Don't Believe Everything You Hear Video

I was impressed with the "Don't Believe Everything You Hear Video" and think elementary students should see that video a few times during the year in computer class as well. I think students should also be reminded that bullying is now considered a cyber crime. As teachers and parents we must always remember to build up a child's self esteem. When you praise a child it adds up and it fills them with self confidence. I have recently learned for every negative comment made to them it erases SEVEN praises from their bank of self worth. I must credit Stephen Covey and his book the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for that bit of knowledge. I would imagine negative comments from the Internet or an email would be even more detrimental as they can view it over and over again. The advise of "Stop, Block , and Tell " seems excellent. Parents must also be aware of cyber bullying and able to advise their children on what to do. I feel that as a parent it is paramount to being computer literate as not only being able to protect your child but to be someone who can take action and know what to do and say to help out a child who may feel depressed or angered. This was an excellent video for grades K-5,as well as for teachers administrators and parents.

Web Page Building

Upon completion of the web page I built on the scholastic site I wanted to comment that I feel web pages are very important to not only studetns but parents and teachers as well. I think it is imperative for schools to incorporate them into their districts. It has been brought to my attention that my administration has stated that it would be appropriate for us to use them if we wanted to. This district is leaving the option open to whoever wants to set a web page up and use it. I think they should be used universally throughout the school district and especially if we are to advance the technology which seems to be a goal of the district I work in.
It appears to me that all schools should have a site that parents, teachers and other teachers could access. I wonder how many districts do use web pages to post homework and announcements? Please respond to my blog to let me know. It will be interesting to see a count of users v. non users. I will post the results if enough of you respond. Thanks in advance!

Web Page

Using the Scholastic site to prepare a web page it seems almost to easy to be true. I had to prepare a web page using TeacherWeb a few years ago for a course I was taking . We needed to log on to our Professors log-in to do it at the time and I must say that it appeared a little more difficult. This web page equips you with the book lists, the site lists and maybe because technology has come so much further, this appears to be an easier site to use. Of course I have not visited the TeacherWeb site in some time so perhaps that site is also easier to use now.
The only drawback to this is that my school will most likely not allow me to use the web page. I think they are great . If parents can be involved , by viewing what is needed by students for your class, I know most of them would read the site and push their child to complete projects, and homework assignments.
Many of the parents of my students, are younger than I am and are very much into the use of technology themselves. They would relish this ability to check the work that their child needs to do for the class. I know I would have loved to be able to see what my child was responsible for.
The school I worked for previously used a site that encouraged teachers to post homework and when I worked there I enjoyed posting the homework daily. It was accessible to both students and parents.
I enjoy building the web page and I agree with my classmates in saying that beginning this assignment is not as daunting as beginning the Webquest!

Web-Based Educational Resources

Considering that most students are so technologically fluid in using the computers and the Internet, what a wonderful tool computers are in learning. I feel in this day and age, our roll is as facilitators and we should encourage our students and our administrators to really adapt more technology into every day teaching. I loved the "Education in Second Life". I only wish I had this resource and this type of technology when I was a student. The possibilities are endless. What a wonderful way to encourage originality, creativity, and critical thinking skills, which are really falling by the wayside as we have to tailor our teaching to standardized test. What child would not want to come to class each day to work on a SIM? I can't think of any.
Another site, though most of them really did impress me, was the Rocket readerkids software. What a fabulous way to teach young children to love to read. Excellent site if you teach younger students. There is nothing better to teach a child to read than to have the words pronounced so the student can hear it. This would really be an asset for ESL learners. It can aso help parents that can not read or speak the English language and I would think that if it we set up at home this site could help the adults learn to read english as well.
I have used puzzlemaker .com before and it was always a great tool. I am a big fan of brainpop, and now that I have been exposed to other sites. I can see where districts that use technology and allow it in there every day teaching, will be at an advantage. I hope I can encourage my students to be able to use certain sites at home since time and computer availability in my school are limited. I am so excited to think that the future of teaching this way has endless possibilites. Let's get kids engaged and excited about school! If this is the future of teaching, I am equally excited to be part of this.

Blogging

I like the idea of blogging and I enjoy reading and commenting on other students blogs as well as reading the comments left on my blog. It appears that this is a very contemporary concept that is accepted world wide. The articles and videos on blogging were very interesting and I must admit that by reading other blogs we can all benefit from resources and discussions that take place. Though I was unfamiliar with posting blogs before I took this course I was aware of what blogging was, I had not participated in the activity until this course. I do enjoy blogging and reading other teachers opinions of things and I find it a valuable tool. I must say that I really approve of Mike's idea of having his high school students blog to express their opinions and general knowledge of the subject matter. Great idea Mike!

Inspiration

After downloading Inspiration on my computer I had a little trouble accessing the help feature to demonstrate how to use it. I did, however watch the video segments that Dr. Luongo had suggested. I feel that the webs that can be created to help with writing skills will be beneficial and I was happy to see all the different kinds of outlines, etc that are available. As someone who encourages the use of webs when I teach writing skills, I was pleased to see how different techniques can be applied to other subjects as well. This can help tie into the cross curriculum core standards that many districts are now promoting.
I think this is a very good site for teachers to access. My first thought was that it would really benefit the students with learning disabilities to be able to structure their assignment. Looking further I feel all students can benefit from the organizational ability it affords them. I feel this is a useful site and I will try to implement it in my curriculum.