Week 6: Digital Citizenship & Cool Tool #2

Garth Holman talks about digital citizenship, and explains how it is "your resume online." Everything that you post online, someone can see. It never goes away, even if you think, it has been deleted. The internet can be a scary thing. With technology rising more and more each day, it is becoming more accessible to the younger crowds. Educating them on the importance of this topic is crucial for their safety. All of society needs to understand the "think before you post" rule. Whenever I post on social media, I always try to post positive things, instead of complaining about another. Being a teacher is a very professional job and keeping all social media pages appropriate is important. I honestly have never, and will never, post anything that I would feel ashamed of. Putting my future job, and life in jeopardy because of a post, is not worth it to me. 

Cyber-Bulling is growing rapidly and effects so many people. Cyber-bullying can happen to anyone, no matter, age, race, gender etc. Hiding behind a screen and making fun of others is so cowardly, and anyone who has been affected knows the pain. Personally, I was lucky enough to not ever be cyber-bullied. Of course, I had the occasion high school drama, but I also have never hurt anyone's feeling online. However, I do know some people that have. Hurting someone else's feelings because you have your own problems is not okay. One thing I will never tolerate in my future classroom is bullying. Everyone is someone, and deserves to be treated like that.

Again, technology is continuing, and does not have a plan to stop, to take over lives. There are so many people that own these devices and use them everyday, just like you. Parents of course, are worried about their children and their safety while using the internet. Some, unfortunately do not use the correct parental control. There is a new story almost everyday about a kidnapping, or others in that category, that happen to young kids, while communicating through the internet. Having a participatory culture involves others sharing information. Fear might make these shared posts decrease. Not allowing others to participate in the sharing community, can eventually led to the fall of those cultures. 

Teachers need to educate children on to be aware, of what they post, and that it will never go away. 

For my Cool Tool #2, I chose from the category "comic creation tools." The tool I chose to explore was called, "Comic Master." This tool allows you to create your own comic by choosing the layout, the characters, and even allowing you to type in your own words! After you create your own comic, you can even print it out to share with others. This was the first time that I used comic master, so I created an account and made my own comic.

I would use this tool in my classroom, after my students finishing read a book, or have learned about a specific event. They can create their individual comics, on what they believe was the summary of either the book or the event. Using this tool, gets the children to be creative thinkers. They can personalize it however they want, and it is easy to create the account, and to put the comic together. Students can definitely use this website to create their own digital media artifacts. Comic master allows you to print and safe your comics, so children can eventually continue to create them and possibly make their own comic book. It only allows you to create one page at a time, so it is easy for students to stay on track. Also, the icons are big enough to see and read clearly. Again, this was my first time using this site, so what challenged me, which might challenge some of my students was trying to fit it all in the little boxes. Some of the props or characters were to big to fit into the little squares. It got a little frustrating trying to size it right, but I eventually managed to do so. This is overall a great tool to review. I will be using this site and will recommend it to everyone.

http://www.comicmaster.org.uk/

Week 5: TPACK & Cool Tool #1

TPACK is so important to understand, when it comes to learning. It involves our technology knowledge, our content knowledge and our pedagogical knowledge. Dr. Holliday says "It is used to increase student motivation and make content more accessible to students." (http://springboard.uakron.edu/d2l/le/content/4060273/viewContent/3429226/View)

I agree, that students can grow and learn more with technology available to them. 

It is important to think ahead before introducing new tools or technology into the classroom. There are many questions that you could ask yourself prior to implementation. Some questions may be: Is the technology I am using age appropriate for my students? Are my students learning effectively by this tool? Do my lesson plans and the tools I want to use coordinate with each other? Do my students like the technology I am using? Are they engaged? There are many other questions someone could ask themselves. However everyone's ultimate goal: Getting the students to learn. 

There are many positive attributions that can come about when integrating technology into the classroom. Educator Nada Salem Abisamra talks about the benefits of using technology into the classroom. (http://www.nadasisland.com/tpack/#benefits) She says that students show a higher motivation, increased organization with writing mechanics, enhanced reading skills and higher order thinking skills. Using technology can give students so many opportunities and let them explore all the things accessible to them. Technology can easily be called the best resource we have today.
Along with all of the positives that come along with technology, there comes potential barriers as well. Nada Salem Abisamra also discusses these. (http://www.nadasisland.com/tpack/#hinder) She says how teachers now, did not grow up around technology and therefore do not know the importance of it. Teachers may not also be properly trained in using technology. Since technology is so high tech, it can be hard to figure out. Nada uses the term "digital natives," the students who grew up surrounded by technology. They challenge the “digital immigrants,” the teachers, who did not grow up with it, because of differences in comfort levels and lack of knowledge in technology. I can see how some technology can be hard to figure out, or maybe distracting.

Using technology can enhance teachers teaching in many ways. One day, when I am a future educator, I hope to use the traditional ways of teaching, but also be open to exploring using technology! When I use technology I hope that my students learn better or get a better understanding of my lessons. I can try to enhance my lessons by picking out the right tools that go along with what I am trying to teach. Using laptops or IPads will hopefully allow students to personally engage at their own pace and having the freedom to different activities on their own.

After learning about TPACK, One question I have is, how will I know if my lessons or ways of teaching is effective to all the different parts of knowledge? I plan to be teaching 1st graders so it is crucial for me to be able to teach them and that they fully understand. This age is they key age when learning and developing. I hope that I can find my answers one day at educational programs or seminars.

This week was the first week for our "Cool Tool Reviews." The tool that I have chosen is the tool from the audio category called "Soundcloud." It is a website where you can listen to podcasts, or any type of music. I have never heard of, or used, this tool before. While experimenting with this tool, I found out that you can listen to books online. This is something that I would definitely use in my future classroom.I would use this tool because it was easy to navigate, and also having books on tape, allows students to read along and stay on track. They can also create an account, for free, and can access it anywhere. Students can be really creative with this site. It allows them to record, edit and upload their own sounds. It is easy to use by its simple instruction and its speed. What might challenge students, is what challenged me, that is trying to find music you like. Searching for it, is an option or scrolling through a bunch of suggestions is another one. Overall, this tool was organized ans simple. I enjoyed making my own collection (https://soundcloud.com/you/collection) and I will definitely look forward to learning about new cool tools that I can use in my future classroom. 

Interested in this site? : (https://soundcloud.com/)

Week 4: Open Learning

I never realized how important it is in being open in learning environments. Using the internet, many people can figure out so many things and learn other ideas from the ones who shared them. However, if those people were to shy or never shared their thinking's then, other people, using the internet, would never find out about their ideas. The ones sharing the knowledge, is letting others utilize what they know and apply it somewhere. As talking more and more about sharing, I am coming to find out how beneficial sharing really is. 

The more shared information, the more knowledge there is to soak up. Spreading the word about sharing can get others interested and it may convince them to share something they know. How we can capture the spirit about open learning is by telling others about the importance of it. Having a participatory community can influence others to want to share more, leading to better people who read them. Teaching children about being open while learning can get them sharing at a young age. Open access to technology in the classroom, I believe, is important in eventually happening. If a student is asked a question, but they do not know the answer, they can quickly look it up, and learn what the answer is. Being able to provide those tools would help future students. 

Having face-to-face interaction between a teacher and student, is so important when it comes to learning. Trying to teach anyone anywhere, anytime could be tough. All children learn differently. Some children need to see the material, others need to hear it, or do it. Being in a traditional classroom set up, I think, it gives all of the different students a fair chance in learning. Being able to have the educator at eye level with students is helpful for them in learning the material. If students are struggling in the classroom, it is more obvious for a teacher to figure out then online. They can get the help they need right away. However, I do like the idea that children can use video chat to communicate with teachers, if needed. 

Slowly but surely some things start to go away, or be unheard of. The future of textbooks are so questionable. Technology has its way of moving in and taking over. Schools have been using different types of technology for years now and are still continuing to bring in different types of technology today. Having textbooks is the classroom, is one thing that might be taken over as well. Textbooks are expensive to buy but printing them has a ridiculous cost. Converting textbooks into digital copies will be more accessible, however, reading print is easily than reading something through a screen. Some students learn better with having the book, in their hands. Textbooks have their purpose, and I would hate to see them go. 

In Alec Couros one video about open learning, he quotes "Its not just experiencing these resources that we have but also being able to be an open learner, yourself." I have never thought about how important, sharing and being open while educating, is. Contributing your own knowledge to a network can help out so many other people, and may give another one many more ideas.  

http://springboard.uakron.edu/d2l/le/content/4060273/viewContent/3429214/View

Week 3: Ideas on Sharing

Sharing ideas in education is so important. Being connected to others by any types of networks can get others talking, searching and sharing their own ideas. Becoming a teacher is such a rewarding job and knowing how to succeed in my future job is very important to me. By learning all of the ways that teachers can share their work or ideas, and ways that they can exchange knowledge makes the role of technology and social media that much more crucial to today's world.

Teachers and learners have many resources that are accessible to them to share their work with other professionals. They can use Twitter, make a blog, or create their own website to share their posts or ideas. However, sharing ideas does not always have to be through technology. Teachers can simply spread their knowledge through word of mouth or even creating posters, filers or art trying to get their message, or point across to others. Deciding on what to share and what not to share can be tricky. People may be worried about what others think about their different ideas. Sharing is so important, and what some people may think is obvious, may be amazing or life changing to some one else. The importance of sharing "everything" is knowing that certain knowledge can go viral and can potentially help out so many people throughout the world. You never know who is looking at your posts so share as much as you can, and keep in mind, that your shared knowledge may be the light in the dark. 

Being in school as a young individual can be very stressful or even scary as a student. Being afraid of failure or not wanting to speak aloud because of fearing being called "stupid." Most students may have had this experience. What teachers need to do to make their students feel smart in the classroom is praise all of the good things that students do. Making the whole class focus in on one students failures makes that failed student never want to try again. They think if they try again, they will just fail again.A students confidence can easily go away with one bad grade or mistake. Students need to be reminded of the good things they are capable of. Even if the student does not receive an A, but they tried their best, and received a C, the teachers should praise them for trying and give the struggling student some more help.Knowing how to help students is important as a teacher and finding the answers can be found by someone sharing them. Sharing does not always have to be online. As said before, teachers can share their knowledge through communication. Face to face communication can sometimes be more effective than online, due to being able to listen and ask any questions. Getting the knowledge from a person can even help spread ideas faster.

Being able to give constructive criticism to my future students is really important. Knowing what to say to them and having them understand that the words are not to hurt their feelings, but only to get them to work harder and do better. Seeing all of my students succeed in my grade, and move on in life by what I teach them is going to be an awesome feeling. I want to engage the whole professional learning community into using this kind of criticism. It can be good for students to hear and lets them focus on what they need to improve. 

Grammar and Language Arts are two words that may not come easy to all people. We are all humans, we all make mistakes and no one is absolutely perfect. Thinking that our public, published writing or media will be error-free is a reality that no one thinks about. Authors, journals and even teachers need to be professional and appropriate at all times, but having grammatical errors is no big deal. Having a blog or a website where others can share, gives them an opportunity to be themselves and to freely, but not trying to, mess up grammatically. It is important for teachers to understand how to teach and help students who could be struggling with grammar. Transparency is showing some strengthens and weaknesses in the classroom. Creating a culture that encourages transparency leads to a better classroom by letting others accept their flaws. Sharing is the most effective way to spread knowledge and is the best way to let others know what you already do. So share everything, whenever you can, and keep in mind that what you share, could maybe change the world.