Social Networking amongst Educators

Social Networking amongst Educators

While browsing the internet yesterday I came across an interesting website about educators and social networking. “How to avoid committing social media gaffes”, is an interesting article that provides do’s and don’ts when it comes to social networking. Social media use is growing exponentially across all demographic groups, including senior citizens. “With social media use becoming more mainstream, principals, teachers, parent volunteers, and other adults affiliated with public schools are frequently using social media for networking and communication purposes.” Some examples of these social networking sites are Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook just to name a few.

With the use of these social networking sites amongst educators becoming more and more common, it is imperative that we monitor what we post to these sites. Parents, students, and principles often access these sites and search to see what information they can find on a particular individual. If they find negative or improper pictures/information it will look bad on us as educators. I personally make sure that I don’t post anything that I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my students reading.Not only are parents and students searching these sites to find information on an individual but so are principals. Many times before you receive a job the principal will search these types of sites to see what type of person they are hiring.

Some tips listed in the article about social networking are:

Avoid participating in the cutesy, sometimes raunchy online surveys and other gimmicks that social media sites use to generate traffic.

Keep your personal business private.

Don’t connect personally with students, ever. There’s never an appropriate or legitimate reason to develop online relationships with students

Recognize that the parents of your students are your partners in the educational process, not your “friends

These are just some of the useful tips listed in the article about educators and social networking. I feel that these are very important tips because as educators we have to monitor everything that we do. Some things we may not feel are inappropriate that our parents or administration will. This is why these tips are so useful.

Carr, N. (2010). Retrieved from: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/10/05/how-to-avoid-committing-social-media-gaffes/2/?

New Software in the Classroom

This week in my Technology class we were given the scenario, “You are a classroom teacher with one Internet-connected, classroom computer. Your principal has just come to you with the offer to purchase one academic software program for your classroom, and price is not a concern.” (Apparently, the categorical funds are such that only one program per classroom may be purchased, but there is an allocation of up to $1,000 per classroom!)

Before I could determine what software I wanted to purchase, I had to figure out the hardware components of the computer. The computer that I am using is a Macbook. I have been using this computer for about 4 years now. The specs of my current computer are:

2.0 GHz Intel “Core Duo” processor

Mac OS X version 10.6 “snow leopard

512 MB of RAM

60.0 GB Hard drive

4X slot-loading double layer read DVD/CD-RW

Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics processor

1280x800 native resolution

Once I established what my hardware components were for the computer I began looking at software.  This was the exciting part. When I initially began looking for software I had to decide what exactly it was that I was looking for in this software. Which software would be most beneficial for my students? The software that I chose was Clicker 5.  Click 5 is a software program for students from K-6. This software is beneficial to students reading and writing abilities. The software components needed to run this software are:

Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or above
Power PC or Intel processor
128 MB RAM
400 MB free disk space

All of the system requirements for this software are met in order for it to run on my computer.  It is very easy to install. My only worry is the fact that I do not have a mouse I only have a mouse pad. This may make it difficult for my students to use this program because they may have a hard time using the mouse pad on the Macbook. Something that was talked about in our text book “Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom,”is the wireless mouse. This is something that I am thinking about purchasing for my students to make their use of this software easier.

 I am very excited to begin using this program. I believe that this will help with my students reading and writing skills as well as provide a review of materials before they are tested.

Shelly, G. & Gunter, G & Gunter, R. (2010). Teacher Discovering Computers Integrating technology and Digital Media in the Classroom. (6th Ed.) Cengage Learning

Retrieved from:  http://www.academicsuperstore.com/products/Crick+Software/Clicker/742978

Blogging With Elementary School Students

Blogging in the Elementary School Classroom is something that has always been intriguing to me. It makes me wonder if students at this age are mature enough to blog on their one. While searching the internet I read an article titled Blogging With Elementary School Students. This was a very interesting article that talked about giving students the opportunity to blog about topics relevant to their weekly instruction. "Blogging is one way of linking writing, reading, and connecting information and learning together." It seems the perfect venue to introduce elementary school students to the online world world of networked learning.This is so true. With the advance in technology, blogs, and social networking from day to day it is important that students learn how to use these sites at school. In about 4th through 6th grade (10-12 year olds), students discover social network places such as Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. They are interested in these social sites because of older siblings, friends, and neighbors. Because of the hype of these websites they long to be part of that network to chat, upload and comment on each others’ photos. "Now is the time for us educators to expose them to safe practices AND to academic uses of online spaces."

This article also talks about a teacher who encouraged blogging in her classroom. She created a classroom blog. Each student was allowed to create a user name and password. This gave students the opportunity to leave comments on posts that she created. The students are not required to write, they want to. This provided students with an increase in motivation when it came to writing.

I believe that this is something positive that teachers can do with their students. It provides them with experience when it comes to blogging. This also helps to motivate students and help them to enjoy writing. Growing up I was not a big fan of writing, but their were times when my teachers made writing fun by trying new activities. This gave me needed motivation because this made writing interesting to me... All and all I think this was a great article and concept.

Tolisano, S., (2008) Blogging with elementary school students. Retrieved from http://langwitches.org/blog/2008/12/23/blogging-with-elementary-school-students/

About Me

This week’s assignment in my master’s class we focused on the term “online identity.” While completing the activity we were required to create an online identity.  When I first read the assignment it immediately made me wonder about the importance of your online identity. Is it as important as your reputation in every day life? Because I had so many questions when it came to online identity, I resorted to the almighty google in hopes that it would answer my questions. An online identity, internet identity, or internet persona is a social identity that an internet user establishes in online communities and websites.  After searching information about online identity, it was clear that this is something of great importance.

There are many times when I have googled my name to see what I could find. I am also sure that my students, parents, and administration have searched my name as well. I try to make sure that when these searches are performed they are able to find accurate, useful and beneficial information.

To begin this week’s activity I accessed the website Online Identity Calculator.  I was interested to see what the calculator would find pertaining to my name, so I decided to complete the activity. Identity calculator is a website that allows you to fin out information about your online identity. Your results are then displayed on a bar graph.  I started by going to google and typing my name. I was pleased to see that all of the information that was available pertaining to me was accurate. It had a link to my blog page and my twitter page. But honestly I was surprised that those were the only pages that came up and it took pages and pages of searching to find those.  I have created wiki, curriculum, and website pages for other classes that I was not able to find.

Even though I was able to find information about myself I still feel that this information wouldn’t be too useful to my students. That’s why I was excited to complete the remaining of the assignment for this week. We were asked to create an “About Me” page.  On this page we were asked to provide out name, interest, favorite movies and music. I was also asked to add a little information and background about myself.  I feel that this is a positive because if my future students or parents were to search my name now, they would be able to find a little bit about me. They would also be able to access my blog and read about my experiences and passion for teaching.

Something that I learned from completing this week’s activity is the importance of maintaining an accurate and positive online identity. It also showed me that if I want my parents and students to be able to find accurate information about me, I should provide it myself. I have always been cautious of what others could find about me because I didn’t want them receiving any negative or false information. This assignment helped me to feel more secure in knowing what information is accessible on the web pertaining to me. I also learned how to link and bold information in my “About Me” page on my blog. All and all this was a very informative website that I really enjoyed.

Is greater technology in elementary school beneficial?

While surfing the internet I came across a few very interesting articles. One article that caught my attention was, “Is greater technology in elementary school beneficial”. This was a very intriguing article. This article is about the use of greater technology in the classroom. It focuses on how technology in the classroom is a positive aspect as long as students know how to complete these process without technology first.

“Greater technology can be very beneficial to students, if it is used properly and in moderation.” The author then goes on to explain this statement. For instance, it is acceptable for students to use technology to write a paper, as long as they possess the essential needed to write the paper. The students need to learn how to print and use cursive writing and apply it on paper before they can take the next step to prepare papers on the computer.  This is so true. I completely agree that students need to know how to write a paper using pencil and paper before they should be able to use the computer.

The article also talks about how increasing the level of technology that the students are exposed to will also be beneficial. Because families can’t provide their children with the latest technology, it is our responsibility to do this in the classroom. Even though it is important to expose students to technology we as educators have to make sure we aren’t only using the internet to provide instruction to our students.

All and all I enjoyed this article. I learned a lot of useful information that I will take with me into the classroom. This article just helps to stress the importance of the use of technology.

Kazay, G. (2010) Is greater technology in elementary school beneficial. Retrieved from  

http://www.helium.com/items/331818-is-greater-technology-in-elementary-school-beneficial

Excel Reflection

This week for our class assignment, I was given the opportunity to work with Microsoft Excel on a stimulated grade book. Excel is a spreadsheet software application. “With spreadsheet software you can create worksheets that contain numeric data arranged in rows and columns” (Gunter, 2010).

This was an extremely engaging hands-on activity. Working with Excel is an efficient tool that many educators use on a daily basis. Excel can be used as a grade book, attendance book, lunch book, and much more. I have had a lot of experience working with Excel. When I was completing my undergraduate degree I took a computer class where I worked a lot with Excel and its many capabilities so this assignment was more of a refresher than a challenge.

The objective of this assignment was to show the importance of the use of Excel to keep track of student’s grades. While working with the grade book I created and edited information. We were also asked to complete a variety of different tasks. The first task was to make each column a different color. This wasn’t too hard of a task to complete. I then had to create columns and come up with formulas to average the students test, homework, and over all grades. Even though I am familiar with Excel and its functions I had a little trouble creating the test and homework averages. It didn’t take me long to figure out how to complete this task, but it took longer than the others. Something that I learned from this assignment was how to make the students name dynamically appear on the other three worksheets which means automatically appear. This is something that is very useful. I can see myself using this feature in the future in my classroom.

All and all I enjoyed this activity. It gave me the opportunity to work with Excel. It also provided a hands-on refresher of the important features of this tool. I look forward to applying what I learned during this lesson in my classroom.

Gunter, G. A., Gunter, R.E., & Shelly, G.B. (2010). Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom(6^th ed.). United States: Course Technology, Cengage Learning.

   

Using iPods in the classroom

While searching the web today, I found many interesting articles about the integration on technology in the classroom. With the increase in the use of technology from day to day, it is important that we as teachers expose our students to technology in the classroom. “Using iPods in the classroom”, is an interesting article about the use of iPods as a teaching tool. At a time when many school are making rules to ban the use of iPods in school, others are allowing them to be used as a teaching tool.  There are many ways that technology can be integrated into the classroom.  The article talks about how one school allows their students to use iPods in music classes. Yet another school is providing the iPods to students studying foreign languages. The students use the iPods to download lessons to their devices. By having the opportunity to download lessons to their iPods I feel that it helps to motivate the students to study inside and outside of the classroom. This is not the only way schools can integrate iPods into the curriculum. Many students are coming up with new ways to study outside of the school facility using this tool during times when they would normally be idle.

My nephew was completing a paper and presentation on classical music. He used his iPod during his presentation to provide his classmates with a sample of the music. This helped to make his presentation more effective. Giving students the opportunity to use these new forms of technology in school not only helps to motivate the students but also helps with their creativity.

In the article the author also talks about how many educators and institutions are resisting these new delivery methods. Using iPods as educational tools is clearly a risk. Schools have to worry about how to positively and effectively integrate this tool into the curriculum as well as how to prevent students from abusing the policies set for school use. One school has created an iPod club to monitor the use of the tools. I feel that we should allow the use of this technology. Because of the increase in use of technology it is important to provide students with the opportunity to use these tools in school. By doing this it will help teach students how to properly use these tools. It will also help with their success in life because technology is only going to improve and use will continue to increase.  

Parott, J. (2007) Using iPods in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/23065/using_ipods_in_the_classroom_promotes_pg2.html?cat=4