Technology Based Rubrics

One of the websites we were asked to visit this week was full of great rubrics. I feel this website is a very helpful tool for teachers. Rubrics are a great way to allow the students to feel free to do the assignment their way, but still have some guidelines to follow. Worksheets are becoming less popular and less effective with students, but teachers fear letting go of them. Worksheets are easy to grade. If teachers give an assignment that isn't a worksheet, their first worry is "How do I grade this?". Rubrics take that fear away for teachers. Assigning work that is more meaningful for the students is key, and a rubric is the best way to be able to fairly grade each student.

Clicker Assessment Tools

I had no idea what this was at first. After spending some time checking out the site, it seems like a really effective tool. Real-time assessment while teaching, what a cool concept. Convey Solutions provides tools for teachers to better reach their students. This tool is a remote for each student to use during the lesson. They are able to answer questions and provide the teacher feedback during the lesson. I really like how using this could move the teacher's lesson to either a reteach or an extension depending on where they class is at that exact moment. The teacher doesn't have to wait until she/he grades whatever work she/he assigns to find out if the students were understanding the concept. The only problem I see is that most school districts around me can not afford something like this.

Kidspiration Software

Kidspiration seems to be a really unique software that will enrich students classroom environments. Students need more activities and assignments that will allow them to use the computer. Most careers will involve the use of computers. If students are using software on their level at a young age, it only enhances their computer skills. This software is specifically designed for students to use it for education purposes and many of the lessons are amazing enrichment lessons. I could see myself wanting to use Kidspiration just based on the examples of lesson plans for the older grade levels. One way the littler students could use it is to make presentations. It isn't often you see young grade levels making presentations in class, but this software is designed with their age in mind. All the tools are picture based and if you run your mouse over a picture it will read the name for you. I feel this software would allow students to get excited about their work which would in turn enhance their learning.

Dukane Audio Visual and Convey Solutions, . (2010). Convey a click remote. Retrieved from http://www.conveyclassrooms.com/convey-aclick-remote.html

Rubrician, . (2010). Rubric, rubrics, what is a rubric?. Retrieved from http://www.rubrician.com/

Inspiration Software, Inc, . (2010). Kidspiration-the visual way to explore and understand words, numbers and concepts. Retrieved from http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration

Podcasting? What is that?

I had always heard the phrase podcasting, but never really knew what it was until this week. Podcasting is a way to share anything by video with sound and images with the World Wide Web, but with podcasting those who find your podcasts can take them with them anywhere by using a media device. The first thought I had when learning about podcasting was how our students already know what this is because several television shows are based around children doing web shows. One of those shows is called iCarly on Nickelodeon and it is a very popular show with elementary students. If we were to refer to these shows when using it in the classroom, the students would probably get excited. As a class we could create a web show that we shared with other schools in our district and vice versa.

All of the things we have been learning about are similar in the fact that they can be used as instructional tools to enhance communication with anyone around the world or right there in our home town. Podcasting with students comes with certain restrictions and the teacher will have to check to see if the parent signed the form to allow their student to be involved in technological activities that will be seen by the public or not.

I do have a MP3 player and now an iPhone that has an iPod on it. I have always used them for music. I like the idea of using MP3 players in the classroom. I know they can be expensive and may not be in the school’s budget, but I plan to find ways of using my own with my students. By using my own and not allowing them to take it home there are advantages and disadvantages. I would be able to monitor what is on the MP3 players thus keeping the students from using it in any inappropriate ways. This would not be helpful for students who need the extra time listening or watching the information at home or in the car.

LeFever, L. (Producer). (2009). Podcasting in plain english. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDLqu0d-z8o

Web 2.0~What are you talking about?

It is funny how things work out sometimes, really it is. In my Thursday night class last week, my professor was telling us about how her intern had created a wiki space for her class. I had no idea what a wiki was and came home to look it up. I think it is a great way to get families involved in their children's education. The intern my professor was telling us about set it up for each student to be able to write their paper on the wiki space and she, the teacher and the principal all get on it to check their work and give some feedback.

I am still learning about wikis, so I don't feel comfortable enough to create a lesson based around or with one, but I think I will be very soon. I am quite comfortable with blogs though, and can't wait to be able to use them in my classroom. The only problem at my current school is that access blogger is blocked. I will be asking if we can have access to it when the time comes. I would love to set up several blogs; one would be a general class blog that the parents would have to get permission to access, so that the world wide web is not able to see picture of my students. I would consider a class blog to be much like virtual newsletter, but more personal. I would also use them for ongoing lessons or extensions to lessons. For example, one of the concepts in 3rd grade is economics. For this project I would let the students earn money as a class and individually to then "purchase" rewards. We could use a blog to keep track of our class earnings each day. I would post questions at the end of the day for students to then go answer in the comments section.

I think Socialbookmarking is an amazing way to collaborate with other teachers. Time is a much needed thing for teachers, they never feel there are enough hours in the day to get everything done and planned. If a social bookmarking page was set up and added to for an entire grade level within the school district, think of how many amazing websites would be added to for just that grade level. And if that was open for all grade levels to see, the ones younger that need some higher level activities can pull from that rather than finding something on their own, or the older levels that need to take a step backwards for some students can do the same. Not only would socialbookmarking be good for coworkers, but I think it would be a great way to have parent involvement as well. Say I create a social bookmarking page and give the information to my parents; later on in the year if Susy needs help with a certain concept I can tell her parents to click on that tag to find great resources to work on at home.

Voice Threads seem like a really cool tool, but I know I need a lot of practice with it before I would try using it with my students. I think it would be neat to get together with even just another school within your district to start with and start a voice thread. The students would really enjoy it.

With this week's activities, I have learned a lot of new cool techniques to use in my future classroom. I have also learned that I have a lot of experimenting to do before I am ready to implement a lot of these things. But most of them are things I want to use for sure! I feel it is so important to try your best to get parents excited and involved in your classroom and in such a technological world, this might be the best way to get them!

Stafford, T., & Webb, M. (2006). What is a Wiki (and how to use one for your projects). Retrieved from http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2006/07/07/what-is-a-wiki.html

LeFever, L. (Producer). (2007). Socialbookmarking in plain english. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2rqw9_social-bookmarking-in-plain-english_school

VoiceThread, Initials. (2007). Voicethread. Retrieved from http://voicethread.com/about/

Copy Rights and Fair Use Rules

Why do we have to respect copy rights and fair use rules? Why is that so important? How will you teach your students about this?

The obvious answer to why we respect copy right laws is easy. We need to respect the fact that someone else wrote or created this item that we are using. I know if I created something and someone else used it as their own, I would be pretty angry about it, especially if they were making money off if it. It is also unethical to pass off other's ideas as your own. When teaching my students about copy rights and fair use, because I plan to teach the younger ones, I think having a conversation much like this one would be a good way to start it. If I felt it was going to be or did become a problem in my class, I think I would plan a lesson around it by having students use other students ideas "illegally" to prove the point. When starting the lesson I would ensure that the students knew what were were doing was to prove a point and not to actually steal our friends ideas. That was just a thought that came to mind, if you all think it is a horrible idea, please let me know!

What is online safety and is it different from cyberbullying? How can we protect our students and ourselves from potential online predators?

I think the best way to protect our students from online bullying and predators is to educate them. I really liked the two website provided this week on these topics. Sometimes I feel we are living in the "old" days and use the thought, "it will never happen to me, or my kids". You can compare it to educating high school students about the dangers of drinking and driving. No, educating our students won't ALWAYS keep them safe, but it will hit home to some of the kids you never expected it to. Teaching students at a young age how to use the internet effectively is something that will help them forever in life.

What do you think about this week activities? Did you learn anything new?

I really found this week's activities to be eye openers for me. I remember when we got AOL for the first time as a kid and thought it was so cool to go to chat rooms. Looking back on that, that was the dumbest thing my parents could have let me do at 12 years old. I was not educated on the threats of the internet. Maybe back then since it was so fresh and new, there weren't as many; but there are today. I learned a lot of new things about copy rights and fair use. Many of these websites will stay on my list of helpful links as I further my career in education.

Fryer, W.A. . (2003). Tools for the teks: integrating technology in the classroom. Retrieved fromhttp://www.wtvi.com/TEKS/02_03_articles/copyright.html

National Center for Missing Children, Initials, & Boys and Girls Club of America, Initials. (2009). Netsmartz workshop. Retrieved fromhttp://www.netsmartz.org/index.aspx

What is this blog all about, you ask?!

I have created this blog for one of my education classes, Integrating Technology Across the Curriculum. When I first started this class, I thought it was going to be a breeze and a waste of time because I felt I was pretty handy with technology and using it with my students, but so far I have learned some really cool things! I do not know what assignments I have for this blog yet, but I hope I will be able to teach the blog world some of the cool things I have learned.

On a side note...check out the snow we got in TEXAS in the past 24 hours!