Sharks Presentation

I chose the topic of sharks because it has been something i have been interested in for so many years now! I think they are so fascinating and it is so cool to me to learn about the all the different types. Did you know there are over 18 types of sharks? It is so weird to me that we not only have beasts on land but in the water.

Sharks

My Petcha Kutcha about sharks

Screencast

Here is a screencast using twitter and screenr on how to make a google map.

Orientation in Second Life

In the video "Orientation in Second Life" is about using a system called second life to have users live in an alternate world. But it has become very confusing for most users. It seems that users come and visit the site once but become confused and never revisit. They have made guides to help the avatars find their way through the space. This works with educational organizations to improve orientation for new users. This is still an ongoing experiment.
My biggest take away from this video was the fact that this would be a good tool to use for communication and technology use. It would give people a chance to become better users of technology. It is also a fun way to explore and talk with people. I've never been much of a technology person so to see neat stuff like this is so fascinating to me. It would be neat for students to use something like this to explore technology and to communicate to each other.

My Google survery

We created Google surveys for class today here is the Link to mine if you would like to take it. I will include my results when i get them. Here is the link to my results. It seemed like the only reason someone wouldnt want a dog or a cat was because of allergies. The other result i got said they would choose a dog over a cat.

Digital Youth Portrait : Sam

This video we watched for class was about a girl named Sam and her use of technology and digital media. Its cool to see her life outside and inside of school and how she incorporates technology into both. As a teacher i know i need to be open minded to my students using technology both in my class room and outside it. This is great because it opens up assignments i may give them. This video shows how she is using technology to communicate and gain social skills through it. I think in the future cell phones wont be banned in the classroom for most schools because of that. Sam uses her skills to help her friends which is also gaining social skills and motivates others. The greatest takeaway i got from this video was the fact that she used her computer and found a website that had a virtual piano that showed her the notes to play and she could then go down stairs and practice them on her real piano. Its amazing how far technology has come!

Parallel Play or Collaboration

We watched a video called Parallel Play or Collaboration–Leveraging the Wiki Platform for High Quality Work it was about a women named Paula White and her experience with Wikis. She went on to talk about how she wanted to get students engaged with Wikis and how wikis could be used for high level work. This is very informative for the world of wiki. It makes me think that wikis could be a very useful tool for my future students. As a future teacher i could see myself using wikis pretty often. Its a chance for students to self direct, and work with others.

The Wizard of Apps

A video we watched for class called The Wizard of Apps was a clever and informative video about the Internet,primary source sites,privacy,research,apps, and how to share the information found on the web. This video is done through the story of the Wizard of Oz which i thought was clever and kinda fun to watch. One website she talks about was www.pipl.com so i checked it out and sure enough i found me. This website is a site future employers might use to check up on their employers. I think through this video she is really trying to get the safety aspect of Internet across to students. Not only that but how to use copy write material under fair use. Several websites such as Flicker and compfight(two of my new favorite sites)and Voicethread were mentioned as a safe way to get great pictures and information and share them through blogs or voicethreads online.

In the future as a teacher i think it would be very clever to use a story line like she did (The Wizard of Oz) it not only keeps students attention but can help them remember things through songs or funny lines. I would definetly consider this in my classroom.

My greatest take away from this video was how many safe and affective websites there are out there i would have never known if it werent for my class and this video. I feel like as a future teacher i will be so much more aware of the technology and websites out there and not only that but how to use them for me and my students.

My VoiceThread about Smores

This is my VoiceThread i created to teach you how to make a smore. As a child i loved to go camping and this was one reason why i loved it so much!

Digiteens

Digiteens are researching with friends from around the world to learn about things that could be prevented with in schools and even outside them. The students pick topics they are interested in and to speak about them in their schools to promote change. They are trying to change students behavior by not just standing and lecturing to them.


This is so neat i wish when i was in high school i could have made videos speaking about things that could inform students to help make safe choices. I didn't have this opportunity but its cool to see that other students do have this opportunity.

This would be a good experience for students to get involved with each other and the community. It also is a good experience for other students they may learn some new information from these videos that could save their life one day.

Project Learning

These students are in an environment where they use project based learning. They are able to mimic scientist and they love it. They go out and gather their own information and share it with their class teachers and parents through different ways using technology. The new technology is what drives this type of school program. This not only gets the students thinking but gets them involved with each other. This gives the students a chance to learn knowledge by using it.

I think what i took away from this video was that people think differently. It is nice to see an alternative to the way children go to school.

When i start to teach in my classroom i will defiantly keep an open mind when i start to teach my lessons. I love this type of program that gets the children out and learning on their own. It gives them a chance to explore knowledge. And being able to incorporate technology with it is great.

I wish that i could have explored this kind of learning when i was their age. It would have been so exciting to have my own laptop in class and to do projects on things that interested me. I wish my teachers were more in touch with technology like these teachers.

SMORES

Digital Youth Portrait : Luis

In

In this video he talks about how much he loves technology and how he uses it to connect to his friends and family and in his education. He goes on to talk about how their parents who are from mexico never used technology except for an ATM. He is involved in a program called tech wizards and in this he uses pretty much every aspect of technology. In this group they do projects like videos or community projects. I hope when i am a teacher we have a technology program like this for students. I think it is important for students to be able to use technology not only for communication but for things like presentations. It gets them involved with things they are interested in and gets them to use their skills in research. Luis did a project where he would check the conditions of the trees and report them to the city. This can open so many oppertunities for students and it did for Luis. I love that these students were teaming up with younger grades and teaching them how to build robots that is amazing to me and it is something i might try to do one day.

Video by independent learning project by students

This video is about the violence in schools and what schools are doing to prevent violence from happening. It says that violence has actually declined over the years but schools are still doing all they can to prevent violent acts like Columbine and Virginia Tech. from happening ever again. Schools are cracking down and keeping an eye out for suspisions and are asking for help to prevent violence. This gives a few good links to look at for more information about violence in schools. For me this gives me a sense of protection i will get going into teaching. I know that i will be doing whatever i can to help prevent any acts of violence i see. I love seeing other students getting involved like this video and getting the word out there to help stop violence.

Student Blogs

I have found two students that i am going to follow on their blog spots. They seem really interesting and fun!

1. kirakafe.edublogs.org

2kayla-kaylavacations.blogspot.com

Kiwi Junior Classroom

The video we watched called a peak for a week inside a kiwi junior classroom students used a classroom blog to let people know what all they were accomplishing in their classroom. They used a page on their blog called a interactive white board home page which had different links all over it so the kids could easily find something and click right on it. Her six year old class can successfully run the white board meaning they know how to use it and start the morning program. Each student has a job they do each week in the blog program.

This is crazy to me that these six year old students are so in touch with technology in the classroom this not only gives them an opportunity to use it in the classroom and at home but if they don't have any technology at home they get a chance to use it in school. When i was six i was not in touch with computers like kids are today. This is exciting to me because when i become a teacher i will be a part of a generation that will be extremely in touch with technology.

One thing i liked about this video was that they used a website to watch news clips. That is neat that in a classroom setting full of six year olds you can incorporate the news into their daily schedule. This teaches them to use technology for other important things. And it gets children to be interested in the news which is rare. She uses her blog website to work on almost every subject they need to cover. This is pretty cool i would hope when I'm a teacher i could use technology like this.

Nafiza

Blogging Buddies

For our class we were asked to watch a clip over blogging buddies called We Like Our Blogging Buddies: The Write Stuff with Blogging Mentors. This was about a program set up for younger students and older students. Two different classes were paired up student by student as blog buddies. The challenge was that it was elementary school and collage students. The older students had to learn how to write to their blog buddy keeping in mind that they are younger and their spelling may be a little harder to read. Their teacher challenged them to not only get to know the kids but help them with their writing. And it worked! The first graders improved on their writing skills. This was the highlight of the year for all of these kids. This idea seems great to me i would love to be able to do something like this with my students in the future. It would help students with their social, technical, and writing skills.

Cameron and Technology

In class we just watched Digital Generation Project Youth Portrait: Cameron which was about a young boy named Cameron who had a massive passion for technology. It was very inspirational to see how someone that young can feel so passionate about something and actually be really good at it. He was so knowledgeable about computers and the amazing things they can do with graphics that even the teachers were asking for help. One of his teachers even asked for his help in explaining one of her lessons and it worked and she captured the students attention. Now days especially technology is used daily in almost everyones lives and i think teachers should be open in using it when explaining lessons. I know that personally i will try and use technology in most of my lessons its such an easy and helpful tool that captures students attention. He will make it somewhere big one day if he keeps all of this up.

I am an Early Childhood Education major here at UCO. My collage career has been a hard one but i am making it through. I have a wonderful boyfriend, and family who support me in all I do and that makes it all worth it. I have lived in Edmond all my life and therefor i would like to stay and teach here if possible. I am a junior and getting closer to graduating which is very exciting. I work at Life Church in their children's program and love it. I have always wanted to teach third grade so fingers crossed that i get that opportunity. I know that this is my passion in life i love children and knowing that i could make a difference in a child's life by being a good teacher is just too gratifying.