California Learning Resource Network (CLRN)

This website is awesome; there is so much useful information in one area!

I did searches for 3rd grade science, since I would like to teach 3rd grade and absolutely love science lessons for that age range, the projects and lessons are SO MUCH FUN for that age range. I found some really great videos and websites to show during a lesson to really get kids involved.

I also like that you can search by standards, even though it is for California it is definitely useful information to have on hand.

Lesson Plans

I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous when doing this week’s lesson plan assignment mainly because I’ve never done one before. I wasn’t sure what exactly needed to be in a lesson plan and how you can tell how long it will take to complete.

I did a lot of research on line to check out other lesson plans similar to what I wanted to do so I can get a frame of how long it should take to complete and what type of assessments would work best, etc.

I ended up finding some cute ideas for projects to do with students, for this lesson and for others. There are so many great resources out there for teachers along with sites where you can post questions and other teachers can give you ideas on what worked/did not work for them.

I think having lesson plans is a great way to have structure in your class so you know exactly what will be happening on a daily basis. I’m sure you won’t always be able to stick to the plan and will make modifications as the weeks or even as the day itself passes because you will never know what exactly will happen in class that day (what discussions may start, etc), but it is a great way to keep things moving along smoothly.

Social Networking

The video on social networking brought up a few good points one of them being that people can and will judge you based on your profiles.

A great example of this is that a friend of mine works in HR and had a round of internship resumes come in for the summer internship at her company and for a good majority of them she also looked up profiles on MySpace and facebook and found some pictures that did not represent the student in the best of lights. Because of these incriminating photos those students did not get picked for the 1st round of interviews.

Social networking is not all bad though, it’s a great way to meet others to build and maintain relationships whether it’s strictly work related or personal. I know for myself at least I stay in touch and have reconnected with a good majority of friends through different sites.

Everyone no matter what age should be aware of who they friend; just because they look and seem nice through pictures or words definitely does not mean they are good people. Like the students in the video said don’t friend someone unless you know them.

Cyberbullying

I thought the video on cyberbullying was very cute for kids, I like how they have a 3 word line to help kids remember what to do if they are contacted by a cyberbully – stop block and tell.

This is a sad phenomenon that is happening way to often with kids today and it is not just kids who are harassing other kids; parents are even getting involved which is just disgusting in my eyes.

Anyone can say anything online because there is a screen blocking them, they are not truly facing others; but I bet when face to face with someone they do not like for whatever reason most of the time they will not say anything to them. If they do say something I doubt it will be as harsh as if said online and it would also be taken care of by people in charge much quicker than an online bullying session.

I think parents need to closely monitor what kids do online and punishments should be given if they see misconduct, same goes for parents if they are found harassing or helping their kids harass anyone (including other adults) they should be reprimanded as well.

We need to teach the kids in today’s society that this is completely unacceptable and will not be a simple slap on the hand if this kind of behavior surfaces.

The problem is that so much goes undetected and kids are so gullible and will believe what cyberbullys tell them even though they do now know the true origin of the hurtful words.

For the teachers out there, are there assemblies on cyberbullying to help kids cope with this sort of thing?

Class Web Pages Part III

So I am basically finished with my website and I have to say I definitely liked creating a site to use for a classroom.

The only thing I found challenging (after I figured out how to save my work) was what kind of homework I should give and what books/software I should include for my lists. I think the only reason I had difficulty was because I wasn’t sure exactly what a 3rd grade science class consisted of; but I did research and was able to find material to help answer my questions.

I think having a class website is a great tool in keeping students and parents up to date on school activities, homework and readings. I can only see having a classroom website as something that gets bigger and bigger and more a part of the norm in school settings.

Since our society is becoming more and more dependent on technology I wouldn’t be surprised if in the near future websites will be the main source of getting information to students and their families. No more sending papers home solely relying on the student to inform their parents, especially because a lot of times students either forget or lose the information.

Class Web Pages Part II

Hello Class!!!

Hope everyone had a nice spring break. I did and now I am back on track and working on my class web page.

I was having a little difficulty getting my edits to save and for the life of me could not figure out what to do because there is no save button, not sure if anyone else was having this trouble but I figured out what to do! I had an ah ha moment if you will. After you make edits you have to be sure to press the continue button after you preview your page. I was not pressing the continue button and finally after 4 times of losing my work figured it out.

Hope this helps anyone (if there was anyone else) who was having the same problem.

Resume

I have to say that I never thought about adding my blog to my resume when I start going on interviews.

I’m so happy Professor Luongo brought this point up in class because the market (especially in these crazy times) is so competitive that you need something to help you stand out.

I used to be a recruiter and I can’t tell you how many resumes I would barely look at because they all had the same opening line. It becomes tedious.

I also know quite a few people who had a hard time finding a job in the teaching field after college and now are doing something completely different. It’s scary but a reality.

Web-Based Educational Resources

In this day and age I think web-based educational resources are pretty much essential in classrooms.

Our world is becoming so technology dependent that it is important to incorporate web-based tools into lessons. Whether it’s online videos, interesting websites, or images (you name it it’s somewhere in the internet!).

And then !!! - there are websites that offer lesson plan help (fantastic!) and making worksheets for your classes. I bet teachers who began their career when you had to buy different workbooks and pick and choose which ones would or would not work in your classroom then run off x amount of copies are jumping for joy now that you can go to these sites, search for appropriate material and print them out all while sitting in your sweats having a cup of coffee or ice cream!

Using the web also expands knowledge; you don’t have to just go by what you can afford to spend or what the school provides in their library. You now can take kids to different parts of the world all while sitting in your classroom in New Jersey. It gives students who otherwise would not be able to experience these amazing faraway places a true sense of what the jungle or desert is like.

Class Web Pages!

Last night in class we started to build our web pages which at first I didn’t totally understand how to use the Scholastic web page builder but after using it for a bit I started getting the hang of it. I’m not going to lie, I’m wishing I didn’t know about Teacher Web because the websites you can create are beyond adorable (I’m looking at this from an aspiring elementary school teacher), so much fun to work with and I really want to use that site in the future!

But whichever web page builder is used I think having a class web page is a great addition, not only for students but also for parents. Since you can post most anything ranging from pictures of the class, calendar of events, assignments and announcements it can really help get the parents more involved with their children’s school life and almost give them a sense of being there and experiencing it with them.

I loved the features that help you build book and software lists, maybe it’s because I am not yet teaching but I personally would have had no idea what books or software to recommend for 3rd grade age students (at least off the top of my head).

I think this is going to be a fun project and I hope that when I do become a teacher I am able to create a webpage for my classes - hopefully using Teacher Web ;o)

Kidspiration

So I know I’ve mentioned this on my blog, in papers and when commenting on classmates blogs but I am totally a visual person therefore I’m sure you can already guess that I LOVE Inspiration and Kidsperation. How much fun is this for the classroom! Not your typical writing on the blackboard in white chalk and having teachers try and make it as cool as possible for the kids with something that might be a star (but we’re not really sure). With these sites you can have a bunch of ideas all in an understandable and organized manner with different colors for different topics or themes and also different shapes to organize even more. Fantastic!

I have a question for any current teachers, have you or do you know of any colleagues who this in their classrooms?

Blogging

I have definitely heard of blogging before but really had no idea what it was about, so I didn’t have any feelings on the subject. After getting to know what it is all about and blogging for this class, I like it. I think it’s a great form of expression in this day and age being that people are becoming so technology savvy.

It’s also great because when you are in the classroom or even with friends you may not always get all of your thoughts out or may not think of certain things at that particular time, but you can go home, write down these thoughts and share them with friends, classmates and colleagues.

Blogging for teachers can be helpful in networking with other professionals in the industry and bouncing ideas back and forth. Whether it’s different ways of communicating better with students, new lessons or even problems that might occur in the classroom.

One a little bit of a different note, it is very important for teachers to become just as knowledgeable about technology as their students are because that can be a bonding tool in the classroom.

Facebook and twitter (which was all Good Morning America was talking about this morning) are becoming insanely popular. Students spend hour’s online networking with people in their community and even in other communities across the state, country or even world.

These types of networking sites get a bad rep in the news because of the harassing that could go on but if used properly (which I feel like majority of people do use it for good) it’s a great tool. I loved the section on the website Weblogg-ed that told some great stories of kids networking and how incredibly smart children are these days, it’s was awesome to read! Things like that make me want to really become a teacher.

WebQuests Part III

I just completed the WebQuest assignment and I must say I had some difficulty but I am very happy with the end result and think they can be a good resource in the classroom.

Once I got the hang of what exactly I had to do and figured out how to incorporate the lesson into the WebQuest format I had a lot of fun. I’m a very visual person so I like that you can add graphics and make the font and page different colors and really incorporate a theme into your assignment.

I know some school districts may not be able to accommodate having lessons taught in this format all of the time due to lack in computers but this can be something different to bring into the class every so often to break up the monotony of endless handouts.

WebQuests Part II

I still definitely think WebQuests are a great addition to the classroom but right now I have hit a brick wall.

I know what I want to do, I envision it in my head but am having some problems translating it for the WebQuest.

I know it can be done and will make a fun assignment but right now feel like I'm going in circles.

Dr. Luongo thank you for extending the assignment, it is definitely needed on my end.

WebQuest

I think WebQuests are so much fun!

It's a great way to get kids involved in the learning process and have hands on approach. It's not the same old handing out a piece of paper with instructions on it for a project. You get to go to a website, click around, see images and colors and really have fun with the project.

The tooth fairy WebQuests is such a cute idea for teaching kids about hygiene. That is definitely a subject that can be boring and tough to keep students attention. Having such a fun activity will help keep kids interested and really into learning about dental hygiene.

Another WebQuest I thought was great was one I found on teaching kids about different US landforms, I have posted it below for your reference:

Gingerbread Man Run

Children & Internet Safety

It is so scary that when on the Internet so many things can happen that you wouldn't even know about. Inappropriate sites can be logged onto (unless there are parental blocks which I think are necessary), chat rooms where conversations can take place between strangers and personal information taken right from you.

Growing up my parents always told me to never talk to strangers, in my world at the time it meant an actual person standing in front of you; today it's of course in person but also in cyberspace. Kids are so naive and think anyone is trying to be nice or their friend or a good listener. It's so sad that there are people out there with negative harmful intentions that make the rest of us untrustworthy to most.

It's also disturbing that when most people are on the Internet they are completely different people than in real life. I don't know if anyone has heard of 2nd life, but it is this online world where you create yourself in a computer figure form (I forget the actual term used), make friends with people and go to different online places and basically be whomever you want. We are coming into an age where yes technology is helpful for business's, teaching, learning and conducting research but it is also making people (not all) but some so introverted it's unhealthy.

What happened to the days where kids played outside with their friends and all the kids in the neighborhood ran around and played hide and seek; I guess like Jukes Article said that is the different between Native and Immigrants of technology.

NETS & NJCCCS

I think it is fantastic that there are standards that need to be met within the classroom for educational technology. So much of our environment depends on technology that kids really need to have a firm grasp of everything that relies on it. Today most careers require knowledge of different computer systems and to be able to fix minor problems in the work place. It is definitely a challenge that I think all teaching professionals need to meet and go beyond the expectations set by NETS and NJCCCS.

My question if any working teacher in the class know, is how are these standards being implemented in the schools? There are a variety of schools out there, some of which do not have the funding to have enough computers or enough teachers who specialize in technology. Teachers coming into the work force now will have a vast knowledge of technology because that is what they have grown up with in school and personal life, what about teachers who do not have this knowledge, are all school districts taking the proper steps to meet the requirement. I know Chapter 12 of the text book stated that in-service teachers can meet their requirements by enrolling in college classes or by attending in district workshops, but is this actually happening? And are districts being followed up on to make sure each teacher has met the standard requirements?

ABC News: Teacher: Wrong Computer Click Ruined My Life

I was watching the news yesterday morning, as I do most mornings when a story came up about a substitute teacher who simply wanted to email her husband, had a mishap when lewd images starting uncontrollably popping up on her screen and authorities said she “purposely or, perhaps, carelessly — exposing 11- and 12-year-old students to pornography rather than teaching them English”.

Below is the link from the NY Times about the story, which was published on February 14, 2007, to give some background if you haven’t heard of it before (like me).

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/nyregion/14teacher.html

Below is a link from ABCnews.com which was shown on Good Morning America yesterday morning.

ABC News: Teacher: Wrong Computer Click Ruined My Life

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My personal opinion is that she should not have been on the computer that day to email her husband. If she was looking up something related to her class then that is fine. She should have also thrown out the theory of not touching anything and turned off the computer. Sometimes you have to go against rules to do the proper thing, especially for kids.

At the same time the school needs to take some responsibility; regular tests should be done to make sure each computer is up to date and virus free.

I’m curious to see what others think about this situation; is it entirely the substitutes fault, the school or both? Tell me what you’re thinking; maybe it can spark an interesting discussion.

hello

Hello Class!!!

Just testing my blog out.

Monica