Journal 5

Improving Students Learning
By Catherine Tannahill and Leslie Ricklin

Expanding the boundaries for students is very important for teachers to hold up to. Technology has certainly proven to be a huge tool to helping students further their abilities. In the article, Improving Students Learning, it shows how students using technology for their research can benefit the students in a much fuller way. The articles goes over four different steps of research and then goes into the details how technology helps improve each step for our students. Wikis and blogs were also mentioned as a way of communication in group work along with email. It easier for students that have different schedules to be able to have more ways of communication, without being right next to each other. The article also went into how students usually use PowerPoint as a way of presentation.

Questions/Answers:

Q: How do we make sure that students do not over use the PowerPoint?

A: Everyone in one time or another has over used a PowerPoint. As teachers we can try to train our students in using PowerPoint by demonstrating how to present with PowerPoint.

Q: How do we get our students to put things in their words without using others?

A: I figured teachers can do exercise that can lead up to the steps of summarizing with out using other peoples words from the internet. Research is definitely going in the right direction to help our students but it is necessary to train our students how to do it properly.

Journal 4

The Threat of Security:

Hindering Technology Integration in the Classroom
By LeAnne K. Robinson, Abbie Brown, and Tim Green

How far is going too far with technology? This article describes what can happen when security in technology is taken too far. The article makes it clear that security is important to protect the students and the integrity of the school. But what this article is talking about are the regulations that being left on Teachers for the ideas of what if. The example the article uses to show a little over the top is when a teacher buys CD-RWs to burn their presentation and the school administration says that it is high risk that teachers might try and break a copyright law. Restrictions on e-mails were another issue that was discussed.

Question/Answers:

Q: How does the school administration deal with restrictions on technology without making the teachers afraid to use the great resources that can help improve the classroom?

A: There has to be a certain amount of trust involved with how restrictions are made. Teachers and administrators need to sit and talk together to be able to decide what is right and fair. Technology is growing more and more and it is imperative for our students to keep on learning the ways of technology so that they can have the best advantages that help them to develop into adult with experiences that they will need for success.

Q: Why do make technology so scary to are students?

A:Technology is growing more and more and instead of fearing are students away from it we should help them learn it and use it. Technology is only going to keep on getting bigger and bigger and we have prepare our students for the future.

Journal 3

The New Gold Rush: Establishing Effective Online Learning Policies
By Ferdi Serim

In the article, Establishing Effective Online Learning Policies shows how technology is very important to teach to our students but it is also important to teach our students one on one how to officially work with technology. It is our responsibility as teachers to monitor and guide students on how to use technology during the business of school. One on one teaching with our students can not be replaced by an automated voice on a computer sure a computer can a hundred questions and answer that are useful for students.

Questions/Answers:

Q: How can we teach our students an efficient way to understand how to properly use the computer?
A: The programs such as e-learning that was explained in the article can show us teachers different ways to be able to help our student how to understand technology.

Q: How can we monitor our students in a way that will be effective and not have our students back away from technology?
A: An easy answer this question have the teacher walk around the computers that the students are working at and make sure that the students are on task.

Journal 2

More than Just a Blog: “American Indians In Children’s Literature”
by Debbie Reese

The article “More Than Just a Blog” by Debbie Reese interested me because she is telling about her journey in starting to use blogs. I find this so interesting and encouraging because a few months ago I had no idea what a blog was and now I am finding out more and more how this can be a communication tool in schools and way to get the message around of what is going on. I really like how she took a subject, such as American Indians Children Literature, and made it the theme of her blog and used it to help others learn more about a subject that many know little about. Most of my focus has been on younger grade levels such as kindergarten to second grade, it is really hard for me to believe that my blog for my class would be most influential on my student s being the age that they are but I think it would definitely be useful for my colleagues and parents. I really love the idea of the blog and using it to do lesson planning and a resource of communication.

Questions/Answers:

Q: How I could use my classroom blog to have an affect on my students that will probably be 5 to 7years old?
A: I can simplify my classroom blog in order for my students to be able to easily access the blog.

Q: How do I incorporate the parents that do not have computers or it is hard for them to get to one, how would they gain access to our class blog?
A: I would have a computer available for parents to come in and check the blog after school. But that raises more what ifs…if the parents working and cannot come to school to check the blog and so on.

Journal 1

Power of the Mashup: Combining Essential Learning with New Technology
by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss

The Power of the Mashup was really neat in the way that students can take a book that they are studying their class and make it into an adventure. I like the idea of using technology to get the kids to dig deeper into something that they are learning. It teaches the student the surrounding information of what happened to make this book so important enough to be written. If a class is reading the story A Tale of Two Cities the students can look up France on the computer and see on Google map where it was that the character lived. The students can also research the French Revolution on the internet and connect it to a social studies project.

Questions/Answers:

Q: How can I control the students from going to sites that could be reliable sources?
A: I would give a lesson on what websites were sufficient and which sites to stay away from. One of the assignments would be to have the students go on a scavenger hunt for websites that are credible. I would explain to them that websites that end with .edu are more credible websites then .com.

Q: How can I inform parents of their children going on their Internet and have them be ok that?
A: I know a lot of parents think that the internet is a bad place but if I informed parents in a newsletter telling them what their students are going on the internet for I think they would not be harmful. Also I would inform them on how using technology will benefit their students it might help them to understand the reason for using technology.