Blog #6

Diigo

I enjoyed learning about Diigo. It was a little intimidating at first however, as I began to use it more and more, it became a lot easier. I like the ability to share digital links with my class in one easy to manage location. This is a game changer for me as I am about to embark on my new teaching journey. The old way of doing this very thing was to print, make massive copies and hand out the article in class for the students to read. The massive amount of paper that would be used would eventually be discarded and left in the garbage. Less paper and more efficiency is a win for everyone and the environment. The only thing that stumped me was I was not able to utilize the annotation feature. 

Blogging Experiences

I enjoy journaling on paper and making a scrapbook of the theme. This is essentially the same thing; however, it is sharing my thoughts digitally. One issue I know I need to be cognizant of is the issue of "oversharing". I start to write, and I wear my heart on my sleeve. I need to have a succinct purpose, keep it to the point and hit "publish". I can easily get off topic or ramble. This is a self-control issue. I guess this is tied to my age. 

Web 2.0 Tool

I have discovered a great resource that I think will align well with my future teaching methods. I have discovered Bamboozle.com. This is a game application that has a lot of versatility. It has over 19,000 reviews, been on-line since 2015, and has over 1 million games to select from.  This site allows for fierce competition between students to reinforce concepts learned in class. It is endorsed by several prominent education related entities: DC.gov, Chicago Public Schools, New York City Department of Education. The most interesting feature is that it does not require every student to have a device. 

https://www.baamboozle.com/

 Blog Journal #5

Twitter 

I am very new to using Twitter.  My cat has his own Twitter page therefore, I am hiding behind his page. I have had a lot of fun posting on my cat Beau's behalf. It is really funny how much people love their pets and the time that they commit to their Twitter pages.  

I hadn't really thought about using it for my own personal use. However, I have navigated around Twitter pages and am following several celebrities and teachers. I am becoming more comfortable with Twitter. I had previously thought it wasn't for my age group. I was wrong. There are a lot of ways people can use this platform. You can share recipes, travel postings, FSU sports mania and so much more.  I am going to use it for more than one purpose and will be setting up a few more accounts. 

Digital Divide 

It is crucial that all of our students in and outside of the classroom have access to technology in today's world. If the students of today do not have the resources they need to compete in our ever-changing technological world, they will be left behind and will struggle as adults. They will not be able to compete for jobs if they do not have the technological background to navigate and keep up with their tech savvy counterparts.  Students have no control over the financial resources, or lack thereof, that their families have. It is not logical to ask a 15 year to get a job in order to help the family with meeting their financial obligations. Young people have one job, to get the best education that they can. Our schools, districts and the states need to allocate the resources so that every child begins on the same footing as the other. 

Software 

Twitter.com is a free social networking site where it's users broadcast short posts known as "tweets". I like the fact that there are more ways to utilize Twitter than just for fun and games. I believe that teachers can use this to teach their students about digital citizenship, freedom of expression and the art of respect. Each student could have their own Twitter account and the teacher could grade the activities that the student engages in. This is a way that I could monitor their "fun account" and still give them a grade on their engagement activities. 

I am also looking at Flip.com as an additional tool to utilize with my students. This tool is a social learning app that uses short-form videos to make learning a little more fun. It allows students to share their opinions and be creative while connecting with their classmates. For my high school students, we can use daily video journals, daily learning reflections, peer reviews, persuasive debating, project presentations as a primary use. This would be my "teacher page" and would be used solely for our classroom course work. 

 

Blog Journal 4 

ELA Technology Standards

I select SS.912. S.7.2, Subject Area: Social Studies, Strand: Sociology, Grades: 9-12

This standard is social problems and how we can analyze a range of the problems in our society today.

One reason I believe I can teach this standard is as a result of having recently taken a Sociology class at F.S.U. which covered a multitude of social topics. This standard will allow the students to analyze their world and take an honest look around them to identify issues that concern them. Issues such as race discrimination, crime and poverty have been in the news media a lot lately. Since I am from Generation “X”, I have lived during times in which issues such as LGBTQ were literally left in the closet. Today, our society has embraced a new attitude towards those that are different. I believe I could teach this standard and incorporate the effects of the different time periods into the lesson with honest and open conversations and dialogs as a jumping on point.

 Educator Toolkit

I would have a lesson on Civil Rights Movement for my 12-grade high school class. We would discuss “The Tallahassee Ten.”

In June 1961 Interfaith Freedom Riders challenged segregated interstate buses by traveling from Washington, D.C. to Tallahassee, Florida. After successfully completing the Freedom Ride they had planned to fly home but first decided to test whether or not the group would be served in the segregated airport restaurant. As a result, 10 Freedom Riders, later known as the Tallahassee Ten, were arrested for unlawful assembly. They were released on bond following their conviction and sentence later that same month which was followed by about 3 years of legal appeals. The 10 original riders later returned to Tallahassee to serve brief jail terms in August 1964 and were released after serving 4 days of their 60-day sentences.

I would utilize YouTube videos, from the internet, and ask the students how they feel when they view videos of civil rights demonstrations from the 1960’s. Next, I would show them videos of civil rights demonstrations for George Floyd, Brianna Taylor which are more recent. I would ask the students if they felt any different when they viewed the videos from the 1960’s compared to the recent ones and if they felt different, why?  Next, I would show black and white photographs which was all that was available at the time utilizing the LCD Projector of the June 1961 Interfaith Freedom Riders and ask them the same question. Did the videos make more of an impact on how you felt compared to just looking at photographs of a similar event?

The point of the differences in the technology used, I would ask the students if they felt more removed from a situation due to the stillness of the photographs. Did it mean less to them or were the videos more impactful.

This was a local, historical event over 62 years ago and it made the headlines.

                                                           Tallahassee Democrat June 1961

Internet Searching

As an educator, it is important to be able to utilize many different resources. It’s just as important to be able to teach students how to properly utilize those resources as well. You must be careful where you obtain your information from. As a teacher we can teach students to look up information however, we need to be mindful of the validity of the information. Learning to recognize what is truth, fiction and nonsense is a skill that is learned after learning the do’s and don’ts of internet searching.

I did not realize that you can do advance searches and reverse searches to aid you in your research. Searching by an actual image is a great resource and I will try this out. This is a helpful tool because on occasion, you will find a picture but don’t know anything about it. Utilizing the search image tool, we can find information on it’s origin.

Blog #3

Copyright is the owner’s right to his/her creation whether it be a poem, photograph, song, or novel. The right to have the voice to say how the property can be used and by whom. Essentially, they have the final say over how their creation can be utilized. The owner is the parent of the creation and has dominion over that creation.

Fair use is a set of guidelines that were established in 1976 under 17 U.S.C. ,107. This allows the user to utilize the creation within a set of parameters. This is more acceptable if utilized in education and schoolwork, by news reporting, in comedies or parodies and when criticizing or commenting on a published work. Fair use has four factors to consider: amount, purpose, nature, and effect.

When I was in high school, my Chorus teacher, Carolyn Glenn NEVER photocopied sheet music. She had a choral library of hundreds of songs, hymns and cantatas that the school paid for. For me, she was an example of the importance of honoring the person who wrote those songs, hymns, and cantatas. She/ the school, paid for each and every copy and we recognized this and from that point on, I have never pirated any music. I understand the premise and it is important to me and of course to the artist or lyricists.

                           Bilingual Messiah

                          By: Maasaak 

                          "File:Bilingual Messiah.jpg" by Maasaak is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

To illustrate these two concepts, I would let the students view the following video. This would be an example of unauthorized usage in a real-world scenario. I would explain that Steven Tyler, of the rock band Aerosmith, wrote the songs that President Trump was playing during his campaign rallies in2015 and 2018.  The usage of the songs “Dream On” and “Livin on the Edge” create a false impression that the band supports Trump. Tyler did not authorize Trump to play his songs and through his attorneys, sent cease and desist letters to stop.

Steven Tyler threatens Trump with legal action for playing Aerosmith music at rallies - ABC News (go.com)

I would ask the students the following questions:

1.       Is there any harm in playing a popular song to promote a worthy cause?

2.       If yes, who is it harming? If no, what is your reasoning?

3.       If you downloaded and paid for the song from a streaming service and played it at home during your birthday party, what is the difference between the two scenarios?

As a teacher, I would explain some of the social, ethical, and legal consequences. To make this concept relatable to my high school students, I would explain academic dishonesty and the consequences of copying another’s work without citing the source. This will get them into big trouble, an “F” o the paper, failing the class and/or being expelled from school as the result of this violation. This would be the one point that I think they would understand.  

For technology implementation issues, I would select decreased productivity as one topic to discuss. I would ask for 2 volunteers to come up to the front of the classroom to role play. One student would be the student that limits the amount of time they are on social media. We will call him Student A. Student A sets certain times of the day and then turns off all devices and finishes homework. The second student, Student B, would role play and be on the social media, internet, play real time gamer games until 2:00 in the morning. At this point, I would ask the students, what they think the outcomes were for both Student A and B were the following day. This role play while fun and light-hearted depicts a real scenario that many students in the class may have encountered. The lack of discipline to limit the time playing will have a negative effect o the student in numerous ways, sleep deprivation, lack of concentration the following day, get behind on assignments and maybe a form a bad habit that is very difficult to break.

Cyberbullying would be the next topic to discuss. I would start the lesson by asking the students if they had any experience with this issue or knew of someone who had. I would ask the students if it is o.k. to fight and call others names if they were in person? Would they think it is o.k. to do that behind an anonymous social media profile? What is the harm if any? Does that degradation effect the recipient? What are the unintended consequences of bullying someone? I would have the students give examples such as self-esteem diminishes, missing school because the person may think the bullying is one of their classmates and sometimes suicide can occur. Cyberbullying is becoming more and more prevalent, and students need to become good stewards in the on-line community. I would explain that meaning in detail to them.

Regarding the Newsletter, I really enjoy learning new things. That is why I am in college and am a non-traditional student, trying to live my best life. I did learn how to use many shortcuts which cut down on the time during the assignment. That is the good news! Honestly, I struggled with a few of the steps such as setting up the columns and making the color selections. My lines, margins and shapes eventually got all messed up. I enjoy being creative and wanted the Newsletter to be perfect and one that I would be using soon. I understand the basics and want to utilize the concepts each month when I start to make my own real Newsletter. I know that I can use more practice and the easy way out is to use a template at that time. However, I want to learn how to do this the manual way and to learn each step like the back of my hand as the assignment was designed.

 I was able to ask Ms. Jaesung Hur for help. She was patient, kind and made me feel like I could do it. She was the encouragement that I needed. This is what we all need, someone to help us along. She did that for me in a wonderful way.