Internet Safety Reflection

1. I read all of the articles. My article of choice was Technology and a House of Learning.
2. I watched all of the videos that were posted under the suggested resources
3. From the readings, I found it really interesting how internet safety was tied to the Proclamation to the Family. Parents are supposed to preside, provide, protect, and nurture their children. I liked how it suggests the positive things that children can do that are associated with the internet. I found it particularly interesting watching the PBS documentary about cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking. I have heard stories about people who are bullied over the internet or stalked but I never realized how much of a problem it is. I really liked the videos and games that are available to teach children how to be safe on the internet. It is a fun way of teaching children the dangers of internet safety.
4. After reading these articles and watching these videos my immediate thought was to talk to my mom. I have a thirteen year old sister who uses the internet every day and the videos made me very concerned. My mother on the other hand is basically the definition of technologically crippled. I asked my mom what she knew about cyber-bullying. She was aware that it happens; however, she did not realize how serious of an issue it is. In addition, I asked her what safety precautions that she knew about that would prevent internet safety problems. She responded, “To have the computer in an open area and not in the bedroom”. I shared with her what I had learned. I told her that internet filters are a great idea and also having family standards regarding internet usage. She said that she was surprised at how much my generation relies on internet. For her generation, internet is convenient and cool; however, if the internet disappeared tomorrow life would still go on. One thing that surprised when speaking to my mom is how much she knew on the subject and consequently implemented internet safety strategies into the home. For example, she moved the computer into the family room. Furthermore, when allowing my little sister to get a facebook they talked about safety and my mom added her as a friend. One suggestion that perhaps she will implement is an internet filter. In addition, hopefully she will remember the information I have shared with her and continue to monitor my little sister’s internet usage.

TPACK

Lesson Plans

Here are the links to my three lesson plans:

1) http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddf9t24d_5f7qd5hc9
2) http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddf9t24d_4dgxh44d7
3) http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddf9t24d_3ddgscwdz

Video Response

I am amazed at how quickily and easily the children caught on to the technology being used. A lot of the assignments we have done thusfar in this course I have second guessed being able to implement them in the lower grades. The teachers in these videos were lower grade teachers and the children loved using technoilogy. In the lesson with the spiders, the teacher had the children take the pictures and they were behind the computer when viewing them on the website. The children were highly involved in the lesson which made for a more effective lesson. Also, technology makes things more organized. When something learned is posted on a website children can easily go home and look at it. Also, parents can go and look at what their children are learning. I loved watching each of these videos. They all got me excited about implementing technology into the classroom. These teachers did a wonderful job of showing that implementing technology into the classroom is a fun rewarding experience.

Initial Observation

My initial thought when entering my classroom is that there was not very much technology. There are no computers in the room and no smartboards. The technology in the classroom consists of a tv, cd player, and projector. There are certain things that the whole grade shares such as a smart board and a document camera. There is one computer lab on the school. It is a pretty nice lab with about 40 mac computers. However, the computers dont have very many programs because the school doesn't have enough money to buy them. The teachers do not implement technology into their lessons very much. I have only seen a projector be used in a lesson. There are some great technologys available to teachers; however, there is not much available in each individual classroom.

I completed the midcourse evaluation and the informned consent.

I watched Emily, Tiffany, and Rebecca's videos. There are great advantages to using technology in the classroom. I used Stellarium to view the stages of the moon. It allowed me to view the moon in a way that would have otherwise been impossible. I have become more comfortable with using technology and look forward to using it in my future classroom.

Science Project

Science Challenge

For my scienece activity I will be using the program stellarium to study the different phases of the moon. This fits into UEN 6th grade science, standard 1, objective 1b. This aobjective has students identify the patterns of change in the moon's appearance. I will give a lesson to my students about the phases of the moon. I will then introduce the program stellarium. I will assign homework for each student to use stellarium to record the different phases of the moon. I will be using the program stellarium because it will give them a good visual of how the moon actually looks. If I were to give them an assignment to go observe the actual moon, it would be hard because it is so far away and it might be covered. Stellarium will allow student to go to whichever dates they choose and get a clearer picture of the moon.

The three tours that I watched were
1) Betsy "Elizabeth" Rodriquez on the Civil War. http://betsy_elizabeth_rodriquez.blogspot.com
2) Katherine Kerr on the ecosystem
http://katherinekerript287.blogspot.com
3)Brooke on James and the giant peach
http://techbrooke.blogspot.com

I enjoyed making this tour. I think that students will like it because it allows them to view places in ways that they have never before. With all of the layers and effects that google earth has to offer, students can get a very realistic tour and feel as though they actually visited the place. I think that this is something that students will have fun with. A downside to this project is that it might be difficult for them to figure out. In addition, it takes a substantial amount of time to create a tour.

Google Tour- Castles

My google earth tour on the world's most famous castles is complete.

Google Earth

My tour follows second grade standard 2. I am doing my tour on some of the world's most famous castles. I thought that this would be something that would really interest students. It is something that they do not get to hear a lot about. Until researching and looking at pictures on this topic, I never realized what beautiful castles are around the world. Students could learn all about castles in class, however, google earth will help them get a more realistic view of castles and make it a more meaningful lesson.

Google Earth

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Bavaria, Germany	Explore and learn about Bavaria and its world famous castle	3D buildings
2. Thames River England	Through google, learn about the castle here and its history.	Google earth pictures
3. Edinburgh, Scotland	Look at pictures of the area in which this castle is.	3D buildings, pictures
4. Blarney, Ireland	Explore and learn all about the Blarney castle.	Google earth pictures

Digital Storybook

This is the list of six people's video that I commented on:
Emily Carr
Rebecca Jaggi
Emily Williams
Betsy Rodriguez
Markie Franc
Lauren MacDonald.

I really like this assignment and think that it would be something fun to do with my students when I am a teacher. One problem in implementing this video project into the classroom is that there might not be enough time. It will take elementary school children time and practice in learning how to make a video. It will take time showing them how to use the program and assisting when they run into problems. This project would be fun to implement into the classroom; however, it will be time consuming.

TPACK

TPACK stands for technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge. Technological knowledge is knowing and understanding technology. Pedagogical knowledge is having knowledge and skills related to teaching. Content knowledge is to have knowledge about a certain subject and know all of the facts and concept. In order to be an effective teacher it is important to have all three of these. It isin't enough to have be familiar with two of these things; it is important to have a knowledge of all three. When all three are put together, teachers are able to effectively teach.

Learning new things

I really liked this weeks assigment. At first I thought that it was really confusing but then I caught on to it. It's so crazy to me all of the things that you can do with the internet. I think that my favorite thing that I did on this session was edit a picture on picnik. I had never edited a picture before and I thought that it was pretty cool.

Technology Background

Ever since I was young I have been using computers. Before transferring to BYU, I took a computer course at a community college that taught me how to use microsoft office. In doing so, I became very familiar with microsoft powerpoint and word. I still find microsoft excel to be a little confusing. I wouldn't consider myself an expert on the internet but I know how to figure out most things. I'm excited to learn how to do more things with technology.