Day 11 [2/23/10]

Today in class, Denise had us commenting back to the Fifth grade Little Indians through the Blogmeister web site. They started a story and we continued it. Next class they will comment back and we will finish it. I think this is a fun activity because the studnets are not only using technology, but they are communicating with college students. This not only will make them feel like they are important, but it also will help them with their writing skills. The Life and Career Skill Standard that fits best with this activity is Productivity & Accountability - Produce Results Demonstrate additional attributes associated with producing high quality products including the abilities to: Collaborate and cooperate effectively with teams. This is because we are collaborating with the fifth grade Little Indians through technology. This is also very effective for them, therefore, we are helping them with the ability to cooperate in online communication skills.

Day 10 [2-18-10]

Today in class Denise had us all work on our photo stories. We put them up on youtube then commented on each others. I really enjoyed watching everyone's videos. My favorite (which I already told her) was Kayla Kople's. She showed great quotes, pictures, and personal goals for becoming a teacher. I was very satisfied with my video; however, I did not get to add sound due to the fact that both computers I worked with did not let me do this. By students making videos and watching videos to help them learn, I feel that this really helps them learn better then listening to lectures and taking notes. The ISTE-NETS standard that I feel that goes with this is 5a. (5. Digital Citizenship Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.) This is because students are learning how to use the internet and technology in a safe, responsible way. I believe that the internet can either be extremely helpful or extremely dangerous. By students learning the right way to use the internet, they will successfully understand the dangers of it.

Day 9 [2/16/10]

Today in class, Denise had us make a photo story. This was new to me because I have never done anything like that at all! However, it turned out to be really fun and interesting. I enjoyed this activity a lot. The story that we had to make needed to contain a quote about teachers and a few pictures that went well with the quote. I used my favorite teaching quote, "The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the books." I feel that the ISTE NETS standard that fits the best with this activity is 6a. (6. Technology Operations and Concepts Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. a. understands and use technology systems.) This is because students are using technology operations and concepts while learning to understand how to use them. I would love to use this kind of activity in my classroom, or at least use this photo story myself for teaching purposes. With majority of children watching television and spending hours on the internet, I feel that showing a bright, multicolor, fun, slide show would help them learn better.

Day 8 [1/11/10]

Once again, class was cancelled today. Today's blog assignment is to write about an out-of-school experience that helped us learn the ISTE-NETS standards. I think that having a facebook and a myspace helped me to better keep in contact with people. It is a great way to keep in the digital world and to connect with old friends, new friends, best friends, and even the people you meet by using facebook or myspace. The ISTE-NETS standard that I think goes well with this out-of-school experience is 2a. ( 2. Communication and Collaboration - Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. ) This is because this helps people keep in touch with people at a distance as well as in the same area. Not only are people communicating through this, but people also collaborate ideas and suggestions.

Day 7 [2/9/10]

Today class was cancelled. However, our blogging assignment for today is to explain a time within my K-16 school experience that has helped me meet one of the ISTE-NETS standards. When I was in the 7th grade, I had a library teacher named Mrs. Evans. She was one of my favorite teachers (she loved me too!). She showed us a futuristic film strip every class about people who lived in an old library that was hidden underground from the intruders that invaded earth. (The film was a little lame but it got the point across) It showed us how to find information correctly in a library. She also gave us worksheets that made us use the information that we learned to help us find the answers. This was a great class to have because it also helped us to use this knowledge later down the road for researching purposes. The ISTE-NETS standard that I feel this experience helped me with is 3b. (3. Research and Information Fluency - Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.) This standard goes well because it helped with research information not only in the library, but with digital tools as well.

Day 6 [2/4/10]

Today in class Denise had us skpe with a 5th grade class in California. They had asked questions about communication sites on the internet, and we answered the questions through skyping. My questions were harder questions to answer, but I feel like I answered them to the best of my knowledge. I personally think that my answers were answered correctly. The ISTE NETS standards that I believe goes with today's activity is 2a. [2. Communication and Collaboration Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. ] This is because we were communicating and collaborating ideas with each other. We were helping them with questions about autobiographies and internet safety. This was a great way to help them out since we were communicating on the internet.

Today Denise had us make a questionaire of two different questions. Every student then answered the questions of their classmates. After all the students answered my questions, I made a graph to show the results (above). This was a great way to help us use our blogs. Also, we watched a video about Google docs and learned how to use them. The ISTE NETS standard is 3d. [3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. d.Model and Facilitate Effective Use of Current and Emerging Tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.] This is because we are learning how to use digital-age work by researching and learning different ways to better us in our writing and communication skills. We also had technical difficulties, however, we would have skyped with a teacher from across the country. That is definetly another way of using digital-age work to communicate with other teachers to learn different things.

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