Presentation Day!!

The best thing I saw in the presentations was the PEMDAS song video in Dustin's presentation. I think singing is one of the funnest ways to learn something; and also the easiest. Ever since we heard the song I can't stop singing it! And since we only got to hear a short clip of it, I'm basically singing the same sentence over and over again. In general, I enjoyed the video clips in all of the powerpoint presentations.

The least engaging thing I saw was something I did myself; turning toward the powerpoint when talking. I tried to only look at the computer screen, but I guess it's just a bit more comforting to turn away from the audience at this point. I know once all of us have more practice speaking in front of the group this will probably not happen as often.

To improve my own powerpoints, next time I will practice more. I felt like I practiced enough, but I felt a little disjointed up there. I also will try to do a more interactive powerpoint. I felt like only having 5 minutes wasn't enough to have a real interactive lesson, but after seeing others go I realized I could very well make it more interactive. Just by asking some basic questions keeps students relatively engaged. Most often, teens stay relatively engaged during "sex" lessons, whether they be about STDs, reproductive health or protection so I sometimes forget to purposely include engaging questions.

I enjoy powerpoint as a classroom tool as long as it follows the powerpoint rules. If the powerpoint isn't text heavy and keeps students engaged it can be very helpful. I also think powerpoint is a useful tool for students to use. It's nice to have something in the back to keep yourself on task or to remind yourself of where you are at during a presentation. I definitely think students need to be taught how to effectively use powerpoint, no animations, avoiding clip art and not reading their powerpoint!! Otherwise, as a teacher, I would go CRAZY watching presentations all day.

Shortening Attention Spans?

I agree with John David Son, that no, technology is not shortening our students attention spans. I think if teachers were to incorporate more technology in their classrooms, they might see better results. In the article, John poses the question: “why should we expect our students to live two different lifestyles?” I completely see this point! Is it really fair of teachers to ignore this blatant difference with today’s students and go on teaching like its still 1960?

I think a lot of teachers are afraid of technology. They are very comfortable with it so they just don’t use it. I’m glad to be taking this course in technology because it has really opened my eyes to how useful and engaging it can be for students. Although some of it seems very daunting, once I’m shown how; it’s really pretty easy and user friendly. I want to use technology in my classes because it allows students to learn by doing instead of them just being on the “receiving end of the information” like lecture does.

After reading this article, I wonder why teachers do not want to learn technology. While it may seem big and scary, there are many helpful and reputable sites for teachers. Web quests, Wiki’s, blogs or free WebPages are just some of the things I have already learned to use in just 3 short weeks in Technology for Teachers class. I also wonder why schools aren’t doing a sort of technology workshop for their teachers. It seems we have read a lot about the usefulness and effectiveness of technology in the classroom, yet schools don’t seem to be doing much about it. This could be a barrier for those teachers who want to learn how to use technology, but don’t know where they can. It would be beneficial for all involved for schools to look into something like this.

Cyberbullying is no fun

Cyberbullying is harassing a person through digital technologies, whether it is through cell phones, blogs or social networking sites. There are many forms of cyberbullying including hacking into someone’s account and sending emails, cyber stalking someone, creating fake accounts to lure other people to them or creating entire websites devoted to hating a specific person. I do not have any experience with cyberbullying myself.

Schools are facing rise in cyberbullying. Students assume that when they are online they are anonymous, so a lot of things are done are things that they wouldn’t normally do. There are many legal issues with cyberbullying, including if the school has jurisdiction over what students do outside of school. Schools do have the right to discipline a student for cyberbullying, but they do not have to, nor do they normally choose to. The main issues being can schools police what students do when they leave school? If we are going to discipline for cyberbullying away from school, are we going to discipline students for fighting outside of school as well? Where is the line drawn? It’s a very complicated issue.

Students who are being cyberbullied are often angry after internet use. Some victims may become withdrawn and their academics may suffer. Another sign is students who are often tardy or absent from class or who are targeted by “school house” bullies. I think the school should step in and regulate if the cyberbullying is creating a hostile or unsafe classroom. It might be hard to find a student who is being cyberbullied, but I think if teachers listen and look out for the warning signs, it can be detected. Teachers need to ensure that their classes are safe places and if something outside of school is hindering safety, it needs to be addressed. I know that cyberbullying is a sort of sticky situation in terms of who has the legality to discipline, but the schools can step in and take preventative actions.

I think the most effective way schools can deal with cyberbullying is to have internet etiquette courses on a regular basis. I don’t think kids understand the ramifications of what they are doing, and if they are shown a sort of “cause and effect” they might think twice. In my own classroom, I will teach my students about respecting others online, ignoring “trolls”, and reporting cyberbullying to a trusted adult (not necessarily a teacher).

Personally, I’m a big believer in prevention. By teaching about cyberbullying and traditional bullying hopefully my students will be less likely to engage in that behavior. I will also have a cyberbullying awareness week. During this week we can focus lessons on online etiquette, getting to know other classmates and participating in teamwork activities. I think this should be a school wide event, as schools that have done this before have seen reduction in bullying. By focusing on actually getting to know their peers, students are less likely to engage in bullying.

Copyright Reflection

I learned a ton of new information on copyright laws. I was really excited for this day because I always have questions about what I can and cannot use off of the internet. Especially in regards to taking pictures off the internet. I really had no idea of what I could use before, so today was really eye opening for me. When copyright was first created, a person had 14 years to basically make as much money as they could off of the product. As of 1976 (and mainly thanks to Disney) copyright last for 70 years after the creator dies. That seems super crazy to me; that is a really long time for someone to continue to make money off of something they made!

Honestly, I think the copyright laws are more confusing than anything else. It seems fair in that peoples work should be protected and they should be able to profit off of their work, but it also seems unfair that they can make money for so long. My real issue with the copyright law is exactly that. It’s especially unfair that a multibillion dollar company like Disney is going after regular people for copyright infringement (usually for very trivial things). I think copyright should be protected until the creator dies, and at that point it is public domain. It hinders people’s creativity as many ideas are built upon existing ideas or written works.
To avoid being sued while I’m teaching, I am first going to really try and understand the laws. It seems like there are a lot of grey areas and that it is very subjective. From what I understand, I can show or use copyrighted material in face to face instruction, to promote self study or for online courses. I will also use the Common Creatives website to avoid accidentally using copyrighted material. As I’ve said before, I’m really obsessed with portaportal and I think using that website will also help with copyrighting issues. I won’t have to make copies of specific articles, but I can instead send students directly to the links.

I will also check the four factors a judge uses in resolving copyright disputes when I am using copyrighted material. If I can follow all of those guidelines, I should be in good shape to use the material in my classroom; if not I will not use it. And lastly, if I am ever in doubt, I will call the copyright owner and ask them if I can use their work and if so, how I can do so. Using all these techniques should keep me protected from getting sued while I’m teaching!

To enforce copyright laws with my students I will first teach them about copyrights. I don’t think a lot of students even know what they are doing is copyright infringement, because I had no idea and I’m an adult. I think showing that mini film we watched about Disney is a helpful starting point to start talking about copyright. After discussion about that I will direct them to Common Creatives website to find things they can actually retrieve and use legally. I expect all of my students to cite where they got all pictures or graphs and I will randomly check to verify that they are not violating copyright laws. It will be a hard thing to enforce unless I am sure about the laws myself, so as I said in the beginning, I’m going to try to understand this fully.

Wikipedia-Ban or Bust?

I don’t really use Wikipedia for scholarly research. I occasionally use it to look things up, like text speak, but never for anything that I have turned in. I have always heard it was an unreliable site, so I just never used it for papers or school work. When I am doing research, I usually start on specific health sites depending on the topic; most often the Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Mental Health or the Alan Guttmacher Institute websites. If I have a more broad topic I am an avid google user. I wish that I had read the article on google years ago; I didn’t know any of those search tips!

When I am teaching, I would only accept Wikipedia as a source if I had already taught my students about website credibility first. I would have them use the worksheet that we used in class that checked for accuracy, authority, objectivity and currency of the website. If they follow that rubric each time they used Wikipedia, then I would allow my students to quote it in their research. Because Wikipedia is “self policed” and anyone can be an author, it is very important to make sure the information is valid.

I thought it was interesting that the article talked about Schopenhauer’s
“stages of truth” in regards to Wikipedia. I am at the stage where the truth of Wikipedia is self evident. In my limited use of Wikipedia I have found several very reliable pages. With more than a million visitors a day, Wiki is here to stay. The article also mentioned that Wikipedia seems to have a page for everything; whereas encyclopedias do not. Wikipedia is a very up to date resource to use, provided it has reliable citations.

My policy regarding internet research would be that students need to check for the age of the page, if the information can be cross referenced, if the author is trying to sell something or sway an opinion and the credibility of the author. If all of those things check out, then the student can use that website as a resource. I also plan on playing the google game with my students so they can use their research time wisely. One other website I might have them use is the portaportal. I like the idea of being able to link to several reliable sources for easy access to the student and teacher. This would also enable me to provide actual representations of what reliable websites look like, in case the students need examples.

Social Networking

When I searched for myself on Google I had to dig through several pages before I actually found me. This really surprised me as I have a facebook and a myspace. Interestingly enough what the search pulled up was book reviews I have written on a book sharing website, Goodreads. I didn’t even think about the book reviews I have posted when I was searching. The link to one of my Goodreads reviews is: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/795434-heather-campos. When I searched on the Pipl website, I again could not immediately find myself. My myspace page came up as the last one of 30, and my facebook never popped up. Again, I could find my goodreads profile and that was about it. I’m pretty happy about this finding. I am very aware of people looking at my social networking websites and I try to keep everything at maximum privacy because of that.

I have already gone through and edited my picture captions on facebook and myspace and I have re-read my book reviews to take out any expletives. I have an interesting sense of humor that some people might be offended by, so I made sure that all of those references were changed. Even though my pages are all set to private, I changed some parts in the “about me” sections just to be a little more politically correct than I was. I don’t think it is necessarily unbecoming of me as a person, but I do understand that teachers are held to a higher moral standard than regular ol’ Joe.

I do not think teachers should be held to community standards in their personal lives, but I know they are. I do realize that teachers are role models and should be in the classroom, but I also feel like it’s impossible to be good and moral ALL of the time. While it’s tempting to say it’s not fair to hold teachers to a higher standard, I cannot actually say that. Teachers know (or should know) what is and is not acceptable. It is up to them to censor themselves appropriately if they are going to use social networks; as parents, students and administrators can easily see that information. In terms of free speech, that should never be held against anyone, regardless of their occupation. Like I read in the article, the “First Amendment rights of a public employee are weighed against the ability of the government employer to maintain an efficiently run organization.” If my use of expletives on my facebook offends a student, that’s protected under the First Amendment. However, if I use expletives about parents in my school on my facebook, then I would expect some sort of disciplinary action. I did not know what was allowed and what was not and this helped clear it up for me.

To protect myself and my job I am going to make sure all my profiles are work safe. I will not post anything that I would not want my supervisor or my students to see. I have already started this by keeping private pages, only friending people I actually know, not allowing other people to “tag” me in pictures and erasing expletives or offensive words from my about me sections and picture captions.

Using blogs in the classroom

I thought the article “Don’t feed the Trolls” was thought provoking. Guidelines were created to teach civil discourse using blogs. These guidelines include: reviewing the rules, putting the rules into practice, encouraging self monitoring, modeling civil discourse and providing opportunities to practice. It seems that these are basic guidelines when teaching anything, but it is really important to include these rules when using blogs as the form of media. I think people have an easier time being rude on the internet due to its anonymity; students need to understand if they wouldn’t say out loud, they shouldn’t type it either.

I liked Mr. Harbeck’s blog, but I am not sure of its effectiveness. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of student comments or student “chatting.” It is interesting that they created a blog for a math class and not the social studies or language arts class. I do not like the idea of students getting their homework assignments through a blog, unless the same is assigned in the classroom first. I feel like middle or high school students would not automatically check the blog for homework. Also in that instance, if homework is not assigned in class, the students without internet access at home (who do still exist) will not know about the assignment.

However, I do know that blogs can be useful in the classroom. I can create a blog that posts power points from that day’s lesson, like Mr. Harbeck’s blog. I can also use a blog to keep students connected to me outside of school. If I did use a blog for my class, I would most likely use it to post current health issues, interesting TV specials, notes and/or inspirational quotes, videos or stories. I think having a blog for classroom use is an interesting idea, but one I am not completely sold on yet.

Digital Native vs. Digital Immigrants

I consider myself a digital native. While reading the article and the guidelines Marc Prensky set up for defining immigrants and natives, I realized I was absolutely a native. I am definitely a learner with a short attention span. I like to learn by doing, and not necessarily in a linear or step by step way. I think this is true for most digital natives as one can visit a website and learn how to use the website without actual directions, but just by clicking around. I love learning, but I have had too many instructors who have no interest in engaging me.

I really liked this quote from Engage Me or Enrage Me: “The big difference from today is this: the kids back then didn’t expect to be engaged by everything they did.” This could not be any truer. Kids today are richer in so many aspects of their lives; in terms of communication, media and creative opportunities outside of school. They can create their own playlists, choose what video game to play and what music video to watch, but in school they are forced to learn in a very specific “cookie-cutter” way. These are 2 vastly different approaches and it is no wonder so many of our children are being left behind.

I have been pretty fortunate in my technology experiences as a learner. I took several keyboarding classes, then advanced to Word classes and finally took Computer class. I had many primary classes which made us integrate technology into them. I remember making a video for an English class as a book report; and creating a power point that’s focus was “Where will I be in 5 years?” These assignments still stick with me because I retained so much. I wasn’t just being asked to regurgitate information, I was allowed to be creative and I was learning how to incorporate technology in what could have been basic assignments.

My technology experiences were so useful to me because it allowed me to think outside the box. I was able to incorporate my knowledge o f technology with some other content area. In other words, I was able to practice my skills. I really liked the Fast ForWard program mentioned in Do They Really Think Differently because it “requires students to spend 100 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 5 to 10 weeks to create desired changes, because ―it takes sharply focused attention to rewire a brain.” At first this sounded so extreme, but then I got to thinking about how often kids play video games, IM or watch TV in any given day/week/month. If they can spend all that time doing something that is not benefiting them, surely we can find ways to engage them for that amount of time with useful information.

This quote from Digital Native, Digital Immigrants really encompasses how I NOW feel about use of technology in the classroom “It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.” Before reading the articles I wasn’t sure that it was necessary to incorporate technology, but now I realize how fundamental it really is. Students are not the same as they were 20 years ago; we live in a digital age and we need to remember that as educators. I never put the instant gratification aspect of technology together with how students learn and how they pay attention, but now it makes complete sense.

First Post!

My name is Heather Campos.

My endorsements are in Health and Integrated Science.

My favorite animal is the cow.