Final Notes

Look at TPACK Planning
Ideal situation
Students use technology
Technology is important to the lesson plan.
What teacher will do.
What student will do.
Why would you use this technology?
in terms of content area
Representations-student learning
pedagogy-activities structures
triangle diagram (be, do, know)

14th Week

The article I decided to read was called “Tangled in the Web.” It addressed internet gaming and socializing. The author made the point that while her gaming got better, her real life suffered. Her relationship with her husband and kids suffered. Internet gaming became an addiction.
Most of the videos I watched were about the effects of online predators and cyber bullying.

These videos were very explicit in talking about the dangers of chat rooms. Both internet predators and cyber bullies use chat rooms to get what they want. One of the public service announcements on cyber bullying was very interesting. The video had a girl standing in front of an auditorium saying terrible things about a girl to the entire school. These were the kind of things that bullies say on the internet. The point of the video is that you should say things on the internet that you are not willing to say in front of the victim.

The most important take-aways were that the internet is a very useful tool, but it needs to be used responsible. Families can create blogs and use the internet to search for information. This shows the useful side of the internet. Chat rooms are especially dangerous because of the presence of predators and bullies. To prevent internet battle scars, computers should be placed in a well trafficked area. Parents should teach children how to use the internet for worthy causes like homework and information. Filtering programs can be installed to help block unwanted sites. Parents should learn to use the computer. Talking about internet safety in a loving atmosphere is also important. One other thing that was talked about was never giving out personal information.

The person I talked to knew that she never let her children on chat rooms because of predators, but she knew little about cyber bullying. She told me that her husband would check their internet history to see if any monkey business was going on. She is very aware of how to use the computer and knows basic internet safety. She shared a story about a girl who used internet safety while selling her computer and was blessed for it. I shared what I knew about cyber bullying. I talked about how children will be crueler over the internet than in person. She was very quiet during the whole exchange. I think it surprised her that children would be so mean.

I was surprised about her reaction because I thought she would be chattier about cyber bullying. She was very unfamiliar with the idea that cyber bullying and may have been a little uncomfortable. I was just surprised that she would be so uncomfortable about cyber bullying. I think that the person I shared with will be more likely to watch how her children use the internet. She will use the information to help her kids in the classroom (she substitute teachers at times). In that way she can help them be safe as well.


I have completed both sets of evaluations.

TPACK Report

http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=d7xqnjt_6g3g9rngb

Week 12

The most important thing that I learned about using technology in the early grades is that it can be done and easily. Three additional things I learned are, first there are many programs that young children can use that fit the curriculum of the early grades. Kidsperation and Kerpoof are two programs that are easy to use and that can provide good experiences for young children. Second, the teacher does not have to do all the technology work. While the teacher may need to structure the lesson to provide support in using technology, the technology available is easily used by children. For example, I have a two year old nice who knows how to work an i-pod touch. If she can use that technology school aged children should be capable of using simple technology. The last thing I learned is that the children can work together with technology. This will support learning how to use the technology and the actually curriculum while helping children work together. In short, technology is absolutely a useful and important tool for children to learn in the early grades.

Lesson Plan Links

My lesson plan links have been posted under my links section of this blog.

Week 11

Our Favorite Dinosaurs
The children seemed really excited to be videotaped about their favorite dinosaurs. Even though the younger children were in kindergarten, they were still able to participate in the technology experience. I also think that pairing the kindergarteners with older students helped the older students and the younger students use technology better. Overall the kindergarteners and the older students had a good time.

Creation Stories
The project in this video allows the children full creative control over technology. The children get to create their own stories using a program like digital storyboard about creation. While the video did not show any children, the video showed how children can become involved in technoloby that is more then just sitting at a computer.

A Day With Fractions
The children seemed to take the assignment very seriously. They were professional about what they said and how they said it. The children also spoke clearly in their project. They seemed to care how the project turned out. The project itself looked very professional and showed off the children's fraction skills.

The two videos that were required to watch (Bookends of War and Inside Kapunahala) showed that children like having hands on projects. The children were not frustrated or discouraged about the project. They were actively involved in creating a good product. The children also seemed to learn more life technology skills. The knew how to use cameras and the internet to find out information. The children also worked together as a team to create projects. The children seemed to work together better as they were involved with the technology because they wanted to create an awesome project. Overall the children were extremely engaged and pretty happy.

Week 10

I learned the technology can be used with younger students to teach them concepts. I noticed that the teachers had to give the children instruction on how to use the technology to complete assignments. The kids worked with the teacher a whole lot of the time. The teacher really interacted with the students while they were using the technology. The technology used was very simple. I loved how the teacher used cameras as a way for the children to use technology outside the classroom. This was a simple way to involve technology in the lesson. The children got really familiar with technology in all of the lessons. The teachers had two objectives. They taught the lesson and they taught the technology that went along with that lesson. The children seemed to really enjoy using the computers to finish the assignments. Parents were also involved through the use of technology. They saw the technological products of the children.

Week 9 -Technology Inventory

The classroom I went to belonged to a first grade teacher. She has many technology resources in the classroom. The most exciting of those technologies is the Promethean Board. This is an interactive white board that connects to computer. The Promethean Board allows children to manipulate the computer screen using a stylist on the board. It is pretty much awesome. This model that the teacher uses includes speakers for the children to listen to music with. Also this teacher uses a lap top for attendance and she has a TV in the classroom as well. She does have a tape player in the classroom to listen to music with.

Because this teacher has a Promethean Board she no longer has computers in the class. She used to have about six computers in the classroom that she would have the children use during center time. The teacher wishes to have these computers back in the classroom because she could then connect what she does on the Promethean Board to activities done on the individual computers. However, the school does have portable labs that she can use.

The teacher uses the technology to get ideas for phonics teaching. She uses the Promethean Board to help the kids learn how to create words using different sounds and for reading stories. She also uses the Promethean Board with the daily routines like weather reports, calendar activities, and simple math drills. The day I visited the teacher was using a program on the Promethean Board that taught about money. With the Promethean Board the teacher has so many programs to teach about so many different things.

I decided to find out what other technologies where available to this teacher so I talked to the technology expert in the school. I find out that the school has three computer labs, two for language and one for math. They also have three portable labs for the teachers to use. The special education early childhood classroom is equipped with a computer for every two students. With the computer labs both the language and the math labs use programs that allow the children to work at their own level and pace. The programs will help a child learn skills in their weak areas as wells as pushing them in their strong areas. For the computer labs, students are taken out by level to work with computers. Higher readers go into the computer labs first. This school wants to have Promethean Boards in every classroom by next year.

I completed my midcourse evaluation and my informed consent form.

Week 8

I watched Andrea's, Heather's, and Katie's voicethreads

The benefits of using the science activity is that it is easy and fast. The children will have a riot using the computers. The activity also shows how scientists can predict future movements of the moon. This will help teach a concept of science. The other nice thing about the activity is that the moon can be see very close. The children will be able to see the craters and texture on the moon's surface.

The drawbacks to using the science activity is that there is something very special about going outside to gaze at stars. Computer generated stars, moons, and planets do not have the some beauty and effect of the real life objects. This could be solved by having a star gazing night in combination with the computer activity. Although drawback is I would have to have a whole lot of computers at my disposal to complete the activity. I would need to schedule the school computer lab and have stellarium downloaded on all the computers.

Week Seven

Content

Third Grade Science Standard 1,Objective 2, b. Use a chart to show that the moon orbits Earth approximately every 28 days

For this science activity the students will be looking at Stellarium to chart the moon's position for day one, day 4, day 8, day 12, day 16, day 20, day 24, and day 28 of the moon cycle. At each day the children will write on a document (created in Kidsperation) about what the moon looks like and where the moon is in the sky. At the end of the activity the entire class will make a chart on the moon's positions and looks through the 28 day cycle.

The teacher will begin class by explaining how to use Stellarium. Using a computer, the teacher will show the kids how to use the date tool on stellarium to skip over dates to be able to look at the first, fourth, eighth day, etc. of the moon cycle. She will also show them how to use the chart to make observations. During the activity the teacher will go around talking to the students about what they see. When the activity is over the teacher will gather the class together to make a class chart based on the moon cycle observations of the students.

Pedagogy

The science strategy I decided to use was observation. This strategy seemed to fit perfectly with the moon because is an easy object to observe in science. It appears nearly every night and children can easily see the differences in the position and shape of the moon. This activity also involves data collection as the children write down their observations about the moon. This data will then be used by the class to create a scientific moon cycle chart. Data analysis is another activity type that will be used to create the moon chart.

Technology

Stellarium is used in the activity because it allows the children to see the moon in the sky without having to come to school every night to look. The kids can zoom towards the days required to look at in one day to see how the moon cycles around the earth. Kidsperation was used because it had a nice observation chart that the kids can record observatons about the moon in.

The content is represented well through the use of Stellarium. Stellarium shows the children what the moon really looks like during any time from earth. Because of that Stellarium shows the position of the moon and its phases during the 28 day cycle. This technology will help the students because it provides real life photographs of the moon and the sky and it is very interactive. The children get to explore the concepts about the moon themselves. This will help the content sink deep into their brains.

Week 6

I watch Heather Musser's, Andrea Barlow's, and Katie's Google Tours.
The ups of using Google Earth is that it is very interactive. It provides visual pictures of places around the world that children will probably never see. This helps the kids connect to others across the world. Google Earth also has applications for looking at the moon and at the stars that would be very helpful in showing the kids about the universe when they can't go outside and look at a telescope. The downs of Google Earth is that the school needs to have it installed on the computers. Younger children may not be able to use Google Earth as well as older children. Google Earth also doesn't show the globe in past centuries which makes historic connections more difficult.

The Journey of Columbus

Content for Google Earth

Fifth Grade Social Studies, Standard 1, Objective 1, c. Identify explorers who came to the Americas and the nations they represented.

I chose to do a virtual tour on this topic because Google Earth can easily provide a picture of where explorers can from and where those explorers went. Google Earth also provides a look at the different landmarks that the explorers saw. In a way Google Earth lets the children see what the explorers saw when they were sailing. By having the students go to different stops on Columbus's journey they will be able to see the scope of what Columbus had to sail. Google Earth also provides a visual representation of the Americas and India to show how Columbus might be confused about his location. Basically Google Earth gives students a visual representation of what Columbus went through.

Google Earth Table

	Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
	1. Palos, Spain	Compare the sizes of Columbus's three ships: Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria docked at port. Read the descriptions of the ships. Write a paragraph on which ship you think Columbus sailed on and why?	Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/PUERTOdePalos.jpg Information: http://www.evgschool.org/Columbus%27s%20Sailing%20Ships.htm Use google earth to create ships of relative sizes to help children compare. Also provide painting of the three ships.
	2. Canary Islands	Look at the the coastal cities in the Canary Islands. Describe what how you believe the Canary Islands looked when Columbus sailed. Did they look the same?	Picture: http://chriscolumbus123.blogspot.com/2009/04/canary-islands.html Use google earth tools to see the the modern day cities in the Canary Islands.
	3. Bahamas	Measure the distance between the Canary Islands and the Bahamas. If the ships travel 9 miles per hour, how long will would it take for Columbus to get to the Bahamas from the Canary Islands.	Picture: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~coacdar/member_page/american_history_essay_contest.html Google earth ruler to measure distances.
	4. Hispaniola	Compare the physical attributes of Hispaniola to India. Why do you think Columbus thought that he had reached India instead of the Americas?	Picture of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic): http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/photos/photo_dominicanrepublic_dominicanrepublic.html Picture of India: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/photos/photo_dominicanrepublic_dominicanrepublic.html Use google earth to look at the different landscapes of the two places.

Fifth Grade Social Studies, Standard 1, Objective 1, c. Identify explorers who came to the Americas and the nations they represented.

The Hardest Thing about Implementing a Digital Storybook

Overall the process of creating a digital storyboard was extremely simple. I was surprised at how easy it was. I think the hardest part of implementing a digital storybook in the classroom is finding the time and technology to actually do it. Being in early childhood education, I would probably create the storybooks for my classroom and show them to the children. This would be easy to implement because I would just need a computer to show the video. However, if I end up teaching third grade I would help my students create the digital storybooks. In this case, I would have to find time in the school day to let my kids work on their storybooks. I would also need to find ways to show the class all the videos. I do not think this challenge would be too difficult to overcome.

The Road Not Taken

More on my storyboard

Here is the description of the content: UEN Thrid grade Standard 8, Objective 6, b.Produce traditional and imaginative stories, narrative and formula poetry.
By using "A Road Not Taken" in the digitial storyboard, I will show the thrid graders how the poem Robert Frost wrote is a narrative form of poetry. The pictures used will better illustrate this and the music will create a dramatic element akin to narrative plots. After showing this storybook, hopefully the children will be able to see how poems can create pictures to tell stories.

Here is my storyboard for my digital storybook. I am planning to use Robert Frost's poem, A Road Not Taken, to teach about poetry in my storybook. I think that digital storybook will make the poem come to life because the images and words help the students visualize poetry. The students will get a change to feel the poem more than if we were just reading it in class. The visuals and the background music will give the poem more emotional strength to English students in high school or junior high were poetry is not cool.

Week Three- What I Learned about TPACK

TPACK is the idea that teachers should use pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, and technological knowledge in the classroom to create a better learning environment. In order to provide good instruction in the technological based classroom technological knowledge must be grouped with content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge or learning will be difficult. An example of TPACK would be when a teacher uses digital microscopes to teach children about insect parts because the teacher believes in hands on activities. It is important for teachers to have TPACK because it provides rich lesson plans where content and technology are used to teach children. It provides a more enriched learning platform where the teacher's pedagogical knowledge can be better used.

Skype Screen

Week 2- What I Learned

I learned a whole lot of ways to use the Internet to support a unit in the classroom. The wiki I created can house a multitude of online resources for students to use and learn from. The most useful thing I learned was how to connect websites and Internet resources to the curriculum. Many places online have excellent educational applications that can be connected to the class wiki. Students will then be able to use a variety of ways to learn and discover new information. Not every lesson needs to be lectured on in class.

My Technology Experience

I have spent most of my life using computers for homework assignments. I can use the word processors on computers and play computer games. I can also use the internet for research. I am not strong at blogging or using websites like facebook. I am more experienced at using PCs than I am at using Macs.