Technology Tools "Wordle"

Pinterest in the Classroom

1. What did you learn from the PINTEREST activity?
That there are lots of ways to share ideas. There are pages for almost any area you can think of. If your willing to spend a little time searching you'll eventually find an answer.

2. How do you think you will utilize PINTEREST as a teacher?
I will continue to look on the site for inspiration. I liked a couple of ( second and third grade) pages I hope to use soon. I am currently following three preschool pages and I'm excited about the upcoming activities I have scheduled.

3. What are the strengths of PINTEREST?
All of the wonderful ideas that are easily accessible is a strength. You can find anything your looking for regardless of your interest. Topics vary from cooking, to fashion, to fitness as well as education.

4. What are some of the challenges of PINTEREST?
With countless areas of interest available. It can be time consuming to find exactly what your searching for. This activity was relatively simple but I sent hours making sure I had the right activities pinned for the grade I hope to teach.    

Growing Up Online

"Growing Up Online" shares the stories of teenagers who are active users of online sites. The special begins by showing all of the ways children interact with the internet; playing games online, looking at videos, updating social media pages and making friends. Online sites are now an extension of the teens personal lives and a lot of information is shared. It allows kids a place to be "themselves" away for their parents. Users have online competitions to see who can get the most friends. They also use pages to "fight" instead of talking to one another. Things that are shared online that they wouldn't normally do. Teachers should become more entertaining and capture the attention of his or her students, instead of having lecture based learning.

1. A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that in 2004, 67 percent of parents said the Internet has been a good thing for their children. However, this number decreased to 59 percent in 2006. Why do you think the number of parents who reported the Internet being a good thing for their children has decreased? In 2004 the way people interacted with the internet changed. The internet was no longer a means of communication for business people but it was now used by most of the American society on a daily basis. I believe social media sites are part of the reason parents feel differently about the internet. With pages like YouTube and Facebook it is easy to lose track of time and become completely engrossed in your activity of choice. It is also easy for children to become distracted while they should be doing more important things. As soon as I sit down in front of a computer the first thing I do is long into Facebook. I could be typing a lesson plan for work or a paper for English, but I’m can’t focus on the task I should be completing until I check my new feed.

2.        More teachers are using tools to try to detect cheating or deter students’ inclination to cheat. In the program, we see the use of plagiarism-detection tools like Turnitin.com and writing assignments completed during class time to make sure students do their own work and generate their own ideas. In terms of student writing, what are some different types of "cheating"? What are the elements you would include in your definition of "cheating"? The only tool I’m aware of that aids in “cheating” are cliff notes; which students can use instead of reading the entire story. I personal don’t consider them cheating.  I believe the current definition of cheating is accurate. However, I would include using the work of someone else and not citing the work of the original producer.  

3.        One student claims he "never reads books" but relies on summaries and annotated notes he finds on Web sites. He confesses that he feels guilty about this, stating, "I feel like I kind of cheated it." Should he feel guilty? Why or why not? No, i don't believe he should feel guilty for reading the cliff notes. I don’t believe reading cliff notes instead of the entire story is cheating, but it isn't always the best decision. Many of the stories that have annotated summaries are hundreds of years old and are difficult to understand. If a student relays only on cliff notes they may miss small details a teacher may include.  I’m extremely grateful they existed when I was reading Hamlet and Of Mice and Men.

4.       Before the Internet, in order to be seen by the world, you had to be portrayed in some form of mass media, and you had to be famous in some respect -- in the news, in politics or as a celebrity. Now anyone can be seen online by anyone else in the world. Some people have become famous for videos or photos they’ve posted (such as Autumn Edows). What are the positive and negative consequences of blurring the line between being a celebrity and a regular person? It’s easy to find inspiration and become a role model. Another positive consequence is possibly a gain in self esteem. A negative effect of being "internet famous" is many people don’t respect your privacy and are often treated inhumanly. All of your mistakes are pubic and easily accessible to the entire nation and people are ridiculously harsh on you. Details that are usually kept private and shared with family are available to everyone with access to the internet.  

5.        Shows like "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline NBC contribute to parental anxiety about online media. What elements of this FRONTLINE program are likely to increase parents’ fears? What elements of the program might be reassuring? Parent’s fears are increased by how easy it is for predators to pretend to be someone else and the numerous ways they can interact with children.  Children also put themselves into more danger my pretending to be older than they are, and putting in false birthdays to have access to email accounts and sites such as Facebook. I feel parents are by how quickly predators will meet with people they know are under aged. Most predators will expose children to activities they are too young to engage in such as drinking, and drugs. It’s reassuring for parents to see predators caught by the police.

6.       Teasing, lying, gossiping, threatening, spreading rumors or harassing online (and offline)can severely affect people’s self-concept and self-esteem and have an impact on their emotional state. In the program, we see one girl who describes flirting with boys and then revealing she was just kidding. She explains: "You wouldn’t do that to someone’s face, but online is completely different. ... No one can do anything. You’re at your house, they’r e at their house." What are some of the short- and longer-term consequences of this behavior for life online and in the real world? Their self image can be severely damaged.Building someones confidence then quickly destroying it is extremely harsh.  I feel it is wrong regardless of how the act is done. Interacting over the internet is "safer" than doing something like that in person. A long term effect could possible be getting labeled as a tease or even getting harmed for playing with someone's emotions. Loosing friends may be a short term effect. 

7.       At the end of the program, Greg decides it’s time for him to "disconnect" by going to the Coast Guard Academy, where he will spend seven weeks without cell phones or the Internet. Have you ever thought about "disconnecting" from it all? Do you think it would be easy or difficult? What would you enjoy or dislike about disconnecting? Yes, I’ve disconnected from Facebook several times. The constant complaining, nagging, and drama can become annoying and too much to handle. My disconnect, from Facebook, didn’t last long, maybe for three days. After reactivating my page I decided to delete the people who always share to much info. Constantly seeing the complaints and problems of others wasn’t something I wanted to deal with anymore.  I quickly went from around 350 friends to 270. I haven’t ever given up my phone I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t have a phone for an extended period of time.