macbeth in high school. This could be a great way to combine the clips and make a fun and interesting production to show at the end of a lesson.

NETS Standards:
1) Allowed students to be creative in making our own movies.
2) Designed our own layouts and developed the project on our own.
3) Demonstrated the ability to learn and work with new technology.
5) Learned how to use this in the classroom in order to help your students learn and grow.

Course Reflection:
This class has given me a great opportunity to learn more about new technology and how to use it in the classroom to my best advantage. We have learned not only how to teach students well and keep them engaged, but also how to be good teachers while we're doing that. I know that my weakest point is my time management skills. Trying to learn how to manage time and submit projects on time is something that I will have to work on. There were several times where I was cutting a project very close or almost not being able to turn it in on time because of procrastination or just forgetting. On the other hand, I feel like my ability to work in the classroom and with students in regards to circulating the classroom and having a strong speaking voice is something that I do very well. I have great ideas that I can bring to the table and develop to make great lesson plans, and I care about my students and want the best for them in my classroom. I want them to succeed. I hope that through the next couple of years I will be challenged to having to learn about how to have better time management skills. I know that when I am in the classroom, I still have deadlines to meet. I hope that I can set goals of getting projects started or finished a couple of days before the due date, rather than getting stressed out and doing them the night before or day of. I hope that I can use technology as a huge assistant in my classroom. I think that there are a lot of great websites and ideas out there than can help encourage students to be active and participate in learning. I love the idea of having students act out a movie or using math websites to help them learn to do math in their head. I think there are a lot of great resources for various subject areas that a teacher can use to help their students enjoy learning. I just think that there has to be a good balance between learning with technology and learning with a paper and pencil. I think that using the blog has been a great source for the classroom. It is something that can be used with a variety of ages. It makes submitting assignments, thoughts and feelings easy and convenient for both the students and the teachers. It is a good way to add a personal touch to education while still keeping things organized.

Inspiration Comments

Erika: I like the idea of going to a website and creating your own "wild-thing." This is a great activity for children because they have the opportunity to be creative while they're learning.

Jacqueline: The colors on her tree are vibrant and the illustrations are cute! I love the chalkboards as a note. She has great ideas for how to incorporate common games in to the classroom for learning. I really like the idea of reading in to a recording device so that they can hear themselves read and understand how they sound.

Mary Kathryn: I really like the idea of bringing their personal life to school and allowing them to be creative and expand their imagination, interacting with the bear will help to keep them focused. It's a great idea to have them bring their own "button" from home.

Jennifer: Really great idea to incorporate creativity into research by having them decide what animal they want to be. Great overall theme of "being an animal." Good balance of learning and creativity rather than just doing games.

Amanda: Creative pictures and colors on her tree, a little cluttered. Good idea to write a story incorporating the vocab words into the story.

Jordan: I like the different colors that she used on her concept map. Good way to incorporate history in to a lesson by teaching about previous hurricanes with a hurricane project. Great way to incorporate culinary arts in to your presentation also.

Jonathan: His concept map creativity is awesome! I love that all of the flags on his map are a part of the world war 2 lesson! I really like the matching quiz that he found on NeoK12.  Great way to target children's emotions to allow them to emotionally connect to the lesson. Good idea to pretend you're a person in the war and write a paper from their perspective.

A Conversation With A Bad Teacher

Summary: The article discusses the background and an interview with a conversation with a man who worked as a teacher in a South Bronx school in the New York City school district. He describes that his experience with nothing short of disheartening. The principal refused to work with him or be on his side when he was trying to give his students an education experience rather than trying to get good test scores and get them to just graduate. The teacher explains that he wrote a book to try and get the word out that some schools are not treating students the way they should be treated, instead it is just a numbers scam. The idea is that having the book will help to reveal these schools and demand a change.

Opinion: It's so disheartening to read an article like this and know that there really are schools like that out there. Having an education should teach you more than how to do math or what you learn from a specific book, it should teach you how to lead a full and purposeful life, and how your education can take you to new places. Administration should encourage teachers to develop personal relationships with their students and know that the student can go to to them in confidence if there is a serious issue. Schools should provide a positive learning environment that encourages students to stand out rather than to be "just a number or statistic".

Kids Can't Compute -- And That's A Problem

Summary: This article discusses the restrictions that Post-PC Technology is placing on young adults in our modern day. The author describes that using a computer when they were first becoming popular was much harder and more demanding back then than it is now. Younger generations are considered "Digital Natives" who have no issues when using technology. The author, however, describes that with easy technology comes less of a drive and a desire to learn. Younger generations don't need to know the building blocks of a PC, and do not understand the effects that using certain applications will have on their future. The solution, as confronted by the author, is for managers to watch out for education gaps and train the employees who need it.

Opinion: I can certainly see where the author is coming from with his concern that younger generations do not posses the knowledge that older generations understand about technology. However, as our world and use of technology is evolving, so is the way that we use it. Younger generations are still being taught what we need to know in order to succeed with technology in the real world. The people who are creating this more "user-friendly" technology are doing us a favor. We can put more time in to making a project just right or adjusting it to fit the situation rather than focusing on switching from one application to another. There is still a basic need to understand the way that technology works, but that comes from education from teachers and family members.

My Movie

Beyond Moocs

I attended the education presentation, so I did not have to write this blog post.

Website: Stranger Danger

https://sites.google.com/site/strangerdangercyberbullying/