Journal 7 PLN/NETS-T V

My personal learning network is a web based feature that is small for right now but something I plan to work on from here on out. I plan to create relationships with others all around the world that share the same interests, ideas, and creativity that I do to help with my future students. My PLN can include an array of people (educators) or from websites such as my delicious/blogger accounts. Having a variety of educators will help with many aspects such as diversity, differentiation, creativity, ideas, and resources to learn from. A bonus into having a PLN is that it is very easy to access, I can communicate with others, anywhere, anytime, and be up to date with the in’s and out’s of education.

            Twitter is one of the newest ways to communicate these days, and is growing everyday. Twitter can provide a great deal of information, from something such as education or maybe you just have a general education, you have a pretty good chance at finding it through Twitter. My current network is again small but a work in progress, most of the people that I am following share something in common, education. I also currently have some of my fellow classmates on their, I think this is very useful because we can always keep in touch and learn from each other from any experiences we may face, or just share any ideas that come to mind.

            Delicious I find is one of the BEST tools out their, and something that is very important to include in my PLN. My delicious already includes: WikiSpaces, Cool Tools for Schools, Lesson Plan Page, Multicultural Education, and many more. They are all great sites or resources that as a future educator I can use to reference back to when I need help with a certain subject in the classroom, or even just save so that anyone that I am connected to can use as well. Multicultural Education helps teachers to learn about being more open to the different cultures we will see in the classroom. Lesson Plan Page is where an educator can go and get some ideas about many lessons, just in case they ever hit this road block and can’t think of anything.

Journal 10

List 100 Things That Makes Me Happy:

1. My grandpa (mom’s dad)
2. My grandma (mom’s mom)
3. My grandpa (dad’s dad)
4. My grandma (dad’s mom)
5. My mom
6. My dad
7. My brother
8. My aunts
9. My uncles
10. My cousins
11. My life
12. My family
13. My husband
14. My son
15. My daughter
16. My mother in law
17. My father in law
18. My sister in law
19. My brother in laws
20. Donkey Kong
21. My WII
22. My car
23. My health
24. My house
25. My dog lancer
26. My dog razzle
27. My puppy snickers
28. My cat Ivy
29. My future career
30. My job
31. My accomplishments
32. Music
33. Friends
34. Internet
35. Email
36. Library
37. My education
38. My college
39. My professors
40. My new tv
41. Christmas
42. Looking at Christmas lights
43. Thanksgiving
44. Valentines Day
45. The fourth of July
46. Halloween
47. My birthday
48. Disneyland
49. Sea World
50. Six Flags
51. The Zoo
52. Lions
53. Tigers
54. Cats
55. Ocean life
56. The movies
57. Going out to eat
58. Baking
59. Having a cell phone
60. Super Mario Bros.
61. The military (for what they do)
62. Parties
63. Reading books I love
64. Twilight
65. Moons
66. Stars
67. The beach
68. The ocean
69. The mountains
70. The snow
71. The desert
72. Riding quads
73. Riding jet skis
74. Swimming
75. Mexican food
76. Starbucks
77. Fruit smoothies
78. Shakes
79. Chocolate covered strawberries
80. Watching football
81. Watching MMA
82. Working out
83. Watching the sunset
84. Watching children learn
85. Taking pictures
86. High school memories
87. Coloring
88. Shopping
89. Attending weddings
90. Attending baby showers
91. Going on vacation
92. Making balloon arrangements
93. Wrapping gifts
94. Making family videos
95. Traveling
96. Hawaii
97. Cancun
98. New York
99. Japan
100. The U.S. flag

Journal 9/NETS-T I & III

Hill, W. (2010, November). Scribble Maps Helps Students Visualize Their World. Learning & Leading, 38(3), 40-41.

Summary: Wanda Hill talks about a very useful resource that students can use to help with their geography skills. Geography skills are an important aspect in life to learn about, but when do our students get the chance when they are so pressured into focusing on reading, writing, and math. A program called Scribble Maps allows students to make and share maps. Students can add text and pictures to their creations. Students have the option as to how they would like to view the map, such as: map, satellite, hybrid, or night sky. Students can learn great information such as: population, landmarks, landforms, climate, animals, etc. This sounds like an awesome tool and something I wish I had growing up because I am sure it makes geography projects a lot easier. Easier to gather information but also easier put it all together.

Q1: Does the Scribble Maps program cost anything?

A1: No, Scribble Maps is a free resource, you do not even need to login to create a map you can just start creating what you want. For students, if they are working on saved projects all they need in order to retrieve their projects is use their personal log in which consists of their student ID and initials. This makes it easy for them to remember.

Q2: What if a student has trouble using the program?

A1: Students have easy access to the Contact Us e-mail (for Scribble Maps) and will usually get a response by the end of the day and often by the end of the class period.

Journal 8/NETS-T V

Frey, T.J., Houlton, A.L., & Gruis, E.D. (2010, November). I Can See Me: Webcams in the Classroom. Learning & Leading, 38(3), 36-37.

Summary: Wow technology just gets even more useful with the times. Who would have thought the webcam could be used as an educational tool? The article I Can See Me: Webcams in the Classroom gives some great ideas and explanations of how webcams can help a lot of students and not just those at grade level status but those that may have a learning disability. According to the article there are many uses for the webcam for students K-12. The authors point out that one of the reasons this makes such a great tool is because students love to be able to see themselves; it is part of what they call “I can see me” principle. For example when it comes to the subject reading, if a child was struggling they would very easily learn how to use the webcam and read aloud in front of it. Once the student has finished he/she could go back and watch themselves. Students can observe their own error patterns, fix the errors, and then see new and improved performance over time. This really inspired me to want to learn how and see what other technology tools will be useful in the future classrooms.

Q1: Is this too complex for students where the teacher’s attention needs to be focused on helping with the use of the webcam?

A1: No, the webcam is very easy to use. Obviously for the first time students will need a run down of what to do and what not to do, but using a webcam is very easy and once get view themselves on the screen it is like an incentive to want to learn how to use the webcam on their own, without help to be independent.

Q2: Is this something that will cost a lot and take up a lot of time to set up in the classroom?

A2: Today there are such a big variety of webcams that are inexpensive and easy to install. To supply a classroom with webcams would not cost very much, but who should be putting a price on learning tools that will help students to be more successful? Installation is not rocket science so it will not take up much time; however, it is important for teachers to learn themselves about the newest technology so that they can help their students and not rely on only those teachers that know how.

Journal 6/NETS-T V

Rebora, A. (2010). Change agent. Teacher PD Sourcebook, Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01richardson.h04.html?cmp=clp-edweek&intc=bs&sms_ss=delicious&at_xt=4cb7dc75d0303b73,0

Summary: This article was very interesting and headed in the right direction with how the world is today as far as technology. Will Richardson, a former high school English and Journalism teacher, who is no an educational technology informant. Richardson strongly and encourages the use of technology in accordance with students growth with learning. Schools and educators are strongly encouraged to integrated learning networks into their curriculum. He believes that with all the safety aspects students are taught about the internet they should be taught about useful things. Things such as the variety of resources they can encounter and use for school. This not only gives the students access to some great information but opens opportunities of creativity. Richardson’s goal is to revolutionize teaching and to enhance learning in order to keep up with the ever so changing digital world.

Q1: What is another benefit for students?

A1: This will offer students the opportunity to use technology for something else beside social networks. Social networks are great to a certain extent; however, they do have a lot more negative features than positive. Learning networks will give students the chance to not only help their personal growth but educational growth.

Q2: What are some benefits to schools, educators, or their communities?

A2: School, educators, and the community could use networks as a way of communication on a daily basis. They could share ideas and opportunities that could benefit one another and help those most important, the students.

iMovie PSA

NETS-T III

I created a short video using iMovie to inspire future Cal State San Marcos students why this is a great school and family to be a part of.

Journal 4/NETS-T II & III

Johnson, D. (09/10). Computing in the clouds. Learning & Leading with Technology, 16-20.

Summary: Computing in the clouds, a very good and informative article. It was interesting to be able to connect with this article; I just in the past year learned about resources such as Google Docs and have come to love it, even though I do not know all the features it has. In these days where the world does not slow down programs like these are very helpful because then students (K-College) do not have to worry about carrying around any type of USB drives or any other storage devices. Now students do not even have to be in the same room to work on a project (since it is very hard to get together for projects). I believe it could save schools plenty of money (since they are free) and be put to use in other more beneficial ways.
Q1: Are programs like these suitable for all school age children?
A1: Yes and No. If these programs are taught and learned at a young age, then students have a better chance at being able to navigate them; however, if they are barely being introduced in high school or even college it can be a challenge to learn in a timely manner and frustrating.
Q2: Is it realistic that all parents are willing/able to pay for Netbooks?
A2: No, there are going to be many families with multiple children and will not want to buy multiple Netbooks. In addition, there is the simple fact that some families will just not be able to afford even one. To top it off parents may not have trust in their children to carry around an expensive item. Lastly, some parents may think it should be the schools responsibility to provide.