Finally Tapped In...

Well, it's been awhile since I planned on getting involved in the wonderful website called TappedIn but I was finally able to go o this site and read the transcripts from two sessions on Web 2.0. I love that I was able to choose this topic out of everything that TappedIn has to offer, it is something that is very interesting to me and therefore I was motivated to read the entire transcript. I also love that although it would be useful to be a part of the sessions while they were happening, you also had the choice of going back to the information whenever it is needed.

The most important thing to note about TappedIn is that the resources given are amazing! The best one that I found was Digication. This offers free portfolios to teachers! Awesome!

I know I will go back to TappedIn in the very near future as it is free professional deveoplment. It's amazing what the Web can do these days!!

If we can dream it, we can do it....right?

Yesterday a peer and I were putting the final touches on our ECMP final project. As mentioned before, we are completing a webquest that we believe will be appropriate for the Grade 1 level. Talk about frustrating!!! Throughout the process we have had the naive assumption that if we can think of it in our head, then it should be able to be done on the computer. Things like embedding recording devices in our webpages were not able to be realized and our assignment certainly did not turn out exactly as we pictured it in our minds.

The point is, I found it interesting that the gap between our mind and what technology can actually accomplish is still pretty substantial. Maybe we aren't as advanced as we might like to think, or maybe our brains are just going way ahead of the amazing technology we already have. Either way, I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has ever had this type of experience :)

Spongebob teaches me to type...

Today in class we were given "educational" software in small groups and were asked to evaluate it based on categories we brainstormed as a group. My group chose to try "Spongebob Sqaurepants Typing". Now, here come the pros and cons:

Pros:
- Highly recognizable figure which students would probably be excited about working with.
- Lot's of options is terms of games for practicing typing skills.

and ummm.....that's about it?

Let's just say we definitely found a lot of cons, including:

Cons:
- Does not load on newer versions of the Mac OS
- Is not intuitive at all, some sections of the game are even mislabeled; for example - "Typing Tournament" is actually where the beginning lessons are given; "Practice" gives lengthy paragraphs which would only be able to be completed by high school students.
- Most of the "games" given would frustrate young students as they are lengthy in nature.
- Most of the instructions are given in text; young children would have a hard time figuring out what the next step is.
- Very mature listening and reading skills are required in order to have any type of success.
- Spongebob "laughs" at the user as you make mistakes; not too many children would want to practice a skill after being laughed at.

All in all, I can't say that any member of my group was impressed with this software. I think there are a lot better options that can be found FOR FREE, such as Tux Typing!

Everything I need....

Well, it turns out that my Education travels might take me all the way to Torreón, Mexico for my first year out of school. The thought of moving so far from home scares the heck out of me, but then I think about the power of the internet and how I will have everything I need right at my fingertips.

For example:
- I can keep track of my friends via Facebook.com
- I can keep track of my favourite music via Myspace.com
- I can share pictures of my new classroom with Flickr.com
- I can Skype or blog with peers who have classrooms close to home; perhaps even creating penpals between our students.
- I can stay up-to-date on Saskatchewan related news via the online Leader Post
- I can stay up-to-date with favourite TV shows via You-tube and Torrents
- I can let me family and friends know what is happening in my classroom via this blog!
- I can webcam and chat with my friends on various instant messaging services.

..and I'm sure there is a lot more. Now, this may seem superficial, me worrying about these small comforts when I'll be in such an exciting place, however; it's nice to know that I will always be connected to home!

Adios! ;)

The Pressure is On...

It's amazing how "behind" someone can get in their technological obligations...it feels like it's been forever since I have blogged! Anyway, as I was catching up on Google Reader I noticed a very interesting post in Weblogg-ed

This post is a link to a New York Times article about the pressure girls face to not only be beautiful, but also intelligent. You can find that article here: For Girls, It's Be Yourself and Be Perfect Too

I have to admit that I was a little surprised by this article. It seems that women have been working forever to be seen as useful and equal to men and now it has gone too far.

This seems to be a really hot topic at the moment, as I have found that many of my colleagues have chosen to focus their focus their final projects on the topic of media literacy and body image with young women.

My question is, what can I do as an Early Childhood Educator in order to help stop this type of thinking before it starts? Is it as simple as building self-esteem and a authentic community of learners in my classroom? Is it as simple as focusing on only "healthy" competition between students? Any ideas are welcome and appreciated as I know this is something I will have to deal with in my near future.

Finally done!

After a lot of hard work, my Electronic Portfolio is finally complete!

Here is the link: Jenn's Electronic Portfolio

I must admit, I am already seeing the benifits of this technology as I was able to send this link to a potential employeer in Mexico; talk about convienient!

Something else I noticed will working on this project was that the University of Regina server was incredibly unpredicatble as I was uploading my website. It took me way longer than it should have to get the contents of my portfolio up and running. Thank goodness it finally worked out ok!

It's me!

Have you ever wanted to know a bit more about me? Check out this "visual DNA" I got from a site called Imagini. Comment back with you own! :)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Now THIS is what I'm talking about....

I felt a little pessimistic after my post last night, but the subject of podcasting today sure made me feel a lot better. I think it is wonderful that students can post their thoughts on the web without having to be fluent readers and writers. Although they might need modeling and practice so they create meaningful audio recordings, it is no doubt that their spoken grammar would be much better than what they could write.

I got to listen to an example of this here:



After seeing this example, I am so excited to get back into a classroom and try this with my future students. I think this is a great technology and it provides so many options for educators. Also, I think students would be incredibly motivated to practice the writing process and edit their parts of the readers theatre after hearing their voices back.

What do you think? am I getting a bit to excited? I just don't see any downfalls to this one :)

The Early Childhood Learner and Technology...

I have to admit something. Sometimes, as I am sitting in not only ECMP, but also my various other courses, I have a reoccurring thought; if I get placed in a Kindergarten or Pre-school setting, how in the world will I use a lot of this content and make it meaningful for my future students? A lot of content is created without the consideration of non-readers in mind, and this can be very frustrating.

For example, a type of learning tool which I feel neglects this age group are Web Quests. The following webquest is supposed to be appropriate for Grade 1-2 students.

Animal Habitats Webquest

Now, I understand that a teacher could stand in front of the class and explain the process to complete this activity step-by-step, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of using technology? Aren't students supposed to be more independent when using this type of activity?

Even though this can be frustrating, I realize that an important part of being a teacher is being creative and sometimes reinventing the wheel. I hope that a peer and I are going to address the issue of Webquests being appropriate for young learners by creating a Webquest that we believe we be suitable for Grade 1 students. It's major feature will be sound clips to help non-readers discover the information for themselves. This is still in progress, but I'm sure I will want to show it off when it is completed.

First conquering Webquests, then the world!!

Hot Potato!!

No, I don't want to play some "Hot Potato", but I do want to tell everyone about the amazing free software I was introduced to today.

You can download this free software here:

Hot Potato Software

This software comes with 5 programs that can be used for educational purposes. They allow teachers to create matching activities and crosswords among other options. The best part about this software is that it is self-checking. Students can use these activities and be given immediate feedback on their responses. Talk about powerful! :)

I made a crossword puzzle suitable for Grade 1 and you can view that here:

Five Senses Crossword Puzzle

Tellecollaborative Projects

I was pleasantly surprised today when I easily found a very interesting tellecollaborative project after we were sent to search for one to discuss. The project I found can be viewed here: Square of Life

From the website, the basic description of the project is:

Square of Life: Studies in Local and Global Environments is an Internet-based collaborative project in which students will investigate their local environment and share that information with other students from around the country and the world. Participants will:

• Identify living and non-living things in their school yards.
• Share their findings with other participating classes.
• Look for similarities and differences in the reported data.
• Prepare a final report or presentation based on their findings.

I found that I could use this project at any age, but since I interned in a Grade One classroom and this is an internet based activity that could actually be done in an Early Childhood Classroom, I will discuss how I would implement this in that age setting.

Both "Plants" and "Animals" are core Science Units in the Grade 1 curriculum and I think this project would supplement both units wonderfully. Students can not only view plants that are native to their environment, but they can also view these plants at different stages of growth and compare the plants they found in their environment with those found around the world.

I also think that if students were able to look for living creatures in their "square" that this could be a powerful way to convey animals and animal life to students. They can realize that an animals habitat can be as small as a square and that these animals can get everything they need to survive in this tiny home.

Finally, classifying is a large part of Grade 1 skill development and simply classifying things into living and non-living would be a worthwhile task for students of this age level.

All in all, I know my Grade 1s would have gained so much from doing a project like this during my internship. I can't wait to try it out when I get my own classroom!

Myspace for the Early Childhood student?

As I caught up on a couple blogs this weekend, I was really interested by a post I found on Weblogg-ed. Here is the link to the post:

Social Networking for Kids

Linked in this post was a short audio clip from a podcast, so I should probably link that as well:

Listen to this podcast (Introduction to Social Networking for Kids)

Now, as someone who is self-admittedly addicted to various social networking sites, I have to look at the pros and cons of this new development through both a personal and professional standpoint.

If children are being taught, by their parents, how to properly be a member of these various social networking sites at a young age, perhaps instances of cyber-bullying can be lessened. Students may be better prepared for Myspace; which in my opinion is a very big positive for these sites.

However, I have to ask myself, is it already too late for this type of action to be taking place? During my internship, I found that students in my Computer Club were already well aware of other networking sites geared towards elementary students. The site that seemed to be most common was "Club Penguin" You can check out this site here:

Club Penguin

Students are far ahead of us; they have already found their niche on the Web and I don't know how responsive they will be to having their parents push a new "safe" site on them. Why would they be when they know there is another place that is unregulated that is even more easily accessible? As a teacher, I'm not sure kids will go for this; it will have to be presented in a very positive light for students to take notice. What does everyone else think?

Can we keep up?

Well, who would have thought that I would be so unproducitve during the university break. I wanted to read more, write more and certainly blog more.

Something I've wanted to blog about since Alec showed the video in class was a very interesting video about Web 2.0. You can watch the video here:



Now, I am someone who prides themself on being on the cutting edge of technology, but I have to admit that this video scared me. As an educator, how am I supposed to keep up with an internet that is so constantly changing and evolving? How can I teach my students internet safety when there is now so much to protect them from? What will happen when the new generation begins to be more comfortable with the new technology?

I know these are all questions educators before me have asked, it's an age old problem. I'm hoping my love for technology will help keep me on the cutting edge of the newest technology and even more than that, I hope I can figure out ways in which this technology will help improve the learning of my future students.

Exciting Grammy Moment

Tonight I took a break from the mountains of homework I have to do to watch the 49th annual Grammy Awards. Music is one of my biggest passions so I can never miss this awards show when it comes around. Tonight, however; I was especially intrigued because some unsigned singer would get the chance to sing a duet with Justin Timberlake. Over the Internet, various girls entered home-made tapes of themselves singing and the three finalists were chosen from hundreds of submissions.

Of course, this particular performance was not shown until the end of the show (way to make me wait for 2 hours!), but it was certainly worth the wait. The young artist named Robyn Troup was not only extremely talented, but also noticeably excited to be performing on music's biggest night.

It gets better! Not only did she get to perform tonight, but she also is getting a contract with JT's new record label! Talk about lucky!

So, you might wonder, what does all of this have to do with technology? Well, my point is, I think we are past the point in our society when some men in suits are deciding what the general public finds entertaining. Robyn was able to use basic technology to connect with one of musics biggest names and was voted on by the general public; who made their voice heard loud and clear through online voting and text messaging. Society is now taking responsibility for their own entertainment and I find this incredibly exciting. Without the use of technology, would this amazing moment have happened for a very deserving artist?

As an educator, I think our biggest responsibility in regards to this new trend is to teach our students to use their "power" in an educated way. They are going to have to make a lot of decisions based on what they do and do not want to see on TV/hear on the radio. As long as they use their good judgment when making these decisions, I think the future of entertainment is in good hands!

Trying to teach WITHOUT a computer...

For my ERDG class, I am tutoring a grade 2 student that has difficulty reading. I got to meet my student on Tuesday and after administering various tests I determined his reading level. Going from there, I had an idea of what I wanted to do with him tomorrow in our next session. When I went looking online for activities to do with my student, I found some amazing sites that had great interactive games that even dealt exactly with the concept I wanted to work with him on! Amazing, right?...umm...wrong. I don't have access to a computer during the tutoring time and therefore I somehow have to create these online activities in a pen/paper format. I'm not complaining, actually, quite the opposite. I suprised even myself at how dependant I am become on technology! I was actually stumped at how to teach without the use of interactive websites, and that scares me a bit. I read in Amanda L's blog that she wanted to go a whole day without using technology in her teaching, and I think that is something I might have to strive for. Balance is key, and I might be coming a bit too dependent on the good 'ol internet. I guess you know it's getting bad when a tech. junkie even scares herself!

....oh, btw, if anyone wants these fabulous websites I found, here are the links, just in case you ever get a chance to use them ;)

Interactive Classroom Games
Digraph Matching Game

Enjoy!

Well, I do like "Big Brother".....

I am happy to admit that I am a reality TV "junkie". I adore watching "real" people try to work out "real" problems in "real" settings. It's addicting in the most guilty way. However, I never expected I would one day be the star of my very own reality show!

Let me explain, in the Leader Post today, the front page article was about surveillance cameras that have been recently exposed in both Regina Public and Regina Separate schools. Here is the article:
"We are being watched"

Now, as a University student, this surprised me. I never thought that I was being watched. I am sitting in my ECMP class right now and I can see a camera now that I look for it. I don't know if it's right that we as students would have had no idea that we were being videotaped if the system hadn't been exposed.

However, coming from a slightly "inner-city" high-school, the whole idea of video surveillance is not new to me. When we walked into the office it was a fact of life that we would see 4 TVs with rotating video feeds monitoring the school.

I think these means of crime prevention are extremely effective; people are even using webcams in order to monitor their homes. But, how far are we willing to go in order to feel safe. Are we will to give up not only our privacy, but also the privacy of our students? What do you think?

Oh the joys...

A little while ago, my peer Jackie Neufeld posted on her blog about some difficulty she had been having with technology. Feel free to read her post for some background information: "Mail Merge Murder"

I didn't think much of Jackie's post until last night. I am an advocate for technology and you will often hear me saying how no matter how much of a hassle technology is, if it works, it can be extremely helpful/effective. Something happened last night; however, that may have put a slight bit of pessimism in my view.

I was working along on school work, and after I had finished a couple reflections, I went to download a program to work on something else. Little did I know that when I downloaded said program, my computer would not only get spyware (which I'm sure it
gets often, despite my best efforts), but it proceeded to falter and tell me it was infected. Luckily I know how to wipe my computer and start from scratch. I can't even imagine the frustration that someone who didn't have these technical abilities would face.

So, my question is two fold. Firstly, how effective is technology? If we constantly have to have a plan B, doesn't that defeat the purpose of how convenient this technology is supposed to be? I know I got just as frustrated as my students when I was working in my internship and something would go wrong with the computers. It's hard for me to see them become discouraged to use these devices that are designed to eliminate some of these frustrations.

Also, going back again to my technical literacy posts, is this why we need to teach children technology skills, so they can trouble shoot situations like like that they can encounter every day? I'm not bragging at all, but very few of my friends/family/peers would have been able to successfully reprogram their operating system. They would have been lost!

Wow, complicated post, but I'd love to hear what you think on either of my two points :)

"As "Time" Goes Bye Bye"

Back at the very beginning of the semester, we had a class discussion about "amateurs" on the web being able to do the things that credible professionals have been doing for years. On the Colbert Report last night, Stephan talked about bloggers taking the place of print journalists.

Here is the video:

What do you think? As a society are we getting our news, music, etc from less credible sources? I think this just means that we have to teach kids to critically evaluate these sources that are so readily available to them.

Goldmine...

Well, if everyone remembers, I lamented last week about the focus we are placing on children "having" to learn technological literacy skills. I wanted to find the scope and sequence for what children need to learn at each grade level in terms of technological literacy and was quite disappointed when I did not find this information on Sask. Learning (at least I didn't see it). As I was researching various school divisions I happened up this document on the Saskatoon Catholic website

Technological Literacy Scope and Sequence

Wow! I can say I was impressed to say the least. Looking at the document, it's not much, but it's better than the nothing I seemed to find on the Sask. Learning website. I also noticed that my experiences in internship do not exactly match up with this 3 years out of date document. My kids in Grade 1 could work with pictures and use a mouse without instruction. So do we need to set the bar even HIGHER in terms of the technological objectives we want to meet because students are coming with such a rich background now? What about the kids who don't get that background because they don't have a computer at home? This is all really interesting to me and something I would like to investigate further!

Free software..

I have to admit, Tuesday's class was really interesting for many reasons. Firstly, I had no idea that there was a free ware version of Office available for download. If anyone has not seen "Open Office", check it out at this link:

Open Office

Also, I was excited to learn a couple new tricks on Word and Excel. For anyone who is interested in the "Mail Merge" feature that Word has to offer, here is a great tutorial that was given to out class

Mail Merge Tutorial

I will definitely be using this feature when applying for jobs in the near future!

All in all it was a great class and I learned more than I thought I could about Word!

Technological "skills"

Hello all,

Well, I just got out of my EDFN class tonight and our discussion brought me back to the discussion we had on the very first day of ECMP. We talked in class tonight about being "abeled" and "disabled" and I was wondering if this could be viewed in the context of technology and various technological skills we are now "expected" to have. Technological literacy has become a mandated part of the curriculum because it has become so integrated into our society that if we lack some of these skills, we are not even viewed as "normal". I don't necessarily think this is right, but I also believe it giving my students the skills they need to survive in the world today. I may not agree that the society should expect them to be able to make a PowerPoint presentation, but there is not much I can do to change this expectation.

I have to admit, I went looking for the curriculum that tells us what children should learn in terms of technological literacy at each grade, but I came up empty handed. Is there not such a document? Was I imagining things? I wanted to point anyone reading this in that direction but I guess not....anyway, what does everyone think?

I swear I don't blog this often....

I'm honestly not this interested in blogging usually, but I found this picture after looking through the "Secret" postcards Alec showed us in class today and I really really though it was interesting














So, after reading the words on this picture.."every day I am asked to be a magician in a world where magic doesn't exist", what does everyone think? Is this true? Are there certain parts of education that are a "lost cause" and we should stop trying to be miracle workers? Anyone who knows me knows that this is not how I think; I am a class half-full type of girl. I was just wondering if anyone felt like arguing the other side. Am I too much of an optimist to believe that we can at least make some shred of difference in every child's life that we touch? What do you think?

Connected...

Today we spent some time in class creating blogs and becoming really comfortable with RSS and other subscription features found on the 'net. As I now have a bloglines account and am able to get instant updates when anyone in this class blogs, it made me think about how connected people have become on the web these days. It's no longer good enough to say "sorry, I could not get a hold of you, I wasn't at home". We expect people to have cell phones with Text Messaging so there is never a time of the day in which we cannot reach them. As a teacher, this is good and concerning in a lot of ways. Firstly, parents can be seamlessly integrated with our classrooms in many ways. They can have a clear understanding of what is happening in our classrooms and there will be no more "well Mom, we didn't learn anything in school today". It also allows for parents to look at our practices closely and question some assignments/activities, etc, but if they are questioning something, perhaps we should be looking a bit closer anyway.

Welcome!

Hello! This is my first post on my new blog, pretty exciting stuff! I am creating this blog for an ECMP class and I am really looking forward to keeping this blog updated with information on not only what is happening in this class, but also what is happening in the remainder of my last semester in University. Talk to you soon, ciao!!

- Jenn