Internet Safety Reflection

1. The article I chose to read was "Leave it Alone" by Elder Peterson
2. I felt as though most of the videos that I had watched were used more as a scare tactic and informational about what can happen to your children if you are not careful and observant. Most of the videos I watched were about young children who were using chat rooms and then going to meet the person face-to-face. I also watched one about cyber-bullying and about how to protect our students and and children from the internet, while teaching all the good things they can do on the internet.
3. The most important take-away message that I hope implement into my life is the special precautions to be aware of and to do to make sure that these things happen to anyone. I found it so interesting that young children were getting into chat rooms. My husband and I discussed that night about how we will use and monitor technology in our home. The overall take away message is simply discussing how it will be taught and enforced within the family.
4. The person I talked to was my mom. She knew very little about what could be done and focused mainly that you need to keep tabs on your children to see what they are doing on the internet and the computer. I remember as a child every time I was chatting online she would ask, who are you talking to? Her reaction to what I told her was basically that she agreed with everything I had shared. She was not surprised at all at how young and that children will meet strangers. It surprised me that she was not as surprised because the information had astonished me, but she already knew a lot of the information. I think they may put up some internet filters on the computer at home.I also believe they will just be aware of the things on the internet or computer that may be considered harmful.

Tasks 2-4 are complete (course evaluation, moodle grade check, and survey)

Lesson Implementation and Presentation

Lesson Plans Galore!

Here are my three lesson plans:  

Take a look and hopefully you can find useful information as well.

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfm93tnj_4k9qbhndj  -science lesson plan

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfm93tnj_5gx2dkcf2  - language arts lesson plan

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfm93tnj_6c43rgwqr  - math lesson plan

Technology Videos

    It was so interesting to see how all of the teachers used technology in the classroom.  The most important thing I learned from watching the videos is that technology projects do not have to be super complicated things.  Even looking at the I love Spiders lesson we were able to see the students take pictures of spiders and to see how excited they were about finding the spider.  It also interested them as they got to see pictures of spiders that were posted by another class.  This was a fun form of technology that allowed communication between two classes to compare and contrast their results.  This class was a younger grade, but was still able to use technology.  I think that that really taught me that you could use technology with any grade level.  It will be different because of the difficulty level, but they can all learn from the experience.  It was also fun to see how much the students enjoyed learning with technology, which probably came from shaking up the normal day.

Technology in the Classroom

As I observed in the classroom and looked for different available types of technology, I was amazed. There is one transparency projector that is shared among each grade level. It was interesting to see that my teacher had it every day and would use it as a tool to show what the "agenda" or item of business they needed to write. It was a good way for all the students to see the writing. She also had a TV and VCR which she has used. She also has a CD player that is used daily to listen to books on tape while following along or to learn new songs to sing. I found that something as small as a CD player can be so useful as I think that students would get tired of hearing the teacher over and over again read the stories. One thing I noticed and wished that they had is that they do not have any computers that are use for the students in the classroom. If they wish to use a computer they need to have a scheduled time at the computer lab. It is fun to see how teachers use their technology to enhance their teaching. I also completed part 1 (midcourse evaluation) and part 2 (informed consent).

Science + Technology = FUN!

I learned so much about the different techniques I could use while teaching science within the classroom. I think that they all have a great ability to be more beneficial when a student can actually see the project being performed. I really liked seeing the probes, microscope, and stellarium applications. They make science more real to the students. I do think it is important to remember that even though it can be helpful, there can be other things that can go wrong while using our technology and so as teachers we need to be prepared for the unexpected and flexible. I am excited to use some of these different types of technology to teach science in the classroom and allow the students to enjoy the learning process. I also enjoyed learning of different ideas from Janae Browning- force plate science, Lauryn Paul- pH Mania, and Daren Parker- stellarium and constellations.

Science Project