Flicr Project (Missed day due to birth of child)

This flicr project is on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. Below are photos from the net thatI have found that really bring faces to the movement. These photos tell you a story without any words.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7839674@N02/show/

Chapter 6 Reflections

Like everything in this class, I learned something new when I read this chapter. I had no idea what Furl was. As i read about it, I learned that it was a useful tool for the teacher. Furl is basically something that a teacher can use to store sites and any other thing that interests you. As a teacher, I could create a free Furl. net site and store many sites that can be useful for my teaching and their learning. Another thing that I like about this site is that you can also search other Furl sites for ideas and sites. This can be useful to see how others are using it, in the field that you are interested in. I have learned something else that I did not know about, and hopefully I can use it when I become a teacher.

Letter to principal RE: Web Quests

Mr. Principal,
This letter is in reference to the use of Web Quests in my classroom. At first, I was very apprehensive in even creating one. But after I saw some examples of some Web Quests, and their applications within the classroom, I became a supporter of the use of this technology within my class. Web Quests gives the students a place to be a specific as they want on a certain topic. This can be used in my class because as a U.S. History teacher, I can give my students a topic and or event, and they can run with their ideas in a creation of a Web Quest.
This can be a useful strategy because it gives the child a forum to be as open as possible on their topic. For example, I'm creating a Unit based on the Cold War. In this unit, we will be discussing various events and topics within the Cold War spectrum. Instead of having each student do the same project on one topic, I can give various projects within the same unit. What I mean, I can give different groups different topics within the Cold War and have them each do a different Web Quests. This will give them a chance to concentrate on one topic, give extensive detail on that topic, and show off their creative side as well. At the end, We can show off all of the Web quests to the class, in hopes to create a many overview of the entire Cold War.
My example can be varied in ideas and usages of the tool. The truth is,there are Many ways in which Web Quests can be useful within the classroom. I can go on for days telling you reasons after reasons why this is good for my class. But, I give you the opportunity to go on certain Web Quests and research many of the uses yourself. I want to view the certain detail that can be put into these Web Quests. Also, I want you to look at the positives of the technology.
Like any use of technology, there can be some negative aspects of this. Students view this as a nothing assignment and slack off, just like any other assignment. Students could also be encouraged to cheat. But as the teacher, it is my responsibility to review the progress of each Web Quests; making sure that they are taking the project seriously and doing it in a responsible manner. I urge you to open your mind with the use of Web Quests for me and any other teacher in this school. Thank You. BK

Chapter 8 Reactions

Pod casting is another technological medium that I knew nothing about. I hear all the time on NPR and ESPN radio about downloading podcast of their shows, but I never really knew what it was. I assumed it was just bits and pieces of their radio shows. As I read the chapter on Podcast, I found out that there are plenty of other uses for these podcast than just what I first thought. As with any information that I learned new this year, I wanted to the education aspect of this technology. I liked some of the ideas that the book set fourth, as for uses within the classroom. The school that I went to did not have radio station, but I always thought it would have been cool if we did. Besides that, there are even more uses within the classroom. I like the idea about creating oral histories in a social studies class. There can also be interviews and reenactments done as well. This gives the students in a history class many options to implement the use of podcast, and not just for entertainment. I might even think about incorporating podcast in my class.

Article reactions- post for March 5th

Adopt and Adapt

This article details how technological advances have and will help our public and private schools systems; only if we let them. It details old ways of doing things, compared to the new way of doing things. Obviously, the new advances are meant to make it easier on the student and the teacher, but also over a lot more advantages to the student. Instead of talking about the Revolutionary War, a teacher can show a digital movie about it. This example shows how education can be enhanced with the use of new technologies.

One aspect of the article that I can relate to was when they talked about the digital immigrants. They pretty much stated that public schools have always been scared of new technological advances. They have never truly adapted these qualities and because of this, the school system is falling behind the eight ball of technology. I went to High School eight years ago, and we hardly did any thing involving computers; except in my CAD classes. Today, its a whole new world, and these tools can help us further our students education; but only if we as educators adopt and adapt.

Synching up with the iKid

This article starts out going over something that has feared me since I decided to become a teacher; the students over-whelming knowledge of new technology and mine lack of knowledge on the subject. That's why I was excited about this class. I wanted to better my self when it comes to new technology uses. I do not want to feel like my kids are miles over my head. I at least want to be on a level playing Field. I have already gained a lot of useful knowledge in the class that I can use in my teachings, but I know by the time I start to teach, more technological advances will be out there. So for me, its constantly an uphill battle.

I want to use my students knowledge and understanding technology to help me to relate to them more. I want to be able to use certain tools within my classes, and not look like a smuck doing it. In the history department, I have had a lot of professors who are, how do I say, OLD! And it is always amusing to me when they show a video to the class because they struggle with the concept of a VCR or DVD player. Most are extremely smart people, but the new wave VCR's give the loads of struggles. When I start teaching, I don't want to be like some of my professors. I don't want to struggle with something that everyone should be able to pick up on just because I am unfamiliar with it. "The key to teaching is keeping kids involved," says Ryan Ritz."...They like everything being electronic -- it's speaking their language." These sentences from the article speak volumes of what I want to do in my teachings. I want to keep them involved, and using some new tools of technology will help me do that. I hope!

Chapter 4 reaction- Wikis

It's kind of ironic that I had to comment on this chapter when last week I saw a piece on one of the National nightly News about Wikipedia and the affects it has on colleges. In the piece, they mostly went over the negative aspects of the site. They focused on a History class and one professor. The main thing that they were negative about was using the site for research purposes. In history classes, you have to muttle through alot of research, and since wikiepdia is a major site, then it's not far fetched to believe that students use the site. The main thing is if the resources found on the site is accurate. The reporter went into the site itself and showed just how easy it was to change things. She actually added some useless information in place of some information that was accurate. The point was to show the negative aspect of the site.
But what they failed to show, at least I didn't see it because I was at work watching it, was that a few hours later, the stuff she added was probably erased. The book tells that there are plenty of editors out there that combs the wikiepedia website looking for garbage information. It goes on to say that within a few hours, most garbage entries are erased and the truthful things are put back in.
As a future teacher, I would like to use this tool in my classroom. But I realize that I will have to do a lot of research to make sure that the information the students may come across is accurate. Obviously, bad stuff is going to be put on it. But if you make your students aware of these negative things, then they might keep that in mind as they navigate through the website.

Digital Storytelling- Post for March 12th class

Digital Story telling was not as difficult as I first thought it would be. As I stated before, I'm not the most savvy when it comes to computers. But in fact, it was probably one of the easiest things to create. I found it as difficult as setting up a power point, which is not difficult at all. One thing that I did struggle with was the adding of music along with audio. I could never figure out how to add both. So I decided for the project to just add audio.
I did the digital storytelling project on my newborn son, Cannon. I decided to do it on something personal because for one thing we had a butt load of pictures; and the other was that I am still so happy and Getty about his birth that I just have to tell everyone about it. I can see where this would be an affective tool to use in the classroom. In any content, this could be useful. I can see how students would thrive at something like this by creative means. I would defiantly try to implement this in to my lessons as a teacher at least once a year.

Chapter reactions

Chapter 3

I have stated in my first chapter reactions that using new technologies affiliated with the Internet can be very useful and helpful in and with education. Blogs are just one of these technologies that are available for use in the classroom. To be honest, I think blogs can be very useful in the classroom. Blogs can give the students an opportunity to interact on a level that will increase their analytical and critical thinking and writing skills. A student can give their views and opinions on the text or article that is assigned. They can also have the opportunity to let their classmates respond to what they have written.

I also stated that I had my doubts about blogs as well. The book does explain the dangers when it comes to creating blogs. It talks about how people from the outside can get into the student's work and give them advice that may not be suitable for the direction of the class. But the danger that this chapter sort of touches on is the assessing of the blogs. The book states that the teacher does not have to grade each blog that each student post. I can see where this assignment can be seen as just an assignment where the students just want to get it over. But the point of these blogs are to open up new level of thinking and ideas. If the teacher treats this as just another assignment for the kids to do, then I fear that they won't get exactly what they need to get out of the blogs.

Chapter 5

In reading chapter 5, I had never heard of a RSS. I didn't know what it stood for and I didn't what kind of use it should have in the classroom. I have come to find out that RSS feeds can be very useful to anyone around that is an avid blogger. These can help you narrow down your search from blog to blog to save time and energy. One thing from the book that I truly liked was the fact that teachers can create an aggregator so they don't have to route through each student's blogs. Through the RSS feed, each student's blog can be fed through by posts. This seems to be a teacher's best friend. This can help save time for the teacher that can be spent on something else involving the classroom.

Even after reading the chapter all the way the through, I still was kind of confused on how a person could use RSS feeds outside of the education spectrum. But after I looked at the examples of RSS feed sites, it totally makes sense. A person could be sent weather feeds, airport delays, or any other feeds that affect the daily routine of life. This throws this useful technology right up there with the rest that we have discussed thus far in the class.

Strategies for research

The strategies that I use for research are basic internet researches. In the history department at U of L, most of my professors stress Jstor. Jstor is an on-line search engine that has resources from various academic journals, books, and magazines. I also try to use other search engines like ebsco search. This is an engine where I can get all kinds of things from all kinds of content area, much like Jstor. Those are usually done after I decide what I am going to write on.

Chapters 1 & 2 reactions

Chapter 1

In reading the opening chapter of the text book, I realized just how much the Internet, or Read/write web as the author calls it, can offer students and teachers a like. Up to now, I knew of a very few ways to research for sources and other resources a student and teacher needs. But after reading chapter 1, I realized that there are various ways for a person to connect to the Internet in an educational frame of reference. I knew very little about web blogs and wikis, but I had no idea about RSS's, Aggregators, Social Bookmaking's, and the other tools, or sources "that share content in new collaborative ways,"that the Internet has that we in the education Field can access.

Whenever accessing information from the Internet I get a little leery of the information that I am receiving, or going to receive. Always aware of the dangers and pitfalls that the Internet can offer because I hear about the horror stories of people getting false information. The part in this chapter about keeping students safe was interesting to me because as a teacher I want to be aware at all times of the dangers that are out there on the Internet. That way, I can portray the information to my students so they won't get caught up as well. Knowing these dangers can help the teacher with the use of the Internet within their teachings. In that same section, he goes on to talk about the dangers of having a blog. A blog can be a very useful learning tool where a child can read something, then write his/her own reaction and opinion. This can be useful in the classroom because it gives the students a chance to interact with one another on a level that would be a lot harder without blogs. But what happens if someone outside of the class comments on the blog. And they fill the blogs with a bunch of false knowledge. This is the exact situation that I was leery about. The author says that in his experience most of the outside comments have been positive ones, and he says that if you communicate theses types of issues to your kids, then you will be fine, and the education of the students will be increased.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 goes in depth with weblog. A weblog is an easily created, easily updated website that allows an author to publish instantly to the Internet. This gives the teacher a real usable tool within the classroom that can help the development of opinions and thoughts of the students that they teach.

When I was in High School, we never used the Internet for any daily classroom functions. Even though the Internet has evolved 100 percent since I was in High School, I never looked at the Internet as a source for a class portal or an on-line filing cabinet. The author goes into details about setting up a class portal to help give and receive information from your students. I think this is a tremendous idea. This gives the teacher the opportunity to post all of the class guidelines and assignments on the net. This also helps the students because they know exactly where to locate things if they need to. This also helps in regards to parents. I am a person who wants to keep my future parents involved with their children as much as possible. I believe that creating an environment that involves both students and parents only increases the child's outlook on education and the possibility for higher education. Parents can access the class portal to see just what and how the student is doing. They can see just what assignments are due and overall help the student with their educational process. Another thing a weblog offers in schools that can truly help out the process of education is the weblog acts as an on-line filing cabinet. This helps the students a lot. The students will never misplace work and all of it will be completely organized. Most teenagers are not the best when it comes to being organized or on time; neither are most adults. But this provides the children a chance to locate their work when they need it.

A weblog within the class can help out the students and teachers simultaneously. It also gives the forum to open their minds to others opinions and points of view. And that is one of the points of education.

BK Autobiography

Growing up, I never was known as a person who should be called a computer "wizard." In fact, I did not even get a computer until my senior year in High School. I was always skeptical about computers. Today, even though I'm on the computer a lot, I still see them as this piece of technology that is way over my head. I can do basic things on the computer, but ask me to do any thing that is even remotely difficult and it becomes like a foreign language to me. I would like to be able to use the computer for more than just e-mail and browsing the Internet. But I have realized that I'm behind the eight ball when it comes to my peers and their knowledge with computers and other technology as well.

In school, I'd never had to worry about the use of much technology. In elementary school, we had a computer lab; which I used to sneak into in the mornings and play Organ Trail. That game was awesome. But besides once a week, I never really had to use them that much. And even then it was for nothing big. Athough, in High School I took a Computer Aided Design course. We used the computers a lot in that class. That helped when it came to computer designs, but nothing else. When I finally got to college, I felt so dated when it came to technology and computer use. Everyone was using these fancy terms, I felt like I was born in the Fifties, and I was Twenty-two.

As I go through the MAT program and various field placements that I have done, I've come to realize just how important technology is in the classroom these days. I did a three month substitute job in an Elementary School last year. In that school, the students went to the computer lab three times a week, and not just to play games like I did when I was their age. They did some pretty hands on stuff. They learned about various resources they could use off the Internet for classroom related functions and activities. Also, some classrooms even had computers within the room. This helped the students a lot. One day I was observing a teacher that was doing a Science lesson. One of her students asked her a question that was related to the topic, but not entirely. In stead of not answering the question and stunting the child's curiosity, she told him to look it up on the Internet using the resource sites they learned about the day before. The child was able to answer his own question, and present his findings to the class.

I believe computers should play an important role in the classroom. Children are growing up in a time and age where they have at least one computer in the home; some homes have more than one. It is imperative for the children to understand that the Internet has a lot of things on it that can be helpful to their education. It is the job of the parent and teachers to provide them with that information and show them how to access it. All kids, from all ages can benefit from the computer in the classroom. In Elementary School, they could have fun activities that helps the child's stimulation and learning techniques improve all the while they think its just a fun game. In Middle School, the teacher can start to teach the children how to use the computer for research purposes, if they had a paper to do. If they were being taught Math and had to learn about finances, the teacher could set them up to learn about spreadsheets and useful things in that field. In High School, the students could improve on their computers skills. Also, the teachers should start to point out the pitfalls of the Internet. I think it is important to introduce the negative aspects of the Internet as it's relation to education.

Technology is everywhere. The computer age is in full swing. I believe that education should embrace these qualities of our society. Most jobs now and day require some sort of technology background. If the student starts early in school, they will be that much more prepared when it comes to starting their careers.

Reflection at the End of the Class

This class has really opened up my eyes as far the use of technology within the classroom. Before I was fairly apprehensive with using any type of technology that was not power point. But after this ten week course, I have found several avenues of technology that i can use to teach my class. I will still be a little apprehensive though.

In this course, I have picked some pointers on blogs and wikis. Coming into the class I knew what wiki's and blogs were but I did not how to use them. Now I can confidently say that I can use them in my future teachings. I also I'm super excited to use the digital storytelling in my class. I really feel that this is an assignment that will really get the students attention; and let them be creative and have fun. All in all this course has helped me with my confidence and knowledge of technology use within the classroom. I will try and implement as much technology as possible in the future.