Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Internet Safety

I talked with a parent about internet safety in her home and she said she tries to keep all of the rules outlined in the strength of youth pamphlet. She knew about Elder Ballard's talk and she was very adamant about teaching her children about internet safety. She said she has many firewalls up to protect her children but still bad things will get through so she said she is continually telling them to come to her if they do see anything bad. She also does not allow any videos or DVDS in her home that have bad language or anything that drives away the spirit. She said she was glad we were learning about internet safety and the evils of the media in school, she said she wishes she could have been educated about how to teach her children. 

In contrast I talked with a peer who felt that nothing was wrong with watching bad media if you didn't end up swearing and doing those things yourself. This was after I showed him the talk. How does that contrast with what the apostles say compared to what he thought was right? Completely different. Anything with bad language or ungodliness drives the spirit away, so it should be applied in every individual's life.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

additional resource: internet safety

This wouldn't let me post it. Here it is: H. Burke Peterson, "Leave it alone"
I loved how he said, turn away, walk away, burn it, leave it alone.

Internet Safety

What does Elder Ballard say is our “biggest challenge” related to media?
Elder Ballard said our biggest challenge is to choose wisely what we listen to and what we watch.
What guidelines have our Church leaders been giving us for safe use of media such as the TV and Internet?
Church leaders have said that to be strong and happy, families need to be nourished by the truths depicted in the thirteenth article of faith—by a belief “in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men.”
Also Elder Ballard said this, "The time has come when members of the Church need to speak out and join with the many other concerned people in opposition to the offensive, destructive, and mean-spirited media influence that is sweeping over the earth."
As a teacher, how can you appropriately influence children and parents to develop healthy patterns of media use?
As a teacher I plan to take media in the right context and make sure and use appropriate media. I also have to realize that something that may not be offensive to me, may be offensive to a parent or child, I have to keep that in consideration, and prepare to deal with those issues. I also would like to possibly do a unit on internet, media safety to my students before using the internet.
Pornography-
Which of these guidelines do you follow?
I personally follow all of these guidelines.
How might you share these guidelines with family and friends?
My mom is really good about following these guidelines, but it is difficult to safeguard individuals when they have their own computer in their rooms. I know I have shared information about certain blocking website programs that are available for free.
McKay Today Magazine
What experiences have you had with the balance between protecting and providing when it comes to technology use?
When I lived at home my parents tried several different approaches to protecting us from the internet. At first when question arrived, they attempted to get all of our passwords, or take away privileges. That did not work. The children felt taken advantage of and had no privacy, and did not even want to use their email after that. Which is completely understandable. But they learned to accept MSN chat and facebook after time went on. They began to use texting themselves. My mom even ended up getting facebook because 8 of her children had it. I believe that my parents became educated over time and then that provided my siblings the freedom they needed but also my parents trusted them, and no problems occured after that.
What ideas do you have for learning to preside, provide, protect, and nurture when it comes to technology in your own home?
I want to be involved with the games they play, play them with them. I want to know about the internet activities they are engaged in, then if something ever did come up I would talk to them about the best solutions. I dont believe taking it away is a good option either, that could cause more problems. I know that with the Lord's help and guidance I will find the appropriate place to stand on technology.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Learned!

I learned from peers' posts on technology in the classroom that technology has unlimited possibilities! Also, it is beneficial for the students and the teachers! A really cool thing I learned from jenncobb.blogspot.com Jenn's Blog was that researchers found that manipulatives were the best way for children to learn in 1994!! So now we have virtual manipulatives on computers and online, thats great! Its the best way for students to learn. So USE them!!

ECE Technology in the Classroom WK 13

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

lesson plan

Kindergarten Literacy
Standard 3
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness - Students develop phonological and phonemic awareness.
Objective 3
Orally blend word parts (blending)
Indicator a. Blend syllables to make words (e.g., /ta/.../ble/, table).
Content: The content is to help students learn how to blend words. Objective three in the core curriculum. (blending)
Pedagogy: The Pedagogy is to help students have an awareness of blending. As a teacher when working with blending, it is a task of repetition and consistency. Blending is where you teach the different word sounds then ask them if they know what the word is. t op, what does that spell? Top. It is helpful for the teacher to be encouraging and have enthusiasm when addressing blending.
Technology: The technology in this lesson is the game called the Hay Loft from Internet4classrooms Kindergarten resources. This is where the student can roll the mouse over the two characters and they will say the two different sounds, the student then chooses a picture that represents the word they are saying. There are three different pictures to choose from. This activity fits perfectly with the content because it addresses blending, and it is easy for the teacher to be enthusiastic and encouraging while the student is doing this. This fits well with literacy because it is exactly what the teacher needs to do, this is just with visuals and on a computer so students will be much more interested in it.

Content:
Kindergarten Math
Standard1
Objective 3
Model, describe, and illustrate meanings of addition and subtraction for whole numbers less than ten.
Pedagogy: Teaching addition to students with actual chips would be helpful, also with candy or toys to help them be motivated and not really know they are sitting down learning math. Just do it with them, without saying okay today we are going to learn addition! These hands on methods will help students develop the rules of addition without saying, okay when you add.....
Technology: The technology here is from the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives and these are two virtual manipulatives students can play that introduce them to simple below ten math. This is adding and with these games they can count and they will help supply them with additional back up from the teaching of addition. Technology is fun and students need to be introduced to it in all different realms. This first game is where chips are used and the student can drag the chips to create the same problem as the numbers represent. Instead of doing this on paper the student gets to use a computer so they will be more interested.

Virtual Manipulatives: are on the computer activites that help enhance math knowledge.
This game is where they find the amount of blocks that the number says. This manipulative can be used with real blocks as well, but this method is faster and easier to clean up, because there is no clean up! These manipulatives are similar to games, and students will be excited to learn with technology.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Interview, Computer

So...after much frustration, here I am.

Interview:
Technologies available: TV, VCR, DVD, Projector, recorder, 2 computers, digital camera
Technologies she wished she had: MORE COMPUTERS
She tries to use technology as much as possible, but feels like the school doesnt support it as much as she would like. She likes using the two computers but if she had even 3 more, she said she could do a lot more.
I wanted to know how she came about getting the technologies that she did have. She said they were her own or a couple of classrooms shared them.

It was interesting to me that the school didn't really support technology. You would think with all the computers and online resources and services that the school district would be so involved with working on getting technologies in the classrooms. But, they really aren't worried about it, and are doing nothing to provide more computers for anyone. A computer class seemed to be enough, once a week. But really, as a college student I am using the computer everyday for everything. Not just homework, but looking for books, looking for apartments, recipes, supplies, and advice. So really the internet, and technologies are more vital than this school wants to realize.

In my very own classroom even if I am only able to access very few technological resources, I will make sure even my Kindergarten class knows how to work and deal with technology. It is important to be technology savy, and I think even students are more interested in learning about something that has electronics involved than paper and pencil.

Computer:
That computer is awesome. The coolest part about them for me..was that they can be powered by the sun!!!!! WOW!! I love the internal bumper for the screen because you know that if a kid owns this it will get dropped. I also like the idea of it being a non-profit organization, so really it is focused on what is best for the child, not what will market and allow the child to become obsessed with the game or something. Although, I would love to get this for my classroom to integrate into every lesson plan in order for my students to become obsessed about learning.

Reading: on the page where it said to read about online articles for ECE, there was nothing. So there was no link for me to read about. Maybe its my browser not showing it. Because Amber found it.

Techonologies:
OKAY, where was I supposed to find directions to choose what technologies I used? This made sense to me because I looked at Amber's blog. But where are my instructions? They weren't on the assignments and they weren't on moodle, and they weren't on the ple page. I wish we had one page that said everything we had to do. PLE and all. Thats my only complaint right now, that I have to assume what I am supposed to do. Anyway in my confusion I am "Assumming" we are supposed to choose a technology and choose a standard and write a pre-lesson plan. If anyone knows. Please tell me. Thanks.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Virtual Tour Plan






























Location Activity-Journals Google Earth Content
Mojave Desert Have the students write a journal about what they would do if they lived in this desert. image overlay
Wetland-Okefenokee Swamp Have the students write a persuasive letter to the Mayor to encourage him to save the wetland. path
Mountains-Yost Utah-Idaho Have the students write their experience in the mountains or if they have never been have them write about what they would do if they went there. polygon
Tropics-Madagascar Have the students write about their experience as a tropic animal in Madagascar.





The Content is 3rd Grade Social Studies Standard 1 Objective 2 indicator A. Describe the major world ecosystems (i.e. desert, plain, tropic, tundra, grassland, mountain, forest, wetland).
The pedagogy is writing journals to fit with each ecosystem and this is a good fit with the content because it allows the student to inquire and investigate enough about the ecosystem in order to write about it in a more personal way.
The technology I will be using is Google Earth and it is a good fit with the content and pedagogy because the students can see the places they are learning about and view images that will help them write about the different ecosystems. This will inspire them to learn more about the ecosystems, and it is an intriguing application that the students will be very interested in.





























Location Activity-Journals Google Earth Content
Mojave Desert Have the students write a journal about what they would do if they lived in this desert. image overlay
Wetland-Okefenokee Swamp Have the students write a persuasive letter to the Mayor to encourage him to save the wetland. path
Mountains-Yost Utah-Idaho Have the students write their experience in the mountains or if they have never been have them write about what they would do if they went there. polygon
Tropics-Madagascar Have the students write about their experience as a tropic animal in Madagascar.





























Location Activity-Journals Google Earth Content
Mojave Desert Have the students write a journal about what they would do if they lived in this desert. image overlay
Wetland-Okefenokee Swamp Have the students write a persuasive letter to the Mayor to encourage him to save the wetland. path
Mountains-Yost Utah-Idaho Have the students write their experience in the mountains or if they have never been have them write about what they would do if they went there. polygon
Tropics-Madagascar Have the students write about their experience as a tropic animal in Madagascar.
Location ActivityGoogle Earth Content
1.text heretext here
2.text heretext here
3.text heretext here
4.text heretext here
Details of image overlay / path / polygon:

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Monday, February 9, 2009

* What is the content you’ll be using in your lesson? We are using a storybook about a boy and an elephant and we will use it to teach the following objective.
The content is teaching Standard 1:
Oral Language-Students develop language for the purpose of effectively communicating through listening, speaking, viewing, and presenting.
Objective 1
Develop language through listening and speaking.
Listen and demonstrate understanding by responding appropriately (e.g., follow multiple-step directions, restate, clarify, question, summarize).
* What is the pedagogy you’ll be using and why is it a good fit with the content?
We will use a read aloud session to teach the children about the necessary objective and the book will be the center of the lesson. After the book is read to the students, the teacher will direct a discussion afterwards. As a teacher you can discuss the book afterwards and have writing assignments and potential math problems about elephants and circus. It could even turn into a theme. The discussion will cover the objectives and assessments can be given as well.
* What is the technology you’ll be using and why is it a good fit with the content and pedagogy? We will use digital storytelling to complete the lesson and we will scan in our images and story and add music and voice. It will be like watching a movie that is informative and the children will stay involved. The discussion is important because it ties in the technology with the pedagogy and the content.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Answering Questions

What is the content you are focusing on in your science lesson?
I am focusing on teaching my third grade classroom about non-living and living organisms in an environment. This is objective 2, standard 1, but my post discusses how to build off of this lesson to cover standard 2 of objective 2 as well.
What is the pedagogy you are using and why is it a good fit with the content?
My pedagogy is a class discussion about the organisms showing images and allowing the students to ask questions about the pictures and organisms. I researched each organism before showing the picture so I would be able to answer their questions, and if I wasn’t able to answer their questions then I already knew where I could find the information from my prior research on the internet about the organisms. This is a good fit with the content because the students can ask me questions and inquire about the organisms and visually see the organisms and aquire information orally about organisms.
What is the technology you’ll be using and why is it a good fit with the content and pedagogy?
The technology I used was Virtual Pond Dip. It is a good fit with the content and pedagogy because I discussed living and non-living organisms and the pond dip allows students to use hands-on technology to explore what I had previously taught them about.

Overcoming the Overwhelmed Teacher

Tech Savvy Teacher

As a teacher, I find it difficult or overwhelming to always try to come up with creative or inspiring ways on my own for my students to learn about science and still meet the Utah core standards. When I use technology to teach, I implement a whole new facet of opportunities for my students to learn. Technology is a great resource, but its more than that, its more than just throwing my student in front of a computer with a program that should help them learn. It takes effort to build knowledge in a student’s mind, and technology is a tool that every teacher should use to build that knowledge, but it is necessary to develop background about the subject matter in order for the technology to be effective. You still have to teach efficiently for the technology to be a efficient teaching tool.

In my classroom I was reaching the time where I needed to teach my 3rd graders about living and non-living organisms existing in an environment.
Which is standard 2 in the Utah core curriculum: 
Students will understand that organisms depend on living and nonliving things within their environment. Objective 1: Classify living and nonliving things in an environment. I wanted my students to develop a real understanding of an environment, and then understand what a non-living thing is, as well as a living thing. From this unit of learning I wanted to go straight to objective 2 after teaching objective 1. Objective 2 is about the interactions between non-living and living things. Without knowing this would happen, the two actually integrated and I only ended up teaching it over a period of time as one lesson. Here is how I did it. I used Virtual Pond Dip as my technology help. (http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html)

First I introduced the subject, “Students we are going to learn about living and non-living organisms”. I needed to know how much they already knew. I needed to research and provide them with background information before Virtual Pond Dip was utilized. I needed to do this so they could get everything and more from Virtual Pond Dip. So they would already be interested in organisms, living or non-living. I put my computer on a projector screen so the whole class could be involved. I began discussing the environment of a pond, and then began discussing what is in a pond. These are things they came up with: Dirt-non-living, with living organisms residing in the dirt. Organisms-with complicated names that had specific roles in the environment they were in. Not knowing where they were but getting an understanding of what they knew helped me know what to talk about when I showed them several pictures of pond creatures; real pictures, not drawings. (Note: Remember these are just two of the pictures I used, in order to fully inform the students obtain numerous pictures of organisms that reside in ponds, you can find the name of those organisms from the Virtual Pond Dip website, then just google search the organism name to learn more about them and find pictures.)
This is a Copepod, or a Cyclops.
Here is another real microscope picture of the Cyclops.

This is the Virtual Pond Dip image of the Cyclops. When the students have previously been exposed to the Cyclops they will be able to realize that it exists in an environment with other living and non-living things from Virtual Pond Dip. Virtual Pond Dip is the technology resource I used after teaching about the organisms.


From these real pictures they became enthralled that life like this existed. So not only did they understand what a living organism was, but also non-living, and they were excited about it. After continuing the discussion and involving my students in a writing assignment about the pictures and life they had seen, I decided it was time for the students to discover Virtual Pond Dip. I scheduled our computer lab and had this screen already up for each student.
They could click on different organisms on their own to learn more specifically about the organisms.



They experienced a setting on their own and were able to explore and read about each organism on their own, after they had already learned about each organism with me verbally. This is a science activity that started small, but allowed my students to learn more about non-living, and living things than just the definitions. They could really relate and they wanted to know more, they wanted to inquire pond water, and see it under a microscope, they wanted to see the organisms moving and see what organisms ate other organisms, they wanted to know more about the dirt and why it was there, and what purpose it served. Being a Tech Savvy Teacher can create a classroom environment where inquiry is guaranteed and expected. I used VirtualEnjoy Virtual Pond Dip, and remember to create background knowledge and build from every technology tool you use.

Resources:
Virtual Pond Dip website: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html

1 and 2 Pictures used obtained from this informative website:http://jaffeweb.ucsd.edu/pages/celeste/Intro/

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Exploring

I checked out various different resources in the list but my favorite was the virtual pond and the temperature probes. I actually went to class on Tuesday the 20th to catch up on some things and learn about TPACK from Nikki. So I got to try out the temperature probes. The pond was very exciting to me because when I was growing up I lived around numerous ponds, and I never actually got to study what was in pond water until I was in college. It is fascinating to me to put objects under a microscope that look like nothing and see all the miniscule details. I was thinking that for my lesson I could do pond water samples and check the temperature of them and record the results, and see what tempature has more life, more living things inside of it. Obviously this is just a thought right now and it could change but I loved the hands on of the temperature probes and the game of learning more about 'pond creatures'.

As I am interested in pond water and I'm sure students would be as well I found this video on google video about pond water as my additional resource. If I am not able to get actual pond water in my classroom this would be a great outside source to show my students. The sound is kinda creepy, but its good.
Video of Pond Water Title of Video is Pond Water Creatures

ALSO: To the right I have included a video bar you can view the pond one right on my blog, but it is powered by YouTube so on campus you wont get it, but if you are on campus and want to view the video click on the link above, it it is to Google Video, which you can view on campus.

TPACK



Technological pedagogical and content knowledge or TPACK seems kinda overwhelming at first. How am I as a teacher supposed to incorporate technology, good teaching, and the curriculum or content all in one lesson? How can I make sure that I do it right as well? As with everything I have found that through research and diligence things will begin to come naturally. I think that is the way it will most likely be with TPACK. I will be focused on making sure I am reaching each category at first, but then it will just happen because of experience and effort mixed with focused time.

I know that TPACK with strengthen my skills as a teacher, as well as strengthen my students' knowledge. If I apply TPACK to my curriculum, I cannot see a lesson failing. As I use the idea of TPACK I can also see my strengths increasing, by continually trying to improve my teaching.

Although it may seem nearly impossible to perfect TPACK as a teacher, I think it may begin to come naturally and be a part of how I structure my teaching with my diligence in improving as a teacher.

Monday, January 19, 2009

RSS and Web 2.0

I really enjoyed exchanging books on goodreads and setting up a delicious account. Even though I already had a goodreads account it was nice to add all of my group and see what they were reading and get their opinions on the books! Also delicious will be a good way to keep track of helpful websites. RSS really confused me at first but after watching tutorials and playing around with it I realized its benefits. I can go to my blog or google reader and see all my updates on all of the websites I visit that way I dont even have to check them all with my bookmarks, it just eliminates so much wasted time. I am glad I learned more about these tools as they will be beneficial to me when I am a teacher. I can use goodreads to check out books to read to my students or to purchase for my students and I can use delicious to keep all the websites that I can use as resources in one place. RSS will be a good way to stay updated with current happenings in the world and the teachers world. I could let my students set up all of these same accounts to help them have fun with the internet. I know as a student in grade school I would have loved to write little reviews about all my books and have my own profile and share book opinions with friends.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Goodreads and Delicious

Hey all! Add me as your friend on goodreads and delicious, my username is brittanyhhansen

What are some good RSS things to add to my blog? Things that could be useful?

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

My Background.


To avoid saying, "Here is my first post" Or, Hi my name is Brittany. I will just get right to the purpose of this post. The assignment was to create a blog, I did that, next assignment, post on the blog of your technology experience. Uh..my experience started when my parents got a huge computer with a small monitor that typed green letters, Im not sure if pac man came before or after that. I do remember spending hours on that green lettered computer and printing what I typed, I was fascinated. Since then I don't really know who taught me or how I learned how to use Word, Powerpoint, Blogger.com, or a computer in general. I'm not this huge expertise, but I do know a few things. The craziest thing about this class, is that the day before I was in a class (I will not mention which one or which individual stated this for privacy reasons) and a certain individual mentioned how she was going to be a teacher but did she REALLy need to know how to use the computer in order to be a good teacher? I wanted to respond, "No, but you are going to kill the poor children with boredome." Boredom with no E? I dont know. Anyway, I took numerous computer classes in high school, and can find that I can teach myself pretty much anything I need to know on a computer just by trial and error. Whoops that didn't work.....then I try a different method. I also work in an office and am on a computer all day. I have email on my phone, and I send 6,000 text messages a month. I have a Mac desktop in my room and an Ipod in my car. I have had over 10 different cell phones in the past 5 years. I guess I am familiar with technology. But who isn't that is my age?