John Hunter Peace Game

At first as I begin watching John Hunter's World Peace Game, I found myself trying to get into what he was saying. As I continued to watch, I realized that the game taught a valuable lesson to those who played in the program. The young man that explained the game seemed very interested about what he figured out. It inspires me to go ahead and finish my teaching education because I want to have an impact on students just as he did. I think that all students should be able to play mind challenging games just as the gifted kids do because it may show a strength in their learning. 

Blogfolio

As a teacher you must find ways to keep the children’s attention and keep them engaged in lessons that may not be interesting. NETS list five different objectives to make sure that pre-service teachers can incorporate technology into their lesson to make it more stimulating. The first objective is facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity and the second is designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments. The third objective is to model digital-age work and learning. The last two objectives are promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility and engage in professional growth and leadership. By using these objectives pre-service teachers are able to incorporate technology into their lessons and use them globally to increase the knowledge of their students.

Concept Map:

Concept mapping uses the NETS standards of one, two and three. The concept map uses a design of one main topic that goes into dept within the design of the map. The different words on the concept map provide the students with more knowledge on the main topic increasing the child’s knowledge. A concept map in a classroom would be a good idea because it shows students how different words relate to the main topic. An example is the major topic as “cells” and two deeper topics as plant cells and animal cells. These two topics could each list the animals and plants that they are in. The concept map provides pictures as well so students can match words with pictures. On a concept map a child can see that a plant cell has a cell wall and a plant cell does not, providing the children with visual learning.

Web page:

Creating a web page for the classroom matches with standard 5a on the NETS standards. By creating a website, students will have access to extra assignments that would increase their knowledge. In my classroom the website will give students and parents a summary of their child's grades. Having the grades accessible online would possibly get the students more involved in their work and parents more involved in their child's education. A website is not only a way to keep up with assignments, but it also is a way to involve technology in the education of children.

Voki:

Using the voki creating website matches with standard 3c because i uses a cartoon figurine to grasp the students attention to relay an important situations by using technology.By using voki, students will be more involved and interested in hearing things that the teacher has to say. In my classroom, a voki would be used in cases where i must miss class. I would also use voki when I plan on being late for class but need the students to start on their work. Another way that I could use voki is if I need to relay a message to the parents. Voki can be sent in an email, so that could be a way to give them information, or i could post it on a web page that is created for class.

Introductory video:

The introductory video made on the first day of class is also meets the NETS standard 3c. I would use videos such as these mostly on the outside of the classroom. This is a good way for me to communicate with the parents about something personal about their child and not the class as a whole. It would be used as a more serious way to communicate with the parents rather than using a cartoon figure like voki. In an older classroom, I would use these types of videos when I am preparing students to give speeches in front of their peers.

Life Movie:

Making a video using photos explain an event meets NETS standard 3c and 3b. My opinion on my choice of standards that the movie meets is because as a teacher I can use photos that have been taken throughout the year and make a video to show students and their parents. The video can also be used to show the board in situations where I would be trying to get a raise. Other teachers can use my video when they are trying to find ideas to use in their classes from my experiences in my class. It is also a way to express things that are going on by using digital media. 

Web 2.0 Education Sites

Storybird for Schools:
Good for teachers who want to make stories and create them for class. The site may seem a little confusing for someone who is new to the site. It allows you to create stories and share or print them. Resembles a youtube video because at the end it gives you the same options.
Symbaloo:
A homepage that allows you to have visuals to your favorite links on your homepage. It would be nice for kids because if you put an image that they want to view then they wouldn't be surfing around the Internet looking for things.
wikispaces:
Website for blogging and discussing things, but different spaces for different business levels. It allows you to upload images and videos and it very secured. Everything that is uploaded must be educational in order to upload. It is a free service and can be upgraded after the terms are over.
Edublogs:
Similar to wikispaces, but it is more organized. Edublogs are for everyone and is used by many students to blog about educational things. In edublogs, the different bundles of organizations such as students, teachers, or campus. 
Bitstrips:
 Students are able to create a journal and a comic strip. Allows students to create things without it having to be strictly about education. It is regulated but not too closely because students can pretty much put whatever they want.
Animoto:
Free with limited video time. It allows you to choose your own images and music. Animoto also lets you share the you videos with people.
Diigo:
Website that is a "bookmark" and allows you to tag websites. It allows you to highlight and add sticky notes on websites instead of bookmarking them and having to reread the paragraph to find out the importance. You can leave the website and return at a later date and still obtain your highlighted information.
Edmodo:
Teachers can set up a site and it appears as a facebook/blackboard sit. It allows you to check grades, date, ask questions about class assignments. It is very secured. Peers are able to interact with each other and help each other on the site.
StoryJumper:
Teachers send assignments to students. Students have to be invited by the teacher and the only way for students to use it is with a parents email. When a story is created it is sent to the parent and the teacher and it can be shared with family and friends.

My two personal favorites of the Web 2.0 Education Sites are the Bitstrip that allows you to may a comic and engage students more into their work. The other website that I enjoyed is Edmodo. Edmodo is a good website that is organized like a facebook, but it helps when needing to communicate with classmates without needed a phone number.

Classroom Website

https://sites.google.com/site/kabriasfirstgradeclass/

Gaming to re-engage boys learning

Gaming to re-engage boys learning

In this video about re-engaging boys to learn, Ms.Carr introduced 3 different reasons that may effect the way that boys learn. I agree with the point about not having enough male teachers in school. I feel like this is a problem because there really aren't many male teachers in any schools and most males who are teachers only teach because the school needed them the teach classes such as health in order to be able to coach. Though that is a good idea to involve males in academics it doesn't help the younger children who grow up with problems about not being as good as girls in academics. This is what i think the biggest problem.
The other two ideas about the zero tolerance policy and the advanced curriculum i next. The zero tolerance policy enables boys to talk about their life situations and how they feel. The best writing is a result from a person's experiences. By not being able to do things academically and involving life, teachers may be overlooking the talent of their students. I think the zero tolerance policy should be revised for misconceptions such as those. Advancing the curriculum is something that causes a problem for some individuals and makes the country appear as people helping the education system. The advanced curriculum will eventually lead to depression at and early age followed by high dropout rates and death rates from the pressure.

Weebly

Weebly

Weebly is a website that allows individuals to create their own websites all for free.  There are no skills needed to use this website. When creating a website, Weebly allows you to drag and drop items from the open webpage that you are viewing onto your website that you are creating. Weebly allows you to use their services for free as long as needed without having to purchase it after a certain amount of days. However, if you would like to upgrade the services, a fee is applied for more privacy on the website. The free weebly is a subdomain that shows that you are apart of the weebly site, but by purchasing a more advanced version you will be able to appear as a independent website. Similar to the Prezi program, Weebly does not allow any users under the age of 13 unless the website is created by the teacher through an education weebly website. The other way that they are able to access an account is if they have consent from a parent. 

Prezi Presentation

Prezi Presentation

Prezi is a program that allows storytelling without using slides like in programs such as Microsoft Powerpoint. In my opinion Prezi Program is just an "upscale" powerpoint slideshow that you can control. Like many other programs on the computer such as blogger and google sites, Prezi allows you to share your stories and presentations to people who are many miles away. This presentation program is limited to adults only (age 18 or older), but with the consent of a parent a child can access an account. However, they do not allow users who are under the age of 13 to use their services. One useful thing that I found to be useful by using the Prezi program is being able to view all slides without exiting the fullscreen show. This allows everything to flow smoothly with less confusion.

Flipped Classrooms

The idea of a flipped classroom is wonderful, however, there are pros and cons with it. A flipped classroom is more like a college setting, and I feel like it should only be done with students who are not in elementary school. A flipped classroom is only effective if the lesson is well taught in the class first and then sent home to finish just as homework. The good thing about a flipped classroom is that it allows one on one help and students aren't really distracting each other with loud outburst. Another good thing about a flipped classroom is that it is easy for parents to see what their children are doing in class to offer their help. However, a flipped classroom will put children in front of a computer for most of their time in class and will develop poor leadership skills as well and selfish habits. This is the reason why I feel like a flipped classroom should only be for upper level students.

Educators Guide to Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats

Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats are a very heavy topic that most students and a victim of and parents have no clue about. From a teenagers perspective the things that are being done are better if the parents aren't involved because it'll probably escalate into something worse if the people know they are ratting on them. Parents and teachers should be aware of the behaviors of children inside the classroom and outside the classroom so that children can be safe from cyberbullying and threats. These things can and have led some students to violence and even death of themselves or another students. Catching this before these things happen would save many students from death and from being afraid to go to school. There have been some movies that explore the lives of situations that happen from cyberbullying and cyberthreats such as the lifetime movie Cyberbullying. Most cyberbullies are too afraid to say what they want to the person's face and feel more powerful if they are behind a screen. Cyberbullying does not have to take place in the world but it is up to parents and teachers to find out what their children are doing on computers to make sure it doesn't happen.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Video games are a big and important part of the youth society all across the globe. The idea to make the history of video games into a museum is a wonderful idea because of the big impact that it has made in society. I love video games and to see a museum of games and game systems that has developed throughout the years. Even though video games havent' been the most successful thing to help society, they are still apart of the history. In the museum of video games they should also include the things that happens in society from the development of video games such as the risk of being a video game addict. They should also, list things that teenagers shouldn't try after playing video games such as trying to drive a car after playing grand theft auto. Though a video museum has nothing to do with education, it is something that everyone can relate to as they grow.

Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)

CIPA is a great start for monitoring the sites that are displayed on computers at the school of minors. I think that it is a great way to make sure that the sites that contain inappropriate information are blocked, so that minors will not be affected by it. At my high school the internet block sites such as Facebook, tagged, and bebo, along with other things because of the possibility to contain images or videos that were inappropriate for the students to look at. Whenever we tried to log on any of the blocked sites a pop up message would come up and say that the website we were trying to look at had been blocked. For a long time, we could not find a way to check our Facebook while we were at school bored in front of a computer, but eventually the way to get around the security surfed around the school and we could log on. CIPA is a great requirement for schools in order to get a discount on internet, but whether it really works or not should also be considered. 

"Safe" Social Networking Tailored for k-12 Schools

I do not believe that there is a such thing as "safe" social networking especially in the school system. No doubt that social networking is a great idea for students who need to communicate with other students about class work, but it gets out of hand without the proper security. Students will always find away around security whether it's in life or on the computer. The social network such as the Edmoto is a good idea, but students will always try to find a way to make it more like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Security behind the computer can prevent somethings, but if everything was monitored and had to receive a proper look at before it was posted, it may delay the response needed. I feel as if this social networking will be good for teachers who do not have enough time to go over everything in class, but for the students without computers it will just be an inconvenience. However, instructors never know the outcome unless they try, so I think it's worth the try.

A Future Full of Badges

In my opinion, this article shows many of the positive sides of the badge system. The most understanding part of this system is relating it to girl scout badges. The badge system makes it easier to identify the individuals accomplishment throughout their activities.  Badges may seem a little childish to some, but only if they're not being recognized.  For people who feel like their work is going unnoticed the badge system works perfectly because it list the things that the person accomplishes rather than just saying this person is wonderful.  The badge system also creates a academic eagerness for success and also success in the workplace. A question to ask about the badges is will they ever be invisible. When will people stop caring about earning badges, or will they? Also, how will organizations, schools, and companies be financially prepared for presenting continuous badges. Will they stop because it's getting too expensive? 

a new vision of k-12 students today

I have never been a fan of videos such as these because they seem to show the worst in society.  It is really disturbing to see how the U.S is so low in the basic subject areas. To see that China had better english scores was scarier. However, I feel like this video shows the weakness in the U.S so that they can fix the problems and motivate students to do better. By watching this I want to make a change in students and teachers to improve statistics to be more accepting by the society. Teachers should use smart boards after seeing this video because it is possible to be more beneficial to the students and their learning habits. Students should be motivated to raise their scores in the core subjects so that America will look better and their academic system will look better.

Digital Citizenship

Digital Citizenship is a very important skill to have in todays society. The world is becoming more and more advanced in technology and getting behind in knowledge will only hurt. The basics such as email, text messaging, skyping, and blogging are all essentials that I think will be enough in keeping up in society. Even though sometimes people get more advance and try and outsmart the legal system they should always be aware and obey the laws of digital devices as well as the digital world advancements. I think that once a child is familiar with numbers and letters they should access a phone, but only for emergency cases. A computer should be used by children only when they are of age to understand how the internet works. I agree with people just respecting the rights of the digital society because it makes it safer for younger children to join.