Buy it, Use it, Break it, Fix it . . . Technologic

I think that technology in the classroom is inevitable.  It will always be there so we should try to work with it.  However there is a time and place for everything.  I will not be one of those teachers who tries to make every lesson a smart lesson just so the kids will think I'm fun.  If the technology lends itself to the lesson then awesome, if not maybe we can use the technology in another subject that day.  I do believe that I will be creating special projects that work through technology, but at the same time I will not be limiting the class to technology use.  It will need to be fair to everyone, and sometimes families just do not have the resources to keep up with today’s changing times.

I think that being raised on technology has made me more apt to try and implement it into my classroom.  It is a fun thing that I wish I had in class growing up.  I remember going to computer class once a week and being so bored because I had the same math game at home and had beaten it twice.  Now though, there are so many different (inexpensive) things that the students can use to improve their skills. 

I think it is also important to remember that technology in the classroom does not just need to be in the hands of the student.  The teacher can also use technology as a way of planning, record keeping, and creating.  The quizzes and test can be less intimidating with clip art, and lesson plans can follow the same format because you have created a template.  Also there are websites such as Powerschool that allow the teacher to keep and online grade book and attendance record- it’s sort of like blackboard for the elementary level.

I plan on keeping my Diigo up to date because it is an amazing tool for anyone to use, not just teachers.   I have also fallen in love with stumble upon it which is a randomizer that links to Diigo and facebook so it is constantly giving me new and interesting sites I would have never found.

1 portfolio, 2 portfolio, red portfolio, blue portfolio

10. Locate 1 good and 1 bad example of electronic portfolios on the Internet. Post these as links in a blog entry. Tell me your justification for choosing each.

http://depts.washington.edu/ctltstaf/example_portfolios/munchak/index.html
This is an amazing online portfolio. It goes in depth into everything, yet all of the main point are highlighted and focused so that someone could still skim it for the key points. This is an all inclusive portfolio. It includes lesson plans, copies of student work, and even transcripts of conversations he had with students.

I skimmed most of the documents on this site and everything is well written, to the point, and clean. He doesn't go off on tangents or just add fluff to make it seem like more it is all very good.

http://depts.washington.edu/ctltstaf/example_portfolios/poch/index.html
This one is alright but compared to the other it is just lacking and very jumbled.  I couldn't find a truly horrible education example, but this one just feels off to me. And it's not just because it is a secondary portfolio. The lessons seem to be a bit choppy and it seems very unprofessional. The pictures are out of focus and things are photocopied with shadows. To me it seems that this one was put together last minute without any help.

Where the other one linked out in many places so as to keep everything separate, each time i bring up a new page it is just blocks of texts. There is very little formatting and even less links. It makes the whole site seem unprofessional and unattractive.

Copy That Copycat?

As we discussed in class, some copyright laws are very subjective and some are very clear. What law that we learned about in class surprised you the most? Why? Do you have any specific examples of teachers who have violated copyright law (don't use names)? Is it your responsibility as a teacher to teach students respect for copyright? Do you think teachers should have to pay attention to copyright? Will you model copyright ethics when you are a teacher? How?

I think the fact that all of the laws are so grey surprised me the most. The fact that I could resell cds for a profit yet couldn’t burn a cd from iTunes was also very shocking. This way if I buy a physical cd I can let my friend buy it off my for a dollar he can upload it and then I can buy it back with the same dollar. That is legal but burning a cd is not. It is the same thing yet the laws are different.

Teachers that I have had and teachers that I have worked with have all violated the copyright laws. At home teachers have photocopied whole workbooks for students because they have been discontinued or we can’t afford to buy a whole set. I believe that it is our job as teachers to show our students how to live a proper lifestyle and that includes following all of the laws.

I think that the rules for teachers should be slightly different. Using materials for educational purposes can make the situation muddled. For example if the teacher blows up a single copy of a book to make the text larger for a student with impaired vision- that should be allowed. Or to have the teacher write problems on the board for students to answer that should be okay as well. But the teachers should not be allowed to photocopy and distribute anything they want.

I plan to do my best to model the correct copyright ethics as a teacher. I won’t lie and say I will be perfect I’m sure that I will slip up because I don’t know the entire law or because it is something that my students truly need. I will show this by not photocopying dittos especially when they have the not intended for copy logo on them (this has happened to me before). I will instead hand write my own ditto sheets by using the copyrighted ons as an example. I will also be sure to cover copyright in my English unit, and social science unit (patents and inventors).

Smartboard, more like rightboard

Interactive whiteboards are becoming more common in the classrooms. How do you feel they enhance teaching and learning? Was the technology difficult for you to learn to use? What are the pros and cons to having one installed in your classroom? Think of some lesson plans you wrote in the past. How would you incorporate the Smartboard when teaching that content?

Whiteboards are becoming a key tool in the classroom I enjoy working with them very much. They definitely help keep the students focused on the lesson. The whiteboards also allow the students to be much more active and participate in the lesson. The students become more involved and take an active role in their learning- this can help build the students understanding and confidence when it comes to a new concept. The whiteboards are very easy to learn because they can work with existing programs such as powerpoint or youtube. The whiteboard itself is basically a dry erase board but the marker never runs out of ink. The whiteboard is usually pretty easy to work, the only problem might be that you need to either download the smart notebook software, or your internet isn’t working.

Having a whiteboard in the class is great because it allows the students to become involved, it allows the students to expand their ideas on the lesson, it allows the students to try new things, and it helps to build real world connections. But at the same time the lessons taught without the smartboard will need to be comparable to the smartboard lessons which could mean extra planning for the teacher. There also runs the risk of having the smartboard broken in the classroom. Some teachers also only use the smartboard as a game/distraction which may be a downfall to some lessons.

The previous lesson/content areas would be fun to include the smartboard in. For art the students could match/identify artists to paintings or do actual drawing on the board. For music the students could compose and then play the music back. They could also help create their own music video. For math the students could learn fractions by dividing and building wholes. For history there are maps and matching activities. For language arts there is dice to help build words, and also there are different pages to have students write on the lines on the smartboard. For science there are ways to incorporate different images, microscopes and movies.

PSA and Video project

1. Scenario: You decide to incorporate a digital video project in your classroom. What is the content area/project/age level? What are the preparations you will have to do prior to beginning this project? What are some of the challenges? Be specific - think like a teacher in the public school system and make a checklist and timeline of the project from beginning to end - starting with prep work and ending with the final project.

Write this up as an informal lesson plan. You don't have to use the lesson plan format. Just post in your blog as a few paragraphs and bullet lists. I should have a good idea of what the project is all about.

I plan on teaching upper elementary- fourth or fifth grade- let’s say fifth for this project. I would plan on having my students use this project as:
• An English lesson
• To explore idioms
• Fifth grade lesson
The students will be broken into groups of about 3 and they will have to create short clips explaining their idiom. The first 20 seconds or so should be a literal translation of the idiom, and the next 20 seconds or so should act out what the idiom really means.

Day 1:
The students will explore what an idiom is. They will brainstorm for idioms as a class. At the end of class the teacher will introduce the idea of the project for the next class.
• What is an idiom?
o An idiom is a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual words themselves.
o It can have a literal meaning in one situation and a different idiomatic meaning in another situation. It is a phrase which does not always follow the normal rules of meaning and grammar.
 To sit on the fence can literally mean that one is sitting on a fence. I sat on the fence and watched the game.
 However, the idiomatic meaning of to sit on the fence is that one is not making a clear choice regarding some issue. The politician sat on the fence and would not give his opinion about the tax issue.
• Most idioms are unique and fixed in their grammatical structure. The expression to sit on the fence cannot become to sit on a fence or to sit on the fences.
• However, there are many changes that can be made to an idiom. Some of these changes result in a change in the grammatical structure that would generally be considered to be wrong.
o To be broken literally means that something is broken. The lamp is broken so I cannot easily read my book.
o To be broke is grammatically incorrect but it has the idiomatic meaning of to have no money. I am broke and I cannot go to a movie tonight.
Day 2:
• The students will be broken into groups by drawing their idiom phrase out of a hat.
• The students will need to move to sit in their groups and start to story board what they will be doing for their video.
• The students will be given a sheet of paper with 4 blanks (2 for literal and 2 for the situational meaning).
• The students should draw what they plan on acting out in each scene.
• The students should not say their idiom in the literal translation. This way the class will need to guess the idiom.
• After the group finishes the story board they will present it to the teacher for approval.

Day 3:
• The students will finish up their story boards and start to shoot their video.
• The teacher will give a quick presentation on how to use the video camera-
o Stop/Start button
o Rewind/FF
o Wide/Tight
o Playback
o The teacher should make sure that all tapes are rewound to the beginning.
• The students will go off in their own groups to quickly shoot their two scenes.

Day 4:
• The students will finish shooting their scenes today.
• The teacher will call groups up one at a time to pull the video onto the computer.
• The teacher will show the students their project first.
• At this time if the teacher has the correct software she could do some slight editing.
Day 5:
• The students will present their videos to the class.
• The students will play their literal clip first and then have classmates try and guess what their idiom is.
• After several guesses they will play the second clip which will include the idiom being verbally spoke n while the scene is acted out.

Challenges:
This project could be a problem if your school district does not have the correct equipment. It would also be challenging to do if students need more time than given because some student might not be able to meet outside of class. To remedy this the teacher should offer the students extra time at recess to work on their project if they feel that their group needs it. Also it may be hard because you really need to trust your students to send them off out of sight to with equipment. You would also need to get parent permission to take video and permission from the principal to have students roaming the hallways without a teacher.

My PSA