Scratch

After looking through several different projects in the Elementary Education section, I found a project that helps beginners with addition. To view this project click here. This project uses simple keyboarding skills (up and down arrows) to compute math problems using addition. The project uses bright colors, a talking dog (who will add interest to the activity to keep kids excited about the "game"), and animation/sounds to engage the students. This project is nicely done, but could encorporate other types of math problems such as subtraction and even multiplication/division for more advanced students. Creating a project similar to this one would be useful in a future classroom.

Convergence Culture

Convergence Culture, as Dr. Henry Jenkins explains, is a connection of every medium through ideas presented. It is not a replacement of old media with new, but rather an integration of the ideas presented in the old medium into the new--creating a type of symbiotic relationship. Dr. Jenkins claims that this process should not be considered purely technological. That is, the process should not be considered simply the combination of a telephone, television, and camera into one instrument, but rather a new medium serving as a catalyst to enhance the idea presented by an old medium. One example was presented in the video that helps visualize this process. Television produces shows that can be viewed on a TV set. If someone misses this episode, TV corporations have realized that they can use other sources of media, i.e. the internet/ipods to reach more viewers. Consumers can still get the intended product of a television show, but through different media device. This media of an ipod or internet site does not replace a TV, but allows further viewing of the same product--making entertainment easier and more convenient which is an ideal of our culture.

Convergence culture is very pertinent to education and classrooms. A variety of information can be accessed by numerous sources. The convergence of media allows teachers to enhance lessons with technology in countless ways. The potential for technology in classrooms seems limitless, but this requires some education of media literacy. This might shift the focus of required skills from those such as the three r's to include media skills and technological literacy. There is what Dr. Jenkins called a "participation gap" which limits children who do not get the chance to participate as much as other students with technology because they do not have access to it at home. Teachers need to be aware of this gap and attempt to bridge it by incorporating participation into daily lesson plans.

Schools are most definitely limiting students' access to digital tools for several reasons. Cell phones and ipods, however helpful and resourceful they may be, lead to distractions during instruction time and can be a great nuisance to a teacher trying to do their job. The same can be said for online sites such as youtube, facebook, and other social networks. While these sites can prove to be very useful in instruction time, they cause great distraction and are therefore restricted in many school networking systems. I agree that there needs to be some monitoring when using these forms of media in the classroom, but the advantages of they provide seem to outshine the negatives associated with them. There do need to be restrictions at certain times during certain situations, but these resources should not neglected. It would be doing students a disservice if they were not encouraged in a classroom setting.

Think Aloud

here is my "Think Aloud" I created to model online reading strategies.

Website Validation

I examined Dog Island. While the website initially looks like an organized vacation spot for your pet, it is anything but. This website describes a free and happy life for your dog at Dog Island. They take dogs for free and separate them into size categories and put them on different islands. It lists statistics on the side as well as including rate, company, facility, FAQ, and Photos tabs. All of this looks very real and organized. It isn't until you start reading that you notice that everything the website says is complete nonsense!

First of all, at the very bottom of the page there is a disclaimer. I first looked at this and read the disclaimer that said this:
DISCLAIMER:
This site (TheDogIsland.com) was made in jest, for fun for love of dogs and for love of life.
You are to take NO actions, make NO decisions based on the content of this website.
In other words, we are not responsible for ANYTHING you do. If I could make this any clearer to you, I would. You can't blame us for ANYTHING. You can't be mad at us for ANYTHING. The only point for you on this website is to enjoy yourself. And if you don't enjoy yourself, you absolutely canNOT blame us for this lack of enjoyment - it is completely your fault.
We are selling nothing, we want nothing from you, not your personal information, not your credit card, not your dog, not your money... NOTHING. We have asked you for nothing, we will continue to ask you for nothing, so please, make sure to NOT GIVE IT TO US, as we will not accept it.
To all friendly, kind, loving people, who don't find a need to blame other people for any and everything, thank you for your time, sorry if you read this and felt unloved - WE LOVE YOU !!! :::))))

I don't need to go much further to prove how credible this website is. It is spelled out clearly in the disclaimer. However, if the disclaimer was not included, there are other hints.

For example, the copyright date of the website is fairly old. Also, no author is stated directly. The domain name is a .com, so that most definitely lessens the credibility in my mind. The website provides email links, but when you click on them it directs you to another page--not an email window. The page does not include any sources or other contact information. The "background" of this Dog Island included names of the founders, however when you search the names in Google, the only place they come up is on this specific website.

This particular website was very easy to notice how inaccurate and discrediting it was. It's important to remember that not all website are as easy to pick out as inaccurate, and we need to look for signs to see how credible the information is. Sometimes websites that look extremely accurate turn out to be very quite the opposite.

Teacher of the Year Magazine

Form

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Web 2.0 bookmark

The Web 2.0 resource I chose from delicious is called Classroom 2.0.

This website is a social networking site for teachers interested in web 2.0 technologies. A teacher can become a member of the network and participate in forums/discussions about web 2.0 technology. Each teacher can post ideas or ask questions. The website also has Hosts that can help with specific questions. Topics are listed at the side according to the type of technology you are interested in learning more about.

This social network would be a huge asset for any beginning teacher who is looking for ways to encorporate technology into their classroom. There are even live "webinars" that can be watched by teachers all over the country.

This website provides tons of resources and interaction with other teachers that can help you in teaching web 2.0 technology.