Week 14 PLE

I completed #s 2-4 for this week's PLE.

Internet Safety Assignment

For my article of choice, I chose to read Elder Bednar's talk called "Things as They Really Are". I heard this talk when he gave it as a CES Fireside, but I wanted to read it again to refresh my memory. We really do live in a technological world and with that comes immense benefits as well as many many avenues that will only lead to places of harm. Because of that, we need to follow the spirit and know the ways to be safe on the internet.
I watched several videos, and they were all beneficial learning tools for me. I first watched a video called "Cyberbullying: Feathers in the Wind. It made a connection between gossip and feathers in the wind. Once we spread gossip, it is hard to take back what we said, just as it is hard to collect feathers in the wind. I saw another video on Cyberbullying, and it was about a website that was created that rated girls' looks. I saw a video called "Julie's Journey". This video told the story of a 13-year old girl who started talking to a man named Tom online - he ended up being a convicted murderer. I also watched a video called "Amy's Choice". In this video Amy didn't feel that she had anyone to talk to, but she met up with someone online and ran away with him. She was eventually found, he was caught and now serves in prison. I saw the video from the BYU animation department called "Faux Paw the Techno Cat." I also watched three videos called "Child Predator Fear", "Katie's Story", and "Trying on New Identities".
This activity was extremely beneficial to me, because I learned so much about how dangerous the internet really can be. We live in a world where children and teenagers really do own the internet, and many of their lives revolve around the internet. If we don't know how we can safegaurd them, the web really can be a dangerous place. I feel that I gained knowledge of how I could protect my children and students from scary places on the internet.
The person that I talked to was familiar with technology and the benefits and dangers that come along with it, but as I shared some of the articles that I read and watched, he was surprised at how many teens really do get caught up in compromising circumstances. He was surprised at how many teens agree to meet up with strangers, even when they sometimes know how much older the stranger is than them. This person surprised me when he said that teens wouldn't find themselves in dangerous circumstances if they were able to follow their instincts when chatting with others online. I think that this person will be more aware of the dangers that can be found online, and he has agreed to be more aware of what his children are doing everytime they are on the web.

TPACK Report

TPACK Lesson Plans

Science Technology Lesson
Math Technology Lesson
Language Arts Lesson Plan

Video Response

This video made me extremely motivated to incorporate technology in my classroom for many different reasons. I loved the technology used in learning about spiders, and I discovered that students really can use technology at such an early age. I loved that the students were using technology as a way to collaborate with students from a class in a different state! This was a useful integration of technology because students were able to learn about spiders in a different place than they lived, and they were also able to use technology that will be extremely useful to them throughout their lives, such as the internet and email. It would also be extremely fun for students to take their own pictures of spiders and share them with their classmates.
I also loved the technology that was incorporated into the kindergarten classroom. I was pleasantly surprised to see that even kindergartners can grasp technology and successfully use it. I liked that each classmate helped to create a slideshow. I think it would be very fulfilling for students to take part in a story and then to see the final product as a class. It was interesting for me to discover that many students can come into a class with no computer skills and develop into being able to draw on a computer the way they draw on paper! Students would definitely be actively involved in this type of activity!
In the final video, I liked that the teacher taught the students to use the technology themselves and wouldn’t do it for them. This is beneficial for students, because we live in a day in age where computer skills are absolutely necessary. To get a grasp on simple technologies is beneficial for students at even the youngest of ages!

Initial Observations of Technology

Since I have been at Southland Elementary, I haven't seen any technology integrated into the classroom. It doesn't seem that the students have access to much technology in the classroom or even in the school. The school is equipped with a computer lab, but I haven't seen much use of that since I have been at the school. The teacher I am observing has a personal laptop that she uses to take attendance and keep track of grades, but there isn't much technology that is being used with the students. The school has a computer lab that the students have access to as a class if it is needed in addition to their regular class time, but I haven't seen my teacher take advantage of that. Overall, I haven't seen any uses of technology in classroom instruction.

I have completed the Classroom Technology Inventory, the Midcourse Evaluation, and the Consent Form.

Video Threads I Viewed and Commented On:

I viewed and commented on:
1) Kim Brown
2) Lauren MacDonald
3) Natalee Biggs

What I learned about Technology through the Science Activity

The last couple of weeks I learned about different types of Technology that could be really useful in an Elementary classroom. I liked the microscope and it would be exciting for children to look at the details of Fall leaves as well as other things under a microscope. I enjoyed Kidsperation, and I found many useful activities with that program that could be integrated in a school classroom. I also really enjoyed working with the program, because it is a fun, useful way to show temperature changes on a graph.

Science Activity

My Science Activity

Science - Grade 3
Objective 3 - Demonstrate that heat may be produced when objects are rubbed against one another.
A. Identify several examples of how rubbing one object against another produces
heat.

For my activity, I will be using the probe to determine the temperatures that result from rubbing different objects together. I will obtain the results of rubbing hands together, rubbing hands together longer and quicker, putting lotion on hands, and covering hands with water and logging the results and differences of each.

The Content I will be focusing on is listed above in the core standard I have chosen. The pedagogy I will be focusing on during this activity is observation, prediction, and aquiring and analyzing data. This is a good fit for the content I am addressing, because the children will gain more knowledge when they are actually able to participate in the experiment and gather results to find an outcome. The technology I will be using is a probe, because it is a useful tool when looking at temperatures, and it is a fun way for students to actively participate in the activity.

Virtual Tours I Visited

I viewed and commented on the following Classmates' Virtual Tours:
1) Markie Franc
2) Alyssa Hipps (I viewed hers, but I wasn't able to comment on her page)
3) Natalee Biggs
4) Lauren MacDonald

Upsides and Downsides of the Virtual Tour

The upsides of implementing a virtual tour in an Elementary Education classroom is that it is a very visual way for students to learn the content area we want to teach. I think it would be fun for students to engage in an activity like this, because it's exciting and different than the average class lecture. It's like a virtual field trip! The downside of something like this is that it can be very time consuming.

My Cultural Tour

Google Earth Tour

Here is the final tour that I uploaded to my wiki: Audrey's Cultural Tours

Standard and Objective for my Google Earth Tour

Social Studies - Third grade

STANDARD 2 - Students will understand cultural factors that shape a community.
OBJECTIVE 1 - Evaluate key factors that determine how a community develops.
b. Describe how music and artistic creations (dance) serve as expressions of culture.

I chose to do a virtual tour on this topic, because I have always been interested in different cultures, especially the music and dance that serve as expressions of those cultures. I also feel that this is something that is intriguing to children, and students of varying grades can find this topic interesting.

A Google Earth tour would be an extremely beneficial tool for this content area, because the students can actually "travel" to the cultural places and learn in a very hands-on, visual way.

World Tour of Music and Dance

Location	Activity Description	Google Earth Content
1.Gallup, New Mexico	Look at picture of Native American powwow dancing. Talk about Different styles of Native American dance and music	Image of Native Powwow dancer.
2.Brazil	Talk about Capoeira and how it is a cultural dance of Brazil. Look at the picture of Capoeira. Maybe a video also?	Image of Capoeira dancer.
3.Tahiti	Talk about the music and dance of Tahiti and other Polynesian islands.	Image of dance of Tahiti.
4. China	Talk about the culture of China, specifically the music and dance found there. Look at image of the Chinese Fan Dance	Image of Chinese Fan Dance

Videos I viewed and commented on

I watched the videos of:
Natalee Biggs
Kim Brown
Markie Franc
Beth Peach
Ashlee Devereaux
Chelsea Nay

Difficulty with implementing a digital story in the Elementary classroom

I was actually surprised at how easy it was to create a digital story using Photo Story. It was really fun to find a poem, take pictures, and to compile a whole story with music and voice. I can imagine how fun it will be for students to make their own story or to view their peers, and what a useful tool for teaching poetry in the classroom.
I think the main difficulty with Photo Story for students will be remembering to save the story appropriately. It might be difficult for students to save the story both as a project and a video, so the potential for losing projects is greater.

My Photo Story

My Photo Story

TPACK

TPACK is a way of thinking about how you can use technology in your classroom. TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical And Content Knowledge. Technological knowledge is the knowledge we need as teachers to understand and use different forms of technology. Pedagogical knowledge refers to knowledge and skills related to teaching. Content knowledge is the knowledge we have about a particular subject.
It is necessary for teachers to have knowledge about these things, because it makes us more well-rounded teachers. We obviously need to have an understanding of the content we will teach our students, but it is just as important to know how to best teach that content. Also, since we live in a technological world, we need to understand technology so we can successfully integrate uses of technology into our lesson plans.

Asynchronous Video

Synchronous chat with Jeremy Noya

Internet Commpunications Project

I have learned SO much through this assignment, and much of the creation of the website was new to me. I feel that it is very useful to know how to create a website and calendar because that is something I feel I will need to know how to do as a teacher. It is also useful to know how to embed videos or pictures, because that is something that can be used in every day life. I hope to remember how to utilize these skills so I can use them in my future.

Initial Technology Background

My name is Audrey. I'm not gonna lie, I'm terrified to take this class. Technology scares me sometimes. I am motivated to learn as much as I can though to be the best teacher I can! I don't have very much technology experience but I do feel that the TSA tests prepared me technologically. I am excited to learn about technology!