PLE

I completed the first three assignments for PLE 14.

Internet Safety

Elder Ballard: The TV can offer a lot of good information: discovery channel, information, broadcast, news, etc. But very common on shows they depict amoral things were there are not consequences or even the thought of good and bad and because everyone is doing it, it must be all right. But families are under attack. They are the center of God’s plan and we’re here to learn within them. We must learn and teach to seek after every good thing that is lovely, praiseworthy, of good report, virtuous, etc. We need to raise our voices against these immoralizing programs. As families, we need to teach our children, limit TV and Internet usage, don’t let virtual life become reality.

Elder Bednar, "Things As they Really Are": Our physical bodies amplify our mortal experience to have relationships, make correct choices, and obey the gospel. There are things we must learn and experiences we must have "according to the flesh" (Alma 7:12-13). Satan wants us to use our bodies (the very thing he does not have) to be a tool for spiritual and temporal destruction. Technology can be used to create a virtual reality and can stand in the way of us using our bodies to gain the earthly experience we need. Satan will also temp us to act as though we are still in our unembodied state. For example, internet chat rooms, texting, social networking, etc. robbing us from person to person contact. Seek after "things as they really are" (Alma 32:35). Ask/ ponder these two questions: 1) Does my use of technology help me have the companionship of the Holy Ghost? 2) Does the time I spend on these technologies limit time and capacity I could spend loving, serving, etc.

Provident Living: Be educated as a parent and teach your children internet safety. Eliminate tempatation: install filters and place computer in high traffic areas. Help children know to come to you when they encounter something innappropriate. Be aware of policies the school and libraries have.

Charles and Dawn Graham "Technology and a House of Learning": Parents must assume their role and know how to protect and provide for their children concerning technology. Parents can receive inspiration on how to use technology appropriately with their family.

Brad J. Bushman "It's 'Only' Violence": Many people express how they are offended when they see sexually explicit scenes on TV but fail to recognize the offense of violence. Violence is one of the most serious sins and is against what the Savior teaches is most important, to love one another, it also makes us less sensitive and caring towards others. It pollutes the minds and hearts of those who see it and makes them less sensitive to the spirit. Video Games are even more harmful because it's interactive. If the murders depicted each evening on TV reflected the real world, then in 50 days everyone in the United states would be killed. Take action in your family and don't let violence into your home!

Video: 795,000,000 users of the internet. Games, chats, websites, shopping, lyrics for music. Hrs: 2-4 spent each day. Socialization issues, some feel safer on the internet than in the real world 1/3 are more comfortable chatting on line that in person, most like to use the internet when alone. Kids are vulnerable to exploitation. 260,000,000 pornographic sites. 90% of 8-16 year olds have viewed pornography online, many are on accident: "typo squatting" ex. spelling disney characters or pokemon wrong and leading them to sites. Spam or Spim. Kids approach and view being online differently as adults. Hate sites, gambling sites, inappropriate behavior information (making bombs), cyber bullying or "the new bathroom wall": blogrings, community webpages, photos. Cyber bullying can be deadly: depression, suicide, murder. Also inappropriate actions initiated by children: file sharing (CD's), illegal downloading. 14.5% of 3rd and 4th graders have made a new friend through the internet. People online are often not who you think they are- friendship established between a preditor and an unsuspecting child "the grooming process." Why educators- we need to know what our students are doing. Technology is becoming more common place in the classroom. Parents often think they know more about what their kids are doing than they actually do. Parents cannot assume.

Doing: I taught my mom about what I learned from internet safety. I asked her first what she knew and she said she knows pop-ups can be bad, you shouldn't give your information out to people you don't know, there's people that misrepresent themselves on the internet, and there's a lot of bad websites. I shared with her what I had learned from the video we watched in class and she said it made her really sad. That she hadn't recognized the magnitude of how much bad there is on the internet, especially how much pornography there is and how diseptive pornography sites are. I also shared with her what I had leared from the reading and she was really interested in the talks by Elder Bednar and Elder Ballard and wants me to do a family night on what I taught her to our family when I go home. I'm glad I got to teach my mom what I learned because I know she wants to be able to protect our family and now she will know even more what to protect them from as well as how.

TPACK Report

Reading Technology Articles

5 effective ways for young children to use technology
1) Collect information, make a graph, and put it onto the computer to display it
2) Investigate with digital technology, such as magnifying images, photographing, video taping
3) Create a digital story
4) Record things they have done digitally and then they can also review it.
5) Share their learning through taking pictures and use it as documentation.
benefits: produces visual representation, helps them be more engaged in learning, and expands their learning comprehension.

Early Technology and Learning:
Several students can collaborate on the project together, helps with social development as they work together in solving problems, the technology needs to be interactive, allow them to discover, and work at their own pace. Students are far more engaged when they are the ones using the technology.

...benefits of using technology in the classroom...

Bookends of War and Inside Kapunahala are two great examples of how to integrate technology into the classroom. I was most impressed by the students and the benefits they felt from having technology in their classroom. Some of the comments students made in Bookends of War about their experiences were that it was FUN, it allowed them to work together with a group, it taught them that even though something is hard, they can keep trying and succeed. One student said "it helps us show what we mean and see," another said, "we get used to doing things that we might have to use or do in our future jobs. The teacher also expressed the benefits she saw, that it made them eager to come to class, they were willing to help, and it galvanized them. I also loved in the second clip, the students' growth from being involved with media literacy. A few of the students said that it helped them really gain knowledge about what they were learning, it gave them confidence, they expressed excitement, they felt that what they were doing was important, it gave them a specific role to fulfill, and it helped them develop their speaking ability which allowed them to participate more in the classroom. There are definitely a lot of benefits I can see from using technology effectively in the class.

Using Technology in the Classroom

I enjoyed watching the videos and seeing the different ways teachers were able to teach a certain curriculum using technology effectively. One thing I recognized with all three of the examples was that the teachers had a clear objective with what they wanted to accomplish through using technology to teach about each subject. In the first example, I loved the various forms of technology used, cameras, Internet, and a web page to communicate with another class in a different state. I though this was a great way for students to learn about other places and have an enriching learning experience. In the second example, I liked how the class was just 4-5 year olds, but the technology was used in a way they would still be comfortable. It also was a great way to communicate to family members who were not very involved in the classroom. The third example showed me a way to teach students how to understand computers and learn how to use them to communicate in society. They were also able to involve their friends and family in the learning process.

Technology Inventory

Mrs. Blanch's 3rd grade classroom at the Noah Webster Academy has:

A digital camera they can check out,a computer, an over head projector, microphones they use with a sound system that the teachers wear all day and it's projected over a sound system connected to the intercom (that's in every classroom), there is also a separate microphone for the students to use when they are reading aloud or doing group work/corrections, a computer projector, access to a classroom set of laptops they can check out, the school is also working on having a computer lab with desk tops. There are VCR/DVD players they can check out as well as a T.V., they also have a wireless network system for the computers, a stereo, a copy machine, and a scanner (for the entire school to use).

She wishes she has "smart boards" in her classroom, which is something every 4th-6th grade classroom has. The reason why is because it is very interactive. It comes with special software, you could disect a frog or do a geometry lesson on it, and you can use it to manipulate things. Another thing is a reading program where the children are to read together in groups, first listening to someone read aloud and then they practice themselves (like a tape player or a disc man). She also thought it would be nice to have an opaque projector so she doesn't have to use transparencies.

She uses the internet A LOT to get ideas and plan. Whether it be teacher websites, or national curriculum posted on line such as the "chore knowledge" website. she also uses the internet to check information and websites like dictionary.com to find definitions of words. She finds a lot of worksheets on the computer for different activities they can use and modifies them to teach the students at their learning level. She also likes to get ideas or lesson plans from other teachers who posted them on line. The curriculum they use is often above age appropriateness so they go online to get ideas to make it DAP. She also does all of her lesson plans on excel and emails them each week. Grades are also accessable online as well as documents they use in the classroom so parents can see them. She can also send out a mass email to the parents using a certain program. Each of her teaching files are saved on her computer, which helps for other teachers coming in as well.

She has taught at three different schools. At the title one school verses your current school (Noah Webster Academy) a charter school, how has the differences in technology helped the kids? Well, you need to prepare the kids for the future, but the technology available is different in each school. Now from 3rd grade and up, kids do end of level testing online. Having technology available opens up your options and allows the students to prepare for the future. It's a lot easier and less expensive to replicate things using technology than doing the actual thing (for example a field trip). It simplifies things and allows her and the students to access a lot more information. Computer literacy is just the same concept as concepts of print and language literacy. At this point, they really need to understand the fundamental principles on how to use technology/ computers so that they can learn from them in the future.

I have completed part 1 & 2 of the PLE assignment for this week.

Reflections

I viewed Ashley, Tammy, and Natalie's voice threads and they all did wonderful.

I think the different ways we discussed we can use technology in the classroom were very useful. I liked using Stellarium, I think it would be important for the teacher to have a clear objective in mind on how they wanted to use this program to teach, but it is very helpful in observing the sky. I also really like kidspiration and I think that would be a great way to teach and also assess what students have learned about a particular subject. I think the hard things in using these technology tools to teach science would be just making sure you have the resources and that each student is able to use them adequately to be effective learners.

Science Challenge

Technology Enhanced Science Activity!

The activity I will be doing will be using Stellarium to understand the rotation of the earth and our view of the sky as we move. The CONTENT I will be focusing on is 3rd grade science, Standard 1, Objective 2d: Use a model to demonstrate why it seems to a person on Earth that the sun, planets, and stars appear to move across the sky. The PEDAGOGY I will use will be:
1) Ask the question "Why does it seem to a person on earth that the sun, planets, and starts appear to move across the sky?" Have the students discuss in groups their ideas.
2) The students will then do a simulation using Stellarium. They will conduct a simple investigation and gather data to discover about the appearance of the sky during the rotation of the earth. On Stellarium, students will select a point on earth they would like to observe the sky from. Using the features on Stellarium, they will select under "sky viewing options" the equatorial grid. They will choose one constellation they want to observe, the moon, a planet, and the sun. Using the fast forward feature, students will record the position in the sky each of these items at a certain time of day/night over the period of a month.
3) Using the data they have collected, students will construct and explanation for the question they first discussed.
4) The students will then discuss investigations made and develop explanations using their observations.
The technology being used works very well with the pedagogy because it allows the students to question, gather data, and come to an understanding with the data they collect.
The REPRESENTATION of the content produced by the technology is multimodel in that it uses visual and textual technology to teach the subject. It will help the students better understand why the sun, planets, and stars appear to move across the sky because they are actually able to view the movement of the sky using Stellarium.

Virtual Tour Reflections...

I watched Ashley, Tammy, and Natalie's earth tours.

I think the virtual tour is a great way to help kids discover the world right inside the classroom. It is a very interactive way for kids to learn and I'm sure get them excited about discovering new things. It's great because you can't always hop on a bus and go on a field trip to anywhere you want, but having them use Google earth is a great way for them to experience a little more about what you are teaching. The disadvantage of using Google earth tours would be the time it takes to create the tour. Also, if this is an assignment they were going to do at home, hopefully the students would have the resources available to view the tour.

Ecosystems Around the World

Content for Virtual Tour:
3rd Grade Social Studies Objective 2
Describe how various communities have adapted to existing environments and how other communities have modified the environment.

a. Describe the major world ecosystems (i.e. desert, plain, tropic, tundra, grassland, mountain, forest, wetland).

b. Investigate ways different communities have adapted into an ecosystem.

I chose to do the virtual tour on major world ecosystems and how communities adapt to those environments because this curriculum fits very well with using this type of technology to teach. I think the best way to learn about the environment is to go out and explore it. A third grade class will probably not be allowed to fly to South America and Africa to learn about the ecosystems there, but they can learn through seeing pictures, watching films, finding it on a map, and reading about it. This multimodal representation helps students to be able to interact with the environment in a sense and discover more about it then just reading about it in a text book.

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1. Sahara Desert	Read about the Sahara, describe the inhabitants who have typically lived there over time and how they survived. Look at the temperature in the Sahara Desert. Now compare it with the other locations on the tour. What are the differences in temperature? What do you think causes the differences?	Wikipedia
2.Amazon Rain Forest	Read the National Geographic article and think about why the rain forest is in danger. What are the negative influences on the environment? How is that impacting the surrounding community? Come up with your own plan based on what you have learned, to help the rain forest survive.	National Geographic Article
3. Rocky Mountains	Look at pictures of the mountains at different times of the year. What are your observations? What are the changes you see at different times of the year. How do you think the surrounding community of people adapt to the changes in the weather? How do the animals adapt?	Picture Links
4. Florida Everglades	Watch the National Geographic clip about the Everglades. What are the Everglades a home to? What are the negative influences right now impacting the Everglades?	Video

thoughts about digital stories

I think that creating and presenting digital stories is a very fun and creative way to teach in the classroom. I think that it could be very challenging though because of the time that it takes to create a digital story. On top of all the other responsibilities a teacher has, it may be hard to make the time to create a digital story to present the information you need to verses using some other digital technology to get the job done.

My Digital Story: Eight Balloons

TPACK

I learned a lot about the value of TPACK this last week and why it is so important for teachers to have this knowledge. TPACK stands for Technology, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge. Basically, TPACK is being able to understand and use technology, understanding and applying good teaching methods for the benifit of the students, and having a knowledge of facts, skills, contents in a particular area. So, if a teacher truly has a knowledge of TPACK and applies it in the classroom, their resources or tools are multiplied in so many ways and as a result, students are able to learn and expand their minds in great new ways. It makes teaching in the classroom much more effective.

Storyboard

The content of my digital story is from 3rd grade language arts, standard 1, objective 2b. The content is a multimodal representation, helping students learn more about poetry through visual, audio, and some textual forms.

I can Skype!

Another skill I just learned...

Week 2...

This week I feel like I have doubled my capacity in using technology. I think the most useful thing I learned doing this week's assignment was just in general, learning how to create a website. I feel like I was able to become more comfortable with different programs I can use on the computer in order to be effective in my technology endeavors in my future classroom. I spent several hours after class trying to solidify everything we learned in class and I feel much more confident now in being able to repeat what we learned. Yay!

This is a very new experience for me. Especially because for the last year and a half I have only been on my email and lds.org (I was on my mission). I have had a few on campus jobs where I have learned more about how to use computer programs like photoshop. I have never loved using technology and actually try to avoid using it when I can. So this will be a great learning and growing experience.