Common Sense Blog- I liked this blog because it echoed what we were reading in our textbook.

Act Fast: How to Make an Awesome Digital Life

Be a Part of Digital Citizenship Week 2014, October 19-25

Michelle van Kriedt Michelle van Kriedt October 6, 2014 Categories: Digital Citizenship, Common Sense News

Michelle van Kriedt

I take that back. An unkind statement, said aloud, only heard by those within earshot can be softened with a quick apology. But the realities of life online are such that all expressions -- cruel, kind, and every sort imaginable -- have a longer shelf life when emailed, posted, recorded, and texted. The action of sharing intensifies the impact.

Sometimes it seems as if keeping up with the ever-evolving digital landscape is like tracking a shape shifter. Kids are quick to adapt, and we need to be on pace, too. We launched Digital Citizenship Week in 2013 to shine a spotlight on the importance of helping kids learn how to create a safe, responsible digital life.

The purpose of Digital Citizenship Week is to build awareness of the importance of teaching digital citizenship and to help teachers and schools activate their communities in meaningful ways around these topics. Digital life is a reality for many; that’s why our whole-community approach engages everyone -- from educators and students to parents, district officials, and community leaders.

Our work with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) showcases the power of collaboration. The highly publicized rollout of 1-to-1 throughout the district brought a new urgency to the challenges and opportunities of growing up in a digital world. LAUSD wanted to act fast. They launched a Digital Citizenship Week initiative in Spring 2014. One of the activities during the course of the week was sharing with students Common Sense’s digital citizenship music video -- Pause & Think Online. After watching the video, students were inspired to create their own digital citizenship song; and they wrote their own lyrics to the music of “Happy” by musician Pharrell Williams. Taking this kind of creative and innovative approach was an important part of the success of the project.

The entire community now sees digital citizenship as a critical part of how LAUSD is integrating technology into the classroom. Due to the success of the spring campaign, LAUSD is celebrating Digital Citizenship Week for the 2014-2015 school year this month.

Want to participate in this year’s Digital Citizenship Week? We’re always here to make it easier for teachers and schools, whether you’re just getting started with teaching digital citizenship or need fresh ideas to enliven your approach and engage your students.

Suzanne Hund Geography Lesson- Five Themes of Geography

Geography Lesson Plan

Lesson: Overview of the Five Themes of Geography

Subject: Five Themes of Geography Digital Project at School

Standards/Benchmark-

EALR 1 – Integration- Students use technology within all content areas to collaborate, communicate, generate innovative ideas, investigate and solve problems.

·         Component 1.3 Investigate and Think Critically. Students will research, manage, and evaluate information from a variety of sources and media according to GLE 1.3.2- Locate and organize information from a variety of sources and media.

o   Evidence of Learning- Select the appropriate search engines or directories; use basic functions of search engines and databases, catalog and organize resources. Basic Level- use databases to gather information for research projects (Social Studies)

EALR 3 –Geography- The student uses a spatial perspective to make reasoned decisions by applying the concepts of location, region, and movement and demonstrating knowledge of how geographic features and human cultures impact environments.

·         Component 3.1: Understands the physical characteristics, cultural characteristics, and location of places, regions, and spatial patterns on the Earth’s surface.

o   3.1.1- Constructs and analyzes maps using scale, direction, symbols, legends, and projections to gather information.

·         Component 3.2: Understands human interaction with the environment.

o   3.2.1- Understands and analyzes how the environment has affected people and how people have affected the environment in the past or present.

o   3.2.2- Understands the characteristics of cultures in the world from the past or in the present

o   3.2.3- Understands the geographic factors that influence the movement of groups of people in the past or present.

Objectives:

·         The student will meet the requirements of the EALR 1 Integration and EALR 3 Geography and components set by the Common Core Guidelines for students in grade six.

·         The student can review Five Themes of Geography through interactive games on Smart board

·         The student can independently learn the Five Themes of Geography through personal digital project at school

o   Choose a person the student admires from around the world. Based on the city and country, research the five themes of geography for that city.

o   Research if the five themes of geography influenced the person they chose

·         The student can research project through safe geography websites and online sources at school

·         The student can review expectations and goals of digital project

·         The student can present their project using either Power Point or Prezi format.

Outline: Explain expectations and project to students

1.     Review Five Themes of Geography

a.     Movement

b.     Region

c.     Human Environment Interaction

d.     Location

                                                                                      i.      Absolute Location

                                                                                    ii.      Relevant Location

e.     Place

2.     Activity- Play Five Themes of Geography game on Smartboard

3.     Activity- Play Latitude and Longitude interaction game on Smartboard

4.     Team Activity- Play Jeopardy Five Themes of Geography game on Smartboard

5.     Review expectations of Project to Students

a.     Rubric

b.     Outline

6.     Show my sample of Online Project

7.     Show area on Google Earth

8.     Address questions

Resources:

·         Smart Board Presentation, Venezuela Video

·          

Materials Needed: Lesson Plan printed, Rubric printed out, Interactive Smart Board, Personal School computers

Self-Assessment: How did the lesson go? What problems should I address tomorrow? What can I do differently?

Week Three Reflection

Week Three Reflection Here

2nd week reflection

Here

Week Two Reflections

Suzanne Hund                                                                                                                         

Janelle Jamison                                                                                               

Technology in Education                                                                                           

13 October 2014      

                                                           

                                                            Week Two Reflections

Even though I found some points in chapter one to be very disagreeable, I found chapter five to be very helpful with practical tips and ideas that will come in handy when we become new teachers. The theme from chapter five and from the article by Robert J. Marzano was capitalizing on interactive whiteboards. They are an amazing tool that will greatly benefit a classroom in a multitude of ways.

 In chapter five, I thought the classroom example of Mr. Balado’s class was quite ambitious. What an incredible amount of work he did to set that up, but it looked like his students loved it because they were very much engaged in the project. More than half of the work is done though for the next time he does the project with a new class, so that is a bonus! One of the takeaways I got from his example was that he anticipated the types of questions that would be asked by his students and so he previewed web sites he knew would be appropriate for his students to research (Shelly 214).

 One of the elements that I look forward to when I become a teacher is when “teachable moments” occur (213). I think this happens when students are excited about what they are learning. When the teacher takes the time to investigate their questions, they know that what they care about has value. Mr. Balado was prepared for this by having some videos or pictures to share just in case, and that is where for us, the interactive whiteboard will definitely be invaluable. From what I have seen in the classroom, teachers have the capability of being able to privately view the images on their computers before displaying it on the whiteboard, keeping inappropriate sites or pictures being seen by the students.  

According to the textbook, facilitating students motivates the students to want to learn, “Teachers should shift from being the dispenser of knowledge to being the facilitator of learning” (216). Didn’t Professor Kress warn us about this? He didn’t like teachers being facilitators, so I wonder what his thoughts would be on this chapter. I just don’t think that teachers should only be facilitators; there needs be a balance between that and traditional teaching. As a student myself, I like to clarify the content by asking questions to the teacher, talk about what we are learning, and get the teacher’s perspective; that usually inspires me. In a classroom, I would feel it important to have classroom discussion on what we are learning and take questions from students, because if one student asks a question about what we are learning, then I know there is at least four other students who have the same question. I would rather address questions on a whole. If they were doing an assignment online, wouldn't I have to address them individually? Wouldn't that be a time waster? I am not saying that there is not any advantages to using technology to enhance a lesson; learning to work independently and in a group teaches students how to problem solve.  I just believe there needs to be balance. I think we need to be careful in thinking that students who learn well using computers can only learn that way. Shouldn't we as educators consider it healthy for students to take a break from technology and information overload? Children need to be encouraged to go outside and experience nature the old fashion way!  Does everything have to be catchy and bright colors to hold their attention? “The internet and the World Wide Web is called the educational equalizer” (221). I agree it does give advantages to all students and doesn’t care the color of their skin or how much money their family makes; however, the reality is that there are students who don’t have computers at home and their only option is to go to the library. The problem with the library is that not all parents can get them there, or they care not to. This is a good argument of why schools should have computers and for students to have access to technology because they might not get it anywhere else.

            I have to admit it; I am inspired by what interactive whiteboards offer in a classroom. One of the benefits is that in some projects, students can interact with authors of books or government officials (221). What an opportunity for students to get to ask questions to people they admire. I think the setting would be very inviting to these public officials or authors who would love to engage with kids at schools.  It was also mentioned in our textbook that students from the U.S. could have interactions with students from other countries. How cool would that be? Some other tips that were helpful was the suggestions and benefits of integrating the whiteboard into the curriculum: it incorporates multimedia into lessons, such as video, sound, and animation; it helps to connect with other teachers to participates in forums; helps in gathering interactive lessons and resources from other teachers; and creates the hands-on approach for students to interact and solve problems on the whiteboard (235). There is also many more programs to download that are accessible to the school district and relatively cheap to download. I can imagine that in the next few years, the interactive whiteboard is going to get even more creative with lesson plans; pretty exciting!

 Robert J. Marzano’s online article about using interactive whiteboards in the classroom had some interesting statistics. Students that used interactive whiteboards had a sixteen percent point gain in student achievement; however the study also said that twenty-three percent did better without the use of interactive whiteboards (Marzano). Why is this? There was apparently too many visuals and the information was disorganized. I think we can all agree that the key to successful implementation of any curriculum is the teacher. Without an engaging teacher, the learning will be minimal in any classroom, with or without technology.

             

             

           

                                   

                                                           

Works Cited:

Shelly, Gary, Glenda Gunter and Randolph Gunter. Integrating Technology in a Connected World. 7th ed. Boston: Course Technology, 2012. Print.

Marzano, Robert J. “Teaching with Interactive Whiteboards” November 2009. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. 

Homework

Click here to view my thoughts on this week's reading.

Tech Standard

During this class I want to focus on meeting gr. 3 -5 standard, 1.2.2 Component 1.2 Collaborate
-Use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively to support
individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
-Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of many cultures.  - Learn about many cultures through digital images and stories from around the
world and share relevant information.
 Participate as a class in global online projects that include a wide variety of
perspectives.
 Gr. 3  Explore a variety of
teacher-selected
websites of cultural
events, listen to music
from many cultures and
experience an online
virtual tour.