Blogfolio

Before taking IT365 I considered myself pretty tech-savvy.  However, I had never thought about how to apply what I know about technology to my future career as an educator.  This class has made me realize that there is so much technology available to inspire learning; you just need to be creative when thinking of the end goal and how to achieve that goal.  Creativity is definitely my weak point.  It is not that I am not a creative person; it is more that I have little faith in my creativity and I always feel like my ideas are not good enough.  After completing some of the more creative assignments, such as the concept map, I liked the end result and it made me gain confidence in my abilities.   My strong point is definitely my work ethic.  I have always wanted to do well in school and will work all night if I have must to make whatever assignment I am doing the best it can be.  With this class and these assignments, I realized that my hard work will translate into great teaching.  I have no doubts that this is exactly what I am meant to do. 

I plan to use many of the tools I have learned about in this class regularly, to continue to grow my creativity.  I was most impressed by the Google Tools that I learned about in this class.  I definitely plan on using some of these in the future, and can see many ways to incorporate these into my future classroom. 

I was less impressed with the VOKI and Extranormal assignments.  I just cannot see many ways to incorporate them into my future classroom.  Since completing these assignments, I have seen a couple videos on Youtube of other people’s Extranormal videos and I was impressed.  One of the Extranormal videos was on the Common Core (Why We Need the Common Core: I Choose C).  It was very good. 

The Turnitin assignment was interesting.  I always knew there was a way for teachers to check for plagiarism, but I never knew how.  I think this is a great tool for educators.  Plagiarism is wrong.  This goes back to my work ethic.  I would be very upset if someone used my work as their own, so I would not do this to someone else.  I was shocked however, that when we first did the “copy” assignment, I literally copied and pasted everything on that paper and yet only got 80%.  To me, this should have been 100%.  It seems to me, this technology needs some improvements. 

Before this class, I had never heard of TED.  I thoroughly enjoyed those videos.  I learned so much by watching those people talk.  The topics discussed were things I had not thought of before.  I have thought about how boy’s natural tendencies to be a little more rough is being tamped down, but I have never thought about how that affects their feelings of acceptance and how that could translate into the reason there are so fewer male college graduates.  Fascinating.  The video I most enjoyed though was Ken Robinson on creativity.  This topic hits close to home for me.  Both of my children are extremely creative and cannot sit still.  It made me so happy to hear someone say that is not a bad thing.  It made me excited to be able to look at my children and my future students from that prospective.

Finally, I think that after completing all of the assignments, we touched on each of the NETS-T standards.  Being more creative myself, I will definitely be able to facilitate creativity in my students.  I have learned to design digital assignments and can be a model of how best to be an innovative professional.  I am a respectable digital citizen and I will promote responsible use of technology in my classroom.  Because of this class, I will continue to grow my knowledge of technology and how to apply it to teaching. 

TPACK

Activity	Description	Technologies
State Capitals	Break up the country into 4 sections, Northeast, south, central, and west to make learning the capitals manageable.	·         Online games such as http://www.addictinggames.com/puzzle-games/50statecapitals.jsp ·         Use the smart board to allow students to place the capital in the correct state, Sheppard’s Software has free software http://sheppardsoftware.com/states_capitals_10_500.html
Branches of the Government	Teach the branches of the government and the functions and limitations of each.	·         Online games such as http://sheppardsoftware.com/usa_game/government/index.htm ·         Power point presentations ·         Youtube has a School House Rock video about the 3 branches of government http://youtu.be/-EISWIY9bG8
Emancipation Proclamation	Abraham Lincoln’s speech to free slaves, the importance of this speech to end the civil war.	·         Online videos: http://youtu.be/xh3-9R7Q0OE, http://www.history.com/shows/classroom/videos/gilder-lehrman-the-emancipation-proclamation#gilder-lehrman-the-emancipation-proclamation ·         Araham Lincoln’s presidential library has games and resources available: http://www.underhishat.org/intheclassroom.html
Indians in Mississippi	The history of Indians in Mississippi	Power point presentation Online resources: http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/index.php?id=4 , http://trails.mdah.ms.gov/moundtour.htm Use smart board for maps http://www.native-languages.org/mississippi.htm
The Constitution	Learn the Preamble, the people the wrote and signed the constitution, the Bill of rights, and some of the amendments	Online resources: http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/preamble-constitution-how-do-you-make-more-perfect-union#sect-introduction , http://www.congressforkids.net/Constitution_index.htm , http://www.constitutionfacts.com/?section=funZone&page=treasureHunts.cfm Online videos: http://youtu.be/30OyU4O80i4 , http://www.history.com/topics/constitution/videos#america-gets-a-constitution

The Meaning of Technology

I define technology as the study of machines or tools that when used make life easier or better in some way.

I have never really had to think about what the word actually means, so I broke it up and thought about what each part means.  I came up with 'ology' first.  Obviously that is the study of something.  Next I took 'tech', I did not know the meaning of tech, so I thought of other words that begin with tech. Technician came to mind, and a technician is a person that works on machines or with tools. Technique is a way to do something correctly or better.  So when I put it all together, that is how I came up with my definition. 

When I think of technology, I instantly think of the computer I am typing on, or the internet I am using to post this blog.  Those could both be debated on whether or not they make life easier or better.  But when I think bigger, outside of me, technology is the tractor helping the farmer produce more with less work to feed people.  Or the drone that kills a terrorist so that less of our men and women in the military have to be in harms way.  Technology is the CT scan that tells the doctor a child has cancer, and the chemotherapy that cures that child. 

Technology is not always good or does not always make life easier or better, so maybe my definition is not accurate.  For example computer viruses, I cannot see a way they make anyone's lives better but I don't fully understand them either. But overall, I think that is a pretty good summation of technology. 

Data Mining



http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043327/how-we-sabotage-our-own-privacy-for-deals-and-ego.html
 

True privacy is a thing of the past.   Mark Gibbs states in his article that "you'd have to be willing to live in a cabin way out in the woods somewhere, have no utilities, spend only cash, grow most of your own food, never, ever, ever get sick and, if you were really serious, break the law by not filing your taxes and being generally unaccountable as a citizen."  The reality is, that is not possible for the overwhelming majority of people in the world, and they are okay with that.  Most people are willing to give up their so called "privacy" for the conveniences of todays world.  Most people love the fact that they do not have to leave their couch to go shopping or pay the credit card they maxed out doing so. 

I personally am guilty of being one of the people okay with giving up some of my privacies.  I still do not bank or pay bills online, but I love to shop online.  I am pretty sure Netflix and Pandora know my tastes better than I do, and I am happy to have them mining my likes and dislikes to provide me with new and relevant content for my viewing and listening pleasure.  I know Facebook and Google have been in the news for sharing information, and I feel like as long as they put it in their privacy disclosure, it is up to the consumer to use their product or not.  Facebook does not make anyone put their private information on their site.  I know people who don't even use their real names on Facebook, so as to keep their identity safe.  I personally think this is going overboard, but if it makes them feel better, go for it. 

Libraries and Technology

http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2013/06/25/younger-americans-library-services/
 

According to this article by the Pew Research Center, the vast majority of people under 30 years old still think that a brick and mortar library is "very important" and would not want the majority of services online.  This same group has also read at least one print book a year.  Although these young people do a lot of their reading online and on e-readers, they still feel the need for the traditional library.  These young people also use the library for meeting people, a quiet place to study, and watching media. 

I find these statistics to be fascinating.  I would have never guessed so many young people still use the brick and mortar library so much.  Considering how easy it is to find most of what you need through library websites or elsewhere online, I find it interesting how much libraries are still used.  I personally have not physically been to a library in a couple years.  I have found everything I need through the library's website.  I guess if I was unable to find what I wanted or needed I may go to speak with the librarian.  But I have not found that need yet.

Determination is key to success

http://www.edudemic.com/2013/06/what-makes-a-top-student/

The author Stefanie Weisman states in her article that determination, not intelligence, is the key success for students.  She states that IQ has very little to do with academic success.  She is was a top student herself and says "it never came easy."  She interviewed many top students for her book and stated that "hard work, the desire to learn, and pressure from self, in that order, were rated as far more important than IQ."  These students do homework when others are partying and socializing.  She goes on to say that the majority of these students stated that they did not have a lot of pressure from their parents to get good grades.  They usually put the pressure on themselves. 

This article was a bit of a no-brainer for me.  I did not see any groundbreaking information.  Of course it is not solely intelligence that makes a successful student.  Of course it is hard work and determination that counts.  The hard part is getting young people to understand that socializing is not as important as they feel it is and eventually the hard work does pay off.  The problem is that there are many young people just simply do not care about good grades.  As long as they pass the class they are not concerned with GPA.  Furthermore, I disagree that parents pushing their children to succeed is not a huge piece of this puzzle.  I think the parents and their home environment plays a huge role in the success of these students.  I would almost guarantee that the vast majority of top students interviewed have parents who value education and foster that in their home.  These are the parents that read to their children when they are very young and helps their children with their homework every night.  The parents that are not involved and show no sign of interest in their child's education cannot expect their student to be at the top of their class.  It starts at home.