Voki

Bully

Bullying is becoming an increasing problem in the world today. There are all different kinds of ways to bully someone with all of this new technology and outlets to do so. I think the biggest way to help students and children understand that bullying is wrong is by making it aware what it actually is. I think awareness is a really good way to start because a lot of students may not even know what it is and how it actually effects other people. I also think that making people aware of all the negatives that come along with it as well will help. Also, making students aware of consequences of bullying and let them know that it will not be tolerated in your classroom.

Augmented reality snags a coveted spot in classrooms

This article starts by stating the definition of augmented reality. Then the author begins by stating how she uses it in her classroom. She talks about how much deeper the students go into their work because of the use of the augmented reality application. She states that it lets her students immerse themselves in their learning. She talks about specific examples from within her in art classroom. She goes on to give more specific examples of how a history teacher uses the app within his classroom. I really like the idea of integrating augmented reality applications into classrooms. Where it is appropriate. I also think that you cannot just expect your students to know how the application works. I think for students to gain actual learning, then they will have to fully understand how the application works. Teachers will need to be prepared to spend maybe an entire lesson on the application itself to ensure that enriching learning is happening, which is the whole goal in integrating augmented reality applications in the classroom. I feel once students know how to use the application, then they can be successful in using it to help make learning more emjoyable and a more enriching experience.

Five Essentials To Create Connected Students

This author starts by talking about the new iOS7 update and how her entire school was waiting until the exact release time in wifi stations to be able to download it. She then goes on to talk about how important it is to be a connected student in this world. She also goes on to say that not all students today have the technology available to be able to be a connected student because they may not have it readily available at home or at their school. She then states that because it is so important to make connected students teachers and professionals should help their students in learning the appropriate ways to be connected for the students' success. She then lists five essentials; 1. A connected author, 2. A connected publisher, 3. A connected conversationalist, 4. A strategic disconnecter, 5. A curious, lifelong pursuer of ingenious solutions. She feels that in the world today a lot of students are just consumers and that teachers need to switch their students to becoming creators by helping them stay connected in the right ways. I can really relate to this author in what are and what are not appropriate ways to be connected. I feel that so many of our social media sites are really hindering students for their futures due to some of the things they post. I agree in that, as teachers, we should help our students know what is and what is not appropriate because it is our goal to help our students succeed to the next level. I even see what should be very mature, college adults post things that are very innappropriate and that will hinder them from getting jobs in their future, so how are students in high school and junior high going to know the difference, if we do not help them know how?

21st Century Skills: Why They Matter, What They Are, and How We Get There

    The author of this book starts out by stating that students now need to know how to use what he calls 21st century skills. He says that students will need these skills to be able to succeed in higher education and in their careers. The author says that we need to get away from drilling so much of the old stuff and welcome in creativity, problem solving and critical thinking to be able to advance in the new America. Fourteen states have already agreed to implementing these practices in their classrooms.
    I agree and disagree with this author. I agree in the fact that students do need to have creativity, problem solving, and critical thinking skills to succeed in the new America, higher education, and their careers. I disagree with this author in the fact that he thinks we should stop drilling the older concepts. I think that in America, yes everyone loves the idea of getting a well paying job and career and going to college, but I don't think that it is for everyone. Our country would not run without lower level industry jobs. I think that the new skills that he talks about are great and wonderful, but do not think we should stop drilling the other concepts with it.

Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results

    This author starts out by talking about how tough and grueling her old music teacher used to be. She then states that an abundance of his old students from all corners of the country came to his funeral because they had respected him so, and they even played a concert in his memorial. She also states that most of them had gone on to become musicians, lawyers, and doctors. The author begins to say that the US expects us to be ahead of every other country in academics but we're pretty far behind and it is scaring us. She says it is because teachers are not being tough enough because they will be criticized and students will not want to learn, so they are being soft and almost babying their students. The author states many sources that disagrees with this statement. She lists eight practices that teachers should start implementing in their classrooms across the US to get good results. These eight tips are: 1. A little pain is good for you. 2. Drill, baby, drill. 3. Failure is an option. 4. Strict is better than nice. 5. Creativity can be learned. 6. Grit trumps talent. 7. Praise makes you weak.....8...while stress makes you strong. There were studies to prove each of these practices were effective in students learning, being more confident, more self-motivated, resilient and handling every day stress better, just to name a few.
    I can really attest to pretty much all of the statements made by this author because I have experienced almost every situation mentioned. I remember my softball coach and gymnastics coach growing up being so hard on me and I would get so upset about it but still I was one of the hardest working kids they coached, and it paid off. I never realized why they were so hard on me until after the fact, and it was because they saw my potential and to get me to the point they wanted, they were very strict. That is just one example that I remember very fondly, but I really agree with this author on every aspect. I also coach cheerleading now, and I have tried to be nice and kids will not take you seriously if you are. I have to be strict, yet rewarding, to get the results that I want out of my students. I think the same goes into a classroom. To get the results you want, you have to push your kids to it and make them try.

Do Not Track Plus

At first I was kind of confused how this worked then I figured it out. It was very alarming to see that just in like an hour it blocked 319 trackers. I am pretty positive I had only been on like four different websites and one of which there were no trackers. I realized that GOOGLE has a lot of tracking going on. They can track you from all different sites besides GOOGLE itself. I am really glad that I now have this installed because I am very cautious as it is when I get on the internet but I really am the biggest scaredy cat about getting hacked and all of my personal information stolen, so this puts me at a little more ease than normal.

Safe Practices for Life Online

1. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
2. There are many consequences for students who put the wrong terms on any account that they have online. I think the scariest thing is knowing that once something is on the Internet it can never be fully taken off, so something someone posts could potentially be stuck with them for the rest of their life.
3. sexting: sending sexual pictures or texts
    cramming: adding unauthorized charges to someone's phone bill
    cookies: small amounts of data made by a website saved by your browser
    trojan horse: a malicious code that is contained inside something seeming unharmful
    phishing: defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legit company
    spyware: software that allows a user to get information about a computers activities by transmitting data covertly from their hardrive
    rootkit: a set of software tools that allows an unauthorized user to gain control of a computer system without being detected
    zombie: a computer connected to the Internet that has been compromised by a hacker, computer virus or trojan horse and can be used to perform malicious tasks of one sort or another under remote direction
4. They all just seem very inappropriate for a students' screen name because of the foul language used.
5. These screen names have terms that would be more appealing to a predator type person because they put off a vibe that would be willing to do the things in their screen names.
6. Some of these screen names give away a students' full name or part of their name and year they graduate so close to their age and some give away a student's hobbies and name.
7. I don't think any of these screen names are appropriate because in some way or another they give away personal information about the student.
8. USM398, cheese123, lock756
9. I scored a 9
10. Most common: students give their passwords to friends; least common: password cracking program
11. I didn't even know there was a such thing as a drive-by download. I didn't realize it was so easy for people to hack into a computer and make it do things that were unauthorized. I didn't know that keeping your browser and computer operating system up to date helped at all. You would think that people would be trying to attack the new stuff because that's what everyone wants, not the old stuff.
    I think I am pretty safe on the internet after watching this because I keep my anti-virus and anti-spyware systems up to date and it runs backgrounds on EVERYTHING. It still is very scary to see how easy it is for something that seemed so small pretty much ruin a computer. I would like to know what types of sites are the easiest to get hacked from so that I can steer clear of them!

The Padagogy Wheel V2.0 and Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

     The Padagogy Wheel looks like it would be super helpful because there are so many useful apps that would apply to things that I would actually need or use as and educator. I could use a few of them with the students so that they there are using the same technology as I am. I could also let maybe an older group of students try out some that I have not used to see if they are useful and to let the students see what they can come up with without me having to tell them what to do or what they are looking for. I think any of these apps would be truly helpful in a classroom.
     Bloom's Digital Taxonomy looks very familiar to a list called Bloom's Taxonomy. Clearly there is a relation. The Bloom's Taxonomy is basically the first set of bolded words on the list Higher Order Thinking Skills and the Bloom's Digital Taxonomy seems like more of the second set of non bolded terms. This list is intended to help people see how learning is done. It is the order in which students learn from remembering to creating. You have to start at the bottom of the list because that is where the learning process starts. So this list of terms will be helpful with students learning in a more digital manner.

Inspiration Comments

Erika: very nice color scheme, it makes the words pop more and I can read them better, and I love this book!! Good idea about them creating their own wild thing, I love the creative aspects of learning.

Jacqueline: I think the colors could have been a little less harsh because it is a bit hard to read, but the chalk boards are a very nice touch!

Mary Kathryn: LOVE that book!! Good idea about having an actual bear with the book. Cool website too. Way to be prepared if students finish early.

Jennifer: I like your idea about the students "being" an animal and talking about where they are from.

Amanda: As a group it might be hard to pick out a favorite chapter, maybe do that as an individual thing, students may not agree on the same chapter. If you're wanting them to act out the chapter as a group, I would have each groups' chapter set before they start. I really like your context clue millionaire game!!

Jordan: I like how everything you're incorporating is "real-life" and its things that they can carry with them for a long time. Good idea about having the speaker know the questions the students have before they speak. Good activity for wave height.

Jonathan: Good idea to give them background information before starting. Good idea to have positive reinforcement with one of your activities.