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.