Google Wave

After reading Kyle's blog post for this week, regarding wiki's and blogs, I was introduced to something I had not heard of before called google wave.
Google wave seems really neat...

It is used for real time collaboration and communication...it can be a conversation or a document via rich text, photos, videos, maps, etc.

A wave is shared, much like the other technologies we have used...anyone can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add members at any point in the process. There is a neat tool called playback that then lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when. This live transmittion allows for faster conversations!
Another cool thing about google wave is that there are no attachments...all you have to do is drag and drop the file you would like to share and then everyone will have access.

A wave, or a threaded conversation, can include one person, or it can include a group or even robots. Google wave has been compared to instant messaging...anything you have ever discussed in a chat is a wave. Robots can talk with users and provide information from outside sources.

I am still very new to this technology myself so I have included an article on the launch of google wave, which will offer a better understanding! It really seems pretty neat.

Blogs, Wiki's and Webpage sites

Blogs, wikis and webpage sites all serve their own purposes...they are unique in their own ways. Having recently become more familiar with all of the above technologies, I find that they are all closely related.

Blogging websites contain posts, written by one individual or a group. The posts can be very short and to the point, or much longer. There are blogs that are dedicated to one thing in particular, such as cooking and there are others that offer an array of varying information. Alot of times included in the posts you might find links that offer further information on the topic being discussed, pictures that offer a visual to compliment the writing and videos. All of these characteristics really strengthen the blog post. A post can be an opinion on a certain topic, it can be a compilation of helpful resources on a particular area of study, it can be a list full of recipes, current news, sports related content, inspirational pieces, they can also explain new or existing procedures and or guidlines, (which might be useful in a work setting). There is a blog for just about anyone to relate to and find interesting and helpful. Blogs are not best for just one thing. I have used them in classes in order to post in response to books, but I have also used them to navigate through what other people are saying. You can really find out alot of information when you stroll through different blogs and you can reply to the posts, but you cannot change what has already been writen...that is left up to the user(s). Blog readers can subscribe to RSS feeds so they can stay updated on new posts or comments.

Wikis are also a very collaborate tool, but they differ from blogs in the sense that they allow the owner to invite others to edit and view the workspace. Once you are invited to collaborate as an editor you can change as much information as you would like. Similar to blogs, you can provide your comments. Many of us are familiar with wikipedia. This is a search engine that many people turn to when looking for information regarding a specific topic. Wikipedia is an example of a wiki (hence the name!). Anyone can edit the page, which makes it less credible (I think) because you don't always know for sure that you are reading accurate information. Similar to blogs, wikis allow images, links, videos, etc. People can quickly add to existing pages and easily create links to new pages once they become editors to a wiki page. I find that a wiki is best if you are really encouraging collaboration. I would use a wiki space before a blog when it comes to working with others only because everyone can participate in the project being done via a wiki.

Webpage sites are more personal, but can still be shared with others. For example, you can create a website or a portfolio using google sites, and share the domain (www.) If you do not want others to be able to search on google and find your creation I would recommend using google sites over Weebly because it is password protected unlike the later. Webpage sites are really best for presenting information to others, specifically a possible employer. All of your information, including a resume and any other vital information, can be neatly displayed and accessed through links, pages, etc. in order to present yourself to someone else. I would use this tool over a blog and wiki because I find it to be more professional, but that's my opinion. I will use a portfolio when applying for a job and it will have a compilation of the different lesson plans I have created, a resume, etc.

Blogs, wikis and webpage sites are all useful. They all offer collaboration, some more than others and definitely provide an array of information. Depending on what it is you are interested in and what you find best suitable for what you are doing, each one could be utilized.

WIKI IN THE CLASSROOM

As long as you think creatively you could modify, or create, any lesson around collaboration with a wiki! There are so many ideas that could incorporate this neat workspace into the classroom and allow everyone to participate and add ideas and insights!
One thought that I had was to use a wiki as a review space for a textbook. Say your class read a chapter in a science book, for example. The teacher could group his/her students and assign each group to a particular area within the chapter that they would be responsible for teaching. Not only will this help other students, but it will help the group writing it to master the content by teaching it via wiki spaces! Going off of this idea, students could create study guides as well! Or vocabulary lists...
Another thought that I had for incorporating a wiki into the classroom would be simply using it as a question and answer board. If you group your students these groups could be their "go to" people in case they miss something, have a question, need information on a project, assignment, etc. Each group could be required to tend to their workspace daily to be sure that they are staying on top of their classmate's questions and concerns, while helping themselves when needed too.
Students could also create a story together using a wiki. The teacher could start a story and the students could build upon, revise and edit it!
Math problems would be neat to post on a wiki as well. Often times math problems involve a lot of steps, which involve critical thinking skills and hard work...students could work together to come to a solution.
However you choose to use the wiki, they will be sure to get everyone involved!

Personal Learning Networks

I have thoroughly enjoyed building, and plan to continue building and utilizing, my PLN. I have become familiar with a number of social media tools which will only help foster my own learning as well as that of others. I have found that the compilation of blogger, rss feeds, social bookmarking, etc. are all great tools to stay connected to others and gain different insights based on what you may need and or want.
One of my favorite spots is blogger! No matter what my objective is for getting on a computer, I always check my blogs before logging off. By reading my classmates posts I have been introduced to some really educational and very informative blog sites that I will continue to navigate. I have also found myself searching for blogs based on my own hobbies, and I have gained a lot of neat information by doing so. I think blogger is great for classroom collaboration and I will encourage my students to incorporate it into their own lives, both personal and educational.

RSS feed has showed me a much easier way to keep up with everything new on the web! Before being introduced to RSS I would navigate several websites and often times have numerous ones open at once, but now everything that I need and want is coming to me using a single website. I can go to google reader and immediately have my favorite sites listed with new posts that I can scroll through...this helps me keep up! I always look for the RSS symbol on all of my most visited sites so that I can set up a connection. I find this option to be much more organized and efficient than the later!

Another tool that helps me to stay organized is social bookmarking. I used delicious to mark websites that I enjoy and I can sort them in delicious! By using tags and organizing sites by keywords I am better able to access them at a later time. One of the benefits is that I do not have to be on my own computer to access, like I would if I had a site under the favorites tab on my screen. I can share my sites with everyone and I have access to other's sites. As long as you know what you are looking for it is easy to find it and there are helpful tools to narrow your search in case too many options are available. One other feature that I enjoy is the popular bookmarks tab...if I am ever looking for something new I always go here and find something that catches my eye. Social bookmarking is yet another way to share ideas and gain knowledge.

Lastly, I will touch on websites! After learning about the many different applications available for creating websites, I have been able to use a couple of them in other courses! I completed a project and presented it in a website...this was an option available to me that I would have avoided before learning about making websites during this course. Everthing is so organized and easily accessible from ANYWHERE! I can refer back to this project without worrying about misplacing it, ruining it or storing it! I was required to have it password protected so I used google sites to accomplish this. Initially I wanted to use weebly, but needed to pay in order to create a password protected website, which I found to be a downfall to that particular creator! Either way, I am so glad I actually created a website to present the required information...it was so easy to navigate and find information when asked to do so...so many benefits to taking this route and I would have NEVER done it before this course...i would have stuck with the traditional binder...yuck!

I am so excited that I can finally say I am up to date with A LOT of the technology that's available...I just hope I can stay on top of it all without this course's guidance! I don't think I could ever abandon my personal learning network! So useful... :)

Students Protest Against Increases in Tuition

Students in the state of California are protesting against the 32% increase in undergraduate tuition

The students argue that this increase will negatively affect those who benefit from state funded education, but officials argue that this increase is necessary due to the budget crisis, which has forced reductions across California's government.

Looking back on the years...our tuition here at MSU has raised significantly too! It's unbelieveable how expensive a single credit hour costs...I wonder if the cost of tuition will ever decrease? Or will it just continue to rise...? Fewer students are going to be able to go to their school of choice due to these increases...and this isn't including living, books, parking, etc.

what do you think?

Yahoo! Kids

This week I decided to explore Yahoo Kids and found that it offers so much that could be so incredibly useful in many different subject areas. There are 3 main tabs (Kids Home, Study and World Factbook) all of which contain other subtags.

World Factbook is really neat and definitely easily capable of being integrated into the classroom. The world factbook contains information on all of the countries incuding flags and maps. When you enter this page all of the countries are shown alphabetically...there is a linked alphabet at the top of the page so if you want to find out more about Haiti, all you have to do is click the H and then find it! There are all sorts of useful tools here...some more include a conversion calculator and currency used around the world.
Under this tab students have access to a reference tab, which contains a dictionary & encyclopedia! This could be extremely useful in writing. Many times students want to use a certain word, but they don't know the meaning so are unable to use it in the appropriate context.

Another really neat tab under World Factbook is ASK EARL! this is a space where students can enter any question they may have and get an answer! They can also view other questions that have been asked and the answers that Earl provided. Students are full of questions and a lot of times are embarrassed to ask it in front of the class in fear of being made fun of, even though others may have the same question, so this tool is useful for answering the many questions that kids may have!

There is also an animal page that includes clips from Planet Earth, for example. When you enter the animal page there are tabs for amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles...when you click on them there is a short paragraph explaining these animals and a list of all the different animals of that kind including so much information! There is also a similar page for science, including supernovas, NASA, solar system and space station tabs...you can watch videos here too!

Other fun things include, games, music (with music videos & music artists listed alphabetically) movie trailors and clips, jokes, sports info, ecards for different occasions, horoscopes ...some of this oculd be used during free time or when students finish a test or something else early. Something else I thought was pretty neat was the ability for kids to invent the toy of their dreams and enter in a contest for a chance to have their dream toy become a reality...

This site has much, much more and it is so interactive!! I think it is great and kids would definitely think so too!

Shoes for Africa

I found this story to be very moving. It's great to see people taking action to make a difference...just one image(shoes worn by african children made from pop bottles) started this movement and will continue to keep people aware of the situations elsewhere around the globe and hopefully will inspire them to act as well.

ePals

The technology that I decided to learn more about was ePals. ePals is named the "global platform for learning online." 200 territories, including teachers, students, etc. are using epals to collaborate with one another. ePals is both safe and protected and connects individuals globally via ePals school mail, ePals school blog and classroom match to name a few.

Anyone interested in SchoolMail can set up a free account that will allow them to have home to school connections, which reinforces in-class learning ...
Features of SchoolMail include: 1. inbox, delete box, sent box (similar to many e-mails accounts that we are already familiar with) 2. Commands such as read, compose, reply, forward, forward to all, and print messages 3. Ability to add attachments and address book names and start email study groups 4. Instant language translation in 8 languages 5. Virus protection and scanning 6. Anti-spam filtration 7. Spell checker
8. Manuals and tutorials.

Check out another capability: School BLOG
This allows students to create their own personalized domain name...there are separate areas of the blog for classroom only, parents only and public..it is easy to search past postings, there are powerpoint presentation capabilities as well as audio and video streaming...students have the ability to submit work online...teachers can review and track student participation and achievement, review and delete unwanted or inappropriate info, post important school information, including school closings, important upcoming events,etc..they can also provide permission slips online and showcase student work! These are some of the many capabilities!

Classroom match allows classrooms to connect from all areas of the world to exchange learning experiences. ePals classroom match lets you select learning exchanges with other ePals classrooms according to student's needs and academic targets, and lets you navigate and track projects through a classroom profile.
You can find a classroom in several ways, but I have included some below:
~search on a topic or interest
~use maps
~see recent joiners

This is mainly used in schools so everything it offers can be incorporated... students can use different types of maps to gather information about where their ePals live..after the lesson, they will learn the ease of using specific maps to find specific info.

This is SOOOO NEAT! you can share so much! There is even an epals earth with added videos and all sorts of things! It is hard to narrow this site down in order to explain it all so check it out! students can tell world leaders what they think about several earth issues (global warming) they can share digital stories, add videos that have translation available, you can search ePals projects based on all kinds of different subjects and connect with a classroom to work together... SOO MUCH! very, very cool.

"I'm going to be an angel."

Many of you may have heard about the 5 year old boy from South Lyon, Michigan who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer 2 years ago...for those of you who have not, his parents sent out a word explaining that their family would be celebrating Christmas early due to the fact that Noah does not have much longer to live and may not make it to Christmas day...they asked that anyone send cards because that is what Noah wants this Christmas.

Post offices have been BOMBARDED with thousands of heeping mounds of cards and gifts!! I saw on the news one night inside a post office, and wow! it was incredible how many people responded...there was a whole section with bins dedicated just for Noah.

The reason why I chose to post this was not only to spread the news further, but also because I found it to be relative to the course...reporters said: "In this CYBER AGE, word spread quickly." I thought that was pretty amazing. There is a Facebook invitation page with over 10,000 guests and wall posts as well as a post, which is at the top of the list, on REDDIT(source for new and popular news).

You can see their address on REDDIT, but I will include it to make it easily accessible incase anyone is interested in sending a little something:
1141 Fountain View Circle
South Lyon, MI. 48178

People from all over the world are sending cards, but one person in particular sent something unique...an angel ornament...and when Noah was asked what it means to him he replied by saying, "I am going to heaven, and I will be an angel."

Reflection on Storytelling

The story that I told through images and vague captions was that of the children in Africa and some of the many struggles they are faced with in their daily lives. I feel as though the pictures speak a thousand words and could generate an endless amount of questions, which makes it useful for teaching.

This would be a great opener to a discussion on other areas in the world. It would really take the audience's attention and have them engaged and eager to learn more...and hopefully continue this learning afterwards to find ways that they can help people other than themselves. I like the idea of teaching about world issues because it makes students globally aware of the way of life in other countries besides the one in which they live.

I think this kind of a lesson accompanied by such a visual story would be extremely useful for students. Not only will it make them globally aware, but it will also teach them not to take anything for granted. It may also get them thinking about places that they wish to visit and why... It may be difficult for children to relate to such a video, maybe not so much for others...it may bring up past family history...it may touch the lives of students...it may trigger a need and want to help...it may make students cry...or question...it may bring up a story of their own, but whatever it does I think it would be impactful (if that's such a word), which is what learning should be.

I would have an end of a lesson assignment in which the students could explore a place in the world and make their own digital story with a writeup telling their peers why they chose the focus that they did. The story that I show could help students decide that they too want to pick a place that they would like to help, or maybe they would like to focus on a different struggle within the same country or within their own country...maybe they would want to look into a thriving country...I think digital stories are a great way to engage students and get them excited about learning.

I really liked the program that I used. It was my first time with it so of course it was a bit foreign, but it was very user friendly. I am sure there was more that I could have messed around with if I navigated further, but I was successfully able to accomplish what it was I came there for so I would say it was a good first experience. I don't know if it is possible to download your own music, but that would have been something I would've liked...some of the songs that I would have liked to play were not listed so I put in a music video from YouTube, but it gets in the way of the show (covering some of your captions)...I liked all of the different transitions and skins and that you could design your own! it was easy to upload pictures from several different locations, which was another plus. Overall I liked it and would use it again.

Storyboard

Twitter in Church

I read an article in the TIME magazine today about "Twittering in Church" and I found it pretty interesting..maybe just shocking because I wasn't expecting to come across such an article.

A pastor from a church in Lansing, Michigan was attending a conference and tweeting about ways to make church more interesting for many people. Right away, I thought that some people may actually take offense to this because of their strict beliefs about church and the seriousness that many people take to such a setting. In other words, the thought that a pastor is trying to think of ways to make church "not suck" could be taken offensively, but on the other hand could be pure genius. I would be interested to hear more about the reactions to such a statement because as I said, I'm sure some people would have an open mind to such an idea while others would shut it out completely calling it a distraction and a burden on quiet reflection.

Either way, a two week lesson was given to the congregation at Westwinds Community Church to teach about TWITTER!! Congregants brought in their laptops, iphones and blackberrys to check it out and work with it! Some are using it to ask questions about the sermon and others are using it as a note taking tool, but however it is being utilized its purpose it to build community and relationships with God and eachother. Many people say they enjoy learning about what others are saying in regards to what God is doing in their lives...

So do you think there is a time and a place for technology, and church is not it, or are you open to the idea of encouraging the integration? Do you think this will connect people with god and with eachother or is this going too far? Do you think this new idea will stretch amongst churches everywhere or will it stay the minority?

HA-HA!

Vicious Virus via Facebook

This past weekend I heard about a virus that was attacking Facebook and in turn ruining your entire computer. Although I recently deactivated my account, I still paid close attention to the news...

From what I understand the virus is sending out e-mails to users everywhere about resetting your user name and password so be careful not to open anything claiming to be from facebook!

A computer professor was talking about how easy it is to fool sites like facebook...he talked about making a fake page look identical to someone elses, which would fool them into logging onto his and giving him access to EVERYTHING!

This seems obvious...JUST DON'T BE STUPID ENOUGH TO OPEN EMAILS CLAIMING YOUR PASSWORD HAS BEEN, OR NEEDS TO BE, CHANGED, but it is sneaky and always finds a way to get a desired amount of people...so BE CAREFUL!

These attackers are adding spam and all sorts of malicious content to your computer!

Writing Process Audio

Ok, so this task was a bit confusing, but I did end up figuring it out! YIPEE :) I know my audio is less than 5 seconds, but it's there! I also know that there is a voice in there other than mine, which was added because of the conversion program that I used.

When I recorded my voice on my computer it was a WAV file so I had to convert it to an mp3 file, which meant that I needed to download a program. The program I downloaded was free and claimed that this ad voice was going to be added to the beginning of my audio??...Maybe I did this the hard way, but I'm just happy I actually did it...and If you're laughing at me, It's ok because I'm laughing at myself!! :)

I am definitely going to play around with this a bit and learn some more about it because it is quite helpful. In college classrooms the teacher could post an entire lecture using slideshare and audio, which is neat. I wouldn't advise doing this all of the time, but it could be ok to use once in a while. Maybe instead of an entire lecture you could post a study session before a test so the students could access it for help in studying. Once you become familiar with adding audio I am sure it is very easy to work with and I know there are effects and things that can also be done..that's a bit advanced for me just yet!

Writingprocess

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Writingprocess

View more presentations from bucklerd.

URL: http://show.zoho.com/public/bucklerd/writingprocess_ppt

One of the basic essentials for working through your writing journey is to understand the writing process...this process will allow you to make sense of all of your ideas and lay them out in an orderly, effective fashion. Each step is essential in publishing your best work possible and it is important to realize that you can ALWAYS make a paper better...so really the process is never ending! My slides are very simple, yet jam packed. There is not a whole lot on each side, but there is a lot to say about each one, which in essence means that there is a lot to take away from each. As the BBP approach states, we can most definitely steer away from the traditional bullet point layout with a consistent background throughout and the 6 by 6 rule...(six words per line, with no more than 6 lines per slide) while keeping in mind the importance of the audience's ability to make sense of it all! (beginning, middle and end is always nice in helping to accomplish this!) Another thing I did while constructing this slide show was to import images that explained the headline, which clearly states the main idea for the particular slide...in other words, I could understand the topic presented just as easily if all words were deleted, leaving just the pictures...This may be more difficult for different topics, but certainly doable and quite effective as well because I am sure we can all agree that plain, wordy paragraph slides are a bit overwhelming, stressful and confusing. This slide show could really be used for any age group, but due to the simplicity I would use it for elementary aged students...it could easily be modified to fit older students and or adults as well!

Network Games

Just a little something that I want to put in everyone's brain...

Today I heard that over $5billion dollars is estimated to be generated in one year from social networking games such as FARMVILLE for Facebook. You can actually give real money to these applications to better your farm, or whatever it may be...

Google Docs

After exploring Google Docs I can say so long to e-mail attachments! I am so excited that we were given the opportunity to explore this application because I don't know that I would have discovered it on my own! There have been so many times throughout my educational career that I have e-mailed an attachment to myself so that I could pick up where I left off on another computer. There have also been times that I have transferred that same document or a presentation to a USB drive so that I could carry it with me wherever I went. Just the other day I sent a portion of a project to a group member and she text messaged me saying she couldn't view the document because of the format...due to the fact that I typed this document on a library computer, and was no longer at the library, I was unable to resend it in a format that was suitable for her computer...thankfully, I sent the document to my e-mail, but my friend's computer would only open my document as "read only." After bouncing around from computer to computer I was quite stressed out and all of this could have been avoided with Google Docs.
Google Docs makes sharing a document so much easier and clearly erases any confusions about updates and versions!! Another benefit is that Google Docs is available from ANY computer ANYwhere in the world at ANY time! How convenient! Google Docs is Internet based, which saves resources and time as well. One drawback that I faced while becoming familiar with Google Docs was saving a document as a PDF...this was a bit stressful because my formatting got a bit messy, which forced me to go through by hand and fix it.
Google Docs can absolutely be incorporated into a classroom and I would highly recommend it. I like the idea of using Google Docs when editing papers...collaborators can edit and save the document online and when one editor makes changes/suggestions they are saved for the other editors to see...your past versions of the document are also saved so you can see your progress and include this in a end of the year portfolio, for example.

Exploring Google Earth

After taking a deeper look into Google Earth I can definitely say that there are several purposes that one could have for teaching with this application. There are also many different content areas that could be focused on, and enhanced, with the use of this program. I thought Google Earth would be especially useful in Science and History...If you are teaching about astronauts and their trips to the moon there are tours that show landing sites, 3D models of landed space craft, 360 degree photos and rare TV showing footage of actual Apollo missions. If you are focusing on global advancements and how things such as buildings, clothes, food, etc have changed throughout time you can check out older imagery of the earth to see just how it looked in the past and be able to compare and contrast this view with today's. Back to a science concept...there is a time slider that allows you to watch the sunrise and sunset from anywhere...this may help with the concept of time, seasons, etc...If you are studying the continents you can access Google Earth for a better idea of the location and surrounding areas of each...also which states lie where and what bodies of water surround them.. (if you scroll the mouse on any location the latitude and longitude are revealed..so is elevation!) I am sure you all get my drift here...this application can change the manner in which subject matter is taught! By allowing students to navigate through and play with Google Earth the nature of their learning about different concepts is changing! It is a great interactive tool that enhances knowledge! It is important that as a teacher I am aware of the many ways in which students acquire knowledge and I truly think that for those who are hands on learners, this application is PERFECT! Even for those who aren't there is plenty for them too!
Other neat features of Google Earth include, finding your house, flying under the surface of oceans and exploring underwater terrain!(useful in an oceanography lesson perhaps), marking locations(which can be shared with others) using place marks, flying into and navigating high resolution photos...There is also something known as Google Earth Outreach which I thought was really cool! It helps organizations promote public awareness about different issues happening around the world...oh, you can also record and customize your own tours that you can share with others...this could be an interesting assignment for students...Everyone should download Google Earth..It is free, takes only a couple of minutes and could be beneficial to you for the rest of your life! :)

New Cellphone Available in Japan

Something I learned this week, which I thought was unreal is that Sharp showed a cell phone that gets its power from the closest star...every 10 minutes spent in the sun charges the phone for one minute of talk time...the phone has been available in Japan since last month...What does this mean for the future? Can you imagine what the world will be like in terms of technological advancements in 5, 10, 15,....100 years??!! Just think of how many advancement our parents have seen in their lifetime, our grandparents, great grandparents, etc...and look at how many even we have seen in ours! It is crazy to think of how advanced we have become and how much quicker these advancements are appearing now!

OMG I'm LMAO, BRB!!

Today in my field placement for TE401 a 2nd grader caught my attention in a way that I wasn't expecting! The class was outside for recess for about 2 minutes before it started to rain, which ended recess early...when the students heard the whistle they all came running for the line, but one kid didn't only do that...he frantically ran up to me and said, "O.M.G! are we really lining up already??!!" I couldn't help but laugh, but it also got me to thinking...
First, I thought back to my childhood...I remember playing with dolls, getting excited about hide and go seek, playing outside, etc...(kid things!), but today there is a new breed of "kids toys"...laptops and cellphones (which have benefits dont get me wrong), but what about downfalls? There is so much talk about parents begining, if they havent already, to learn text lingo so they know what their children are saying during text messaging and chatroom conversations because it seems that these children are learning adult language when playing with "adult toys." Kids are really taking their creativity to the internet by inventing some pretty clever ways of avoiding derogitory terms, but still getting across the message!
Second, I began wondering if this lingo was effecting their academics in any way...There are many students that are in upper elementary classrooms, even high school classrooms, lacking the ability to spell... do you think that being exposed to text lingo is introducing them to an incorrect way that will want to stick?? (similar to misconceptions, which are difficult to correct?)
Or do you think that text messaging has advantages? I can think of one way in which text may actually help with academics (specifically spelling). On some phones a mispelled word shows as a red link that brings up correctly spelt words...also, there is T9 on some phones which recognizes the words you are typing and finishes them for you...this could actually be a great way for people to learn about their mispellings and fix them or begin to recognize them! YAY or NAY? Also, when thinking about academics...do you really think children would write an essay in text lingo if they knew the penalties of doing this? Or do you think the problem is that they are so accustomed to using TXT lingo that they don't realize they're doing it? A student doing it in the classroom may just be corrected or marked down, but think about someone accidentally doing it on a job application!!??
This is a ontroversial topic and I am eager to see how it is addressed in the future, but I am also interested in your thoughts!
While on the topic, one thing I will agree with is... PLEASE

My Slideshow

My Flickr Account

Photo Attribution:

Original Image: "Smartest Person in the Room"
Image URL: http://static.flickr.com/2609/3867578091_40c0f0ded6_m.jpg
By: Peter Shanks

Released under an Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike License
License URL:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/


WHY I CHOSE THIS PHOTO:
I really enjoy seeing posters in classrooms that send a positive message to the students, which I think this particular image does a great job of! It may clear any misconceptions that students may have coming in and place everyone on an equal playing field, which is extremely important in order to have an effective community of learners! Incorporating images and other decorations into your classroom is important for many reasons, one being that it sets up an environment in which students can relate to and feel safe and secure in, and should be carefully thought out in order to accommodate everyone! One great way to incorporate images is to consider symbolic identification...What does the classroom tell others about the student's interests, activities, backgrounds, accomplishments, etc...and what does the classroom tell others about the teacher's interests, goals, values and beliefs about education??!

It's a Tweet, Tweet World...

It has been a few weeks now since I've become a part of the Twitter phenomena and I can still say that I'm not very fond of it...I suppose I haven't given it a valiant effort, but I don't have an interest in doing so...maybe my views will change in time, but for now they are frozen at this state...some may say that Twitter is beneficial because it is lightweight (limiting you to 140 characters) compared to blogging in which such a quick statement wouldn't be worth the effort...but the problem is that it seems too often people are posting mindless comments about their day... I suppose one could argue that friends and family do care about these "mindless" statements (especially if a parent/child is out of town and can't ask how their day went or what they are going to be doing...)
I think a huge part of my problem is that all of these social networks are getting to be too much...it is like reality television...a new show will come out, but it is so much like one that is already airing and after a while they get to be obnoxious! You can use Facebook to post a short status update, so why have Twitter? You can use Twitter to access links to websites, but you can do this on Facebook as well...Facebook allows you to stay in touch with friends, family members and coworkers through chat, pictures, videos, groups, etc...so why is Twitter necessary? This is just one example... I guess my question is, "WHAT THE HECK WILL BE NEXT?...will it be something a bit more unique than what we already have?"
When I think about how Twitter could be implemented into a classroom, ideas do come to mind but I don't think these ideas are anything to brag about...Twitter could be used as a homework help space or a class poll space (like we often use it for CEP)...it could also be used as a way for students to follow statements made by public figures in regards to current events....parents could use it as a message board too, but then I feel as though too much time is being taken away from face to face interaction...we already have text messaging, which can be frustrating even when you are face to face with someone because your conversation becomes interrupted...I think it is important to utilize technology, but to a certain extent. One downfall to Twitter in the classroom is that it encourages abbreviations (much like text messaging, which is bad enough) which lead to poor spelling and grammar...Kids are trying to say something, but they are limited to the amount of words they can use so they are becoming more and more familiar with, or inventing, text lingo which shows when they go to sit down and write a paper...
"That's all I've got to say about that!" Forest Gump

Future Technology 2009...Did You KNOW??

This video REALLY gets you thinking and is completely appropriate to share with this course! I saw it in one of my TE courses, but think that for those of you who have not seen this now is the perfect time! Post your comments :) I thought that this was almost too much to even process...scary, but extremely interesting!!

A Class Divided

One of my classmates told be about an interesting video to check out on YouTube, and that it was! In this video a teacher tries to help her students understand race relations and the strict divide between races. In doing this, she splits her classroom into brown eyes and blue eyes...the brown eyes were inferior and blue superior (similar to blacks and whites before civil war --in the south black slaves were property and in the north whites opposed slavery, but believed blacks should be put in a lower class and kept separate from whites). While watching this video I think about what an impact a lesson like this could have on children learning about this...it is one thing to read about things like Jim Crow laws provided for disenfranchisement, "whites only" signs, segregation in hospitals, separate schools for blacks and whites, but it is a whole different experience to actually live through it day after day...This seems great when you think about the importance of giving students several experiences to better understand the many explanations (laws and patterns to memorize) they are handed (with experiences children have a lesser chance of being left with isolated facts that seem to account for nothing in particular), but would this be allowed in schools today? Do you think lessons to this extreme should be allowed in schools today and in the future? Could lessons like this lead to misconception amongst the students? In the video the teacher is giving rationale for why the blue eye students get more privileges...she says things like, they are smarter...could this stick in a child's mind as being true? I found the video to be quite interesting, but I would like to see what everyone else thinks...

Cool Site

This is a pretty neat site that I saw recommended on #edchat...check it out--it may also get us thinking more about our discussion on "Laptops in the Classrooms"

OOGLE

A while back I was going to look up something on Google and forgot the G when typing the web address, but to my surprise a search engine came up...It was actually quite funny too because underneath the search box it read, "Due to the current state of the economy, G has been laid off." I thought that was kinda clever!! Anyways, it is no longer this way?? When I go to oogle it says, "something new is on its way." Did anyone else notice this before it changed? Does anyone know what happened to it or for how long it was there?

Technology Integration in the GARDEN??!!

Last week I went on a field trip to the 4-H Children's Gardens on Michigan State University's campus and to my surprise technology plays a huge role! Walking through the garden was very exciting as an adult, so I can only imagine being a child in the garden and never wanting to leave or begging to go back! The neat part about the gardens is that you can visit them online so you don't have to be there to explore the wonders!! The website is just like you're actually there...it is so incredibly interactive! When you enter the garden you can select where you want to explore first--you can choose the dance chimes (and play with them as if you were actually there) or the pizza garden, enchanted garden, the garden maze, harry potter garden, cereal bowl garden...the list is never ending! While you are visiting the website you can learn information about each section of the garden and play interactive games too! You can even view built in videos, send e-cards, ask questions and magnify your 360 degree view! One of my favorite features, make sure your volume is up!!, is when the train goes by!! The train that may be annoying to college students as it passes every ten minutes is the neatest thing for the children to look at through the wooden fence holes and see and hear while navigating online!
The gardens have become a national leader in the integration of technology to enhance and expand the hands-on garden experiences. Visit the gardens and take a closer look for yourself! (the website is currently under construction) Some other ways in which technology has been integrated include: Wondercasts, an on-line Wonder Wall (where you can post, draw/upload pictures and participate in real time chat with others who are on), wikispaces, web cams and digital cameras. I think this integration is absolutely awesome! Children can enhance their learning and have fun doing so while familiarizing themselves with some of the many important technologies that will help them, and possibly be demanded of them, throughout their lives!

JEOPARDY

Last night after I spent some time on week 3's tasks, I sat down to relax before Dancing with the Stars came on at 8pm...I had a few minutes to spare so I turned on Jeopardy (brace yourselves because this is completely ironic in my mind!!) I am usually only about 20% accurate, if that, when it comes to answering, but I still tune in and get excited for those few. Anyways, final jeopardy came on, and I need to add that I have never answered a final jeopardy question correctly, and the category was THE INTERNET! I immediately thought, "What a coincidence!" I was dancing in my seat waiting for the commercials to pass so that the clue could be revealed because I truly thought I may finally have a shot at this! The clue appeared on the screen and was something like this: (I was unable to write it down, or recall it, word for word)
CLUE: In a registered website domain name, it's the only mark that's allowed besides the dot, that is not a letter...(There was a tad bit more to the question, but regardless you get the gist) I quickly shouted out what I thought the answer was and then thought, "WAIT A MINUTE! That can't be right...it is way too easy!" (To be honest, I was hoping it was something that would test my new knowledge from CEP) After more commercials that I sat through with anticipation, the answer was revealed and it matched mine.
ANSWER: The slash
This was a mighty easy question for final jeopardy, but I wanted to share this because the timing was just too right!
Also, after Alex Trebeck read the category he said, "I bet your kids are gonna do good on this one!" This quote got me to thinking...It shows just how prominent the internet is becoming and the fact that it is a tool that reaches out to all ages...
check out the website...even jeopardy uses the internet interactively! www.jeopardy.com

Post in Response

After taking a look at my classmate's blog posts I found one that forced me to respond! Lauren made a post about laptops in the classroom and asked for her classmates stance on the topic...
As technology becomes more and more prominent we begin to see, hear and learn many ways in which it can benefit us and make life easier! One way, which students have discovered or whose teachers have recommended, is the use of laptops in the classroom as a way to enhance learning and take organized notes that are easily accessible...instead of carrying 5 subject notebooks, you have all of your subject folders in one place! The purpose for encouraging students to work in this way is quite understandable, but the purpose has been taken advantage of! As Lauren mentioned, students are surfing the web leisurely choosing sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, but she makes a great point when she acknowledges that these students or their parents are the ones paying for an education and if that's the way they wish to treat the situation then...GOOD LUCK in the REAL WORLD! or should I say, good luck getting a job over the scholarly student that actually took notes and used their time wisely while studying for thousands of dollars a semester. Another important note to make is that using computers saves paper, but on a more global level it pushes society towards going GREEN and saving the environment in which we live, which seems to be one of the main reasons classrooms are encouraging the use of Internet for relaying information. With all of this in mind, my stance is that teachers should not encourage the use of laptops in the classroom...students still have access to computers, but this way they are not interfering with learning and teaching. Hopefully with the integration of other technologies available in the classroom ( smart boards, clickers, teacher computers, powerpoints, etc) students will have no problem enhancing their knowledge.

Good-Bye and Good-Night Facebook!

A couple of nights ago I got rid of my Facebook...hopefully I won't be needing an account for this course! I'm not exactly sure why I was so inclined to do this, but I was!! To be honest, I never really liked the idea of it in the beginning and my friends ended up talking me into it at which point I was completely LOST!! I soon learned the ins and outs, but now that I have had it for a while it just seems to be getting a bit carried away. I think one motive for deactivating was when one of my teachers started making fun of it...he said something under the lines of, "Now who am I going to hire, the student that comes to class dressed to impress, ready and eager to learn or the one that comes in ready and eager to check their Facebook?" I got a kick out of that! I do understand that Facebook is a nice way to keep in touch with friends and family, but did we not do that before Facebook? I did...it seems that in every course I have taken during my time at MSU, students with laptops, actually phones too because I've see it being accessed that way, are surfing through Facebook...
The digital world is taking over!! kinda neat to think of all the advancements throughout the years...

My Twitter Link

Http://twitter.com/bucklerd

All About Me

Mark (family friend) and I on the Harley!!

My name is Darcie Buckler and I am what I like to call a "SUPER" senior at Michigan State University...for those of you who aren't familiar with this term, I am a fifth year senior! My major is in Elementary Education with a concentration on Language Arts. I am 22 years old and will be turning 23 on January 7th. I was born and raised in a town called Farmington Hills, which is in the state of Michigan...it is actually a suburb of Detroit for those of you who are familiar with that area. I have lived in this location my whole life so I am excited to graduate and venture somewhere new! I live with my mom, Dorie and my Dad, David. I also have a sister named Deanna who is 25 and no longer lives at home! We are all D's if you didn't notice...David, Dorie, Deanna and Darcie :) During my free time I enjoy being outside (weather permitting) and camping, running, working out, gardening, golfing, playing frisbee, hanging at the beach, water skiing and being with friends and family!!...during the cold months you will not find me partaking in these activities because I hide away indoors in which case I may be cooking, reading, playing board games, shopping, watching television, etc. I like to think of myself as an outgoing, kind, respectful and responsible individual, but then again we all make poor choices at times, right?! I am constantly looking for new and exciting information and I am eager to start the class.

My Technology Background

My current technology background is quite embarrassing; however, I am overly excited to enhance my knowledge and become technologically savvy very soon! I have taken a course in computer technology during my freshman year of college where I learned how to navigate through programs such as excel, but seeing how technology is always changing I am quite lost and unfamiliar with many of the tools that are available to me now!! It is overwhelming to hear about all of the different social networks and blogs and I often times cringe when my teachers mention the possibility of using a wiki. Regardless of this current state, I am willing and eager to lean about it all so I can become more up to date in the technology world! I don't quite know what to expect in the course...coming from close to nothing as far as knowledge of computers goes, I am sure anything and everything I learn will be useful and new to me! I am already excited after learning how to post a link ...I never knew how to do that!