Let's Talk About It!

After I read and watched the provided resources on internet safety I talked to a 15-year-old youth about my learning. I asked her questions about her knowledge about chatrooms and the potential danger there. I shared the NetSmartz online videos with her and invited her to watch them.

I found this conversation extremely valuable! After I asked her questions about chatrooms I asked her about her views on things like Facebook and how much her parents are and should be involved in monitoring internet use. I gave her scenarios and asked her how she would respond if she was the parent and had a daughter who wanted to do such and such on the internet.

The main thing I learned from this experience was the importance of teaching children about the positive and negative aspects of the internet AND keeping up to date and informed myself so that I can better monitor and understand what is out there.

2 Best Ideas

As I watched the presentations I learned a lot about how technology can be incorporated into the classroom. Incoporating technology can be small and simple or large and complex, it all depends on the resources available to you.

The two best ideas I learned from the class presentations were:
-scan pictures from a book into the computer and project them so that all of the students can see it
-use a powerpoint with visuals that can not be brought into the classroom (such as endangered animals), give students as real to life an experience as possible

These ideas are both small and simple ways to incorporate technology into a lesson. I wish I would have seen more cases where the students were really using the technology because I think that that's even more important and meaningful when teaching concepts.

It's All About Learning!

I viewed a couple of my groups' presentations and learned that not every school had the same amount of technology as mine did. It makes me wonder, will the school I teach at have some of the technology I've enjoyed in my practicum? My group member's presentations taught me that I can integrate technology into my lessons no matter how much or how little technology I have access to just like Cyrus did when he used the projector. I can put technology in the hands of my students, as Charla did with the SmartBoard. The tricky thing is remembering to use technology! If teachers are aware of the resources at their fingertips then the technological possibilities are endless!!

Presentation from SlideShare

Using Technology in a 1st Grade Classroom

View more presentations from meaganc.

Reflection on Internet Readings

I chose to read an article about the internet called “Fighting Internet Filth” by Mario Hipol. This article appeared in the August 2005 Ensign. The most important thing that I learned from this website was the importance of staying educated about technology as a future parent and teacher. I appreciated the advice that Brother Hipol gave and the counsel that we should take every opportunity to educate ourselves, even by doing things such as taking technology-related college courses. He ended his article by saying “It is important not to let down your guard or to give up because you feel overwhelmed. Resources are available, and you can make a difference in what your family views on the Internet.” One major difference I have seen between kids and parents is that kids are more willing to experiment with technology whereas adults tend to avoid new technology. As a future parent and teacher I want to stay connected with the current technology in the world. If I am aware of what is out there then I can better educate my future children and students and make them aware of potential dangers. From what I have learned I will tell my family and friends more about what I know of the internet and its potential dangers. Oftentimes, I think that parents do not supervise their children’s internet usage as much as they should, simply because they are unaware. I will tell my friends and family about programs such as Facebook, e-mail, internet sites, and such.

More Technology!

Many students in my class are English Language Learners. As part of my plant unit, I taught a lesson on how people use plants. I put a variety of clip art pictures depicting things that come from plants on a Microsoft Word document and projected them on a Promethean Board. Under each picture I wrote the word because this helps students, especially English Language Learners, tie something they understand (a picture of a strawberry) to its name. I used these pictures to assess their background knowledge on the subject. Many students did not believe that most of the items came from plants. This gave us a great starting point for a discussion on the material.

Five Little Leprechauns

I was looking for a children's book to read for St. Patrick's Day, but I got to the library too late and so they were already all checked out. I found a cute poem called "Five Little Leprechauns" and so I used clip art from PowerPoint and created a little video through PhotoStory. I didn't record myself reading the poem because I used a pointer to point to the words as the children and I read the poem together. The kids liked it and it was different than the traditional read-alouds done in the classroom. The kids are so used to just taking in technology that they were surprised that they had to do the reading for the video, but they quickly got used to that idea and began reading.

Technology in My Classroom

Wow! The elementary school that I went to while I was growing up did not include near as much technology in the classroom as Spring Creek! Spring Creek has a Promethean Board in every classroom. A Promethean Board is connected to a computer and everything on the computer screen is projected on the board and then can be manipulated on the board using a special pen. The technology specialist for our school provided an informational meeting for all of us cohort students (along with a few teachers) on how to use the Promethean Board and create flipcharts that go with it.

Another thing that amazed me was how much computers are used in the classrooms. The school has multiple carts of laptops that can be checked out by teachers for use by their students. I have not observed the students in my class using the laptops, but my students use the seven classroom computers regularly during centers. They often play math games on the computers or work on a phonics program called Headsprout. The teacher tracks the levels the students reach on Headsprout and reports the progress to the students through a graph displayed on the Promethean Board. Wow! Kids know much more about technology these days than I do! I feel really old! Now I can really use the phrase..."Well back in my day we didn't have..."

Sailing the Ocean Blue in 1492

Here is a link to my Google Virtual Tour about the first voyage of Christopher Columbus:

http://sites.google.com/site/missmegc2010/sailing-the-ocean-blue

Virtual Tour's Connection to TPACK

5th Grade Utah Social Studies Core

Standard 1
Students will understand how the exploration and colonization of North America transformed human history.

Objective 1 Describe and explain the growth and development of the early American colonies.

a. Using maps -- including pre-1492 maps -- and other geographic tools, locate and analyze the routes used by the explorers.

Connection to TPACK

The Google Earth Virtual Tour of when Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 attends to every aspect of TPACK as described below:

Technology: This assignment utilizes a computer program called Google Earth. It is essential that students become familiar with the basics of this program because it is become widely used. In fact, my sister just called me yesterday and said that her boss at work played a trick on his mother-in-law and pretended to be near her hometown by describing the environment around it using the pictures from Google Earth...I don't think she was amused! Students need to be aware of their resources, and hopefully they'll find a better use for them than just jokes.

Pedagogy: Students will be more motivated to learn if they can visually see what they are learning and identify with the material. That is why the students have an activity at every tour location that includes a journal entry. This will help the students think of the voyage as more than just a set of abstract facts.

Content: The information discussed in the virtual tour about the voyage was all taken from "I, Columbus" edited by Peter and Connie Roop. This book is a compilation of some of Columbus' journal entries. The entries are simple and give the reader a good glimpse of the situation at the time of the voyage. The virtual tour presents the information simply and chronologically using the journal entries as a guide. The students learn information about the route of the voyage, yet they do not have to read it from a textbook. Other non-fiction books for the teacher's reference include "Christopher Columbus" by Kristin Petrie, and "Christoper Columbus" by Susan Bivin Aller (it is important that the teacher has a good grasp on the content in order to create a comprehensive tour).

Virtual Tour Plan

Location	Activity	Google Earth Content
1. Palos, Spain	August 3, 1492: Columbus kept a journal. Keep a journal of your travels during this virtual tour as if you were Columbus. For your first entry, write about your feelings as you set sail for your adventure and discover new people and places.	Describe info about voyage: On August 3, 1492 Christopher Columbus began his voyage to "India" with 3 ships called the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. He hoped to discover wealth and convert the people to his religion. Use info from non-fiction books about subject. Show picture of Columbus
2.Canary Islands	August 8, 1492: Calculate how far Palos, Spain is from the Canary Islands. In your journal, discuss 3 options you have to take care of the boat problem. What are the pros and cons of each? Which one would you decide to pick if you were Columbus?	Boat trouble! Drop anchor at the Canary Islands. Learn about the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria from Wikipedia or non-fiction books. Show picture of ships with facts about each.
3.Bahamas	October 12, 1492: In your journal, write what you would name a piece of land you discovered and why. How would you communicate with the people? What would you explore first?	Land ho! But is it really India? Columbus named the islands San Salvador and Fernandina. Show pictures of the Bahamas and of India. State information about the welcome Columbus and his crew received from the natives.
4.Cuba	February 25, 2009: Imagine that you get to talk to Columbus. What would you say to him? What are 3 questions you would have for him?	Columbus thought that Cuba was the Indian's name for Japan. He still did not realize that he had not made it to India, he had discovered a new land. Columbus ended up making it back to Spain on March 15, 1493 but he died in 1506 and still never knew that he had discovered a new land.
Details of image overlay / path / polygon:	Connect the path of Columbus' travels and include a 5th spot that takes the tour back to Spain, right where it started (use path tool).

PhotoStory Video

Storyboard +TPACK=GREAT

Our digital story presents the poem written by Shel Silverstein entitled "Messy Room." Not only does this project emphasize literacy in the classroom, it also incorporates technology, and visuals that will hold the students' attention.

This is how TPACK is specifically used in our digital story project...
CONTENT: Students will not only gain experience with a different genre of literature (poetry), they will also learn the importance of personal hygiene and keeping our living areas clean. Students could identify how the messy room is a safety hazard as part of 1st grade Content Standard 1 Objective 1.

PEDAGOGY: Students will be actively engaged in the presentation because of the visual nature of this project and their connection to people they know in the pictures (namely, their teachers).

TECHNOLOGY: Students will hear a poem via a computer program and can follow along with their own typed copy. The poem and pictures are presented using PhotoStory (the pictures were taken using a digital camera). After the students view their teachers' video they get to make their own digital story in small groups.

We are working on putting our digital story together but here is a sneak preview...

TPACK

Our M&M science lesson incorporates all 3 aspects of TPACK...
Content: Standard 3, Objective 3 in Utah's 1st grade core curriculum states that students will be able to "Collect, organize, and represent simple data." Students do this through sorting M&M's into their respective color groups and representing the information in the form of a graph.
Pedagogy: Students will be excited to participate in this experiment because of the reward at the end (yummy M&M's!). The teacher will have students to work in small groups so they can help each other while teacher walks around and assists groups who need her help.
Technology: The lesson simply uses the graphing aspect of PowerPoint. This is a simple tool that students can use to quickly and professionally represent their data. 1st graders will be able to handle the difficulty of this task because it is within their zone of proximal development; however they will need to first have the task modeled and then receive scaffolding along the way.

Tech Savvy Teacher

Technology is a part of everyday life and it is essential that we teach our students how to use it effectively by incorporating it into our teaching.

Miss Cluff and Miss Schefcik teamed up and performed an experiment that was originally designed for a 1st grade class, showing how simple it can be to bring technology into a classroom. They found this experiment at http://www.macomb.k12.mi.us/eastdet/Plans/EL-math.htm. This fulfills a 1st Grade standard found in Utah Public Schools' Curriculum...
Standard 3
Students will understand simple geometry and measurement concepts as well as collect, represent, and draw conclusions from data.
Objective 3
Collect, organize, and represent simple data.
1. Collect and represent data using tables, tally marks, pictographs, and bar graphs.
2. Describe and interpret data.

What better way to explore math than with food?
In this experiment, students compare the color quantities in two different packages of M&M's. Miss Cluff and Miss Schefcik used a package of peanut and a package of plain M&M’s.

After sorting their data they created a bar graph of their findings using PowerPoint. The bar graph helped them quickly and clearly organize their findings so they could analyze their information. They learned that along with having more M&M’s in them, plain M&M packages also have a wider variety of colors. One thing is for sure...M&M's sure are tasty!

Incorporating PowerPoint into the lesson is beneficial for students because they gain experience using the program and learn how to professionally organize and present data. These 1st grade scientists are ready to present their findings to the public in a way that presents their experimental data in a way that could be readily repeated by other curious students. Not only does this fulfill the 1st grade standard, it does so in a unique way that will help the students for the rest of their lives! Whether students grow up to be scientists or not, they will need to know how to use various aspects of PowerPoint. This lesson merely explored one of PowerPoint's many capabilities. As Miss Schefcik and Miss Cluff learned, incorporating technology into a lesson plan does not have to give teachers a headache. The hardest thing about bringing technology into the classroom is knowing what resources you have, after that, the rest is as easy as eating a whole bag of M&Ms by yourself!!

Reach for the Stars!

I explored Stellarium in class today. It is a free program that shows a map of stars in different locations around the world. Teachers can not have their students view the night sky during the day, and so this is the next best thing! The program maps out the specific constellations along with their names.

TPACK

TPACK means incorporating technology, content knowledge, and good teaching practices into your classroom. Oftentimes, teachers focus on the content and pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge is left by the wayside. Technology is a major part of our world and the sooner children are exposed to it and learn how to use it to their advantage, the better off they will be. Some students may not have access to technology outside of the classroom and so it is essential that the schools introduce it to them.

RSS, Web 2.0

A little confused! I had no idea what RSS or Web 2.o was before this class and I can't say that I truly understand it yet. I'm playing with it though and learning as I go! RSS is an interesting concept for me. I could add an RSS to a class blog when I'm a teacher that links to the school's website so that the parents would have updated school news.

Techno Genius...Well, Not Quite!

I'm getting more and more technologically savvy as the days go by (and boy do they go by quickly!).  I actually own a digital camera now and I've thought about getting an Ipod (we'll see, my CD's are still alive and kicking).  BYU professors have made sure that I use a computer every day of my life...literally!  Excel spreadsheets are saving my bacon for things like visiting teaching assignments and organizing my schedule.  I use my cell phone daily, even for things other than calling surprisingly enough!  It wakes me up every morning and I actually added texting to my plan.  Wow!  I didn't see that one coming! I'm learning lots, that's for sure!!!