Blog Acknowledgements Working With Parents

I have read the Syllabus, I understand the policies of the University and the instructor, and I already have my book.  

Week 8 Security

Security

For our classroom assignment we were given a couple of websites to explore and read.  The first dealt with computer viruses www.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm and the second one on internet etiquette.  www.albion.com/netiquette/.

When it comes to computer viruses all I can say is, I know deep down inside there is a special place in _ _ _ _ for computer virus writers!  My family has been the victim of computer hackers and it has cost us much time and money.  These costs come in many forms.  With a simple virus that causes adware or spyware you lose time and productivity while working on computers, with phishing and password grabbers you can be out real money like we were when someone stole our Apple ID with a keystroke type virus.  Then you are out the time and headaches of dealing with banks and other business to get your money back.  To help solve this problem we went out and bought the latest and greatest antivirus software at Walmart.  In the end we got our money back that was stolen (took nearly 2 weeks) but were still out $100 in software and many hours of time.  When you multiply this by a thousand people a day you get a lucrative business that is very hard to stop.

As for security, my husband works in engineering and is a PC user and of course this is one of the reasons why we have had some of these problems.  As the website explained most viruses are windows based.  My school has Macs and we have not seen the problems there like I have had at home.  We have other security measures in place at school that reduces our exposure, like changing our passwords frequently and our mail goes to an outside company that scans and scrubs our mail before it’s delivered. 

As for netiquette, I think this webpage should be mandatory for all internet users.  There is a time a place for almost everything in this world, but message boards and social media sites are not one of them.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind to read about your kid losing their first tooth and I can even handle you posting ten dog videos a day.  Then there are the people who think its ok to post their whole marriage falling apart on Facebook with name calling and finger pointing.  Message boards are not much better, you have people chiming in on topics that they have no personal knowledge of, they just heard a talking point on the 6 o’clock news and now they are an authority on the matter.  My solution to both these problems has been the block button and it’s worked so far.

This security problem stems from a lack of personal interaction.  We have become a keyboard society.  It’s easy to critique, steal and cause mayhem from a hundred or a thousand miles away.  People will do and say things they NEVER would face to face with another person.  Right now, we as a society are more cautious and are taking measures to protect ourselves BUT unfortunately it is still occurring.  Maybe one day it will be better, but in the mean time we have to continue to have security practices in place in virtually every aspect of our lives so that we don’t become a victim.      

 

Week 7 and Tech Explorations 19 & 20

The Brain

This was a very taxing assignment for me.  The material was a little dry and there was a lot of it, but I survived and I’m glad I got to read it.  The excerpts from Neuroeducation: Learning, Arts, and the Brain provide findings from research on arts in early education and its correlation for math and science and a general improvement of cognitive skills.  The main word I took from the research is “correlation”.  Is it just a correlation or does arts in fact have an impact on learning?  Or is this simply a “which came first, the chicken or the egg” debate?  Are people with musical talent predisposed to success in math and science or are technical people who find math and science easy the ones who also enjoy and practice the arts?  This might be oversimplifying the topic and I am not refuting any of the research but I know plenty of people who break this mold and many that fit the mold.  The bigger question is what can be done to expand on this concept?  I doubt many school boards are going to allow for more art and music time in place of math and science.  As a matter of fact schools are always looking towards Art and Music classes as the first place to cut funding to balance budgets.   I do think more research is needed on this topic.

Understanding Childhood Brain Disorders

I chose this topic because my brother, who is special needs, was diagnosed with AD/HD and I have always been interested in brain disorders in children.  This webcast was recorded in 2008 at the Dana Center in Washington DC with Dr. Denckla and Dr. Kagen. 

Autism, defiance and AD/HD are often called a disorder and not a disease.  In fact, types of “disorders” like these are diseases and these diseases need to be treated individually and not just lumped together as mental disorders.  The example given that cancer or epilepsy, 100 years ago, were considered as all-encompassing diseases. Fortunately, cancer is now treated differently for what type you have.  Skin cancer is treated one way and lung cancer is treated much different.  This is the direction that mental disorders need go.  Autism is not an all-encompassing disease and we need to get to the point of treating it as such.

Two items that did alarm me is the examples they gave on socioeconomic factors being misread as mental disorders (uneducated parents not reinforcing school work being read as attention deficit in the classroom) and academic milestones being moved up one or two grades and being used to determine mental health. (ie Algebra use to be a 9^th grade skill and now it’s a 7^th grade skill)

Growing up with a brother that was given medication for most of his adolescence life it was reassuring to hear the doctors say that medication is not the answer and that medication with social skill intervention is the best method.  I was also glad to hear them say we are overmedicating children.

 

Web 2.0

For my web 2.0 application I have chosen Glogster.  I chose this because many of my students are visual learners and this fun graphic blog will keep them interested.  Plus it easy to use and has professional looking result.

McCracken County Schools only started on Friday so I haven’t been able to work this into a class yet but if the teacher is willing I think it will be a fun project.

First I will give the students a topic to blog about.  “My Summer Vacation” and give simple guidance on what to include in their blog.

·         Type a narrative on your summer vacation

·         Add photos of any place you visited

·         Fondest memory of summer

·         Activities with friends or family

·         Present to the class

The goal of this assignment is to get students back school mode.  Skills used will be writing, oral communication, creativity and computer entry.

The grading of this material will be based on a simple rubric:

	1	2	3	4
Content	One activity Completed	Two Activities Completed	Three activities Completed	All Activities Completed
Text and Pictures	Text and Pictures do have little relation  to Content	Text and Pictures have some relation  to Content	Text and Pictures relate to Content	Text and Pictures Relate and Reinforce Content
Presentation	Presentation covered one activity	Presentation covered two activities	Presentation covered three activities	Presentation covered all activities

 

 

Tech Exploration # 19

Delicious http://www.delicious.com/ , Historypin - http://www.historypin.com/  , diigo http://www.diigo.com, Calculators http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/calculator and http://www.softpedia.com/get/Science-CAD/Big-Simple-Talking-Calculator.shtml

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Delicious while being an easy to use “Favorite” or “Bookmark” organization site commits one of my Cardinal sins for online software.  It lets you look at the software and do a few mouse clicks BEFORE you can create an account.  Then it asks you to use your Facebook account to long into the software.  I think all Facebook users are tired of seeing countless ads and posts saying your friend is using XYZ software.  Now that that’s off my chest, it’s easy to use and you can take your favorites with you when you move from device to device.  It will really speed up researching if you use two platforms like a tablet and a desktop computer.  In the past I used to email links to myself and now I could just use this app.   Historypin is a website that lets users add to and comment on “pins” about history much like a combination of Wikipedia and Pintrest with a History twist.  I liked the concept of this site.  You can tell history through words and pictures and keep peoples interest.  What I did find is that the pages load slowly and the search box is finicky.  Being a user based product I worry about content being accurate or biased but I have not read enough to form an opinion on this site as far as that.  The example timelines are a wonderful idea and I think could easily be used in the classroom.   Diigo is like Delicious only better.  Not only can your organize and save your favorites and bookmarks and access them from any computer you can also markup websites and post sticky notes to the websites for later use.  You can also save websites with a cache type feature that way if the website is a fast changing site you can go back to the one you were using by the time and the day it was saved.   The PBS calculator is a very childish calculator that gets pretty old really quickly.  It’s slow and only does basic arithmetic.  It is a very whimsical looking device and I think only kindergarteners or first graders would like it. The Softpedia calculator is a little better.  It is much larger and looks more professional.  It has several higher order math operations and is not childish.  The voice can be turned off and it’s fairly fast.  This calculator would be used by more people than PBS but with all online calculators if you are doing something online and need a calculator you have to close and open windows.  I typically will just grab a more powerful handheld calculator in that case.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	I can see students using Delicious to keep school based research organized with home based research with the bookmarks being saved online. This allows the user to use any computer to access favorites.    History pin is much like Wikipedia, it’s a great tool to get an idea of what happened in history or in what chronology but it is not a reliable source for research.  It would be a good tool to pin a history lesson to and let students go out and get but you will have to limit the site to that type of research.   Diigo would be useful in many of the same ways as Delicious.  In fact it can be used even more since you can markup and place notes onto websites instead of just bookmarking them.  Just like Delicious this would be good for students that have to work on 2 or more computers to do their school work or for teachers that have a work and home computer.   The 2 speaking calculators are kind of fun and I think younger kids would enjoy the pbs calculator but it is so basic only k-1 might use it and while the softpedia calculator has more features than the pbs one it is still lacking compared to a cheap real calculator.  Their only saving grace is the speaking feature which may be needed in the case of a young non-reader or a special needs student.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Delicious does what it claims, you can bookmark websites and retrieve those bookmarks on any computer.  I do not like the fact that it asks for your Facebook account which you know will only add to the spam on that site.  It is free and can be logged onto with other criteria so I can recommend the site but that being said Diigo will do the same things in a much better package.   Historypin is a lot like Wikipedia and Pintrest put together.  The website loads slowly and the search feature is less than stellar.  It does do all that is claimed and it is pretty fun to use.  Historypin is a neat idea and if used only for reference and not research I can recommend the site.    Diigo is a website that I have no problem recommending.  It does what is says and is pretty easy to use.  I like how you can add notes and highlight items on websites and then look at the site from any computer that you have access to.  I can really see myself and students using this one.   The online calculators.  While they do what is promised and if you need the speaking function for a young or special needs student I would recommend both of these.  If you are looking for a powerful online calculator you need to look elsewhere.

Tech Exploration # 20
Math wiki - http://2write4math.pbwiki.com / and a PicLits http://www.piclits.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	2Write4math is a wiki that contains information on writing and how it relates to learning mathematics and how it can foster improvement in other subjects.  The wiki is a little hard to read when you first get on the site and I followed several links that were busted so I’m not sure how current the information is that is presented.  That being said the wiki does offer lots of information on writing and math and math in general.   Piclits is a site that lets you created inspirational pictures like you see on social media and just the internet in general.  The site chooses a picture and offers drop down words to create a saying or you can just make one up freestyle.  This is a cute website that is fun for the user especially ones with creative imaginations.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	2write4math is a totally new way to think about math and writing about math.  I think that writing about math can help unlock a student’s mind about a subject and get rid of the fear of the unknown aspect of new math ideas.  The wiki describes 5 steps in the process and I think implementation would require more than a teacher’s decision.  You would have to talk to the school board about using this resource.   Piclits is a fun way to get students to caption pictures or think about the captioning that is used for pictures.  You could easily use it in a grammar, writing or literature type class where you could grade their work for thought process or grammar.  It could also be used to start a brainstorming session by using a picture with a caption or outlandish expression.  I can see many uses for this application.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	2write4math is one of those sites where it would take a long time to digest the extent of the webpage.  Any method used to get kids to learn can be an asset but something like this really would require the school board or at least the principle to buy into it before it could be implemented.  That being said I do like the concept but can’t totally recommend the website because it might be a no go with the school.   I can recommend the Piclits website.  It’s fun and easy to use.  You can use it in class to motivate or give students something to write about or you can use it for other purposes like decorations.  It’s free so that’s another plus.

Week 6 WebQuests

Webquest Evaluation

My ultimate goal is to teach elementary special needs children.  It was easy to find really good webquests that fit my goal, but I wanted to find one that had both good areas and not so good areas that I could critique.  That being said, I found a Webquest entitled “Special Education Rocks” with the URL:

http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=96778

This webquest was written to give parents and teachers resources to find age appropriate material for use with special needs children.  The look of the webquest is first rate.  The clip art and form of the webquest looks very professional and the color palate is very pleasing.  I had high hopes for this webquest based on that, but other sections really ruined what started out as a good webquest.  I noticed several typos in this webquest and while not horrible it does take away from the webquest. While the task of this webquest was to inform parents and teachers, the process of the webquest goes off on a tangent and really missed the mark.  The one main link of the process section is broken and leaves the user with no option for doing the process.  Without direction in the process the evaluation rubric is hard to apply to the results. 

Overall, this webquest starts out with a bang but comes up short on material.  With a few fixes and a little clearer goal I think it could be a great webquest.

My Webquest Experience

This week we read about and worked on our first webquest.  Which is remarkable since seven days ago I had never heard of a webquest.   In that short seven days I have reviewed, read, and created my own.  At first I was intimidated with creating a webquest and found it difficult at first to generate a topic that I wanted to teach in the webquest format.  After looking through the examples I soon discovered you can really teach any topic in webquest if you format the information and ask the right questions to provoke a child’s learning.

As an avid runner, fitness and health are important to me and I wanted to incorporate my hobby into a lesson.  But instead of just a boring lesson on jogging or running I wanted to keep the targeted audience (middle school students) interested and put a technology/ smart phone twist on the lesson. 

For my Webquest I used the website www.Questgarden.com.  Questgarden supplies templates that enable you to fill information into fields and choose text and background colors.  This makes for easier and faster webquest building.  I signed up for the free trial but with a paid subscription you have access to more background choices.  A subscription only costs $20 for 2 years, so it is very reasonable.  I plan to use webquests in my classroom.

Week 5 & Tech Explorations 15-18

Week 5

 

Visual Literacy

This has been a hard week for me.  The volume of material we had to go through and developing the thoughts to go with it has really taxed me.  Our assignment this week  was to dive into the world of Visual Literacy and online communication tools.

I have been a visual learner all my life.  So the concept of visual literacy really interested me. Even though I am a visual learner I never really sat down and thought about how an artist was trying to tell me a story with a painting or how a director was using lighting and camera angles to get at my emotions.  . 

Watching the Scorsese video made me really think about how video and movies have really become the classic literary works of our time.  Directors like him tell you the story with video effects and music.  The way he talks about how the camera angle and lights become part of the story really opened my eyes to the power of visual mediums.

We were also given the assignment to look at 3 additional sites.  I chose FlickrCC, Flickr Storm and findr.  All three of these sites give you high quality images with a simple tag word search.  These sites would be great if you needed a certain photo to really make your presentation or blog stand out.  I like how you can choose which photos you want on your wall and the simple search features.  For use in the classroom a filter of some kind would have to be used.

Technology is everywhere.  Students today have logged more computer hours by Kindergarteners than our generation did in 6 years of elementary education.  The times are changing and we must keep up!  This visual learning goes hand in hand with the 21^st Century skills.  Students today have been exposed to so much media we as teachers must find ways to use this format to engage with the students and keep them interested in learning. 

 

 PBS

We were given the task of finding 2 resources from the PBS archives and investigate.  I chose “Don’t Buy It” and “Parents Guide to Creativity”.  With all this talk about visual literacy we must also talk about the downside of this visualization.  “Don’t buy it” deals with just that.  It gives students a behind the scene look at cover models, TV demographics, and fast food advertisements and how the media is selling you an image even if it’s a fake image.

A “Parents guide to Creativity” gives the reader useful ways to incorporate fun into learning for young students.  Even though this is designed for preK some of these ideas can be used for my special needs students.

After looking at the topics I chose and reading through the sites it reminds me of the insurance commercial with the lady and her “French model” date.  If it’s on the internet it must be true.  That being said while teaching our students visual literacy we must also caution them on half-truths and deceptive visuals.

 

Online Communication

All three articles deal with the emergence and use of online communication tools.  From simple texts and emails to online video chats and whiteboards. The world of education is changing.  Never before have we had more technology to work with in and out of the classroom. 

This communication technology can be broken into 2 groups.  The first is Synchronous communication, this is communication that takes place between 2 persons in real time.  Examples of this include video conferencing, skype and white boards.  The benefit of this synchronous communication is real time collaboration and instant feedback.  This form of communication provides the most bang for the buck and is the most productive.  The drawbacks are higher cost for high bandwidth used, many times the hardware must match in both locations and the most obvious is that all participants must be available at the same time.

Asynchronous communication takes place when one party leaves a message on a discussion board, a text or a static medium like a video feed or slideshow.  Then another party reads and responds to the message later. The advantage to this form is that both parties can receive and respond to communication at their own convenience.  The drawback is there can be a significant amount of time lapse between postings, words can be taken out of context and in some cases like a static video comments cannot even be left for the original poster.  As long as the user can accept the drawbacks either form will work in education. Just imagine, this type of technology has only been around a few years.  What will be our choices in 2015, how about in 2020? 

Teachers must choose the programs he or she uses wisely.  They must also train themselves to use it effectively.  With the power of today’s technology examples like the ones given in The Horizon Report will become standard classroom activities.  Why talk about tornadoes in the classroom when you can instant message with a storm chaser live in Kansas?  Why talk about the space when you can video conference with an astronaut at Kennedy Space Center? The possibilities for using online communication tools are endless.

Tech Exploration # 15

Prezi http://prezi.com/ and SpicyNodes - http://www.spicynodes.org/ 

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Prezi is an online presentation and whiteboard program that allows you to collaborate and create presentations in real time or work on them separately and save to a common file. The whiteboard portion of the software is like many of the others we have explored this year.  You can use it in real time and brainstorm with students or peers.  The presentation software looks very professional and easy to use.  You can add clipart, pictures or videos.    Spicynodes is a new way to present topics.  You can create nodes and the links that go with the nodes.  You can add multiple levels to your nodes.  When you choose a topic “nodes” spring up around the topic with related topics.  When you choose one of the nodes a new set of nodes will pop up.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	I can see teachers and students using this software as a whiteboard in the classroom.  Students can use the presentation part of the software to develop assignments or oral reports.  Teachers can use it to give online lessons or assignments.  Since this software is internet based you can use any brand of computer and the software is always the same version.     Spicynodes can be used in the classroom setting to present information to the students.  You can present the information in a logical format that leads the reader on a path you set or you can let them freely surf.  Students can also learn by creating nodes themselves.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	This software comes in three levels.  The first level is free and comes with many of the features of the full blown software.  The only drawback is the prezi you make is not private and you only have enough space for a few presentations.  For under $5 a month you can have private presentations and have a lot more storage space.  Finally, you can get the full version that gives you access to the most storage space but comes at the highest cost.  I can recommend the software since it has a low cost and yields professional results.   Although spicynodes does all it claims, the website runs slow and for all of the clicking you only get to a few levels before you realize it will take quite a bit of work to create a spicynode with several levels and enough information to be interesting.  I’m sure some people will say they like the software but I can’t see myself using the program.

Tech Exploration # 16
Edmodo - http://www.edmodo.com/ and a math dictionary http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/dictionary.html

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Edmodo is an online social and collaboration network.  Edmodo has a very distinct Facebook look and feel.  Students, teachers, and parents who facebook should be able to use this software right out of the gate.  There are many apps that have been developed that work in conjunction with Edmodo and are very educational.  Teachers can use Edmodo’s many features to post topics, do polls, or use the social media aspect to deliver assignments.   A math dictionary is a good reference for an elementary student or a middle or high school student needing to look up the definition of something they forgot.  The website gives a good definition of the term and gives examples for some of the words.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	Like I said Edmodo has a lot in common with facebook.  The look and feel of the software should allow students that use social media to easily transition to this software.  The tools that come with the software make it a powerful tool for teachers to engage and connect with their students.  The apps also are geared towards the students with a fun and educational selection to choose from.   This would be a good reference website for students to look up information on mathematical terms that they need to know.  Although this would not be a program that I would use every day, it would be a good one to keep in the favorites for reference.  You can use this resource for many uses and lessons.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I can recommend this software if the teacher is wanting an easy way to stay in contact with their students.  This easy to use software is very intuitive and there are enough features and add-ons to keep it interesting for the students.   I can recommend the software as a reference tool.  I’m not sure of how many other ways you can use the website but it’s fun and easy to use and best of all its free.

Tech Exploration # 17

Glogster - http://www.glogster.com/ and Jing http://www.techsmith.com/jing/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Glogster is literally a graphic blog.  This is a fresh way to think about blogging.  Usually you have a ton of text telling the story and a few pictures scattered here and there.  With Glogster you can tell the story visually. You can upload pictures, words, graphics, and videos to tell your story to the world.    Jing is screen capture type software, but where most only takes a static picture of the screen Jing can take up to a 5 minute video on everything you do on your screen.  You can also use Jing to capture a video and then narrate what you are doing on the video. Jing is free and you can upgrade it where you can take unlimited length videos.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	You can use Glogster much in the same way you can use a message board or a standard blog.  For assignments that need visual aids you could use Glogster to “show” the students how to do something.  The format is more youth friendly than most blogs and gets away from the boring lines of text and you can present the pictures in a more youthful way.  I think students would actually use this software and not resist like some other software we have reviewed.   With its record and narrate functions this program can easily be integrated into classroom environments.  You can record step by step instructions to your students on the use of computers or software.  Programs like excel which requires many steps to create spreadsheets could easily be taught using these 5 minute videos.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I can easily see students using this software.  It’s free for general use but if a teacher wants to use it and protect the student’s privacy you have to pay a nominal fee for this security.  Even with the low fee, it’s still a good deal and I can recommend this software.   This is a powerful tool for the teacher and students.  It’s easy to use, it’s free, and you get great results.  Plus it makes lessons visual and easy to follow.  What more could you really ask for?  I can easily recommend this program.

 

 

 

Tech Exploration #18
Youtube for Education http://www.youtube.com/education and Schooltube http://www.schooltube.com and Teachertube http://www.teachertube.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	I usually review the assigned websites separately, but since these 3 websites are almost the same I decided to review them together.  The whole “tube” craze started with youtube and it’s the most polished of the bunch.  All three do exactly what you would expect.  You can upload or download videos that students or teachers create.  This like many of the other software packages we have looked at allows for the teachers and students to visually see the lesson or assignment.  All three seem to be good but schooltube does not seem to have as much content or as new content as the other two.  Teachertube even lets you upload photos and documents like a file-sharing site.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	Lessons or assignments can be posted online and shared.  With posting assignments and instructions online you can reach out to the students that need a little more visual aide help and with being online you can watch the instructions over and over again.  These web based programs can run on PC or Mac and are limited only by the user’s content.  They are all easy to use and only require you to sign up to use them.  Youtube and Teachertube seem to be a little more current and follow the youtube format a little more than schooltube so students will probably gravitate towards them.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I can recommend all three of the tube type websites.  They can all host videos, some can host documents and images, and they are easy to use and search through. They are free to use but beware they are not always private.  You can set up classrooms in the software to make it a little more private if need be.