Voki

Ways of Preventing Bullying (#17)

I think an important thing to remember is that bullying effects children sometimes physically, but more importantly it always effects children emotionally.  To prevent  bullying in schools, you can make students take an elective class about cyber bullying.  High-schools all over have already started doing this.  This class brings awareness to the students, and makes them truly realize how detrimental it can be.  Starting at an early age, students become bullies or are bullied.  To stop bullying from happening in elementary schools, you can have a seminar on uniqueness and equality.  People are different.  They look different and they act different.  Just because someone doesn’t act like you or look like you doesn’t mean that they deserve to be talked about or bullied.  Create, as a school, a conduct code, a mission statement, and bullying report system.  It is important that children feel like they can tell on a bully.  Students need to know that if they stand up for a child being bullied that they will not be bullied in return.  As teachers, our role is to be aware of what is going on in the hallways, lunch, and recess.  We need to be approachable so that students feel like they can trust us and tell us if someone is being bullied.  Most importantly, we need to build a safe environment for children .

Augmented Reality Snags a Coveted Spot in Classrooms (Blog #16)

It is about giving you more information on the information you are studying. How cool?  "Augmented reality uses technology to blend the real world with interactive and enhanced content."  Since there is an increase in the usage of mobile devices and augmented reality apps, it is becoming more and more common for them to be used in K-12 classrooms.  These apps allow students to use their creativity, explore, and think critically into their own learning.
     This was one of the hardest articles to write about only because I have never heard of augmented reality apps before.  They sound very efficient though!  I would like to learn more about it and use it in my classroom in the future.  The students in Theresa McGee's classroom seem to really enjoy using the smart devices and apps to learn.  If you can get students excited about learning, then you are doing a good job as a teacher.  It can be used for professional development purposes for my future as well.

Five Essentials To Create Connected Students (#15)

     Vicki Davis came up with 5 essentials to creating connecting students.  She wants children to be connected to the outside world and society, but she wants them to be able to be connected in the right way.  Using hash-tags, not for fun but for educational purposes.  Connecting to authors by blogging, knowing how to create wikis, sharing on Twitter, etc.  She wants them know how to properly publish something online.  She wants her students to be able to engage in a conversation and learning how to be a conversationalist through the internet is a great way to learn.  Being able to be a strategic disconnecter is important as well.  Lastly, she wants her students to be creators, not consumers.
     My favorite though, has to be essential number 4: A Strategic Disconnector.  She states, "while connecting is important, disconnecting is essential."  Procrastination and distractions are easier to do now that we have smart phones, apps, and the internet right in our hands.  We as a society have lost the ability to communicate by word of mouth.  We are wonderful at connecting through the internet now.  Sometimes I wish technology was where it was when I was a young child.  Phones were used for calling, and that is it.  We need to have well-rounded lives and should be ale to put our phones down to do homework, or work.  We should be able to put our phones down and not check them for an hour while we eat dinner with our families, yet society as a whole says it is ok to text and search the web at all times.  I think technology is good if used properly, but we are not using it properly anymore.  We are over-using it.

21st Century Skills: Why They Matter, What They Are, and How We Get There (#14)

     Ken Kay argues that in order to succeed in the world today, you must have 21st century skills.  The world is changing everyday and if you don't keep up with what is going on in society, then you are going to have a difficult time contributing to your work field.  Kay states that, "only people who have knowledge and skills to negotiate constant change and reinvent themselves for new situations will succeed."  Without these skills people are going to have to settle for low paying, low skill jobs.  He believes that the public education system right now is not preparing all students for the economic workforce or citizenship opportunities in general.  It is skills such as adaptability, critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity that are included in the 21st century skills.  Right now only 70% of students and only 50% of minorities are graduating on time with regular high-school diplomas.  Kay says that, "even if all students earned a high school diploma and mastered traditional academic subjects, that they still would be ill prepared for the expectations of the new economy."
     I agree with what Ken Kay is saying.  Students in society today need to learn how to think, learn, solve problems, communicate with peers, collaborate, and contribute to society as a whole.  When I read this article I automatically thought of the changes that are being made to eduction now.  Common Core is trying to teach students how to think critically and solve problems on their own.  But as I read more into the article, I realized that the 21st century skills are more than what common core stand for.  These skills are looked at as "good to have" skills instead of "must have" skills, which is really what it should be.  Overall, students should be taught knowledge for college and career readiness but also need to be taught these 21st century skills so that they can take the knowledge they have and transform it into creative and purposeful learning.

Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results (Blog #13)

Joanne Lipman believes that the key to teaching is to be tough and strict.  Society and the US as a whole have strayed away from many things that Joanne wants to bring back.  She believes in “strict discipline and unyielding demands.”  She knows that memorization and lecturing are looked down upon, but believes that other countries are doing better in education because they still practice these teaching methods.  Constructive criticism and feedback should be given, and often.  She believes that “kids who understand that failure is a necessary aspect of learning actually perform better.”  Another big point that Joanne makes is that teachers who were optimistic have greater academic gain with their students.  This means that positive reinforcement is good for children in the classroom setting.

    I thought that this was a very well-written and knowledgeable article.  I heard once, “When you are a teacher, do not smile until Christmas.”  You have to be their disciplinarian, not their friend.  Even though I still firmly believe in getting to know your students and building relationships with each of them, you should still treat them like they are your students.  My teachers in high-school would not accept our friend request on Facebook, but as soon as we graduated, many of my teachers wanted to be my Facebook friend so that we could keep in touch.  I babysit 3 children after school.  I have rules set for the car, and for when they get home.  They know what I expect of them, and I have fun with them once they get their homework finished.  The parents have told me on multiple occasions how the children love me, but how they love me too because I am strict with them.  I explained to the parents that during school the teacher is in charge, and when they get to their house they think that is is their house so they are in charge.  They learned real quick that Ms. Madeline is in charge and means business and that in fact I have rules and expectations for them.  I learned a few things from this article that I will take with me as I go onto teaching.

Ispiration Comments (Bog#12)

Erika: Where the Wild Things Are is an adorable theme.  I like the fill in the blank sentence with an emotion and action!

Jacqueline: Very creative clip art. I love the chalk board that you can type over. Cute games, but maybe too many.

Mary Kathryn: I like the bear art project where they write the beginning, middle, and end of the story on the arms and legs.  Cute idea of having them go home and find their own buttons.

Jennifer: Very clean, organized graphic organizer. Very good lesson plan, but I would make this assignment for older children.

Amanda: Context clues is a good theme, because it is very important that they can use context clues to understand what they are reading at this age. Good balance of activities.

Jordan: I like the art project as well as hard activities to push the students to do their best. Hurricane victims coming to visit is a great idea. Small group work is great! Good organizer!

Jonathan: This is a good lesson plan for 8th graders. Ideas and activities will get them involved and engaged in the topic.

Do Not Track Me (Blog#11)

After talking about safety online in class, I really expected more companies to be "tracking" me.  I went on few different websites to compare the results.  On Yahoo I blocked two trackers, on Fox News I blocked nine trackers, On ABC.com I blocked ten trackers, on BrainyQuote I blocked six trackers, and surprisingly on Facebook I blocked five trackers.  I was most surprised about Facebook because of all of the hacking and advertisement that they have all of the time.  I will definitely keep this on my computer.  I like knowing that I can block companies from knowing what I am doing on their websites.  I hope that this protects my identity such as credit card information as well!