WebQuesting...Part 2

I went back and read my own WebQuest blog and realized how negative I sound... I think my frustration took over. After taking a few days off from WebQuesting, I went back and revised mine. It was much easier and a lot more enjoyable this time around! I now have a sense of relief and accomplishment; and in the long run, I am happy I learned something new!

Kidspiration

Kidspiration is a really awesome interactive program that all students can benefit from. It offers activities for students in every area and is very user friendly. I am a first grade teacher and was able to incorporate this into my current math lessons. My students have been working on place value using the base ten blocks. Kidspiration has a base ten blocks activity that my students took turns using on our 2 class computers yesterday. They loved it and it seemed to give them a further understanding of place value. I also love what it has to offer in the science and social studies sections...There is something for most grade levels and it seems to work in conjunction with a lot of the state standards. As I mentioned in my previous blogs, I work in a private school...unfortunately my school does not have many resources for science or social studies for the primary grades, in fact I don't even have a set of text books in either of these subjects...With so much to offer in both these areas, Kidspiration is a great tool to aid in teaching them. Above all my favorite part is how easy it is to use, and how appealing the colors and graphics are...these qualities definitely help to keep kids engaged.

WebQuesting...

Hmm...where to begin? I think I have developed a love hate relationship with WebQuests. I absolutely love the idea of them and really enjoyed searching through them. However, I despised making one. Although, I did find the videos and links very helpful in creating my WebQuest, I still found it to be a daunting task. I know we were supposed "have fun" with this assignment, but to be honest, I did not...at all. I am sure a part of my difficulty came from not being extremely computer savvy to begin with. Since we have an extension on this module I do plan on improving my WebQuest...which is awesome because I am not completely satisfied with it. Hopefully, I will have a more pleasurable experience "fixing" it, than I did creating it.

NJCCCS & NETS

I know that in most public school districts it is required for teachers to use NJCCCS in their lesson plans...I however, work at a private school. I try to incorporate as much technology as possible, but it is difficult with limited resources. I teach first grade...I have 2 computers in my room, a television, and an overhead projector...that is the extent of the technology available to me for use in my classroom. Not only is there a lack of resources at my school, but also a lack of education about technology for the teachers. Because we are privatized, we are not required to follow New Jersey state standards, although we do for the most part...except for the technology part. I think it is great that most schools do follow these standards for technology...the NJCCCS for Technological Literacy mentions a study that found students form negative attitudes about technology if they had no formal technological experiences during the early school years. This makes me want to implement technology into my lessons even more because I don't want my students to struggle with technology down the line. After reading through the NJCCCS and NETS it has become even more clear to me how important technology in the classroom is and what more I should be doing to better prepare my students for their future as students in a technological world.

Jukes' Digital Kids

This article was a very easy read and one that I found to be quite enjoyable. On page 10 of the article, the author zones in on the fact that the internet has become a replacement for the traditional ways that young people used to form social skills. She/he refers to it as a "digital landscape"...I can't help but wonder about the effect the internet has on the social skills of children today...I would assume that it would have a negative effect. It is common knowledge that we learn by doing...if the growing generations are learning most of their social skills online, won't these social skills begin to decline, eventually deteriorating over time? It seems as though the further advanced in technology we become as a society, the more we depend on it. Just a thought...any input?

I also found this link...it's a collaboration of different studies done on the effect the internet has on social skills...pretty interesting.
http://www.sierrasource.com/cep612/internet.html

Internet Safety

Internet safety is clearly a very important topic. Although it is probably a parent's responsibility to teach internet safety to their children, I definitely feel that schools should educate students about how to stay safe when using the internet. Out of the three videos, I really enjoyed the second-Ms. Healy's internet safety video. I think the simplicity of the video combined with repetition would really get it's point across to young children. I'm sure there are plenty of kids out there that could easily get themselves into a bad situation without realizing they are not being safe. From the time they can walk and talk, children are socialized not to talk to strangers....in reality we need to teach children to apply these same rules when using the internet. Like the Juke's article mentions...there are so many children that go home to an empty house, who have technology as their main companion...so it is especially important now, more than ever to educate kids on internet safety.

testing :)