Internet Safety

*I completed the rest of the PLE for the week (surveys...)*

I read the article "I Have a Question" from the 2001 Ensign about using the internet for all the good things it contains and avoiding the bad.

I watched the BYU animated video for kids about how to be safe on the internet. I also watched the PBS videos about how connected to technology high school kids are, the one about child predator fears and how even good kids might make a bad decision, and the one about cyberbullying with the young boy who killed himself. I also explored the ikeep safe website and explored.

From doing these readings and watching the videos, I think I remembered how fatal the internet can be. Because I have used it as a source to access internet or talk to family for so long now, I forgot about all the other things accessible by internet. I also remember how much went on in chats while I was in high school and how much drama online conversations could cause. I also see how technology in the classroom is so very important. Even as a college student today I know how much easier and more appealing it is to do an assignment when it is something I have to use the computer for. To go and look through books or take tests, just doesn't appeal compared to being able to explore and type and manage on a computer like I am comfortable with. And I know that kids today are even more technologically advanced than even me and how important technological knowledge as well as awareness is to their lives and their learning.

For the doing experience, the person I talked to was first of all surprised at how much technology kids just know how to use and how much technology is involved in teaching these days. They were of course already aware of the dangers of technology and the internet. However, their family computer at home is not in a common area where parental supervision is always around and they thought about how important it might be to change that with a 12 year old in their house. Not only did the cyberbulling video surprise me, but it surprised the person I shared it with just as much. They had thought about others hurting their kids through internet access, but they had not thought of it causing their children to hurt themselves.

TPAK report

TPAK report slideshow

Week 12

*I read the website (Technology in Early Childhood Education: Finding the Balance) thoroughly.*

Lesson Plans

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhhwwsx5_7f6b84shc

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhhwwsx5_6gzh4dpgw

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhhwwsx5_5cgjht7jf

*I watched both videos for the ple assignment-week 11*

week 9.............

Technology Inventory -
The teacher I interviewed talked a lot about the school's need for more technology to be available. Apparently because the school is in a fairly wealthy area, there is not a lot of extra funding available (that could possibly be used on technology) like there is in low income schools. She said she wished she had a digital camera to document the year for the children and at the most a video camera which personally I think it is good for young children to hear themselves talk in order to develop their speech. Of course a digital camera could capture video just as easily.
The only thing this teacher used technology for was in centers. Which in preschool are free. And because there are only 2 computers in the classroom and 12 students, not everyone gets to use a computer each day and most students do not even use a computer once a week because they choose other centers over computers. However, the teacher has a personal computer which she can use to search ideas of new ideas for learning in lessons, centers, or research a field trip for the children to take.
I asked the teacher what she thinks of using technology in such a young class like preschool and she said that it's great for them to explore and "play around with", but planned lessons involving computers does not usually go over well. Especially with only 2 computers in the classroom. And even going to a computer lab at school, preschoolers need a lot of one-on-one help which one teacher could not give.

*I have completed the midcourse evaluation as well as the informed consent form*

PLE week 8

I watched leslie's, kate's, and lizzy's voicethread demos.

I learned that there are so many different things technology can be used to enhance learning in (even just science related things!) I also experienced some kid friendly technology by using kidspiration-which is important when teaching early childhood grades. I think most people all used different objectives, proving that the possibilites are endless!

Week 8...

WEEK 7!!!!

Science Challenge: Weather Observation.

Using kidspiration, the "kids" will observe the weather for a week and record their observations.

Content- 2nd grade: Observe and describe weather

Pedagogy- observing, analyzing data

Technology- Kidspiration

Week 6 PLE

Tours I visited:

-Angela Nuttall: Clocks

-Lizzy: Exploring Utah rocks and minerals

-Kate: Ecosystems

Some upsides of virtual tours are that I think they'd be easy for the kids to follow and it is easy to download on all the computers so that they can all be doing it at the same time if desired. I also think it can be implemented in any grade because the content can be made more or less complex very easily. And!...you only have to make it once and it's good for years! Downsides...I did not thoroughly enjoy Google Earth as much as some of the other technologies we have used. And some kids may not understand the concept of visiting places in the virtual earth.

Google Earth Virtual Tour

My Tour

Virtual Tour Planning Table

My Tour

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. San Francisco	The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 The estimation was 8.3 on the Richter scale, but worse than the shaking itself, the earthquake caused fires that burned out of control for three days. Two thirds of the city burned down, and totally wiped out the downtown business district. Tens of thousands of people lost their homes and fled the city and an estimated 3000 people died.	Learn about tectonic plates
2. Wisconsin	A massive forest fire destroyed much of Wisconsin: 9 towns and 1,500 people.	Compare pictures of then and now
3. New Orleans	It is the deadliest hurricane to strike the United States since the Palm Beach-Lake Okeechobee hurricane of September 1928. It produced catastrophic damage - estimated at $75 billion in the New Orleans area and along the Mississippi coast - and is the costliest U. S. hurricane on record.	observe pictures and videos of Hurricane Katrina
4. Indian Ocean Countries	By the end of the day more than 150,000 people were dead or missing and millions more were homeless in 11 countries, making it perhaps the most destructive tsunami in history.	locate all 11 countries which will be listed

Grade 2, Standard 3, Objective 2: c. Describe how weather affects people and animals.
I chose to do my virtual tour on natural disasters-mostly in the U.S., but also other parts of the world. Google Earth is a great tool for learning this because it shows the students where these things have happened in history and gives them a chance to explore.

Week 4 PLE

Videos I watched...

Caroline- "A Tasty Alphabet"

Sarah Kunz- "The Right Place"

Angela- "Who Am I ABCs"

Leslie- Charolette's Web book trailer

Elizabeth- "Three Little Pigs"

Melissa Hough- "Living a Healthy Lifestyle"

I think some of the most difficult challenges in implementing a digital storytelling project in an elementary education classroom will be having enough time and resources to do so. Kids who need extra time to work on theirs may not be able to do so at home and may not be able to get extra computer lab time. Ideally a set of classroom laptops would solve this problem! But also, in early childhood education this may be difficult for those younger kids-putting things together like that. It may be possible though!

Video

TPACK and Storyboard

Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge...
Technological knowledge is the knowledge of technology and how it can be used in education. Pedagogical knowledge is the general knowledge of how to teach. Content knowledge is the knowledge of the content which is being taught. With all these types of knowledge and resources combined, teachers are able to teach to the maximum of their potential.

Storyboard...

Week 2

This week's assignment taught me all sorts of new things! First and foremost, how to set up a website that would be useful in helping parents keep up with what their kids are doing in school. I also appreciated learning about a good use of goodreads. I had a goodreads account from my children's lit class and never thought I would use it again. But knowing I can post it on a website of recommended books has been great to find out! This week's assignment may have been long and time consuming, but so many things were learned that I have never ventured before...including RSS.

skype screen shot

facebook screen shot

My technology background and experiences consit of...

-taking a required basic technology class in high school

-application technology test required for major

-projects through high school and college