Week 14

I completed the internet safety assignment, the course evaluation, and the course feedback survey as well as checked my grades on Moodle.

Internet Safety Reflection

1. For the article of choice I found an article under "Media" by Elder H. Burke Peterson from the New Era entitled "Leave it Alone"

2. One of the videos I watched in particular really struck me. It was a video called "The Child Predator Fear." It talked a lot about the fear of parents that their children will be targeted by a child predator and something will happen to their child. The video showed the parents perspectives on internet use, but what I liked was that it also showed the perspective of the teenagers. The things the parents seemed to miss was that their children are very informed about the internet and that in general they aren't being contacted or targeted by child predators. Many of the teenagers expressed how they would never give out their information to a random person they met online. A few researchers also brought up the idea that parents may need to realize that their children aren't necessarily victims, but participants. Majority of cases with online child predators is where the children were seeking out a meeting; rarely were the instances where the children were being deceived. I found that all to be really interesting and that understanding should hopefully help how we approach internet safety with our kids. I think the best thing to do, since majority of these cases involve the child seeking it out, is to be involved in our children's lives and aware of what they are doing, but not being overbearing or intrusive to their privacy.
3. I think what I took away the most from the readings and the video was just that there is a great power in technology, which we can use for our benefit or our downfall and ultimately it is our choice. I really love Elder Bednar's talk he gave concerning the use of technology. He so clearly states how we can greatly benefit from technology, but it can also be Satan's tool when used incorrectly. I think as teachers it is so important that we are aware of that and are able to protect our students from the dangers that there can be out there when using technology. Technology can be a great and wonderful tool when used appropriately, but I think it is also equally as important if not more that we are aware of how to properly use technology and that we don't solely depend on it. In today's world we are so "plugged in" to everything that I think sometimes it is good to step back and maybe do things the "old school" way. I know that our classrooms will benefit from the use of technology, but I also believe that that is no reason to let go of other ways and maybe older ways of doing things either.

4. I talked with my sister about internet safety. I thought it was a really great conversation, my sister is 16 years old and as typical of our generation is actively involved in the online world not only for social reasons, but as a large part of her schoolwork. We had a really great conversation about what she thought the benefits were of the internet and technology as well as we got to really discuss some of the dangers. We talked a lot about different instances of people that she knows and that we know collectively that have maybe put themself in more dangerous situations online. I was able to share with her some of the things that I learned and read and some of the church related articles she herself had read, so we were able to talk about that and discuss them. I think it was really interesting to see what her opinions were on the topic, especially since she is still in high school and social networking sites and such are so popular, as is chatting online through yahoo, or aim, or even facebook. For me the point was just to have a good conversation with her and see where she was at as far as her knowledge about being safe on the internet. As I suspected she was very well informed and I was glad to know that she was able to benefit from the internet and technology and not be turned off to it due to bad experiences or the possible dangers. I think we both concluded that if you are using the internet in the appropriate way and are careful in what you do and say then the internet can be a great resource to you for multiple facets of our lives.

TPACK Report

*note* Speaker notes should be on when watching this presentation :)

Lesson Plans!

All of my lesson plans can be found here:

Math Lesson Plan:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dvpbhv5_70dq2ktqc9

Language Arts Lesson Plan:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dvpbhv5_69cjw7vwgr

Science Lesson Plan:

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dvpbhv5_68hmk66bv5

Video Reflection

This week we had the opportunity to watch a few videos of how teachers have implemented technology into their younger elementary classrooms. I think what most impressed me was the fact that these teachers proved it to be possible; implementing technology in lower grades. I am currently in a first grade classroom for the practicum and I was under the belief that it just wasn't possible, the kids are too young, there is no way I can use technology with them in an effective way. I was wrong. These teachers proved that it is possible. I really enjoyed the simplicity of it all; sometimes the use of the technology was simply allowing the students the opportunity to interpret and present something in a particular form of media. It would be so fun to watch the students take a particular poem or story or song and have them interpret and represent the text in a way that is meaningful to them through the computer and put it in a slideshow to share with their classmates. The teachers showed me that the students don't need constant supervision or instruction when working with technology. I was under the impression that in order for younger grades to use technology it would require the teacher to be heavily involved and doing much of the work while the students simply sat back and watched, only putting in a few ideas and their input here and there. It is quite the contrary, in fact. The students are fully capable of working independently or in groups once they have been taught and trained in how to use the technology and when the expectations are clear. I found these videos to be really informative and convincing; I felt more convinced and confident in the idea of incorporating technology into my lower grade classroom. It is an effective way to teach and the students are engaged and having fun. I will definitely more closely examine the prospect of technology with younger students.

Technology Inventory

This being the first week in the classroom it was interesting to take a bit of time and talk to our teacher about the technology resources available. I found that there wasn't A LOT of resources available at the school, but that there were still quite a few options. I realized in talking with her that she just didn't utilize all the technology available at the school. In talking to her further she expressed how technology was something that they used more in the upper grades; it was too difficult to do with the younger grades, such as 1st (which is my classroom). I found that to be very interesting. I myself would tend to agree, that some technology might be difficult to use with younger grades, but I still believe that there are MANY resources that she is not taking advantage of that she should. I think the children would benefit a lot from her incorporating more technology into her lessons and activities with them; maybe they would focus more or be more engaged in various tasks.

This week I also completed the Midcourse Evaluation and the Informed Consent.

Science Challenge Videos

I watched the videos of:

Alli,

Nancy,

and Robin.

All were FABULOUS!

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I really learned a lot this week. This assignment opened my eyes to the MANY possibilities there are for use of technology in the classroom; especially with science. I think I forget or underestimate the many resources we really do have that we should be taking advantage of and utilizing in the classroom. Science truly is a subject that is meant to be lived; science should be full of hands on activities and experimentation, not simply reading out of text or being lectured. This assignment opened my eyes to the various options we have as teachers as well as the importance of incorporating these technologies into our lessons and our classroom. The students will really benefit from the hands on activity and the opportunity the technology provides for the students to experiment and explore individually as well as collectively in groups.