Final Post

I have enjoyed creating my PLE. This is the first time that I have every created a blog. I have learned that there are so many different thing that you can do to enhance and spruce up my blog. I have learned how to change the background and I know I can add music to it. There are so many things to do with a blog. I really haven't had any bad experiences with using my PLE. I will continue to use my blog. I will post on it to keep my family informed of how my life is in Utah.

Internet Safety

READING
I chose to read "The Savior is Counting on You" by Joe J. Christensen. He talk only had a small part that focused completely on media. Christensen said, "The Savior is counting on you to avoid the immoral trash that surrounds you in the media." Another quote that I liked was from Elder Ballard's message, "Church leaders have the responsibility to speak out on moral issues and to counsel individuals and families. The family is the basic unit of society; it is the basic unit of eternity. Thus, when forces threaten the family, Church leaders must respond." These two quotes from the brethren of the church are the most important things that I read. It just helped to reinforce the importance of being area of what is viewed on the TV and the internet. I will have the responsibility as a parent and teacher to make sure that nothing inappropriate occurs while using the internet or watching TV. I will suggest that my brothers and sisters take the time to read what has been posted about the intenet and the media on the church website.

WATCHING
With the internet being so readily available at home and in the schools it is important for the students to learn how to safely navigate it. It is important to set rules and to talk about the dangers that can occur to help keep the children safe. I could use the games and the handouts/activities that went along with some of the sites to help teach and enforce the importance on internet safety.

Week 12

The students had the opportunity to use the computers for 2 days this week during center time. They had such a great time!!! I like the fact that they had a lot of options of games to play that could be found in the bookmark tab. I am so happy that the computers are usable now.

I taught a shared reading lesson this week and the "reward" for the students good behavior was a website they could use at centers and take home that had games on it that were related to the book that we read. The games were on pbskids.org and they were so many other games for them to play.

Next week we will be in the schools for only one day. I'm not sure if I will be able to get some technology use in or not.

Week 11

The computers have finally arrived! The computers were put into the classroom at the beginning of the week but didn't get hooked up until the end of the week. So the students will be able to use the computers for centers next week and they are very excited about it. I helped my teacher to bookmark some good websites for the students to use during their center time.

This week I used technology for my writing lesson and I feel that it went really well. I made a power point to introduce the topic of the writing assignment. I will explain this in greater detail in the integration project, I am excited to explain it!

Next week I am thinking of maybe using technology as some sort of inducement to get the students excited about my shared reading lesson.

Week 10

There are still no computers in the class yet. I was able this week to see the students use the computers in the computer lab to take a math test. It was easy to tell which students have had a lot of experience using computers. The teacher uses a tape player to play a story as the students follow along with their books. I can see how this is important for the students so that they can know the words, but at the same time it seems kind of boring.

This week I made a little slide show for my guided reading lesson and I brought in my own computer to use. I knew that this was something that the students hadn't experienced before during a guided reading lesson. The students really liked the slide show and it was nice to do something different.

I'm not yet sure how I will use technology next week. I will be doing a read aloud and I am trying to come up with a way to somehow use technology. Whatever I do I am sure that it will be amazing.

Week 9

There is hardly any technology in the class right now. They are supposed to be getting computers for the classroom soon, but they aren't sure exactly when. So needless to say I haven't seen technology be used yet.

We were only in the school for two days this week and all we did was observe for the two days, I wasn't given the chance to use technology. But while observing I came up with some ideas of how to incorporate technology. I am going to try to use it in one of my guided reading lessons and maybe use it to introduce a lesson

Virtual Tour

I viewed 2 other tours and I really liked how Hallie used the polygon in hers and I liked the use of pictures in Emily Robinson's tour.

Google Earth

This was my first experience with Google Earth. I think it is a very cool tool that I will use in the classroom when teaching about history and geography. I learned hoe to search for specific places, I looked up my home address. I really liked the different virtual tours that are offered. Here is a Lewis and Clark kmz link: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=29917 I would use this when teaching about Lewis and Clark.

Digital Story Reaponse

I viewed Nicole Booth's digital story and I liked how they used clay and how they made it look simple so that yound students would feel that they could do it. I really enjoyed Lexee Russell's story and I love how they used pictures of themselves. Lisa Willey's story was beautifully done with the clay, it looked so very good. I think that this is a fun idea to use in the classroom. One way I would use t is for poetry and have the students find pictures on the web that would go along with their poem.

Digital Story

Digital Storyboard

I have enjoyed learning about digital storytelling. It is interesting to view different ones that have been made. Different types include ABC storybook, circle story, family stories, fractured fairy tale, adventure story, poetry interpretation, book trailer, public service announcement, and mini documentary. There are also differnt materials that can be used, I will use pictures. I think that this is a great way for students to use technology and be creative.





I have decided to do poetry interpretation using pictures from the internet. Here is my storyboard.

Reflection

I liked all the different ideas and topics that people had. I liked how Jen Talley was compaing wether or not moon is round like the Earth. I also enjoyed Lexee's idea on the differnt moon cycles. I noticed that most of the formatting was the same and I think that it was becasue they were both posted in a blog.

The Tech Savvy Teacher

Teaching Tornadoes
By Hannah Hicks

I am very honored to have the opportunity to write this month in the Tech Savvy Teacher column. There are so many different ways to include technology into our lessons/teaching that the possibilities are nearly endless. Since there are so many different ways to include technology I have decided to share with you one of my favorite lessons. This lesson uses technology to make learning about tornadoes more interesting.


Fourth Grade Science Standard 2.3


ANTICIPATORY SET: A picture of a tornado will be displayed where it can easily be seen by all the students. Give the class about one minute to observe the picture. After observation ask the students to predict and have them write what tomorrow's headline would be. Note: Any picture of a tornado can be used but this one was found at http://www.chaseday.com/tornadoes-03.htm.

INSTRUCTIONAL INPUT:
1) Discuss what the weather conditions need to be like for a tornado to form.
2) Discuss and define what a Tornado Watch and a Tornado Warning are.
3) Talk about how long a tornado lasts.
4) Discuss the wind speed of a tornado. Make sure that in this part you teach about the Fujita Scale. There are many web sites that will talk about this scale, but the one that I particularly liked was found at http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/weather/tornado/fscale.shtml.

GUIDED PRACTICE: The students will have the opportunity to create their own Tornado in a bottle. Directions can be found at http://www.yesmag.ca/projects/tornado_tube.html. Note: Instead of drilling a whole in the caps you can buy vortex bottle connectors to make the project more student friendly.

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: There are many options for the students to test their knowledge about tornadoes. I will give you two websites that will test their knowledge. The first will be a short video followed by a quiz. The other website allows the students to adjust the funnel width and the core pressure of a tornado, to then see the destruction it would cause, and then guess where it would be on the F-scale.


Tornado Movie & Quiz
http://www.kidsknowit.com/interactive-educational-movies/free-online-movies.php?movie=Tornadoes

Interactive Twister

http://whyfiles.org/013tornado/3.html

CLOSURE: Assign the students to make a bubble chart showing their knowledge of the Fujita Scale. They can either draw it by hand or create it on the computer.

In this lesson example the students had the opportunity to use technology in their learning. The movie and quiz and the interactive twister was a fun way for the students to learn using technology, they also had the opportunity to create their bubble chart on the computer. The students now have a better understanding of how tornadoes are formed and the effects that they can have on the environment.

Fair Use & TPAK

I learned a lot about fair use. I am glad that I now know the rule about 60 seconds for video and 30 seconds for audio. The question about the 9/11 footage threw me off at first on the quiz. I find it interesting that the footage is good only up to 10 days after the event. I am glad that we have fair use as a teacher, this can help lessons to be more effective. TPAK stands for technological pedagogical content knowledge. TPAK is the intesection of content knowledge, techological knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge. I think that it would be important to use TPAK in teaching so that the students will get to use all 3 knowledges.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 allows everyone to publish on the internet (i.e. this post). I can use web 2.0 to help the parents of my students to know what is being done in the classroom, to keep them updated and informed.