Final Portfolio

Here is my portfolio

Fire Safety Presentation

Presentation Topic

I thought more about topics over the last couple of days and I have decided to change mine to fire safety.

Presentation Thoughts

I was thinking about doing nutrition and exercising for my presentation.

Blogging with the Fifth Graders

I thought this was a fun activity and it was very interesting to see how the students put their thoughts across. I enjoyed reading their comments about the magazine covers and seeing what they thought made a good teacher. I was surprised that some students were writing like they would in a text message and not using proper grammar and spelling. This worries me because it seems that language is getting cut out when you use digital tools. Some of the misspelling seems to be from typing errors. I would address these concerns by making it understood that blogging needs to be correct grammar and spelling just like hand written papers. I would teach them that first impressions are important and these blogs can be seen by many people, so you don't want to seem ignorant. Another concern I have is internet safety. I would teach my students internet safety in the classroom. I liked the way that the blogs were set up by using the treasure/gazer then number instead of the student's real name. This made it safer for the students. This activity made me more likely to use blogging with future students because I see that the students have the capabilities to do this type of activity if they have the right skills taught to them.

Scratch Changes

Click here to see my scratch changes.
I changed the background from lime green to boardwalk, that's a new dog, and I changed the dog's color from blue to red/blue.

Scratch

I looked through the elementary educators, math, social studies, and science projects for a scratch project that I liked. I found the MathDogAdding Game. This game was easy for beginners and can be modified by adding subtraction, multiplication, and division problems for upper grade levels. The dog/sounds keep it interesting. Click here to see the game.

Henry Jenkins and New Media Literacy

1. What is convergence culture?
Convergence culture is the mixing of old and new media to form a better media for today.
2. What are the implications of convergence culture for education?
It allows teachers to use the new technology in their classrooms to improve their lesson
plans through blogging, teacher tube, and power points. It also teaches the students how to
use the technology so they can do it at home. This may be the only time that students get to
use computers.
3. How are schools limiting kids' access to digital tools? Do you agree? Why or why not?
The schools are limiting kids' access by limiting them only to educational sites and blocking
out social networking. I agree with these policies because they protect our children from
getting on bad sites and getting bad information. I still think that educators have a responsi-
bility to teach their students about the dangers of the digital tools.

Website Validation

Click here to see the website I validated.

This website was not a reliable source. It is a .com site which means it is commercial and anyone can buy it. The author, Ken Umbach, is bogus. It stated that the biography was bogus and when I searched http://www.easywhois.com/ the domain wasn't found. There were no resource listings or additional information. There were no other links to go to so that you could validate the information given. Velcro is not a crop and I know this from prior knowledge. Another point that jumped out at me was that it was suggested that the pickers wear teflon suits and be professional body builders. The body builders were suggested because they are strong and hairless. This is a good site to teach children how to find a reliable source.

Magazine Cover

Today I added our magazine cover to blogmeister and I am responding to Computer blog.

Magazine Cover

Graphs

Favorite Items Survey

Spongebob Fiesta Webquest.

Here is my webquest.

Web 2.0 in Education

http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/

This website has every tool imaginable! You can do presentations, videos, audios, collaborative, creativity, drawing, and many other things. Teachers and even students would have an easy time using this tool and sharing things with each other.

Blogging in the Classroom!

I was a bit skeptical about blogging in the classroom. I never had the technology in my classrooms. They were just getting computers when I was in middle school. This is a new concept for me. Reading The Joy of Blogging by Anne P. Davis and Ewa McGrail opened my eyes to how blogging in the classroom can be beneficial. Students are able to put questions out there and get many different view points or suggestions on where to do more research on their topic. "Students came to understand that grammar, punctuation, word choice, style, and syntax were not just a "teacher thing" but rather a means for effective communication." The students were excited to get responses back from people outside their community or even their country. Blogging is also a good way for communication between teachers and students. Classroom information can be passed along or questions can be asked between students and teachers. I enjoyed reading the different blogs from the classrooms on the escrapbooking.com website. The one in particular that caught my attention was Awesome Readers and Writers (2nd grade). The teacher, Mrs. D., posted a Blog Question of the Day and had her students respond to it during class time. She wanted them to proofread their posts to make sure they followed her checklist of items. The other interesting thing about this website was the My Links out to the side which had different learning links for kids to view and play educational games on. The two NETS-T standards are 1a. Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. 2a. Design or adapt relevent learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
Here's a copy to the link I wrote about: http://mrsd.tblog.com/

What would Socrates Say?

After reading "What would Socrates Say?" by Peter W. Cookson, Jr., I believe that Socrates would approve of webquests. Socrates believed that you learned through continual questioning and unconventional inquiry. Webquests makes you use your critical thinking skills by setting up tasks for groups of students to accomplish and processes they have to take to get there. It's more than surfing the internet, it's applying what you've learned. Socrates used the knowledge he had to question the status quo. Webquests will let students look at things in different perspectives. Socrates didn't teach in a classroom. He taught wherever their was a learning experience. He felt that the best teaching tool was "purposeful conversation". Webquests allow for all kinds of teaching experiences if they're well constructed.

After reading through Taxonomy, I have concluded that my webquest is set up under Designs Tasks.

Webquest: Hawaiian Luau

This webquest http://questgarden.com/85/93/2/090805174558/ was done by Megan Connelly and is geared toward 3rd grade math. This will help student's plan a party and stay within budget.

Changes I would make:
Theme
Standards to WV
Remove under teacher's page Process part

Finding a webquest

http://questgarden.com/85/93/2/090805174558/
This is the link to the webquest I will be working with.

MULTIMEDIA VS WRITTEN PAPERS

Should Students be allowed to create multimedia projects instead of writing papers in school?
I feel that there should be a combination of both. Multimedia wasn't taught back when I was in school. I learned my multimedia skills in the military but only enough to do my job. It is hard for me in this class and my info1100 class because I don't have many skills. I enjoyed doing the photostory, even though it took me awhile, because I am adding to my knowledge which will help me with my future students. Teachers need to teach their students how to write properly before sending them out into cyberspace. It is just as important to know proper grammar, sentence structure, and spelling for the digital tools because many people can see your work (maybe even future employers) so you don't want to come across uneducated. Writing papers is good because students do more research and more drafts to make it better. It takes more time and effort. Students can check their own grammar and spelling when using the computer which is kind of cheating.
"Power of One" is a great example of what Jason Ohlera was saying in "Orchestrating the Media Collage". The multimedia reaches and influences more people than books, magazines, or even newspapers. "Orchestrating the Media Collage" made a great point about how fast technology is changing and a person can be left behind if they're not up to date. Teachers have a responsibility to teach their students how to safely and properly use the digital resource tools. The NETST Standards that go along with both of the above items are: 1b, 2a, 2b, 2c, 4a.

When I Become A Teacher by Dawn Efaw

Webquests

Two best Webquests: John Wilkes Booth & Creative EncountersOverall, we came to the conclusion that John Wilkes Booth and Creative Encounters encorporated most of the ideals that all four roles were looking for. They were both technologically helpful and included links and resources. Both required a higher-level thinking and collaboration/teamwork. Also, both were time efficient and gave a deep understanding of the topic at hand.Two worst Webquests: Landfills & Poetry of WarThese two webquests lacked web use and researching. They also did not have much collaboration. They were very time consuming. While they are good assignments that could be used in the classroom, using webquest doesn't offer much of an advantage over a worksheet in a classroom.Best, to us, means that the webquest met most of the criteria described in each of the 4 roles we took while reading. Worst, though they were not bad assignments, means that they did not reflect the ideals represented

Photostory Issues

I started my Photostory this morning at the library and posted the 5 pictures, but in class I tried to go back into my saved project and it wasn't there. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???? Ok now I have to go back in and refind my photos.

Please click here to see my resume

Blog creation

Today I created my first blog. I am finally getting technology savvy.