Last week

I completed steps 2-4 on the PLE posting.

Internet Safety Reflection

1. I chose to read the article “The Message: Mushrooms, Music, Movies, and Magazines” by Elder Spencer J. Condie.
2. I watched the PBS Frontline videos. I was really surprised by some of the videos. I have never really wanted to go into chat rooms and I am glad that I never have, especially after watching these videos. One of the videos talked about how children are using the internet to bully others or make sexual comments that they would not make face to face. I distinctly remember one girl saying how shy she is in person but that when she was in a chat room, she took her shirt off in front of the camera because it was just online. Another horrible story was the story of “Autumn.” There was a girl that felt like an outcast and a loner and so she created this social networking account under a fake name and posted pictures of herself in lingerie, and wearing very minimal clothing, and in very suggestive poses. She said that it made her feel important and that is how she got friends so she wasn’t lonely. I was just very shocked by watching those videos. I didn’t get a social networking account on facebook until I came to college. I never got a myspace account. I did have instant messenger in high school but I only talked to my friends from school with it. I haven’t ever entered an open chat room either. I guess all of these factors just make me shocked that these children will go and do such horrible things on the internet.
3. I think that the most important take away message from the videos and articles is that the internet is very scary and so parents need to monitor their children’s internet usage very carefully! Along with that, in one of the videos the boy said that his dad monitors his internet use but he can tell when his dad is watching so he just goes to a website he thinks that his dad would want him to be on. Another very important point is to have the computer ONLY in a high traffic area in the home. Also, talking to your child about internet safety and the dangerous things online is also important.
4. The person that I talked to about internet safety said that she knew that the computer should go in a high traffic area in the house. She also said that with her own children, she tried to be in the room while any of her daughters were on the internet, that way she could just quickly glance over at the screen and make sure that her daughter wasn’t on a bad website, or doing anything that she wasn’t supposed to. The person that I talked to was very surprised at all the bad things that can actually be so easily accessed on the internet. She was glad that putting the computer in a high traffic area was a good thing and that she had done the right thing with her daughters. I think that the person I talked to will probably be even more careful about what her daughters look at on the internet.

TPACK Google Presentation

Week 12

I completed the assignment for this week.

My Lesson Plans

Language Arts Lesson Plan

Mathematics Lesson Plan

Science Lesson Plan

Week 11

I watched the videos for week 11's PLE posting.

Week 10

The most important thing that I learned from watching the videos for this week was that there are things that teachers can use in a classroom that aren't too advanced for the students. In the Spiders video, the teacher had the children take pictures using a disposable camera and then scanned them into the computer herself to post on the class website. Allowing the kids to take the pictures allows them to use technology in a hands on way without being too complex for them. In the Brown Bear video, the teacher had the students draw pictures of things that are used for transportation on the computer. She said that they could use the computer pretty well. I still have a hard time believing that it really was that easy for them to draw things on the computer, but she said that they did alright. The last video used the most complex technologies but the teacher also used technologies that were not too advanced for the third graders. She had them use Kidsperation, a CD database, online sources for pictures, and KidPix. I did notice that during this video she was always right by them to teach them new things about the computer. The kids in general seemed to be able to handle using all of the technologies though. I guess that from these three videos, it made me see that not all technology is too hard for kids to use.

Week 9

I interviewed a first grade teacher at Wasatch Elementary School. In her classroom, there are a few computers in the back of the classroom, a personal laptop for her to use, a television, a VCR, and a Promethean board.

There were two things that this teacher really wanted in her classroom. The first thing that she really wanted was MP3 players for the children to hear stories read to them that had different voices and inflectional tones. She said that she thinks that it would make the children more interested in the stories if they didn’t have to hear her voice all the time. The second thing that she wished that her classroom had was interactive literature. She had this at a previous school that she taught at and throughout the book words would be highlighted and you could point to the word and see that image. For example, if the story was about a grandma and her grandkids, the children could touch the word and the picture of the grandma would light up.

The main thing she used in her classroom was the Promethean board. The Promethean board, from what she said, is incredible! She said that she uses the board to look at poems, and teach counting money in a piggy bank. She also said that this is replacing the television and VCR. She had the children watch President Obama’s address, but instead of finding that channel on the television, she pulled it up on the Promethean. She did say that she doesn’t really know how to use it very well. She also has concerns using it because it isn’t interactive for all the children in the classroom. How does a teacher choose the one child to use the interactive board for the day, while the rest of the children sit on the carpet and watch?

The extra question that I asked this teacher was if it was hard for the children to use technology. She said that it was very hard for the children to use computers because of the mouse. She said that the children have a hard time with the dexterity of using the mouse. She said it was very, very hard for the children to move the mouse and click. She also said that it is really hard to use computers depending on the layout the program that they are using is. She went off about how stupid their new computer testing is and how the children can not use the computers for the test because of the format, the questions, the fact that they have no scratch paper, the fact that they can’t review previous questions, and the problem with early test submission.

I completed the midcourse evaluation and the informed consent.

Week 8

The Voice Threads that I watched and commented on were

1. Leslie-Sink or Float
2. Betsy and Natalee-Phases of the Moon
3. Aubrianne-Rotation of Earth, moon, and sun

I learned that there really are a lot of ways that technology can be used to teach science in a classroom. It did seem like Stellarium was only used to teach the phases of the moon, but it would be really good to teach constellations, too. Also, in Aubrianne’s post, she and her group used it to explore the rotation of the sun, moon, and Earth. They also asked the students to observe how the moon moves across the sky, even though you can’t see it. I also learned a lot more about Kidsperation from this, and I really liked it. I think that it is a really good program for kids to use. It is very kid friendly and colorful. I am sure that kids would really like using that program.

My Voice Thread

Week 7, my science plans

I will have the students observe the moon for a few days and then come to class and tell the class what they observed/how the moon changed. Next, we will discuss how the moon changes. The students and I will then get on to Stellarium and observe the moon and stars. We will look at how the stars and moon move across the sky by speeding up time. Next, we will talk about why they think that the moon changes. After they have discussed that we will talk in class about why the moon does change. Then, we will observe the different phases of the moon again on Stellarium, and apply that knowledge to predict how the moon will change during the next week or two. We will then record our real observations of the moon (draw them each night) and compare our actual drawings of how the moon changed to our predictions of how we thought that the moon would move. Last, the students will make a concept map, using Kidsperation, about the information that we learned about the moon.

The content I will be using from UEN will be for 6th grade students: Standard 1, objective 1 which states, “Explain patterns of changes in the appearance of the moon as it orbits.”

The Pedagogy that we will use are observations, predicting, acquiring and processing data through describing relationships and making a chart of our observations of the moon, we will also analyze our data and see if the students’ predictions were correct.

I will use Stellarium and Kidsperation. These are both fitting for my objective because Stellarium allows my students to see how the stars move across the sky in a way that they can quickly view it. This also allows my students to see the different phases of the moon at anytime during the day and allows the students to see the moon regardless of if it is cloudy outside. Kidsperation is a good fit for the content because the very last part of my objective wants the students to design an investigation, make a chart, and collect their own data. Kidsperation is a program that the kids can use to make their charts clear, readable, and easily shared. At the end of our experiment, the kids will also make a concept map, using Kidsperation, sharing what they have learned about the moon.

PLE Week 6

Tours I took:

1. Leslie—religious tour
2. Kaylee—natural disaster tour
3. Elizabeth—comparison of Provo

I think that there are definitely both benefits and downfalls to using Google Earth in a classroom. I think that some of the benefits would be that the kids would actually get to see the places that you have been talking about in your classroom. You can use different layers tools to see things in 3-D, or use the 360 function. This will allow the students to actually see the size scale of things. I think that the students would also pay attention more if you were using a virtual tour to teach things that can be very dull for kids. Some downsides to this, though, would it takes so much time! I highly doubt that I will have time to mess around with Google Earth when there are test to be graded, lesson plans to write, children to assess, curriculum to teach, and getting to know the kids. I also think that my students will not be old enough to use it. I struggled really hard designing a tour and I am an adult. I don’t think that writing all the special codes, troubleshooting, figuring out the layers, and creating links is very realistic for the young kids that I want to teach. I can see the benefits of this but I think that the downfalls out-weigh the benefits.

My Google Site

This is my Google Site that my full tour was uploaded online to.

Google Earth Tour

My Tour is from the third grade curriculum. My tour is about showing the children different ecosystems in the Earth.

Week Five

For my virtual tour, the children will explore 3^rd grade, social studies, Standard One, Objective 2 a. This objective is about describing ecosystems that are found in the world. I chose this because I thought that it would be fun to take a virtual tour of four of the major ecosystems and see them first hand, rather than read about these systems from a textbook. As I just said, Google Earth is really beneficial when teaching children about things that they can’t see right in front of them. The children are much more likely to become excited about seeing the Tundra in Greenland than from reading about it in their textbook. I must admit, before I explored Google Earth, I didn’t think that a virtual tour was very beneficial. However, now that I have seen the many uses and functions that Google Earth has, I am glad that I am learning how to use it.

My Virtual Tour Plan

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Sahara Desert	I am going to have the students drag the mouse over the circumference of the Sahara and guess how big they think it is. After they have made their guesses, I will have them click on a link to find out the actual circumference of the Sahara.	For this activity they will be using the ruler to make their own guesses about the circumference of the Sahara.
2. Rocky Mountains/Y-Mountain	The kids will use the 3-D tool to explore the mountains. Then, I am going to have the kids answer the question of why we live in Provo Valley instead of on Y-mountain, or any other mountain for that matter.	The kids will explore the mountains using the 3-D view so that they can get a feel for the steepness of the mountains, and the rough terrain.
3. Amazon Rain Forest	I will have the kids write down what they observed from studying and how their observations are different from the environment where we live. I will also have them use the weather viewer to tell me what the weather is like in the Amazon.	The kids will use the weather function and report whether it is cloudy, or sunny, and hot, or cold.
4. The Tundra (in Greenland)	I will have the kids explore pictures of the Tundra and after they do that, I will have them guess what temperature they think it is in the tundra. Then, they will click on a link to find out what the average temperature actually is.	The tool they will use for this is the simple bubble picture links found in Greenland to get a feel for what the weather is like there, and how it looks there.

PLE Assignment for Week Four

These are the videos I watched this week,

1. Kaylee, “The One Thing I Will Not Eat”
2. Elizabeth, “The Three Little Pigs”
3. Leslie, “Some Pig”
4. Laura Beth, “Strawberry Shortcake”
5. Robin, “The Marvelous Homework and Housework Machine”
6. Alli, “Let Me Out of the Classroom”

The thing that I think would be the most challenging think about implementing a digital storytelling project in an elementary classroom is the age group. I am an Early Childhood Education major and I hope to teach Kindergarten. Kindergartener’s will probably be able to use the computer pretty well, but I don’t think that they would really be able to put a movie together without help from a teacher. If a teacher would be able to help the kids, then I think that it would be a really fun activity for the students to do.

Scarlet Pimpernel Book Trailor

TPACK Thoughts

My understanding of TPACK is that it is a combination of three really important types of knowledge: the knowledge of how to teach, the knowledge of content that the teacher is teaching about, and the knowledge of how to use different technologies to further the effects of our teaching. I think that it is imperative that teachers have an accurate understanding of TPACK because without using all three of these knowledge databases, a teacher can't fully reach his or her students. With only understanding how to teach and having a knowledge of the content area, we will not be able to reach the technologically savy student. With only understanding the content and the use of technology, the teacher can not effectively communicate to the students. With only having an understanding of how to teach and how to use technology, the teacher again can't communicate the subject knowledge because they do not understand the subject they are teaching.

My Storyboard

Non-live chat

Live video chat with Leslie

Week Two

Wow, this week was a busy week! I learned so much. I think that the most useful thing that I learned was how to make a wiki website. This has so much potential to really help the students want to learn things in class and want to share it with those around them. For the page that we had to embed a video from youtube or teachertube I found a rap song that explained what a bill goes through to become a law. Just with finding that song I realized that finding resources like that, that children can connect to, the students will love learning all the more. It is also a catchy tune and a tricky way to get the process of making laws stick in their head.

First Entry!

My background experience with technology definitely does not include blogging. I have used computers a lot and I love my laptop. As far as I can remember there has always been a computer in my home. Granted, I wasn't always allowed to get on it, but we still had one. The first thing that I remember about using a computer was definitely playing save the princess.