Reflecting on this course has reiterated to me how vast the Internet is. So many options and so many opportunities that it can be overwhelming at times, but incredibly awesome at the same time. I thought I was an Internet expert until I read November's book and I shortly realized that reading URLs and analyzing websites is something that is as important as learning math this day and age. I know next year I am going to really emphasize that with my students. The earlier they learn the better they will become at it when they are adult learners.
I've always been concerned about safety on the Internet. I've always been cautious with my personal information and always used virus protection applications. This course has made me realize how easy it is for a youngster who doesn't understand all that stuff to go out on the web and do something silly because they weren't trained properly. I think we as educators should emphasize showing learners how to use the Internet for educational purposes but also almost just as important how to safely explore. Just like we teach our kids fire safety, water safety, etc.
I know that in my classroom I am going to utilize the Internet next year more than ever. I am really excited to get my wiki up and running and I even have proposed to my principal to create a school wide wiki that teachers would have access to use. Thanks to this class I have great ideas that I want to use on a regular basis. I am obsessed with Jing and Voicethread now. I think they are so convenient and I plan on using them when I have to do some Professional Developments for my school next year.
All in all this was a great course that I have gained many tools for toolbox. With the right equipment I feel that I can do great things with young children now. 21st century learning can be exciting and beneficial if done properly, and after taking this course, I feel tat I am on the right path to be an excellent 21st century educator.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Response Blog #6
Here is a link to my web based learning experience.
http://mrde.wikispaces.com
It is in the beginning and early stages of my own personal classroom wiki. I know earlier I've stated how I want to collaborate with another classroom in the future, but for right now this will be my online learning environment. When the wiki is in full operation, I want it to be a central hub for everything in my classroom. Parents can check it for recent news and homework, students can check it for information about school, and the students can also use it to do online based projects, and even post their projects. I want it to be a place for communication with parents and also for collaborative writing pieces (i.e. poems, songs, brainstorming ideas almost like a mindmeister) amongst the students.
My lesson will be focused on different countries around the world. I know that my current students are very interested in their countries where they know that their families are from (Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico, Haiti, and a couple more). They always seem to ask me about these countries and I answer them to the best of my ability and sometimes we search them on the internet, but this online experience that I am creating I think is a perfect opportunity for the students to go off and do it themselves.
I will have links for the students to search and even a jing video showing the students how to go about researching these countries. I want the students to post what they've found onto a separate page, and I will have a sample page of how it should look when they present their information. I know it sounds like a lot of work for the students but really, I am just going to be asking for a flag and a couple of facts about the country like where it is and famous facts.
I also had an idea to post a picture of the world and somehow have my students be able to locate the country somehow by circling it or something along those lines. Maybe a voicethread? That way the students can use the pen feature and circle the country they are researching.
Not to get too ahead of myself, like I think I already am, I would love it if the students could somehow psot the national anthem for that country, or maybe even write a paper about it and post their findings as a podcast. The more I think about this project the more possibilities I find
So those are my thoughts as of now, I'm new to having my own wiki so I'm sorry if it's not super easy to navigate just yet, but I will get the hang of it the more I play with it. As of now the pages and the navigation to those pages are on the left hand side. Give me your thoughts. Thanks, and good luck on all of yours!
http://mrde.wikispaces.com
It is in the beginning and early stages of my own personal classroom wiki. I know earlier I've stated how I want to collaborate with another classroom in the future, but for right now this will be my online learning environment. When the wiki is in full operation, I want it to be a central hub for everything in my classroom. Parents can check it for recent news and homework, students can check it for information about school, and the students can also use it to do online based projects, and even post their projects. I want it to be a place for communication with parents and also for collaborative writing pieces (i.e. poems, songs, brainstorming ideas almost like a mindmeister) amongst the students.
My lesson will be focused on different countries around the world. I know that my current students are very interested in their countries where they know that their families are from (Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico, Haiti, and a couple more). They always seem to ask me about these countries and I answer them to the best of my ability and sometimes we search them on the internet, but this online experience that I am creating I think is a perfect opportunity for the students to go off and do it themselves.
I will have links for the students to search and even a jing video showing the students how to go about researching these countries. I want the students to post what they've found onto a separate page, and I will have a sample page of how it should look when they present their information. I know it sounds like a lot of work for the students but really, I am just going to be asking for a flag and a couple of facts about the country like where it is and famous facts.
I also had an idea to post a picture of the world and somehow have my students be able to locate the country somehow by circling it or something along those lines. Maybe a voicethread? That way the students can use the pen feature and circle the country they are researching.
Not to get too ahead of myself, like I think I already am, I would love it if the students could somehow psot the national anthem for that country, or maybe even write a paper about it and post their findings as a podcast. The more I think about this project the more possibilities I find
So those are my thoughts as of now, I'm new to having my own wiki so I'm sorry if it's not super easy to navigate just yet, but I will get the hang of it the more I play with it. As of now the pages and the navigation to those pages are on the left hand side. Give me your thoughts. Thanks, and good luck on all of yours!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Internet Policy
The following is the internet policies that I will be focusing on with my students for next year. I have this in kid friendly terms as best as I could think of, and as I mentioned last week in my blog, it is the list that I will help construct with the students during the first couple of weeks of school. I broke it up into two seperate lists, one is for the internet and one for use of our class wiki. I want to do a whole super hero theme next year in my classroom as much as possible so I thought I'd make them become Super Internet Users.
Super Internet Users to the rescue!!
When I'm on the internet, I will....
-Never tell anyone my last name, where I live, my phone number, or any other information about myself.
-Go on websites that are in the Bookmarks File or check the website with the teacher to amke sure it's good.
-Use the internet to learn as much as possible, and not just play games
-Only click 3 times or less when visiting websites
When I'm on the class wiki, I will....
--Never tell anyone my last name, where I live, my phone number, or any other information about myself.
-Check the wiki every time I go on the computer to see "What's New!" and also have my parents check it every night too.
-Participate and contribute to the wiki when my teacher asks me to
-Read what others have to say and not use the wiki for bullying
I know that if I don't do these things, then I may not be aloud to use this awesome computer for sometime, until I learn how to be a Super Internet User.
(Sign Here)
Super Internet Users to the rescue!!
When I'm on the internet, I will....
-Never tell anyone my last name, where I live, my phone number, or any other information about myself.
-Go on websites that are in the Bookmarks File or check the website with the teacher to amke sure it's good.
-Use the internet to learn as much as possible, and not just play games
-Only click 3 times or less when visiting websites
When I'm on the class wiki, I will....
--Never tell anyone my last name, where I live, my phone number, or any other information about myself.
-Check the wiki every time I go on the computer to see "What's New!" and also have my parents check it every night too.
-Participate and contribute to the wiki when my teacher asks me to
-Read what others have to say and not use the wiki for bullying
I know that if I don't do these things, then I may not be aloud to use this awesome computer for sometime, until I learn how to be a Super Internet User.
(Sign Here)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Response Blog #5
Since last week I've been thnking about my final project, which is going to be a wiki to connect with another classroom next year in September. Since the students will be using this wiki I will need to have a Safety and Security policy in place. My students will use the web to communicate and share projects via the wiki. They will also be using the interent for some small research based projects and other websites that have been approved by the district for games and intervention programs. I think that best policy format that I can put in place would be a checklist that is kid friendly. The checklist would have no more then 10 items on it and would be in a language that the students could relate to. Each item would be added one at a time as we discuss each policy. In other words I wouldn't just hand ou the checklist and say "Here it is." I would take mayb two a week and realy try to embed those policies into the students. The final result would be a checklist that the students helped create.
I will try not to make the list a list of "don't's!" I want it to be positive for the most part and have each student know the consequences if they don't partake on the internet correctly. Some ideas for items on the checklist are...1. Game sites like (insert sites here) may only be used during lunch, recess, or if the teacher says it's ok. 2. 3 clicks per website, try not to get lost. 3. On the Wiki, never mention your name or anything else about yourself.
I think that students learn new information the best when they are a part of constructing it, that's why I would take each item as it's own little mini lesson and reinforce them as we constructed new ones together.
Here is Philadelphia's School District AUP
I will try not to make the list a list of "don't's!" I want it to be positive for the most part and have each student know the consequences if they don't partake on the internet correctly. Some ideas for items on the checklist are...1. Game sites like (insert sites here) may only be used during lunch, recess, or if the teacher says it's ok. 2. 3 clicks per website, try not to get lost. 3. On the Wiki, never mention your name or anything else about yourself.
I think that students learn new information the best when they are a part of constructing it, that's why I would take each item as it's own little mini lesson and reinforce them as we constructed new ones together.
Here is Philadelphia's School District AUP
Friday, May 27, 2011
Response Blog #4
Wikis and Web2.0 tools aren't exactly new to me. Even though I don't use wiki's I have heard of them and I have used and explored them in the past. This week during my exploration and especially during the ERIC article and Keynote by Will Richardson, I have realized how beneficial wikis can be. Will Richardson said it best during his speech that the next generation of learners has to learn a completely new literacy then the literacy that we were taught. This virtual literacy doesn't have the same rules as the one one that we were taught. This is an interesting time for us because we are in the driver seat to guide these students into that new literacy. I also liked it when Will Richardson stated how we as educator should feel uncomfortable right now, because this is such a drastic change in our field.
It's scary to think about it sometimes, but also exciting. Take wikis for example. These are fantastic places for learners from anywhere in the world to gather together and learn from one another. I loved the example in the ERIC article of the Canadian school doing a community based project with the Japanese students. This was a touching tale that motivated me to begin thinking in that collaborative type of educating. I would start small.
My idea for next year would be to maybe team up with a friend who is a teacher in a suburban school. I would create a wiki and send my friend the information as well, that way both of our classrooms would be connected. We could organize similar type projects of the Canadian and Japanese schools to learn about each other's communities, etc. We could also use it as a forum for online discussion between students, almost like virtual penpals since most second graders don't have email addresses. We could also post projects and other researched materials. It could also be a place (with the right technology) for us to maybe video conference a cool lesson that one of us had planned. The more I think about this idea the more excited I get about it. In fact I'm going to email my friend when I get finished blogging.
This would have two benefits, the suburban students would appreciate the fact that a lot of people live in neighborhoods such as my students. I know growing up in a middle class area I was very oblivious to what almost 50% of our nation lives in; I was in a bubble so to say. And my students would see what other neighborhoods outside of their own is like since most of them don't ever leave the area. A possible downfall to this would be maybe my students feeling depressed or saddened to see what other kids lives are like, even though I doubt this because my students are resilient, but it is a possibility. My vision is already laid out, and I already have my partner teacher in mind, as I'm sure he would cooperate with me. I'm very excited to possibly collaborate an inner city classroom with a rural/suburban classroom. I think both classrooms would benefit from it.
I would use this wiki to get me up to par with using widgets and other rollovers when I'm designing the wiki. The website is called http://gettingtrickywithwikis.wikispaces.com/.
I know that designing this would be a lot of work (but that's what the summer's for). I also know that I will probably hit some rough patches with this but I think if I start small and take my failures in stride that it will be successful.
It's scary to think about it sometimes, but also exciting. Take wikis for example. These are fantastic places for learners from anywhere in the world to gather together and learn from one another. I loved the example in the ERIC article of the Canadian school doing a community based project with the Japanese students. This was a touching tale that motivated me to begin thinking in that collaborative type of educating. I would start small.
My idea for next year would be to maybe team up with a friend who is a teacher in a suburban school. I would create a wiki and send my friend the information as well, that way both of our classrooms would be connected. We could organize similar type projects of the Canadian and Japanese schools to learn about each other's communities, etc. We could also use it as a forum for online discussion between students, almost like virtual penpals since most second graders don't have email addresses. We could also post projects and other researched materials. It could also be a place (with the right technology) for us to maybe video conference a cool lesson that one of us had planned. The more I think about this idea the more excited I get about it. In fact I'm going to email my friend when I get finished blogging.
This would have two benefits, the suburban students would appreciate the fact that a lot of people live in neighborhoods such as my students. I know growing up in a middle class area I was very oblivious to what almost 50% of our nation lives in; I was in a bubble so to say. And my students would see what other neighborhoods outside of their own is like since most of them don't ever leave the area. A possible downfall to this would be maybe my students feeling depressed or saddened to see what other kids lives are like, even though I doubt this because my students are resilient, but it is a possibility. My vision is already laid out, and I already have my partner teacher in mind, as I'm sure he would cooperate with me. I'm very excited to possibly collaborate an inner city classroom with a rural/suburban classroom. I think both classrooms would benefit from it.
I would use this wiki to get me up to par with using widgets and other rollovers when I'm designing the wiki. The website is called http://gettingtrickywithwikis.wikispaces.com/.
I know that designing this would be a lot of work (but that's what the summer's for). I also know that I will probably hit some rough patches with this but I think if I start small and take my failures in stride that it will be successful.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Response Blog #3
How will you apply the concepts from the the above online learning experiences in your final web-based learning experience project for this course?
I haven't actually landed on an idea yet for my online learning experience that I will create, however I have been really turned onto Webquest and this webquest finder called Questgarden. I am still thinking about different resources that I would like to incorporate into my lesson.
One thing I am sure that I plan on incorporating are the three Core Principles of Web Based Consttuctivism that we learned about in the VoiceThread. I think collaboration is a great resource when learning, and since the internet gives us that "quick and easy" way to communicate, why not use it. The difficult thing is how I'm going to use it with such young learners.
The WELES handbook website was a great tool that I plan on using as well when designing my learning experience. If you scroll down and browse the lesson planner on the site, there are great ideas to go about how to structure your learning experience.
What content area are you thinking about using?
The content that I would like to present to my learners is most likely going to be one in the second grade curriculum. However, sine I am certified in 7-9th grade Social Studies, I've thought about designing a class for something in that curriculum just in case I decide to make that switch. I also think that a middle school webquest ould be more effective then one for second graders. If i stay in the second grade curriculum I was thinking about doing a webquest on the geography landforms and water sources such as: mountains, hills, valleys, plains, oceans, rivers, etc. I think this would be a great place to learn about these things since these children don't have a lot of opportunities to go to these places, so why not try an online experience. This is a unit that I had already taught my students but I think I could present them with this webquest this year since it's the end of the year and it would be a good review, not to mention that it would be a great pilot for next year.
What websites have you found so far that you would like to use?
http://questgarden.com/46/12/9/070131163744/
This is a great webquest that walks learners through where rivers begin and how they are beneficial. I think this is an age appropiate webquest for my learners.
http://questgarden.com/57/43/5/071108015021/index.htm
Here's a webquest that looks at a specific river (The Nile) and it's benefits to the communities around it. This webquest looks a little bit more advanced for the majority of my class, but I think a couple of my students could benefit from it.
I haven't actually landed on an idea yet for my online learning experience that I will create, however I have been really turned onto Webquest and this webquest finder called Questgarden. I am still thinking about different resources that I would like to incorporate into my lesson.
One thing I am sure that I plan on incorporating are the three Core Principles of Web Based Consttuctivism that we learned about in the VoiceThread. I think collaboration is a great resource when learning, and since the internet gives us that "quick and easy" way to communicate, why not use it. The difficult thing is how I'm going to use it with such young learners.
The WELES handbook website was a great tool that I plan on using as well when designing my learning experience. If you scroll down and browse the lesson planner on the site, there are great ideas to go about how to structure your learning experience.
What content area are you thinking about using?
The content that I would like to present to my learners is most likely going to be one in the second grade curriculum. However, sine I am certified in 7-9th grade Social Studies, I've thought about designing a class for something in that curriculum just in case I decide to make that switch. I also think that a middle school webquest ould be more effective then one for second graders. If i stay in the second grade curriculum I was thinking about doing a webquest on the geography landforms and water sources such as: mountains, hills, valleys, plains, oceans, rivers, etc. I think this would be a great place to learn about these things since these children don't have a lot of opportunities to go to these places, so why not try an online experience. This is a unit that I had already taught my students but I think I could present them with this webquest this year since it's the end of the year and it would be a good review, not to mention that it would be a great pilot for next year.
What websites have you found so far that you would like to use?
http://questgarden.com/46/12/9/070131163744/
This is a great webquest that walks learners through where rivers begin and how they are beneficial. I think this is an age appropiate webquest for my learners.
http://questgarden.com/57/43/5/071108015021/index.htm
Here's a webquest that looks at a specific river (The Nile) and it's benefits to the communities around it. This webquest looks a little bit more advanced for the majority of my class, but I think a couple of my students could benefit from it.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Response Blog #2
After reading Chapters 3,4, and 5 of November and after seeing Dr. Fritz's Jing demonstration feel that I have a much greater understanding of how to evaluate and search for websites. But now my duty as an educator is to relay that information to my young growing internet users. I have to figure out a way to do that effectively for many reasons. First and foremost I think is to protect the students from any dangerous or malicious content out there. And secondly because the internet is how they are going to receive much of their knowledge in their near future. They must learn how to do it effectively.
Kathy Schrock's PDF files for Evaluation of websites I thought was a great idea. I am going to use her Elementary level one as a guide but I have decided to create my own. I liked her's a lot but like I said I am going to make my own evaluation sheet that my students can use as an activity in the computer lab to evaluate websites.
Another idea I had as I mentioned in the wiki earlier was to have a Technology Word Wall over the section in my classroom where the computers are. On this word wall would be words such as URL, keyboard, mouse, firefox, etc. Since a lot of my students are ELL (English Language Learners) I want to have visual images next to each word. Once I've referred to this word wall enough times I would move to anchor charts. Anchor charts are signs that I make with the students and hang up in the classroom for the students to refer to. They can be educational or even sometimes behavioral like washing your hands, etc. My first Technology anchor chart that I had in mind was for REAL. It would be a kid friendly chart going over the rules of REAL. Other anchor charts for the computer that I had in mind was one for turning the computer on and off for the first week of school, and then as their skills improved I thought maybe one for typing effectively (using spaces, periods, shift key, etc.) This week has really opened my mind to the things that I can teach my students on the computer. I can't wait to get the ball rolling with these ideas next September.
Below is a video I made for making my first custom Search Engine. I hope to have many more of these for next year. I want my students to be able to search freely and safely as they research information. It was very simple to create and the fact that I can just keep adding to them year after year is even better.
Click here to view my Jing Video on how I created my Google Custom Search Engine for my students.
Kathy Schrock's PDF files for Evaluation of websites I thought was a great idea. I am going to use her Elementary level one as a guide but I have decided to create my own. I liked her's a lot but like I said I am going to make my own evaluation sheet that my students can use as an activity in the computer lab to evaluate websites.
Another idea I had as I mentioned in the wiki earlier was to have a Technology Word Wall over the section in my classroom where the computers are. On this word wall would be words such as URL, keyboard, mouse, firefox, etc. Since a lot of my students are ELL (English Language Learners) I want to have visual images next to each word. Once I've referred to this word wall enough times I would move to anchor charts. Anchor charts are signs that I make with the students and hang up in the classroom for the students to refer to. They can be educational or even sometimes behavioral like washing your hands, etc. My first Technology anchor chart that I had in mind was for REAL. It would be a kid friendly chart going over the rules of REAL. Other anchor charts for the computer that I had in mind was one for turning the computer on and off for the first week of school, and then as their skills improved I thought maybe one for typing effectively (using spaces, periods, shift key, etc.) This week has really opened my mind to the things that I can teach my students on the computer. I can't wait to get the ball rolling with these ideas next September.
Below is a video I made for making my first custom Search Engine. I hope to have many more of these for next year. I want my students to be able to search freely and safely as they research information. It was very simple to create and the fact that I can just keep adding to them year after year is even better.
Click here to view my Jing Video on how I created my Google Custom Search Engine for my students.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Response Blog #1
My Initial Thoughts on using the Internet in the Classroom
The internet. Full of endless information. I am always reminded of a comerical I remember seeing many years ago, for I think either yahoo, a coffee, or something else that I can't remember. The funny thing about the commercial was this man was obviously on his computer for days, weeks, or even months, and he looks up and says to his wife, "That's it, I've seached the whole interent!" I've always remembered this commercial because of how silly and unrealistic it is, but it always makes me imagine how vast the internet is, almost like space. It hurts sometimes when I think about it. However, unlike space, we have access to this endless information with the click of a few buttons. How awesome is that!
The internet use in my second grade class is daily, but still not used a lot. This is due to many reasons such as 3 computers and 25 kids, so much of my time is spent towards literacy and math, and my students haven't fully been trained on how to use it properly. Sure I've given them crash courses and hints here and there when I've seen fit, but for the most part, the majority of my day is spent in the books and literacty environment, which is a huge push we have at our elementary school, a program called CLI (Children's Literacy Initiative). Check it out, it's very effective for students from lower SES areas.
The student's in my class use the internet for an intervention math program called FirstinMath. The majority of their time is used on this site. I also alow them to explore sites such as Starfall (a primary reader site), National Geographic for Kids, and various other children websites. They also use Inspiration and Kidspiration which are concept mapping programs but not Internet reseources so I won't go into them. I have chosen not to allow my students on any other website. In fact I have created a folder that they may go into and they may only use the sites in that folder.
After reading Chapters 1 and 2 in Web Literacy for Educators by Alan November, I am much more aware of how search engines work. I have grown up with the internet and I have found my little niche in using these search engines, but these chapters were my very first readings I have done on them which was shocking to me. All of these years without ever being formally trained on these search engines. Anyway, it was eye opening to me how important it is to teach young internet users how to search and how to analyze whether or not what they have found is credible. I take this skill for granted. Not only search engines but how to read IP addresses and domain names is a very valuable skill that I have never thought of before reading these two chapters.
As I mentioned earlier, the internet is so vast and so , for lack of a better word, awesome! Now as educators, we must train these young internet users how to use it effectively so they don't get lost in the, for lack of better words, stupid stuff out there. I'm not in a high school level but I can imagine how effective researching and studying is via the internet. Even at a second grade level, student's learning is enhanced through some very valuable applications and websites. Perhaps if trained properly, then one of these students can one day be the person in that commerical who looks up from his or her computer and says, "I've searched the whole internet."
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