"Doing"

For this part of the assignment, I called my little sister, who is 16 years old. I wanted to talk with her because I knew she had both a blog and a facebook account as well as an iPod touch, which essentially allows her to have the Internet in her pocket. More than anything, I told her of all the cautionary measures she should take so as not to be trapped by others' devious and deceptive schemes. I went on to explain that she should never give out her personal information, enter chat rooms, or physically meet someone she met online. I also reminded her that I loved her and that she could come to me if ever anyone were to bully her using any means of communication, technological or not. Fortunately, she reassured me that she never visits chat rooms and the like and does not make mean comments on others' facebook accounts. However, I was astonished when she informed me of some of the bullying that goes on via "wall-to-wall" comments on facebooks. Although this has not happened to her directly, she has noticed it on her other friends' facebook accounts. All in all, it was a positive conversation that, if anything, allowed me to remind her of my support and love for her. I was careful to refrain from giving her a lecture, because I knew she had refrained from participating in any unhealthy online habits. I mainly wanted to inform her so that she would not be ignorant and not have to learn of the consequences the hard way. I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with her concerning this particular topic and think that it benefitted us both.

Fourth Article Response

The fourth article I chose to read was a recorded talk given by President Hinckley, titled, "An Ensign to the Nations, a Light to the World. Even though I remember hearing President Hinckley give this particular talk during the 2003 October General Conference, his address is no less profound. I was reminded of the dangers, evils, and deception that arise from not only the internet, but the media, songs, and TV shows. President Hinckley beautifully illustrates this misconception when he says, "Life is better than that which is so frequently portrayed. Nature is better than that. Love is better than that. This kind of entertainment is only an evil caricature of the good and the beautiful." This statement resonates profound truths. If only the world realized the beauty of reality, then maybe they would not be so willing to resort to reside in a virtual reality. Furthermore, President Hinckley reminds us not to be discouraged or dismayed from the growing pressures of the world, but rather to remain steadfast to our objective, which is to continue to build the kingdom of the Lord on the earth. This is especially helpful counsel, because it is so easy to feel defeated by the world.

This article also serves as a reminder of how I can provide and protect not only my home, but my classroom as well. As I read I was reminded of the strength of the younger generations and their ability to make correct choices. Additionally, President Hinckley constantly reminds us that, "others will rally around us... We can stand for truth and goodness, and we will not stand alone. Moreover, we shall have the unseen forces of heaven to assist us." What an a amazing promise this is. For me, this statement means that no matter what trials I face, if I remain worthy, I will receive the strength of the Lord either directly or through the help of others. This is especially comforting, given the fact that soon I will be facing the biggest challenge of my academic career: my internship. Overall, this article has helped me to regain confidence in my abilities as a wife, a student, a soon-to-be-teacher, and most of all, as a Latter-day Saint.

Lastly, this reading has provided me with possible ways in which I can strengthen myself and prepare, and maintain the defenses of my own home. Thus, if I am able to protect my family from the dangers presented in every form of technology, I and my family will be blessed with an understanding of the beauty of reality. Furthermore, by following the prophet's counsel and striving to use technology in moderation and not letting it consume mine or my children's lives, we will be blessed to develop meaningful personal relationships with one another, and with our Heavenly Father.

What I learned...

I watched Carisa's Slideshare and was extremely impressed with how she was able to incorporate technology into her lesson. For the longest time, I was disappointed that the classroom I worked in only had one computer. I did not think that it would suit any individual, small, or whole group projects. However, after watching Carisa's slideshare, I realized that one computer is sufficient to compile students' work to create a movie or slide show. Her story mapping lesson plan seemed engaging and fun. I'm sure she had no problem motivating the students to participate during her lesson. Her lesson also taught me an interactive way to teach students how to brainstorm, organize, and produce a story in chronological order. I will be sure to implement this idea in my future classroom!

Slideshare Presentation

Technology In The Classroom

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Technology in the Classroom

My first lesson plan involving technology actually served as an extension to a prior lesson I had taught. The lesson preceding my technology lesson consisted of teaching students how to write a basic message to their parents/guardians, which would be shown to their parents/guardians during Parent-Teacher conferences. Once the students had completed their messages, I instructed them that while we were in the computer lab, they were to create a picture, using Kid Pix, that relates to the content of their messages. For example, if a student wrote about a class party, I would expect that student to create their own picture that represented the class party in his/her own eyes. After a half an hour of computer lab time had passed, I quickly printed off each student's picture and brought them to class. Using the flex camera in the classroom, I invited each student to come up and present his/her picture, if he/she so desired, (I left that option open for anyone who was especially shy, or who did not want to display his/her picture). One by one, the students came up to the flex camera to display and explain the various parts of their picture. As they walked up to the front of the room, I gave them ideas of things they could clarify, like: who was in their picture, why they chose to use certain colors, and what exactly they drew. In carrying out this lesson plan I was pleased to find that the students were highly engaged and excited to complete the task I had assigned. Their pictures turned out amazing and it was fun to hear their individualized explanations for how and why they created their pictures.

Possible Lesson Plan

In collaborating with my cooperating teacher, I have discovered that the students are currently learning about different types of weather. As we planned and discussed, I immediately thought of using Garageband to compile a number of mp3 clips of different weather sounds, (like thunder, rain, and wind) and space them out in 15 second intervals. I would then export my final project to iTunes, where I could use the clip to play during an activity that follows a discussion/instruction on the various types of weather. After the discussion, each of the students would be handed a worksheet that presents a number of labeled pictures of weather in one column that is adjacent to another column comprised of blank lines. As students hear each sound from the clip I have created, they will write a number "1" next to the labeled picture that best represents the sound they heard, a number "2" next to the labeled picture that best represents the second sound they heard, and so on. After all the sounds have been played, we will go over the worksheet as a class.

Technology Inventory for Jordan Ridge

Today my co-teaching partner and I explored Jordan Elementary School in search of the technology that was available both inside the classroom and throughout the school. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this particular elementary school was very well equipped. In each classroom, you will find a projector, a flex camera, a television with VHS capabilities hung in one of the corners of the room, and at least one computer. Furthermore, there is a computer lab with 32 Macintosh computers available for class use. This is an extremely useful asset to the school because it provides students with the opportunity to become more familiar with computers and creative software programs designed for elementary students. Additionally, since the school can afford classes to have rotational computer lab time, students are exposed to exciting programs that are both educational and fun to work on. As I observed my first grade class, I was amazed at the procedures they were taught to use while in the lab, such as using bookmarks on the Safari web browser and computer key shortcuts to exit out of programs. I wish this area of the curriculum was a part of my education growing up!

Adjacent to this computer lab is the school's media center. As we talked with one of the workers, she informed us that there were many other technological aids, such as digital camcorders, cameras, flex cams, projectors, and televisions with DVD capabilities, that teachers could check out. She invited us to explore the other cabinets of the media center to help us with our technology inventory and we were excited to find two GeoSafari Jr. games, AlphaSmart keyboards, sketch projectors, and other cool hardware! This exploration was extremely informative because it gave my partner and I an idea of the technology that is available to us to implement in our future lesson plans.

Location	Activity	Google Earth Content
1.England	Students will research and draw pictures of at least three goods that were initially gathered from European markets to be placed on the ship sailing for its next destination: Africa. They will also create a map of the first leg of the journey.	Images of ports throughout Europe with an accompanying paragraph describing the numerous European ports, especially those originating in England.
2.West Africa	Students will research what goods from Europe were exchanged for when the European ships reached West Africa. They will then create currency by drawing each good on a 3X5 card and giving each good a specific value (previously assigned). In groups, they will briefly recreate the trading market by using their "goods currency" to trade with other group members in order to achieve a certain good that they were previously assigned to attain. Using the map they created in the first activity, they will then draw the route of the second leg of the journey.	Images of slave traders and auctions of goods in West Africa along with a brief synopsis of the tragedy slave families were put through as they were sold from their families.
3.Caribbean	Students will calculate the overall sum of the distances between West Africa and the Caribbean and from the Caribbean to the Americas. They will then include this third leg of the route on their drawn out maps.	Images of the crammed slave ships along with a description of the poor conditions the slaves had to endure on the ship.
4.Rhode Island	Students will research and make a graphic organizer that includes the different goods sent out from each of the American colonies to be traded in Europe. They will also research and calculate the entire length of time, in months and days, it took one ship to complete the entire trade route. Lastly, they will draw the final leg of the route on the maps they initially drew.	An image of the ship being prepared for its third and final leg home, Europe, accompanied by a brief overview of the kind of maintenance and labor that was required to get the ships ready for the last leg of the trade route.

TPACK for Virtual Tour

This particular project will fulfill Utah's Core Curriculum for Fifth Grade Social Studies. More specifically, it covers Standard 1, Objective 3, a. which states: "Students will understand how the exploration and colonization of North America transformed human history,assess the global impact of cultural and economic diffusion as a result of colonization, and describe the cultural and economic impacts that occurred as a result of trade between North America and other markets (e.g., arts, language, ideas, the beginning and expansion of the slave trade, new agricultural markets)."

The technology that will be introduced and applied is the software program called Google Earth. With the aid of computers, each student will have the opportunity to view a virtual tour of the slave trade that occurred during the establishment of the 13 colonies. At designated spots located on the tour, each student will be asked to accomplish a specific task, activity, calculation, or answer a research question. These activities will be designed so that students learn first-hand about the slave trade, its routes, goods, and ports.

In terms of pedagogy, this virtual tour provides students with an opportunity to interact with technology, engage in personal research, and gain a more accurate scope of the distances between the global markets of that time. Furthermore, this activity helps students to focus on how the economy of the time influenced the colonies' financial stability.

Digital Storytelling Project

TPACK

For this project, I have focused on implementing and fulfilling a few objectives from UEN for the Language Arts Core Curriculum for the third grade.  For example, Standard 1 Objective 2 states that children will, "Develop language through viewing media and presenting."  It is my hope that a project similar to the one I will create will serve as an example for students as they strive to discover language arts through multimedia software.  Standard 5 Objective 2 states that students will develop reading fluency to read aloud grade level text effortlessly without hesitation." Through projects similar to this one, I would have students choose a grade-level appropriate poem or prose to implement, via narration, in their final multimedia project.  This exercise will encourage students to practice their fluency in reading and speaking since they are aware that their final project, including their narration, will be heard by the rest of the class.  Lastly, Standard 8 Objective 6 (f. and g.) states that students will, "Share writing with others using illustrations, graphs, and/or charts to add meaning," and "Publish 4-6 individual projects."  This type of project can count towards students' overall portfolio of projects and also provides an opportunity for students to share their illustrations, and other forms of artistry to their fellow students.

The technology that will be incorporated includes anywhere from computers, to media software, to digital and video cameras, to microphones, etc.

As for pedagogy, this project, and others similar to it, allow students to discover a variety of technology as well as learn how to implement it in a final project.  Furthermore, after completing a project of their own, students' confidence increases, contributing to their overall self-esteem.

Science Experiment Content, Pedagogy, and Technology

For our science project, the content we chose to focus on is part of and found in the 5th grade Science Core Curriculum for Utah students, which includes instruction on the changes in states of matter.  The outlined procedures for performing this experiment follow an inquiry based approach that teaches students how to analytically observe, collect, and process data.  The technologies we used in the initial observations are a laptop computer and a digital temperature probe. These portable devices fit well with the content and pedagogy involved in this lab because it is a tool specifically made for scientific observations that also provides more accurate data in real time, thus enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of students' observations.

The Tech Savvy Teacher

Welcome to the age of technology. Since entering this era, technology has become more readily accessible to both teachers and students. Teachers now have the opportunity to allow students to discover science on a first-hand basis rather than relying on the experiences of others. With the advantage of technological software and hardware, learning becomes more meaningful, appeals to different types of learners, and reinforces the concepts being taught.

We took advantage of such technology by including it in the experiment we carried out to introduce the concept of physical changes of matter and how temperature affects the states of matter. We decided to begin with the most familiar substance: water.

To display these changes, we began with a pot of frozen water. Using the digital temperature probe and its corresponding software program Logger Pro, we simply connected its USB cord into the computer and placed the probe into the pot of ice in order to calculate and record the current temperature of the ice. 

Leaving the probe in the pot of ice, we then increased the temperature of the burner. As the probe recorded the increase in temperature by graphing it on the computer, we observed how the water transformed from a solid to a liquid state. 

Increasing the temperature of the burner yet again, we left the probe in the pot to continue recording the changes in temperature of the water until it transformed into its final state, a gas. 

  

We concluded the experiment by observing the graph on the computer and analyzing the correlation between the increase in temperature and each physical state of water.

Although basic experiments, like the one we accomplished, can be performed in the classroom in old school fashion, technology like the portable, digital probe provides more accurate data, graphs changes in temperature in real time and exposes students to the limitless possibilities technology has to offer. Furthermore, with the supplement of this particular technology, students are learning how to observe a set of data as well as analyze, identify, and describe the relationships involved with temperature and physical states of matter as shown on graphs.

My Discovery of Stellarium!

One of the science/math technologies I explored was a software program called "Stellarium."  This program provides a simulation of the night sky and allows its users to hone in on any stellar body or object, from galaxies, to planets, to star clusters, etc.  "Stellarium" also allows you to view the night sky from any hemisphere at any time of day.  One feature also allows you to see all of the 88 constellations as well as their corresponding mythological figures superimposed over the group of stars that comprises that constellation.  It is an enjoyable program that uses impressive graphics, real time images, and numerous tools and features that enable you to come to a better understanding of numerous scientific and astronomic concepts.

TPACK

TPACK, the acronym meaning Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge, is the idyllic combination of knowledge types all teachers should possess.  The ability to maintain all of these types of knowledge is, or should be, the goal of every teacher.  All teachers should be able to properly exercise their pedagogical knowledge in order to fully engage students as they learn specific subject matter while also utilizing and applying their knowledge of technology to enhance the content being taught.  If teachers can master this, they will be more successful in reaching students of all learning types because they will have the tools and understanding that is required to prepare a variety of involved and captivating lesson plans.

RSS Feeds and Web 2.0

Before this week's lesson, I had only heard of RSS feeds.  I never knew what they stood for or what purpose they served.  However, this past week I learned what a useful tool these Rich Site Summaries, or RSS feeds, are.  These feeds automatically update the information on the sites that you are linked to, thus keeping you continuously updated and informed of any changes on the sites you are interested in.  Using RSS feeds is also more time efficient because rather than looking up every individual site, it leads you directly to the main web page.

I also learned some helpful Web 2.0 tools like blogs, and resources like "Delicious" and "Goodreads."  These are amazing tools that allow teachers to share, organize, and collect educational resources.  I have already found Goodreads to be especially useful when it comes to generating a list of grade-level appropriate children's books.  These categorized lists will serve as an excellent reference when I am creating my classroom library.  Also, through the "Delicious" site, I have been able to establish a well protected account of online teacher resources that I can use when preparing lesson plans for multiple subjects.  I am excited to continue using these tools and hope that they will enhance the efficiency of my preparation and planning for my future classes.

Background and History in Technology

I have been fortunate enough to have grown up in a very technologically advanced household.  My father is an avid Macintosh user, and as a result, he has always had at least two computers in the house for family usage.  From using computers, I have gained an understanding of how to manage both Macintosh and Microsoft operating systems, as well as a number of software programs, and have a basic knowledge of keyboard functions and shortcuts.