Saturday, November 28, 2009
Chapter 8 IOI Software Ethics
I purchase a DK Mulitmedia CD with my own money and lend it out to a fellow teacher. Huh... What to do when she goes and makes copies of it and distributes it to other fellow teachers??? EASY!!!! I know what I would do. I would report her. My job may be on the line because of her actions. My school could be fined because of the copyright laws and I feel that I am liable because I lent it to her. I know I wasn't aware that she was going to make copies but I lent it to her. I thought she was just going to try it out and see if she wanted to purchase one for her classroom. I am not one to ever go and tell on people but it this case I am going to be in big trouble if not loose my job because of what this person did so therefore I am going to report it to my principal and take my principals advice on what steps I should take next!!! I have also now learned a lesson not to lend anything out that could get me in trouble!
Chapter 7 IOI Intergrating blogging and Digital Teaching
Blogging...What do I think of it? There are pro's and con's to integrating blogging and digital teaching in my opinion. First for the pro's... some students feel to shy to engage in a class discussion even if they have something they feel is valuable to the discussion. If they are giving the opportunity to express the opinion in a blog they will not feel that embarrassment of speaking in front of others but still contribute to the discussion. They may even get that boost of self confidence they need when another student may respond to there blog agreeing with what they had to say!
As for a con to blogging it may embarrass a student if there writing skills are not up to par with the rest of the classroom! At the same time posting blogs on a regular basis will give them the chance to improve on there writing skills. I think that if I teach and appropriate grade level for blogging and the county I teach in allows it I would most likely include blogging in my teaching!!!
As for a con to blogging it may embarrass a student if there writing skills are not up to par with the rest of the classroom! At the same time posting blogs on a regular basis will give them the chance to improve on there writing skills. I think that if I teach and appropriate grade level for blogging and the county I teach in allows it I would most likely include blogging in my teaching!!!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Item of Interest Chapter 6
I chose Reader Rabbit's Reading Series. I love this series. I have perosnally used it with my son since he was three years old. My son thought he was playing games and really the whole time he was learning how to read. When he entered kindergarten the classes were based on reading levels and he tested into the highest level class there was. He actually was doing first grade reading in kindergarten and I truly believe because he played so many educational games like Reader Rabbit. If you have any young children I totally suggest you check out the reader rabbit series.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Chapter 5 IOI 00159553
Information Overload
I don't believe that too much information is a bad thing but I do believe that we get overloaded with too much information time to time. The World Wide Web is an example of alot of information. Just typing in something to google you will come up with thousands of things. I get so frustrated when I am doing a research paper on something and type it in google and get so much information that it takes me hours to find the information that is most useful. Lots of times you get anything that has that keyword in it. For example If you type Violence in schools into google you will get 38,900,000 entries at your finger tips. WOW!!!! That is a bit overwhelming for a student when doing a report. I think that you should set rules when looking up information. How about google your topic and only look at the first ten items that come up. I think that would save some time of sifting through all the information and I am sure you will find what you need in those first ten items.
I don't believe that too much information is a bad thing but I do believe that we get overloaded with too much information time to time. The World Wide Web is an example of alot of information. Just typing in something to google you will come up with thousands of things. I get so frustrated when I am doing a research paper on something and type it in google and get so much information that it takes me hours to find the information that is most useful. Lots of times you get anything that has that keyword in it. For example If you type Violence in schools into google you will get 38,900,000 entries at your finger tips. WOW!!!! That is a bit overwhelming for a student when doing a report. I think that you should set rules when looking up information. How about google your topic and only look at the first ten items that come up. I think that would save some time of sifting through all the information and I am sure you will find what you need in those first ten items.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Item of Interest chapter 4 00159553
I chose Oregon Trail as my item of interest this week. Boy did I get excited to see this was one of my choices. I loved this game when I was younger. When I was in fifth grade I was introduced to this game. I never realized until I read this article that I was learning history, geography, and social studies all in this one game. To me this was just a fun game. Games like this make learning all these subjects fun! I think students playing games of this caliber make learning more enjoyable for students who don't enjoy history, social studies or geography. Technology even game playing is so crucial to a students educational growth.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Item Of Interest Chapter 3
Software Corner Primetime Math
What a great idea Primetime Math series is! How many times have you heard someone say we will never use this math in the "real world"? This series shows kids stories of when real-world professionals use math in the everyday life. Some of the titles include Adrift, Cliffbound, Fire, Lost, Emergency and Stakeout. Alot of the math stories have to do with Police, fire, medical emergencies and some search and rescue. These are all professions that are very interesting to young children. So Primetime Math makes math exciting for this students. I believe that any kind of learning computer game is wonderful. Children love to play on the computer and love to play games so lets make them educational and most times they forget they are even learning. Another favorite math computer game of mine is FastMath. The students love it!! I am defintely going to use Primetime Math and Fastmath in my classroom.
What a great idea Primetime Math series is! How many times have you heard someone say we will never use this math in the "real world"? This series shows kids stories of when real-world professionals use math in the everyday life. Some of the titles include Adrift, Cliffbound, Fire, Lost, Emergency and Stakeout. Alot of the math stories have to do with Police, fire, medical emergencies and some search and rescue. These are all professions that are very interesting to young children. So Primetime Math makes math exciting for this students. I believe that any kind of learning computer game is wonderful. Children love to play on the computer and love to play games so lets make them educational and most times they forget they are even learning. Another favorite math computer game of mine is FastMath. The students love it!! I am defintely going to use Primetime Math and Fastmath in my classroom.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Essay # 1 Virtual High Schools
When I decided to do my essay on Virtual High Schools I was totally against them. Question is Do I think 100% online high schools are an effective solution? Well after doing some research on this subject I am 75% against virtual high schools and 25% for them.
There are many different situations as to why you would use a virtual high school. Some reasons are there are not certain classes being offered at your high school such as AP classes, or classes that were cut due to budgets. Another reason that students would use a virtual high school is if they are home bound due to medical reasons. In cases like these I can understand why someone would take part in an online high school. I actually think it is a great idea for teenagers that can't go to school due to a medical problem. They can still get there school work done and graduate on time and have the same opportunity as a student attending regular high school.
I don't agree with a Virtual High School just for the sake of not going to school. Does that make sense? I think there needs to be a legitimate reason for needing a Virtual High School. Not attending a regular high school can be crippling to your social growth. Your teenage years are the years you grow so much as a person. What about all those firsts? Your first football game, high school dance, kiss, your first boyfriend/girlfriend and your first heartbreak. You will never know what any of these feel like unless you are in a traditional high school where there are other students. I know that all of that is not important to most people but it really makes you who you are going to be as an adult. I personally am so glad for all the good, bad and ugly experiences I had in high school. They made me the person I am today. Another reason is you never get to experience what the real world is like if you are doing all your school work from your house alone. Doing your school work at your convenience or when you want to!!!! Does that prepare you for the real world?
A last reason I do not agree with Virtual High Schools is if everything becomes virtual one day then why are we going to need so many teachers? Our job security is gone. I don't want to think I am wasting my time going to school to become a teacher when some day I could be replaced by a computer. I don't think a computer can do as good of a job teaching students as a live teacher can.
In closing it is something that a believe will be a debate for a long time whether it is effective or not. I personally hope I don't live to see the day that Virtual High Schools become the norm.
There are many different situations as to why you would use a virtual high school. Some reasons are there are not certain classes being offered at your high school such as AP classes, or classes that were cut due to budgets. Another reason that students would use a virtual high school is if they are home bound due to medical reasons. In cases like these I can understand why someone would take part in an online high school. I actually think it is a great idea for teenagers that can't go to school due to a medical problem. They can still get there school work done and graduate on time and have the same opportunity as a student attending regular high school.
I don't agree with a Virtual High School just for the sake of not going to school. Does that make sense? I think there needs to be a legitimate reason for needing a Virtual High School. Not attending a regular high school can be crippling to your social growth. Your teenage years are the years you grow so much as a person. What about all those firsts? Your first football game, high school dance, kiss, your first boyfriend/girlfriend and your first heartbreak. You will never know what any of these feel like unless you are in a traditional high school where there are other students. I know that all of that is not important to most people but it really makes you who you are going to be as an adult. I personally am so glad for all the good, bad and ugly experiences I had in high school. They made me the person I am today. Another reason is you never get to experience what the real world is like if you are doing all your school work from your house alone. Doing your school work at your convenience or when you want to!!!! Does that prepare you for the real world?
A last reason I do not agree with Virtual High Schools is if everything becomes virtual one day then why are we going to need so many teachers? Our job security is gone. I don't want to think I am wasting my time going to school to become a teacher when some day I could be replaced by a computer. I don't think a computer can do as good of a job teaching students as a live teacher can.
In closing it is something that a believe will be a debate for a long time whether it is effective or not. I personally hope I don't live to see the day that Virtual High Schools become the norm.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Item Of Interest Chapter 2
Software Corner
My Item of interest in chapter 2 was Virtual Dissecting software. I have heard so many educators talk about this great software. I would definitely use this in the classroom. One thing i remember most about 7th grade was the horrible smell when I dissected a frog. I was so disgusted having to cut that frog out and the liquid coming out of it. If my teacher would have had access to this software I would not have had to been traumatized!!! =)
I am sure that purchasing this software is much cheaper than getting enough frogs for every student year after year.
Software Corner
My Item of interest in chapter 2 was Virtual Dissecting software. I have heard so many educators talk about this great software. I would definitely use this in the classroom. One thing i remember most about 7th grade was the horrible smell when I dissected a frog. I was so disgusted having to cut that frog out and the liquid coming out of it. If my teacher would have had access to this software I would not have had to been traumatized!!! =)
I am sure that purchasing this software is much cheaper than getting enough frogs for every student year after year.
Item Of Interest Chapter 1
Digitial Media Corner
I chose Brainplugg as my item of interest. The link in the book did not work so I had to google search it. The brainplugg website that came up did not look like the brainplugg in the book but i still checked it out. What an interesting website. You can find any kind of video you can imagine without having to sort through thousands of videos.
I would defintley use this website in my classroom. You can easily bookmark videos to be used.
One downfall I found was there are some videos on here that may be inappropriate for school so the school district may not give you access to this website. If you do get access to it I would make sure the children do not have access to it.
Digitial Media Corner
I chose Brainplugg as my item of interest. The link in the book did not work so I had to google search it. The brainplugg website that came up did not look like the brainplugg in the book but i still checked it out. What an interesting website. You can find any kind of video you can imagine without having to sort through thousands of videos.
I would defintley use this website in my classroom. You can easily bookmark videos to be used.
One downfall I found was there are some videos on here that may be inappropriate for school so the school district may not give you access to this website. If you do get access to it I would make sure the children do not have access to it.
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