Safe Practices for Life Online (Blog #9)

1. Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest
2. The consequences vary!  Students are feeling guilty, are being arrested, are getting suspended, and even in some cyber-bullying instances, committing suicide. 
3. Definitions:

Sexting- sending inappropriate sexual text, pictures, and videos

Cramming- false or misleading charges on a bill

Cookies- little pieces of information sent to your computer from websites that keeps information about the user

Trojan Horse- a hidden virus that makes you think it is something else

Phishing- online stealing/theft usually via credit card

Spyware- a software that monitors the usage of a computer

Rootkit- gives unauthorized access in a computer to an intruder

Zombie- a hacked computer

Source: http://www.webopedia.com

4. Your screen name can be seen by anyone so you want it to look professional. All of these are silly and/or have a negative reputation that goes along with them.

5. You don’t want to be portrayed as a person in anyones face, have the reputation of being a bad boy, look desperate and tell others you are looking for love, call yourself hot or fat, or call yourself a super flirt.  It is not professional and if these were people trying to get jobs, they would be disregarded just by these screen names.  

6. Too much information can be harmful, especially for students.  All of these screen names reveal the persons full name, and a number which could be their age, school number or birthday.

7. These are all bad screen name choices.  They are bad because some of them reveal too much information while others are too generic.  Most of these have a negative connotation and they do not identify who the person really is.

8. MadV4! and GKVKKMKV3 and Love_To_Teach2

9. After rating my password, I received a 3 for my score.

10. Most common-Others who know personal things about the student guess their password.  Least common- Other students see the password as the student enters it on a keyboard.

The Padagogy Wheel-Bloom's Taxonomy (Blog #8)

The Padagogy Wheel using Bloom’s Taxonomy is a helpful way of pointing out some applications that students can use in and out of the classroom.  Some that stick out to me are the Inspiration App, the Skype App, the iMovie App, and the Bump App.  Its cool to know that all of these Apps support and go along with Bloom’s Taxonomy.  We are already using Inspiration to make graphic organizers and this is a good tool to use for all subjects.  It allows students to point out the main topic in an article or project and to better understand the information.  The Skype App could be useful because you could let the students meet other students from across the world by setting up a Skype session in the classroom.  Another application that I want to use in my classroom is the iMovie App.  I can teach a topic and get the students engaged by having them act out a play.  You can use iMovie to record the play and even add effects such as sound and slow motion.  Lastly I want to talk about the Bump App.  This is an App that my 9 year old brother uses and loves.  Since he doesn’t own a phone yet, but has an iPad, he can communicate or “text” through this application with his friends and classmates.  The students in the class all have an account and it allows him to ask questions about homework or even just talk over the weekend.  Overall, it is wonderful to use technology in the classroom when you know how to effectively introduce it.  I will be more than happy to use all of these Apps when I become a teacher in the future.

Concept Map Caterpillars and Butterflies (Blog #10)

Caterpillars and Butterflies
W. K. 8
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

I.       Go outside and explore

We are going to go outside and observe nature. We will be looking for caterpillars, cocoons, and butterflies.  We will go back inside and learn about them! I will break the class up into four groups and give them a disposable camera. The students will take pictures of what they see. I will also bring in real butterflies for the class to observe.

Look for caterpillars
Look for cocoons
Look for butterflies

II.     Butterfly Life Cycle

Come inside and watch the video, off of Youtube, on the butterfly life cycle. Break the class up into four groups and have them act out each part like charades.

Eggs > Caterpillar > Cocoon > Butterfly

III.    Paper Plate Butterflies

Let the students design their own butterfly using a paper plate. View the blog to show them how.

Make the antennas and body out of construction paper
Decorate a paper plate and cut it in half

IV.    The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Read to the class, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Erik Carle.

Math assignment:
The very hungry caterpillar eats...
1 apple
 2 pears
 3 plums
 4 strawberries
 5 oranges
 1 piece of chocolate cake
 1 ice cream cone
 1 pickle
 1 slice of Swiss cheese
 1 slice of salami
 1 lollipop
 1 piece of cherry pie
 1 sausage
 1 cupcake
 1 slice of watermelon
 1 green leaf

Make a Graph by asking each child to put a mark by whatever fruit they like the most.

V.     Different types of butterflies

There are lots of different types of caterpillars and butterflies. Search the Internet for pictures of caterpillars. Learn about different types; poisonous vs. harmless, furry vs. smooth

Poisonous vs. Harmless
Hairy vs. Bald

Common Core State Standards for ELA and Literacy (Blog #6)

What is the purpose of the college and career readiness standards?

Expectations were too broad
All states were following different curriculum
One set of standards for all of the states



What are the benefits and challenges of the shift to reading and writing non-fiction texts?

 Informational Technical, Historical text
To write informative text
To apply knowledge
More writing
Challenge- does not include special needs

What are the benefits and challenges of having standards for Science, Social Studies, and technical subjects?

Challege- does not include special needs children

Use Arts Integration to Enhance Common Core (Blog #7)

Integrating arts in the classroom is often overlooked.  This is because teachers are insecure about using arts, especially their own artistic talent.  Every child’s needs are different.  By using arts in the classroom, a teacher can make sure each child is learning in a way that makes sense to them.  They are learning socially, emotionally, and intellectually by using arts in the classroom.  Our society thinks highly of the arts.  Think about all of the movies, plays, concerts, museums that you like to visit and see.  There are few key things you can do to make sure that you are using art integration correctly.  Some of the key things are to talk with art teachers, dance teachers, drama teachers, and classroom teachers to find a balance and objectives that want to be accomplished.  Creating a lesson plan that teaches both art and an academic subject is another great component when trying to integrate art into the classroom.  

I think this is a great way to get students interested in a subject that they would not care for otherwise.  It is a way of getting students moving and learning.  I think this will build great leaders in the classroom instead of followers.  By using the arts, students can learn through different activities.  Everyone learns differently, but everyones mind thinks artistically in some way or another; For some it is through music, dance, drama, and art.  Incorporating this into learning allows children with all different types of art abilities to connect.    

"John Hunter and the World Peace Game" Reflection (Blog #5)

"So many people doing so much good."  John Hunter is a public school teacher from Virginia.  He was in an out of college but finally committed to education.  He got a teaching job working with gifted children.  When he watched the video he didn't see himself as a teacher.  He saw each of his teachers who shaped him.  He wanted interative learning so he came up with a game.  Now that game has evolved into a 4 by 4 plexi glass figure with outer space and the world.  This was to let these 4th graders fix economical problems and global problems.  As I'm watching this video I can't help but think about my outlook on life when I was in 4th grade.  I knew nothing of the outside world.  I was sheltered! These children are learning real world problems and, by themselves, learning how to fix them.  What a wonderful loutlook on education.  The best thing you can do as a teacher is to let children explore their imagination.