Credibility of Internet Sites Block (6)

I went through adventure 1 and I have learned many new ways to be critical of the sites that I visit. I asked my three children who are in grade 6 and 7 to see if they recognized the hoax pages Marnie posted and all three did not know they were false websites. I recognize that we all have a lot of work to do. I feel that living in the North and not really having the opportunity to travel has really limit the vast amount of information that we receive which would make it difficult to recognize truth or false. We live in a world where there is so much information we do not know about because of our limitations. Many of my students have never even travelled to Prince Albert which would hinder their intellectual growth. They still believe everything that is said by people of authority as being true. One of the ways I can begin to teach educators about the importance of being critical is by talking about this information at the staff meetings. I need to continue reminding staff about the imortance of teaching the skills the students need to decifer information on computers. I teach in a grade two class and teachers are still very much in selecting the sites in the elementary grades. We can talk about the sites as not always being true but it is still monitored.
The parents need to be educated about teaching safety and monitoring children on the computer. This is of great concern because many of the parents are not educated about what is true and what is false. There is a lot of talk in my tiny community about people who are developing relationships on the internet and many people are worried about people who pursue these relationships. How do we ensure they are safe? Maybe if we educate the students, they will go home to teach their parents. One of the posts recommend that we teach chioldren to become information managers who will locate, analyze, evaluate and synthesize information and this is certainly true. We do need to create lessons and policies that will teach students about internet use.
As an elementary teacher I would like to use the directories that are created for children because they are easier to monitor when you have lots of children in the computer room and than students will need to learn about becomiung information managers when they are in grade 4 or 5.

Elders in School

Pinehouse square dancers

glogging

I love it and I hate it. I just tried glogging for the first time and then I posted on my blog. It was actually not a bad experience. It was easy to share considering this is my family. I have also posted some material for the first time on u tube then I phoned everybody that I knew to look at Pinehouse cultural events under u tube to see if I was successful. There are so many negative things the kids in my community have posted and I wonder how anyone can have pride when all they see is material that is destructive to their culture. I am trying to switch this around by placing our cultural strenghts on u tube. I tried to upload this same presentation onto my blog but I have not been successful.
I'm not doing too bad considering I only knew the minimum when I started.

Glogster

technology

Okay already, I'm conformed and I think I'm having an affair with my computer. I have been trying some of the tools on the computer and I can't believe how ADDICTED I have become. I am at my work place every night going through the process of figuring things out and totally enjoying the process.

Classroom Design

I agree that classroom design is an important component to classroom learning but it needs to be monitored consistently because some students who sit together are constantly interrupting each other. There are also students who do not get along and they need to be physically seperated. If students can not deal with the issues that will destroy their education then they need to seperated.
We have a classroom in out school that looks like a house because it is a functionally integrated program where they learn lifeskills and the students who are in traditional classrooms envy the students who are in a comfortable environment. The picture that is in Clarence's bloglooks similiar to the functionally integrated class.
I do not have rows of desks, I have two large groups, one small group and two students who sit independantly. We need to base our structure depending on the students needs.

Cyber bullying

It is wonderful to see we have resources that will protect the safety of our children. Every teacher needs to be aware of the resources that are available and they need to be extremely observant in the classroom.
As a parent I take all precautions to allow my children to learn about technology but to ensure they are safe. At first I restricted my children from all sites but when I realized that technology is here and we can not avoid it, I began to slowly trust my children to make good decisions and I continue to talk openly about the dangers of the internet. This needs to be a partnership between parents and educators. I will share the web sites to all of my staff at the next staff meeting. I am Thank Ful for the sharing of information, knowledge and resources that are available on the net.

Constructivism

I read through the information on constructivism and ended up having many unanswered questions which is what the theory of constructivism is all about. Constructivism is encouraging your students to seek out questions and then to discuss, research, and ponder with other peers until they find some answers or solutions based on their prior knowledge. Some of the questions that I thought of as I read the information include:

1. Is constuctivism relevant to all subject areas because I found that the demonstrations support the subject of science in experimentation but how would you use constructivism to teach reading?

2. Constuctivism uses alot of language and questioning techniques, How would you incorporate this theory to second language users or to a class of students who are severely delayed in language development?

3. How do you convince parents in constructivism when they are always questioning such things as why hasn't my child memorized the times table in mathematics even when you have taught the skills, tools or tricks in being able to locate the tools to finding the answers?

4. How can a teacher practice constuctivism when there are provincial assessments in mathematics and the teachers feel the pressure to teach according to the assessments?

Our teachers are teaching a math program. They are expected to teach a certain strand every two months and then they are expected to do a unit test which needs to be filed in the office. The traditional classrooms have textbooks and our classrooms are still required to follow the guidelines that are adopted by our division. It is difficult to change our teaching methods when we have regulations and procedures that we have to follow.

I totally agree that constructivism would help to eliminate the boredom that is in our classrooms because these are choices that the students are making and they would have to take responsibility for their choices but it certainly has limits.

The technology that is available would certainly benefit the students who are capable of formulating questions about the world that they live in. At home I often see my own children going on websites to find information about the things they want to know. They will often instruct my husband and I to google questions about everyday questions regarding our home such as how to fix a frozen water pipe or whatever else we need to know.

As a learner, I wonder how I can use constructivism because Abbott states that we build on prior knowledge and my technology skills are very limited so I need to learn from the very basics.
On the pod cast McMillian talks about her learning process and I wish I could jump twelve years into the future to see where I will be at in my learning about technology. I guess its nice to know that I will learn.

Grade 1 in Moose Jaw

I am beginning to see some of the ways we can use technology to enhance student learning. The grade 1 class in Moose Jaw are sharing a very simple concept of snow to countries who are not as fortunate as we are in having this white pile of stuff that falls from the sky. There are many fun activities that can be created using snow rather than sitting by the window wishing it would just melt. I believe that the grade one class would be motivated and enthusiastic in their learning process when they watch some of the activities they are doing on the computer. This activity would allow students to observe, assess and critique the learning process.
I had a question period in my grade 2 class to find out what they know about computers and all they talked about was games. I need to start taking small groups of students or a computer buddy system so that I can begin to develop some skills in technology. My interest in in learning about digital storytelling with my grade 2 class.
We also need some professional development for our staff so they will be comfortable in teaching some skills.

Are Ideas Contagious

The question was "Are ideas contagious and who are the hubs and what is their purpose?" Well ideas are certainly contagious, but ideas could be either good or bad and it doesn't matter how good your ideas are they could be destroyed by people who have a strong network. I recently took a class in community development and the text recommended that you plant as many seeds (ideas) as you can to spread the community development process. Our community has been an inter agency community for about twenty years and we have many success stories but our ideas are often not successful because there are not enough people in our network to have it succeed. You need to create motivation in your idea before you can succeed.
In my classroom, I have been introducing and teaching students about Aboriginal people and I have tried to focus on equality considering we are First Nations and Metis people. My idea of equality went home one day when a grade two student went hame and told his parents, papa you are First Nations and mama you ar Metis but we all share the same community and we are all equally important. It is difficult for a community to continue having division if students are promoting the idea of equality. Our hubs are our students and if we want to create a better future we need to start with our students as our notwork.

Tracing Routes in the Snow

I must say that I admire this educator for his ability to inspire and motivate his students using technology. He talks about laying out a plan and providing direction but more importantly he asks the students for their direction in where they want to go with the plan. This tells me that he trusts his students to take responsibility for their learning. The students are empowered to make decisions about their educational journey rather than having someone dictated the process. I struggle with allowing my students about making suggestions. I need to learn that it is okay to share your power with the students. I wonder if it would be different if I had older students. I am presently teaching sixteen grade two students in a modified class and I am afraid of discipline problems. I really want to change my teaching style beacause I am seeing different methods and Iknow that there are better ways of teaching. We need to bring technology and enjoyment into our classes. I teach half time and the other teacher does the computer classes. I am going to ask some questions that will give me some direction about what my students know when it comes to technology.

Bias in the Classroom

I found this activity to be interesting when I viewed the pictures because first of all a picture can tell a million stories and I find that we have very interesting and different perspectives. Some are positive and some are negative depending on the events and activites that are taking place in our lives. Students need to learn that not everything we see and read are true and we need to monitor the information that we receive from the media, television, newspaper and more importantly technology. We hear so many horror stories about the people we meet on the net and the danger they could pose on our students. I feel this activity could be used to teach about the need to monitor how safe we are on the internet by showing pictures to students and then having the facts brought out after they have made their own biases.