Visual Literacy

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Google Earth

As many of you have already explored, Google Earth, I haven’t really had much time to play around with it. I used to use it when it first came out, but now there is so much more you can do with it. For example, Google Earth can be used in the classroom for a number of reasons. The first thing I thought of we just learning where different continents and states are within the world. Also, it isn’t just a flat surface, it shows the mountains and the plains of the United States. So, a student can visually see it on their own.

Not only that I thought another really cool aspect is if a student was interested in what a specific landmark looked like, they could look it up. For example, the Eiffel Tower.
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Students can also learn about their hometowns and by looking at their homes and local buildings. This could help become more familiar with their surroundings without having to actually travel around the entire city. For example, this is a picture of my high school.
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As you can see their are many reasons and uses to use for Google Earth when it comes to teaching; you just have to have a creative mind in how to put it to good use!

PS – Does anyone know how to just insert the screenshots like a normal picture? Every time I tried nothing happened.

Blogs, Wikis, and Webpages

Blogs, Wikis and webpages are all great types of technology that I was introduced to this semester a little more clearly. Each one has different purposes and can be used for a number of tasks. Blogs to me is a place where one person can share their information with whomever they want to see it. It is a great resource for a person to share on a number of things. I personally like them because I like the ones that deal with education because a lot of people have found some great resources and then share them. I also like how people can make comments on your blogs because if I write about a certain technology or a lesson plan people can give me feedback as to how to perfect it or just say its a great idea.

Wikis on the other hand are a little different. A wiki is a place where more than one person can add informaiton to the page. It all depends on how many people you invite to be able to edit the page. Therefore, as we used in class the wiki can be used for people to add their assignments throughout the semester. IN a class setting the teacher could use it to stay communicated with the parents by having sign up sheets for field trips or class party’s. Also, in older grades it could be used for students work on group projects, one could enter a rough draft and others could edit it until they thought it was good. And one thing on the Wiki I really like is that if some one makes a change you don’t think should have been made, you can easily go back and fix it due to the editor notifications.

Webpages are also quite different. They are like a blog in a sense by that you are the only one who can add or edit the page (unless you give out the password). But the readers are not able to make comments or anything. A webpage is basically just a place for people to place their information they want to share with others and most of the time it is on a specific topic. For example its like what we have to do in class, make an online portfolio. Its a site that is all about me and the projects I have done within my career. And then I can show this to future employers and they can look at everything I have done in one easy place.

As you can see each one of these types of technologies has their own purpose and uses. So depending on what you want to share and who can edit your work will depend on what type of technology you want to use. However, I think they are all great and are a great way to stay connected with others!

Wikis

This week we had to learn more about using wikis. I think wikis can be very useful for teachers as long as they are used in an appropriate way. For example, our class wiki is very helpful because when we post our assignments other students are able to look at what we have done. I think this is helpful because on one of our first weeks assignments I didn’t quite understand what we were supposed to do, so I was able to look at some other classmates work to get a better understanding of what I was supposed to do. This is one way I think wikis could be useful for a classroom setting.

Another way I think a teacher could use a wiki for would be setting up class parties. Sometimes it is hard for teachers to always meet with their parents after schools to set up room parties. But if you are able to set up a wiki and invite all the room parents to be able to edit the wikie you can talk about all the different games or food and such. Allowing parents to participate using a wiki can allow more parents to be involved since a lot of parents today work full time jobs and aren’t able to always be at their students class room for meetings.

I am pretty positive I will use a wiki when I get my own classroom because I think it is a useful way to tell parents what is going on in the classroom and also allow students and parents to edit certain pages or add their own information. It is a neat collaboration tool that keeps a classroom close.

Personal Learning Network

Personal Learning Networks are my new best friends! I love them!

I personally have come to enjoy the “good” use of Twitter. I love being able to follow peoples chats and see what specific ideas are being talked about. Then if I have some good quality information I will share as well. But for the most part I just like to read what others have to say because most of the time, they know more about it than I do.

I also really like the Google Reader because I feel I am more connected to what is going on in the world. I love the fact that I can go to one site and then see new recipes, updates on sports, updates on my specific interest areas such as special education or teaching in general. I makes it so much easier for me to find out these new things because its all in one site. I don’t need to go looking up a specific blog every day or go to a certain website to see if they have any new information.

Having the PLN’s really makes life a time saver and makes me a more knowledgeable person. I absolutely love PLN’s!!!! and I don’t think I can get enough of it.

How I have built my PLN’s though are by looking at sites such as Alltop.com which gives you specific areas of interest where you can find things you are interested it. And for the most part of what I have found all these sites are reliable sources and not just your average Joe writing information.

Overall, I am so glad we got to learn about this type of technology. I really have enjoyed it! At first I didn’t quite understand why we had to get certain accounts such as a Twitter account, but I really do love it now! But as stated before, only if it is used in the “good way.”

Scientific Link To Autism Identified

Scientific Link To Autism Identified

I read this article because I am very interested with Autism and soon hope to get my AI endorsement. I have worked with students with Autism for over 8 years now and absolutely love it. And I know from working with parents many of them want to know what caused this to happen to their children.

There has been many articles that say they think they have found the reason to Autism or a cure for Autism. But I found this article to be very interesting.

I may have read it wrong or slightly off, but this is the gist of what I read into the article.
Many people have believed that the vaccines that their kids get is what his the cause of Autism. And that is where this company started their research. They have found that Autism happens because there is an imbalance within their homeostatic relationships (their internal chemical balance). They also found that within the vaccines there is a portion of the vaccine is part glycerin and glycerin can affect the homeostatic relationships.

So, from this article there may be some new evidence it what causes Autism. Although, this might now be one of the only reasons why it is caused or it might not even be right. But at least there is some theories to why Autism appears in some children and not others.

KidZui

For this week I decided I would look more into the FireFox add ons and how they can pertain to education. I found the add on called KidZui and it is really nice and easy for students to use.

From KidZui website

I would recommend this to elementary schools to use, although the program says it is geared towards students from ages of 5-12.

So, getting started what is KidZui? – This is a web browser made just for kids. First the adult would open up FireFox and then there is a little K up by the URL bar that you click and once you do that it opens up a whole new screen which is a kid friendly version of a internet server. It is all fun and playful looking. The student can even create their own character, make friends on there just as you would with AIM or on FB.

Then once you have created your character you can play games, watch videos, look at pictures, just like an adult could do with Google. The students are also able to type in their own URL but if the URL isn’t something that is considered Kid Friendly or age appropriate they are not allowed to access that site.

I think this site would be good for students who are in elementary grades because it allows them to play good games and access educational sites such as PBSKids.

I wanted to find something like this because in my placement I am working with 1st graders and they don’t see to really know how to use the computer very well or at least navigate around the web. We don’t have a computer teacher at our school so that might be part of the problem. But what my teacher does is send the aide in before we go down to the lab and she opens up all the computers to the same site and then the kids know what to do, but if they click on something by accident and a new tab or window is opened they are completely lost.

Therefore, with KidZui no new tabs or windows are opened. Whatever the student clicks on will take them to appropriate places.

I believe this is a good way to teach kids the basics about the internet because it still has the URL bar, the green arrows for back and forward. So the students can learn how to maneuver around the internet in a simpler way.

The other thing I really like about this add on, is when you create your character you have to put your date of birth down and then when you open up your browser everything you see will be related to your age. So, if you are a 5 or 6 year old student that is using KidZui you wont find information for a 12 year old on there. So it also keeps thing relevant for the particular age group that is using the site.

If you are considering to be an elementary teacher or even if you babysit young kids, I would suggest trying this add on, it might make things easier for ya! and another plus is its FREE!

Google Calendar

I choose to research Google Calendar for educational purposes. I just started to use it this year once I learned all the things you can do with google! I really like my calendar because you have all different types of calendars up at once or you can have just one theme/topic to be shown. For example, I have a “Class” Calendar and it shows all my classes I am currently taking. Then I have another for “work.” Therefore, I can see the whole big picture what I am doing everyday or I can see just the smaller portion of just a smaller subject.

Now, Google Calendar can be useful for teachers in many ways. One way is it can send you reminders about certain events. So, the first thing I thought of was conferences or professional developments. These are not every day events so it would be nice if a teacher could get a reminder about these events to remind them of what is going on that week/day.

I also think this could help your students, especially if you wanted to go to a paperless classroom. You could have your students sign up for gmail, since it is free, and then they can put their assignments up on the calendar and they can also get reminders about when homework assignments are or when test are coming up. If you are teaching a grade that doesn’t quite understand how to add events to the calendar they can also import other calendars. Therefore, if the teacher has a calender of assignments then they can import her calendar and see when assignments are due.

Not only can you import other gmail users calendars, you can also import holiday calendars, sports calendars, moon phases calendars, and much more. Therefore, as a teacher you could incorporate other activities other than homework assignments when using Google Calendar.

The only downside to using this program is you have to have the internet. So if you have a student who does not have internet access at their house it would probably not be useful for them to use. So, unless there was a way you could access your calendar without having to always have the internet, Google Calendar might not always be a good program for students to depend on.

Urban Education Grant

I found this article today, MSU hopes to receive part of urban education grant
Some of you may have seen this article in the State News this week but I had a few words to say.

First off this article is about trying to get more teachers to teach in the urban setting. The incentive for this program that MSU might get (find out in Jan.) would be a full paid $30,000 for your masters degree. The only thing you have to do is teach in an urban setting for at least three years.

I think this is a great incentive, reminds me of Teach for America in a way too. I do believe that we need teachers in the urban setting and it would be a great thing for us to be able to do. I just fear that if you send these teachers who are going to teach in this setting, are they going to stay or will they leave right after the three year mark is over with?

I was also thinking of some other questions the article didn’t really answer, are you getting paid to teach as well during those three years? or is the $30,000 supposed to be your living cost as well as your masters credits?

It also talked about you need to be interested within Math and Science, what about English? I think that is a very important subject that needs to be taught as well.

Overall I think the grant would be a great incentive for future teachers and hopefully MSU will be able to receive this grant because I think with the education program we have at MSU it will only make it better.

New microsyntax for Twitter: three pointers and the slasher

For those of you who are interested and really into Twitter here are some new things to learn about Twitter,

New microsyntax for Twitter: three pointers and the slasher