Social Networking Privacy Policies

Nowadays there are many worries about the privacy of social networking sites. Some policies are great for users others can be deceiving.  Here are two policies on facebook that I found interesting.

"Review tags friends add to your facebook"

 I thought this was useful because it can filter photos or posts you do not want on your facebook. Even if you do not log onto facebook all the time, giving people time to see something you do not want posted, you have to approve the tag first. This is a great policy. So let's say you someone posts an incriminating picture of you. Instead of your tag automatically being published, when you log on you must approve the tag before it becomes public.


When blocking someone this is what facebook says:


"Once you block someone, that person can no longer be your friend on Facebook or interact with you (except within apps and games you both use and groups you are both a member of)."

It is very useful to be able to block someone, especially if they are harassing you or causing problems. What suprised me thought was the fact that the blocked person can still interact with you on facebook through apps. I think that it is a good thing though that facebook allows users to block one another. This can prevent a lot of problems. 

Educational Games

Educational games are a great way to get students interested and engaged in the activities. Math basketball is is a higher math game on FunBrain. Link here:
http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/Games/GameOpaque.html?GameName=MathBasketball3&GameName=MathBasketball2&GameName=MathBasketball&Brain=math&Grade=5&Language=en_us&GameNumber=4&Color=FFCC33&HardCoded=false&ReturnTo=kidscenter 

Depending on what grade level you chose, it gives you different level math problems any where from simple addition to double digit multiplication or division. The games progresses as it goes on so it gives reason and motivation to keep playing. Each problem you solve either passes the basketball to someone, dribbles around an opponent or shoots the ball. Once you score a basket you win. It is also great because you have an actual character you are playing as and it increasingly gets harder.
FunBrain is also a great website because you can play a board game where on each move you must play an educational game. Sometimes it also throws in some non education games for variation. You must beat each game to continue on in the board game. This is a great way to get students involved using educational math games. 
CHECK IT OUT.

Technological Lesson Plans

The lessons involving technology that we did the last two weeks were very interesting to see. They were both unique. They both used technology yet they were both so different. These lessons definitely helped me see what would be best to use in my lesson plan and what would not work in my lesson plan. It was really interesting to see different ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. In the first one we used a "make your own hurricane" simulator, where we had to play around with the different atmospheric variables until it was just right for a hurricane. It was fun and I could see students getting really involved. The second lesson plan we read a poem about aliens and then went on Paint on the computers and drew out the poems how we saw them. It was really cool to see how everyone perceived the poem differently. 


Technology can be used in the classroom in many different ways and it was really interesting to see how each group incorporated it. It definitely helped me reflect on my future teaching and how I will try to incorporate technology into the classroom.

Technology!

I read an article titled, "3 Tips on Integrating Technology in the Classroom"

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2012/01/25/3-tips-on-integrating-technology-in-the-classroom

It was a very intriguing article. It talks about how to integrate technology into the classroom instead of just handing students technology and saying, "here you go!". It mentions celebrating " good teaching, especially the kind that involves working with evolving technologies, sometimes requires good advice". The three main steps in the article were: 

1) Planning ahead

 It is important to plan ahead such as teachers need to be involved when a school wants to add more technology into the classroom. Also, when you use technology in the classroom you, as a teacher, want to make sure the technology will function correctly and make sure you have a plan B just in case technology fails. 

2)Try something new

 Teachers should try new technological resources in their classroom. The article also mentions recording lectures for students to watch at home. When the students come into class, they can work on projects and assignments therefor the teacher is also more engaged with the students.

3)Become an educational designer

Teachers need to adapt with the technology. Also, teachers can monitor what content is there for their students to access in their technology. Teachers can even design technology to assist them with lesson.

I found this article very helpful. It had many points that I had never thought of before, such as having students listen to the lectures at home.

Is there a certain age that technology should be introduced to students in the classroom? Personally, I think there should be limits in the classroom. I don't necessarily think that there is "too young". Children need to learn basic skills of society such as communication not using technology. Although this is true, the kind of technology used needs to depend on the age of the students.
Going through elementary school, technology was not an everyday tool and I made it okay. I think I am intelligent. Not until junior high and high school did I really start using technology. I even had a typing class in 7th and 8th grade. I'm great with technology and I feel like I can communicate well with others without using technology. 
I think teachers should introduce younger students to technology gradually. We should acclimate students to technology instead of just giving them a computer or iPad and let them go. However, students in early elementary should not have technology incorporated into every lesson. 

This video shares many great examples of the uses of technology and why it is important. Take a few minutes to watch! It is very insightful. 



Also, on a different note, please take time to watch this video. I was outraged. It is about Akian, a 10 year old student with autism that is bullied by his teachers and teacher aides. His father wire tapped him to find out why Akian was lashing out. I know it is 17 minutes but you should really watch it. 

 

Anyone out there!? (Besides you getting a grade on this)

Honestly, I don't know if anyone else is reading my blogs, besides the students required to do so. I mean, personally, I don't blame them. It's not like I have an interesting topics to put up here. I could, but it wouldn't relate to teaching. I'm not a blog comment magnet.
Anyways, I read peoples blogs and yes, we were thinking along the same lines. That wasn't really surprising that we had similar ideas, I mean, for the most part we are being trained to be teachers and have taken the same classes. I think it is reassuring to get comments on my blog, and to comment on others too. One thing that was interesting was that for the people that I know in person, I could really see them saying the things they were saying. I thought it was weird, but it is true, your blog really expresses you and should have your voice in it.

I think blogging can be great to get students to express their ideas and interact with one another. Since I'm going to teach Math and Science, I'm not sure how useful blogging will be for my students, but you never know. 


<---- This is how I imagine you reading my blog.

In my Computer Tools class, we have been focusing in on Constructivism. What exactly is Constructivism? Well Google tells me that it is:

"an educational philosophy which holds that learners ultimately construct their own knowledge that then resides within them, so that each person's knowledge is as unique as they are".

Okay, so we have a formal definition but what does it mean to me? I see students working on their own and/or together, answer their own questions and discovering new ideas. This can also involve a lot of scaffolding, where the teacher supports the student in learning, less and less over time, until eventually the student is on their own. 

I mean a classroom that contains 100% Constructivism is almost impossible in reality, especially when now-a-days we have tons of testing ultimately leaving us "teaching to the test", as they say. I have had many classes where I was required to venture off on my own and discover new things, question them and develop new ideas. I'm not exactly sure if this is the case with everyone, but maybe it was because my school was big on unique experiences and I was in honors classes all through school.

Considering my experience with Constructivism, there are pros and cons. I believe all students should discover and learn on their own, developing schema to categorize their knowledge. That's how people learn and retrieve best, their own developed schema. I also think that in the beginning we should not leave students on their own in the very beginning. Students always need guidance and monitoring during their span of learning. I definitely think I will apply the idea of Constructivism to my class in some aspects.

First Blog!

This is my first official blog! Today, a lot of people are on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. I have a Twitter and I tweet at least 2 to 3 times a day. Twitter is probably the closest I have come to a formal blog. I read other peoples Tumblr's and made my own but never fully executed mine. I've always been big on social media, so I might as well use this to express myself and use it as an outlet.

I love the idea of blogging but once I have started one I always find myself caught up in my life, school, friends, work, and everything else that I could possibly get myself into. And then I forget about my blog and remember it like 2 weeks later, update it, come back 3 months later, and so on, until I eventually give up or forget about it. So it never really works out. Yes, I am little miss busy! Hopefully in my Computer Tools for Teachers Class will help me with updating my blog regularly so then in the future I can get my students to use blogs to post about their schooling and express themselves. 

Every blog is different, unique, just like every other person in the world. I know, for sure, there is no one like me out there. Well, I mean, I have yet to meet my twin, so hopefully my blog will be like no other. It feels different to be the one behind the blog, not saying I'm going to be hiding behind it, maybe within and all over it.   So, WELCOME!