I created this crossword using Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet program. Through the slightly cumbersome process of creating this crossword on waves, I developed a familiarity with applications in excel such as filling in rows and columns with text or the orange/black pattern that I used. I also added a code to my crossword puzzle that can only really be viewed in Excel that changes the first letter to red if it is incorrect or blue if it is correct. As a teacher, I will be able to incorporate science crosswords as a fun assignment for students who complete their work early.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Newsletter: NETS 1,2 and 3
newsletterjk
In this assignment I created an introductionary newsletter about my fictional Biology classroom that is designed to inform parents or caretakers about me, my course and the high expectations that I have for my students. The newsletter was created in Microsoft Word and in the process of designing it, I learned about different formatting tools such as creating an invisible table that I used at the top of the newsletter and invisible columns that I used in the body of the newsletter. I also used drop caps, custom bullet points, line art and imported clip art from the internet. Upon completion of the newsletter I used Scribed, an online embedding to tool to embed it into my my blog. Enjoy!
In this assignment I created an introductionary newsletter about my fictional Biology classroom that is designed to inform parents or caretakers about me, my course and the high expectations that I have for my students. The newsletter was created in Microsoft Word and in the process of designing it, I learned about different formatting tools such as creating an invisible table that I used at the top of the newsletter and invisible columns that I used in the body of the newsletter. I also used drop caps, custom bullet points, line art and imported clip art from the internet. Upon completion of the newsletter I used Scribed, an online embedding to tool to embed it into my my blog. Enjoy!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Social Bookmarking: NETS 1,2,3 and 5
After opening up a Delicious account at Deliciouis.com, we were asked to research several websites and "tag" them with keywords on our page. A tag is a bookmark that anyone can use from any computer. Delicous is a social bookmarking website that promotes collaboration as other people who have the same interests as me can see what sites I find to be important or resourcefull. I will use this website in the future when I'm conducting research as it makes surfing the internet easier since other people have most likely already searched out and tagged whatever it is that I'm looking for. My tag roll is embeded in the column of this webpage. Everyword in my tag roll is bookmarked and the larger words are the words that I tagged more frequently.
Using primary sources like this one in the classroom provide students with real world historical artifacts. By using posters, students that prefer to look at pictures rather than read out of a book can relate to the historical significance of WWII propaganda. As effective teachers, it is imperative that we continuously question the curriculum that that we are required to teach. Primary sources are a great way to integrate information into the classroom that is important for students to learn but may not be featured in the textbooks.
2. There are many groups that are over represented by the
To help myself in becoming a more culturally competent individual, I would start by conducting a self-assessment of my own pedagogy. As an effective teacher, I will always be reflecting on what techniques work and which ones don't and consequently making adjustments to my teaching style so that my classroom will encourage the participation of all students in an inclusive manner. In order to teach effectively one must also have a knowledge base about the local community so that the teacher can teach key points and concepts to the students that the students are able to relate to in their daily lives. Without a substantial knowledge of the community, a teacher’s ability to make connections between the course content and the students is limited. Students will automatically pick up on how involved their teachers are in their community and will reward their teacher with respect and attention during class. The third strategy that I will use to reach all of the students in my class will be the use of a culturally relevant curriculum and a delivery of this curriculum. It is important to integrate resources by a wide plethora of individuals from all walks of life. It is also appropriate to discuss multiple perspectives on issues of controversy or historical events. Hopefully by varying my pedagogy and utilizing culturally relevant resources, all of my students will develop an affinity for education.
3. I scored an eight on the cyber bully test. I'm a bit cyber risky according to the grading key but everyone makes a few mistakes. Right? My two worst cyber crimes that I have committed numerous times were teasing someone over Instant Messenger and insulting someone in an interactive game room. I have a few friends that I like to kid around with over instant messenger. It goes both ways and is totally benign. The interactive game room insulting however is different. I loathe World of Warcraft players that are so wrapped up in their virtual world that they forget about enjoying life outside of their computer room. I have insulted them and I will not apologize. Really people, get a life and some real friends because your guild of dwarves and elves doesn't count.
One interesting article that I read on the educator link was about Teenangels. Never heard of them? I hadn't either. They are basically a group of adolescent students between the ages of 13 and 18 that design and present offline presentations on all aspects safe internet surfing. They offer presentations to parents, teachers, children and even other teens. The FBI and FTC are just a few of the governmental agencies that participate in their training. As computer savvy teens they are up to date on what cyber crimes their peers are committing online and they report their findings to governmental regulatory organizations so that these agencies may better protect citizens from cyber crimes. The program is great in that it empowers youth to teach other youth about safe internet surfing. They have even been used to expose and detain sexual predators.
Under the Teacher's Helper section I clicked on bulletin boards as I'm not the most creative person and I want my classroom environment to be fun and stimulate the student's inquisitive nature. I clicked on "A galaxy of Stars" and was shown a great idea for putting my students’ names on the wall in the room. The stars are designed to be stars in the galaxy and every star has a students name on it. Get it. Stars... :) It is a way to provide the students with ownership for their classroom as well as a segway into studying astronomy.
5. I watched the video that was titled, "Multiple Intelligences Thrive in Smartville". It was about an elementary school in the
6. Air Quality: An Indicator of a Families Income?
Students are not often interested in math and graphing as it doesn't relate to any sort of real world scenario that might stimulate their curiosity. However, in this math lesson for seventh or eighth graders, students will learn about air quality and how it varies depending on where you live just as income level also dictates where you live. Therefore income level, racial segregation of intercity areas and air quality can all be related to one another. Research on the temperature and air quality of various cities in both rural and urban areas will be collected prior to the lesson and then analyzed by the students in class. In this lesson they will learn the mean, median and mode as well as bar graphs, stem and leaf plots and variable data relationships i.e. air quality and average family incomes. By working in pairs, all of the students will be included in the project and students will also get to develop their interpersonal skills. At the end of this six period lesson, students will present their findings to the class and reflect on any inequalities that they have discovered.
7. I was completely appalled by the inequities in our society after taking this quiz. The statistics about the unequal distribution of wealth in this country and the world in general stood out to me. The three richest people in the world have as much money as the 48 poorest countries in the world. An average CEO makes as much as I make in a year in one day. What?!!! Yet I work my fingers to the bone and live hand to mouth while rich CEO's are probably hardly working at all. In the bigger picture, whole countries are struggling to find one meal in a day while crime rates and disease which are both directly related to poverty are only growing exponentially. The ambiguous solution to these complicated problems lies in education and if the rich elite weren't so greedy, they could help one of the poorest 48 countries. Haiti
I was also surprised that the penalties are drastically more severe for possession of crack cocaine than they are for powdered cocaine. These are essentially the same drug except one is a known as a poor black mans drug while the other is most likely in the pocket of the above mentioned CEO. Knowledge of a flawed system brings on feelings of outrage. With knowledge of these inequities in our world, it is our responsibility to fight for change and implement action. While there is no clear road to reforming society, just passively looking onward certainly won't help change our flawed institutions. As educators, we can help by voicing our opinions to see that something is done to improve injustices where we find them.
I was also surprised that the penalties are drastically more severe for possession of crack cocaine than they are for powdered cocaine. These are essentially the same drug except one is a known as a poor black mans drug while the other is most likely in the pocket of the above mentioned CEO. Knowledge of a flawed system brings on feelings of outrage. With knowledge of these inequities in our world, it is our responsibility to fight for change and implement action. While there is no clear road to reforming society, just passively looking onward certainly won't help change our flawed institutions. As educators, we can help by voicing our opinions to see that something is done to improve injustices where we find them.
8. I scored a nine on the quiz. d:-D I believe that it is quite important that we teach our students about netiquette because if we don't then they will become as oblivious to the proper way to behave online as they probabally already are to cell phone ettiqute, table manners and chivalry.:-r There seems to be a direct correlation between traditional corporal punishment parenting techniques loosing popularity and children never learning proper etiquette, whether it be online or at the table. As the etiquette among today's youth is becoming ever more obscure it is important that as educators we teach manners where we can, even if it is just in an online world. +:-)
Friday, February 12, 2010
Journal #3 Keeping the Peace
Levinson, M. (2010). Keeping the peace. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(5), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25237&DirectListComboInd=D
Abstract: Nueva school district in Hillsborough CA introduced students at a middle school to a personal laptop program. All of the students were allocated their own personal laptops that they were to use for specific assignments. The students were allowed to take the laptops home and use them there as well. As middle school students love to gossip and talk with their friends and these computers all came with the instant messenger program iChat, students quickly abused their privilege by constantly chatting with each other both at school and home. This disrupted school lessons and enabled the students to indulge in a technology at home that some parents were opposed to. Parents didn’t hesitate to tell the schools exactly how they felt. While some parents were outraged and strictly forbid their children from using iChat at home, others advocated for this new technology as it was a way to abolish student “cliques” and promote freedom of speech. The middle school was overwhelmed with parent complaints as well as praises and was forced to remove iChat from the computers. The students still use the computers, but now before the incoming sixth graders receive their now laptops, parents and students alike receive training by Common Sense Media on how to properly use these instruments of education in a constructive manner.
Questions:
1. How could students owning personal laptops advance education?
By providing full computer access to all of the children in the school at any time, the students are bound to become extremely computer savvy. All students of this middle school are most likely competent in programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Power point and possibly even programming. This exposure to computers at such a young age will most likely encourage students to pursue a computer based career as many of them will develop a passion for electronics early on. Whether or not this is the career choice that they decide is right for them, computer literacy is necessary for almost every job in today’s society.
2. What are your personal thoughts/reflections on the students having access to
instant messenger programs such as iChat?
I don’t believe that students should have access to iChat. It is unnecessary for students to be able to communicate with each other during class. Instead they should be focused on the lesson that the facilitator is teaching. It would be difficult to determine which students were typing notes and which were chatting with their friends during a lecture. Therefore I believe that this distraction would lessen the quality of education that the students receive. I do believe that computer literacy as well as ethical computer usage training at a young age is important. However, I think that irrelevant school programs such as iChat or iTunes should be denied to students on school computers. If the student’s parents decide to let their children use these programs on their personal home computers, then that is their own prerogative.
Abstract: Nueva school district in Hillsborough CA introduced students at a middle school to a personal laptop program. All of the students were allocated their own personal laptops that they were to use for specific assignments. The students were allowed to take the laptops home and use them there as well. As middle school students love to gossip and talk with their friends and these computers all came with the instant messenger program iChat, students quickly abused their privilege by constantly chatting with each other both at school and home. This disrupted school lessons and enabled the students to indulge in a technology at home that some parents were opposed to. Parents didn’t hesitate to tell the schools exactly how they felt. While some parents were outraged and strictly forbid their children from using iChat at home, others advocated for this new technology as it was a way to abolish student “cliques” and promote freedom of speech. The middle school was overwhelmed with parent complaints as well as praises and was forced to remove iChat from the computers. The students still use the computers, but now before the incoming sixth graders receive their now laptops, parents and students alike receive training by Common Sense Media on how to properly use these instruments of education in a constructive manner.
Questions:
1. How could students owning personal laptops advance education?
By providing full computer access to all of the children in the school at any time, the students are bound to become extremely computer savvy. All students of this middle school are most likely competent in programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Power point and possibly even programming. This exposure to computers at such a young age will most likely encourage students to pursue a computer based career as many of them will develop a passion for electronics early on. Whether or not this is the career choice that they decide is right for them, computer literacy is necessary for almost every job in today’s society.
2. What are your personal thoughts/reflections on the students having access to
instant messenger programs such as iChat?
I don’t believe that students should have access to iChat. It is unnecessary for students to be able to communicate with each other during class. Instead they should be focused on the lesson that the facilitator is teaching. It would be difficult to determine which students were typing notes and which were chatting with their friends during a lecture. Therefore I believe that this distraction would lessen the quality of education that the students receive. I do believe that computer literacy as well as ethical computer usage training at a young age is important. However, I think that irrelevant school programs such as iChat or iTunes should be denied to students on school computers. If the student’s parents decide to let their children use these programs on their personal home computers, then that is their own prerogative.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Journal #2: Using Podcasts to Develop a Global Perspective
Maguth, B. M., & Elliot, J. (2010). Using Podcasts to develop a global perspective. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(5), Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201002#pg1
Abstract: Teachers at a science, technology, enginerring and math high school have integrated pod-casting into their curriculum. From what I gathered from the article, creating a pod-cast involves uploading personal files onto the internet. These files can then be downloaded onto a PC or a mobile device by anyone who knows the url where the files are being stored. Introducing students to pod-casting not only makes the students more computer savvy as they are becoming competent with a new computer technology, but it also enables students to reach a larger audience than just the classroom as they are able to project their work over the internet. One potential benefit that may come from pod-casting in the classroom is that students will most likely want submit their best work as parents, teachers and their peers will have access to the work that they post online.
How can this technology promote multicultural education in the classroom?
Pod-casting is a wonderful way to promote multicultural education in the classroom. The students in the above mentioned article were assigned a project in which they were all required to research different people's views on the topic of global warming. The teacher assigned the students to research different individuals that have vastly contrasting environmental agendas. By role playing a debate from the perspectives of affluent individuals in the world, the students gained a well rounded perspective of the many issues surrounding global warming. Students then submitted their work online via pod-casting. This same education lesson could be used with almost any subject matter such as the history of the caste system and classism.
Is pod-casting a feasible educational method at all public high schools?
In the beginning of the article the author mentioned that the students were attending a science, technology, engineering and math high school. Only technologically inclined students would attend such a school and this makes me wonder how well pod-casting would fare in a regular public high school. Basic computer web browsing skills and access to to computers would be a necessary skill base for the students to have in order for this lesson to work. In the near future, as more emphasis in computer education is integrated into primary schooling, all students that have attended a California public school from K-8 will most likely have the skills to carry out such an assignment. However, I don't think that all high school students in our current educational system have the skills and resources to pod-cast.
Abstract: Teachers at a science, technology, enginerring and math high school have integrated pod-casting into their curriculum. From what I gathered from the article, creating a pod-cast involves uploading personal files onto the internet. These files can then be downloaded onto a PC or a mobile device by anyone who knows the url where the files are being stored. Introducing students to pod-casting not only makes the students more computer savvy as they are becoming competent with a new computer technology, but it also enables students to reach a larger audience than just the classroom as they are able to project their work over the internet. One potential benefit that may come from pod-casting in the classroom is that students will most likely want submit their best work as parents, teachers and their peers will have access to the work that they post online.
How can this technology promote multicultural education in the classroom?
Pod-casting is a wonderful way to promote multicultural education in the classroom. The students in the above mentioned article were assigned a project in which they were all required to research different people's views on the topic of global warming. The teacher assigned the students to research different individuals that have vastly contrasting environmental agendas. By role playing a debate from the perspectives of affluent individuals in the world, the students gained a well rounded perspective of the many issues surrounding global warming. Students then submitted their work online via pod-casting. This same education lesson could be used with almost any subject matter such as the history of the caste system and classism.
Is pod-casting a feasible educational method at all public high schools?
In the beginning of the article the author mentioned that the students were attending a science, technology, engineering and math high school. Only technologically inclined students would attend such a school and this makes me wonder how well pod-casting would fare in a regular public high school. Basic computer web browsing skills and access to to computers would be a necessary skill base for the students to have in order for this lesson to work. In the near future, as more emphasis in computer education is integrated into primary schooling, all students that have attended a California public school from K-8 will most likely have the skills to carry out such an assignment. However, I don't think that all high school students in our current educational system have the skills and resources to pod-cast.
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