Dr. Alice Christie's Website Review

I checked out Dr. Alice Christie's website at http://www.alicechristie.org/ It was very impressive and not difficult to navigate at all. I really enjoyed the Educational Technology section of this website. It discussed ways to implement technology into the classroom by showing an overview of many different lessons for each academic field. It also discussed a new program they are using at the school to incorporate GPS and Geocashing in the classroom and it's called GEOPA. There were different lessons she used to incorporate the GPS and I looked at an art lesson. This lesson was about the sculpture Fire station #30 created by Joe Tyler in Arizona.

She had a group of 5th and 6th graders from Alhambra School District visit the structure to discover important qualities about the art form. She covered many standards by having them answer several important questions and give their personal analysis on the piece. The students had to use the GPS to find their way to the structure and while answering questions, they enjoyed their lunch there as well.

Along with several of other interesting and helpful lessons, this one shone some light on how to effectively incorporate technology into classrooms for all different areas of academics. I will be bookmarking this site on my Delicious account and using it for future guidance.
This site gets a thumbs up!
Dr. Alice Christie Website

Just Practicing...

My blog link.EDM310DillonRogersBlog

What I've Learned This Year- Response

Mr. McClung has posted some advice concerning his introductory years of teaching elementary students. It deals with communicating effectively in order to maintain a good work environment and healthy relationships with co-workers. It also talks about how important it is to not beat yourself up when a lesson doesn't go the exact way it was planned and let go of the feeling of failure. He shows us that we should not be afraid of technology as teachers and that it is our job to always be learning. We should always remember our audience and listen to them. He makes a point that I really liked: "We do everything short of beg students to learn on a daily basis, but sadly some of us refuse to learn and grow as professional educators." - Mr. McClung I definitely agree with this idea of constant learning and adapting; after all, isn't that what we are preparing our students to do? If we can't continue to learn, how can they?

Response to: Wikipedia edits/Wired story

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, available to anyone and available to edit by anyone. It has been, what some may call, misused by politicians, companies, and agencies to change information written about them to make them look better.


Virgil Griffith has created a Wikipedia Scanner which lets you see who has made changes to Wikipedia, where, and what they changed. It was created in order to reveal these companies and politicians for the changes they made in order to make them or the companies sound better. By keeping detailed logs of this information, you are able to see for yourself if a company is changing information or deleting information in order to convey a better image.

There are still ways that companies can do this without being caught and this Scanner is not necessarily full proof. If I worked at WALMART and wanted to change something, I could go to the closest Starbucks or some other location and log on using that IP address. Then, it would not seem as if someone from the company did it. Also, if I had issues with WalMart for some reason and logged on in the store, I could change information and make it look like it came directly from the company.

I don't think this Scanner provides a reliable way for people to track what others are changing because there is no way to know who exactly is writing what. This may help others to feel as if people are held more accountable for what they are changing, but it doesn't make me feel any better. This program, like all programs, has its good sides and not so good sides. I just don't see Wikipedia ever becoming a factual, reliable source of information.

http://tinyurl.com/2qyjjj

Practice

My Life Step 1 Presentation

comments 4 kids

I read the posts for fablogs English8. The students were responding to a particular chapter they read in The Lord of the Flies. The students I responded to were very intuitive about the underlying meanings of the scenes in the story. I asked them questions to provoke more thought on their answers. I noticed that the teacher is having them post responses about their literature first, but later on they will be podcasting and I though that was wonderful. It seems like a good transition into technology into the classroom.

I also read the 1st post for RBS 4th grade blog. This class of 6 year-olds did a podcast about the upcoming year and the monthly events. There was more than one student speaking and they began by introducing themselves in Spanish. They all spoke at the same time as a way of welcoming the listener and I though this was very effective and creative. It's wonderful that this teacher is introducing podcasting so early in their schooling.

Finally, I listened/watched Ms. Tanea's Class blog Post 1. This introduced the Wells Science Club in Thailand. This was a wonderful video with what sounded like current Thai music. It showcased the girls in the Science Club and they did an experiment with airplanes. Ms. Tanea seems very tech literate and excited to incorporate it into her classroom. I think the students are also excited, maybe that they can see themselves on the web. I think this is a wonderful use of technology in the classroom, especially internationally.