Fnal Blog Post: Teaching and Technology

I want to train my students to use technology in many ways, including research, collaboration, and making multimedia.
One thing I want to teach students to do that we did not cover in this class is how to research, whether with library databases, or Google scholar. I believe that learning to find reliable sources using the internet--and determining that they are reliable--is a very important part of English teaching.
The internet is definitely good for collaboration, typically between students, but also in other ways. I remember the IIC entry about skyping with other students across the country, with each sharing what they know. I think this is a neat idea. They gave the example of skyping with students from New Orleans.
Another way students can collaborate is with Google docs, mindmeister, and other websites. I have to admit that I prefer Google docs for word processing--essays and things--because I believe that Google will soon have a program that can handle MLA formatting, and because it's simple. We learn in education classes that students, especially ESL and lower economic class students learn best in small groups. That's why it's nice that they can collaborate online as well as in the class. However, students should not just collaborate on the internet. Face to face is very important for their social skill.
One way that students can collaborate face to face and yet with technology is when they create educational multi media together. Video is a good way to do this, as is PowerPoints, and other collaborations. One key is getting students invested in the finished product. It can be difficult to have group work when three students sit and talk while the other does all the work. That's why it's important to give each student an assignment--so that every student is responsible for their own part, and yet they collaborate as well.

I think the most important thing I learned in this class in general was how to get instructions online. I've become proficient at Googling to get instructions or videos that explain to me what to do when I'm stuck. I don't know that you taught that, but I did learn this as I worked on many assignments.
The most important thing I learned in the class for educating my future students is probably just the different options for activities: Glogster, mindmeister, online publishing, etc. Some of the best education classes are taught by the older generation and so while their methods are best because they have the most experience, they are excited to hear about the different activities you can do with your students using technology. I should keep your website handy so I can look at your ideas for personal technology projects and use them.

Wiki Contribution

For the wiki, I put up my Instructional Plan for the IIC, which focused on using Glogster. Because the instructional plan is so long, I put it in a Word doc. For the most helpful blog, I put up one on teen fiction picks--Suite 101.
When I'm a teacher, I plan on using a wiki Prof. Ostenson keeps with examples of grammar in classic and young adult literature. For my class, students can keep character profiles in wikis from the novels we read.

Internet Safety with my sister

My sister is 18 and we were able to discuss how she learned about internet safety growing up, and things that she still didn't know. I specifically told her about how her facebook and MySpace can affect if she gets a job, or not. Right now she's trying to get a job on campus at ASU in a writing center-type thing (I only know the BYU name), and so it's important to her to know who can see what. Although hers is hidden, it's important to make sure nothing too strange gets put on.
I think this has also reminded me about my own safety, especially with silly things. I think I'm going to clean up my facebook a little, too. I know I'll have to do a lot before I actually become a teacher--I don't think it's acceptable for students to try and "friend" me on facebook.
Back to Sarah, she told me about when she put pictures of herself by a dance studio she went to--that had the address in the picture--and how dad made her remove the photo.
safety isn't just about having an internet filter, either. Filters aren't fail safe--not only can you get around them, they don't black everything they should, and then they block things they shouldn't.

Internet safety

Frontline: Candace Kelsey (teacher):
--Parents are ignorant to believe that they can just tell their kids to get off of MySpace. Social networks are now a big part of being a teen, and teens find other ways to access. Kids should be taught to use these responsibly
--All of frontline really seems to address "talk to your kids about the Internet. They're doing it anyway."

Isafe looks interesting, but I can't really figure out what to click to see the internet safety tips. all I see is, "We're wonderful at telling you internet safety tips." I think you have to log in to see things, and I know I don't like registering for everything just to get some tips.

NSteens.org has some interesting, really accessible videos for teens about internet safety. One talks about how things online can change your job future, what schools you're accepted to, etc.
Other things include cyberbullying, and offline consequences.
I think it's an interesting idea to have safety stuff for teens online--because it's teens who are online that need these tips.

On the parents section, it tells some basic tips. I really like the one where it said that if your child has posted personal info online, you can contact the website to try and get it removed. I wouldn't have thought about doing that.

ikeepsafe.com talks about the different things teens need to be careful about: innappropriate material, posting personal info about yourself, and lastly, being disinhibited to saying mean things online. I think parents often know about the first or second problem, but they forget that all three are issues that they need to discuss with teens.

Internet Safety Podcast:
When deciding about giving technology to young people, you have to think a lot: what signals do you send to kids when you give them a cell phone? Are we saying, "If you have trouble, the only people you can trust are your family?" Societal Breakdown?
I think that kids should be able to call their parents for help, but it depends on the situation. I know that a female alone on a road broken down should probably call someone she knows, but in the middle of the day on a safer place, it's probably okay for her to get help from passersby.
I think that there are 2 things about always calling for help: actual safety, and comfort. I think it's okay for people to call for help, even if it's just that they are scared when, in trouble, they need help.

I think, by and large, the websites talked about a lot of problems, but I didn't really learn much new; it's easier to find people talking about implications of the problems than actual solutions.

Yet, I think part of this is that I've had a lot of internet safety training, and do consider myself safe online. There are many things that I do, such as making sure I don't put weird things online about myself, that I forget not everyone knows about.
I think maybe part of teaching internet safety is refreshing what I take for granted so I don't forget the important things.
I taught my little sister about some important things in internet safety because that's important for her.

Reflection--Microsoft Word and MLA

I think one thing that's important for college-bound students to know is how to format things correctly in MLA (or APA...). Sometimes it's hard to get a works cited page to look right because, although you know you want all the lines indented except the first lines of each citation, you don't know that this is called "hanging." I think the most important part about teaching is just to have web resources that explain how to do things for different formatting on different programs--whether it's between different versions of Microsoft, or if they're using the free Open Office.

IIC Competition Entries

I enjoyed seeing many of the entries, but I was really interested in Brittany's. She was talking about history, but the ideas could easily be applied to English. Her website is really nice looking--it can be easily navigated.
The differing views on the civil war can be used... in conjunction with Civil War literature! No surprise there. Students will be similarly involved in a historical analysis of the text.
I recently heard a suggestion that you teach students critical theory--the different ways of analyzing a text--by taking a novel and analyzing every chapter with a different kind of criticism. The historical criticism would definitely be different using a presi or making a web drawing, or anything else the teacher chooses to do. Different students learn by different methods, which is why it's best to change your approach often (and not just for changing your approach).

Reflection

I found a blog about reading: Reading Rockets
Here are some readily-available young adult book suggestions. It talks about the biography of Mark Twain, supposedly being born "fully grown with a cigar between his teeth" and other favorites. This website references a lot of things that I, as an English major, have already heard of; however, it could be a good tool for getting students interested in these things as well. Just pull up this blog and you have some ready-made explanations for your students. Or have the students look up books.
I don't think I ever had a teacher have us spend time choosing the books we read. It was our responsibility to come with a book every day and if we didn't have one, we had to read one of the teacher's boring books. I'm an English major, and I remember being bored. But if I could go online and search out what I wanted to read or have the teacher or my classmates present good books, I would definitely have enjoyed the required reading time more. Of course, I did enjoy it, typically. Yet I'm not the typical English student.
Its an English teacher's job to make reading interesting. Why not a blog?