That's all folks!

It is now the end of the semester and finals are approaching. When I look back to the beginning of the semester I had NO CLUE how to use any form of technology with the exception of facebook (How sad). Now, although I am not a pro, I feel like I have made leaps and bounds into the world of technology. I now know more of the technologies available to me as a student AND as a future teacher and cannot wait to keep learning and exploring. I am grateful for this class and especially grateful for Professor Proctor! I look forward to entering the Special Education Program this fall. I CANNOT wait!

Internet Safety Reflection!

The article I chose to read was "Provident Living Guidelines Regarding Internet Safety"
The person I chose to teach and interview was my younger sister. Because we have been raised in the same house with the same parents we agreed about the necessity of internet safety. She basically knew everything that I was teaching, I just expanded on it by giving her specific prophetic counsel. We had a great discussion.

It is so important to be educated on internet safety. Like I've said a million times: Technology is amazing but just like everything else it can be used for good and bad. We need to make sure as parents, teachers, siblings, etc. that we educate and monitor our children and the technologies being used. Here are a few examples:
-I think the most important thing you can do is teach the importance of internet safety and explain why it is necessary.
-My home ward bishop gave a ward fireside a few years back counseling us on "internet safety." He took two full hours teaching the adults as well as the children how to prevent the evils of the world that can come from technology, as well as guidance on what to do if it comes up unintentionally. "Unplug it and RUN AWAY!"
-We have installed a filtering program to my computer so that any unauthorized sites will be blocked.
-In my house, we put our computer in a "high-traffic" area, or in a place where there are people constantly going in and out of. This helps to avoid many bad situations because there are other people around all the time.
-Another big issue is "online chatting." It's important to counsel young children who fool around on MSN Messenger as well as older children and young adults who have facebook, myspace, etc. that giving out personal information to random strangers is NOT OKAY. This has caused many dangerous situations that eventually end in heartbreak.

In my family, we have talked about this many times because we feel that it is a major issue in the world. Because we have talked about it, we feel more comfortable and know exactly what to do in the given situation. I think it is the educates responsibility to teach those who are ignorant in the matter. Lucky for us, there is plenty of prophetic counsel that we can listen to and follow to keep ourselves and our future children safe. Yes, technology has played a huge part in developing and perfecting some of the most fascinating and beneficial inventions of this day and age, but we know that no matter what- we must live in the world not of the world.

Different Technologies in the classroom..

Some of the technologies we explored in class that I can use in my future classrooms are:

Kidspiration:
-What does it help you do?
This technology program or website allows an educator to explore concepts, words, numbers, etc.
-Where can it be found? This technology can be downloaded and found at kidspiration.com. Or I have found it very convenient when accessing it in the TEC lab in the MCKB. In the lab, there are people there to help you understand more efficiently and be able to apply it more effectively.

Digital Microscopes:
-What does it help you do? It allows students to look at microscopic objects magnified or up close, it also allows them to take digital pictures or video when looking at these tiny objects, whatever they may be.
-Where can it be found? Here at BYU they can be checked out from the Tec lab in the MCKB. Other schools, I'm sure the teacher can check them out.

Digital Probes:
-What does it help you do? It allows students to take quick and accurate temperature measurements as well as graph and track the data immediately on a connected laptop. We used this in our Science Project.
-Where can it be found? Once again, here at BYU they can be checked out from the TEC lab in the MCKB.

.. ?.?.? ..

What are some ways you can tell that you have successfully integrated technology into your lesson?
What do you feel technology should accomplish in order to be a legitimate addition to your lesson?
What indicators can tell you whether or not you have chosen an appropriate technology for your lesson?

All of these questions have to do with obtaining the objectives. You can tell if your use of technology was successful by going through the objectives and making sure that although you are trying to make it fun and exciting, you need to make sure that you are hitting all of the requirements or the curriculum. I am there to teach. I am there to change these kids lives for the better. So it is my responsibility to teach them in ways they can understand and keep their attention. Technology is a good aid. Technology is like a portal to the unknown. It's new and exciting and kids like that. So a good indicator of whether or not the technology used was appropriate or effective, or not, is if the technology increased their knowledge and helped the children understand what's going on in the classroom.

TPACK

TPACK

Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge


PK(Pedagogical Knowledge is knowing how to teach.)

CK(Content Knowledge is knowing the facts about a particular subject.)

TK(Technological Knowledge is knowing about different technologies and how to use and apply them.)

The TPACK method uses all three knowledges at once for a dynamic learning experience. By taking IP&T this semester I have learned how to incorporate the many technologies available and implement them into lesson plans. Every teacher can have the same material but the way you teach and help the children understand makes the difference.

Representations of the different technologies include technological, visual, auditory, dynamic, and multimodal. This semester my two favorite dynamic learning technology representations are Google Earth, and iMovie. I am really interested in movies and visual projects and how they are made so it was really fun for me to learn how to use the tool and then be able to use what I made to teach a lesson. And as I have said before, Google Earth is fascinating in all aspects. Its fun and interesting and can help teach about the world around us.

Science Project

Science Project Challenge Lesson Plan

This is our Science Project Challenge Technology lesson plan that we created before we began working on our science project. It helped us determine what would be best for our temperature science project.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AaWhqVaEWBVuZGN0cmNxMm1fNWZ4M3B3dGpq&hl=en