Reflection

What is one way in which you grew as an educator from this class and how will you continue it?

One way I grew as an educator would be in using technology to make my life, of keeping parents informed, easier. In the Fall I will have a flyer for them to go to my website to keep updated instead of emailing me 400 times a day. I sometimes really find this annoying especially when I send a newsletter home each week with the information.  I also found some really cool apps to add to my centers. Apps that my students love and will keep them interested in learning. I found ways to really integrate technology in my classroom and that is what I really wanted from this class.

Free Day

Given a free day... How are you using it.?.. Ive been garage saling and now in hour two at the gym. Enjoy the sunshine.

I used my day to finish stuff and run errands. I also took a nap because I am exhausted! :) Thank you for the free day!

ISTE for Students in Social Networking

All of the standards on the ISTE page all work together. Parents just need to be aware of what children are looking at. Schools already have these websites blocked so it should not be as big of a problem there. Parents also need to create and lock privacy settings so that their children do not accidentally go to a sketchy website. Children can type in something as simple as the white house when doing research and if they use .com or .org wrong they get a compromising website. Children use creativity and innovation with social networking in many ways. A lot of classes have students create original works as a means of personal or group expression. Sometimes they use it to collaborate and learn about projects they are doing in class. They can use a program like the wiki and create a group project where they can all add their content to it. They can also talk to each other or message each other using facebook. Not only are they creating original works of expressions, but they are also contributing to project teams to produce original works to solve problems.

Students do need to learn and understand technology systems, if not by their parents then at school so that they understand the risks that go with using the technology. That way they can use the technology in a safe, legal, and responsible way. When students understand the risks they can exhibit a positive attitude toward using the technology. I believe that most of the time if they are equipped with the knowledge they will be able to try and protect themselves from compromising websites and predators.

Reflection

Did you learn about your teaching style in the OR project? - Discuss your teaching strengths and weaknesses from this on blog.

I learned that I try to have my students do too much when learning a new center. I need to slowly introduce the apps, let them play with them, then have them start using them for assessments. I also learned how much this generation likes and learns with technology. I love technology, but I mainly use it for convenience or fun. My students and that whole generation use technology to learn EVERYTHING. From playing games to learn how to read to math. If it's not an app they don't know much about it. My students even wanted me to write down the apps so that their rents could download them for them to use.
A strength for me I feel like is that I am good at finding games/centers that are fun. My students loved these apps. They were engaged the entire time and never bored.