Digital Images in the Language Arts Classroom

Bull, Glen L., and Lynne Bell (eds.) Teaching with Digital Images ISTE, 2005

Chapter 7: Digital Images in the Language Arts Classroom

With the recent discussion in class about copyright and fair use in an educational setting, my mind has been constantly thinking of activities and lessons that could encompass the fair use in the educational setting. How can this be practical on an elementary level? What kind of material is transformationative? Therefore, my gaze went to the Teaching with Digital Images book. Inside there were a variety of chapters on how digital images can be used in science, language arts, social studies, and math. All are just as equally important in the classroom and all can be components that incorporate technology and the issue of copyrighted material. 

I chose the chapter on language arts especially because I love reading and love to teach language arts so it would a useful subject to be able to incorporate digital images. The chapter starts off with a story of a girl in a 7th grade class during a discussion Of Mice and Men who did not participate. She would have rather drawn out images of what the books means and questions about the book. She wanted to see it visually to record her construction of meaning. The chapter goes on to list several reasons how images can help in learning language arts. One is that the digital images can help readers envision text. There is always the debate over which is better the book or the movie but it's true, we love to envision text. Digital images can also offer a unique bridge to writing. Reading an writing go hand in hand and can play off of each other very well in different types of writings. Digital Images also allow students to communicate meaning visually which is where the transformational use of copyright can come into play. 

The rest of the chapter shows potential instructional uses of digital images in a language arts classroom. One was to visualize with a mental movie. This involves strategies such as envisioning the textual world, making and testing predictions, monitoring understanding, asking questions, and making connection. It all goes back to the higher order of thinking of Bloom's Taxonomy. 

Already in my student teaching, I have used digital images to teach in with language arts. For a vocabulary lesson, I had the students decide on how to act out their vocabulary word so I could capture it on camera. The students were very excited about this assignment. But this book also got me thinking to what other ways could I use to incorporate digital images into my teaching. How can I use them to help the students analyze and create and evaluate? Maybe it requires showing a picture as a hook to a lesson that connects with what we are going to learn. Maybe it's giving the students a variety of pictures and they have to come up with the analysis themselves. Never the less, I'm excited to see education in the new eyes of transformation and fair use.

Audio: Podcasts, MP3's, and E-Books

Fitzgibbon, Kathleen Teaching with Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts & More Teaching Resoiurces, 2010

Chapter 6: Audio 

I have always been intrigued by Podcasts and MP3 recording in schools. I have looked at websites like WillowWeb's podcasts and marvel at their podcasting abilties at their school and the professionalism involved with it. The book I picked for this blog post was Teaching with Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts & More.  More than anything, if I were to incorporate a web 2.0 into my classroom, it would be in a podcast. Listening to audio's such as a podcast can be a good way for students to increase their listening skills and could be used as homework for students. Audio files only require speakers, or earphones which is a fairly easy tool with compared to others such as using texting or a social networking site or blog site.

When thinking about podcasts, I believe it would be a really easy and creative way to be transformationative in compared to copyright. As the chapter states, when creating a podcast, a script must be written out. In this script students or the teacher can write material that is a critique or changes the material in a creative way so that it brings out a new emphasis on the material. Yes, putting in audio straight into the podcast or using background music will be against copyright. So the script is very important to making sure that the material is creative and transformationative.

E-Books are another that this chapter mentions. I don't especially like reading books online or on the computer but it is a new way or reading and students may prefer this way better than tangible books. Using E-books with MP3 would be a really good tool with students with learning disabilities or reading difficulties and they can follow along with the audio. Copyright would not necessarily be an issue with simply listening to MP3's or reading E-books since they generally are free. But probably printing E-Books out and reusing those in not a creative transformational way, would infringe on copyright.

It's very interesting now to look through the various web 2.0 strategies with new eyes on copyright. I hope I can become a teacher that looks to the transformational method and is actively encouraging my students on in the creative way.

Privacy and Security

Bissonette, Aimee Cyber Law Corwin, 2009

Chapter 4: Privacy and Security

Since starting my student-teaching, I have gotten to see up and close what schools do in respect to privacy and security of students. This chapter in the book enlightened me on the different laws in place for student's security and privacy in and out of the schools. The most important is the FERPA which requires parental notice and consent before schools can post and disclose private student information. FERPA also affects a schools storage and retention of student records by making sure both the school has a system in place for storing records and permission for parents to review the records. Failure in either of these parts results in litigation.


The chapter goes on to talk about the sharing of information among staff. Staff do not have the right to share records and grades of students among teachers. I'm guessing this goes for elementary grades as well. If so, then my school I interned at does not do a good job because many teachers talked about their students in the lunch room or in the hallways and disclosed information between them. I also as an intern was able to go in and look at a student's cumulative record. I guess that's ok since I'm an intern at the school yet at the same time, I was leery because these are personal records of the students. 


The chapter closes out with discussing the school's role in the privacy and security of students. The chapter mentions policies which Adam Hotchkiss talked about, as well as making sure to hand out parent permission slips for information or even taking pictures of students. The chapter also mentions to educate the teachers and staff about FERPA and other piracy legislation so that no laws are broken and children can be protected. Students also need to be educated with online safety so that they do nothing to compromise their identity including copyright and fair use. Ignorance is not bliss and so it is not fair for people that are not properly educated on matters of high importance such has privacy and security. We need to make an effort to educate everyone of these issues. 

Cyber Law: Copyright Law in the Classroom

Bissonette, Aimee Cyber Law Corwin, 2009

Chapter 6: Copyright Law in the Classroom

I picked up this book and this chapter with the intent on comparing it to Hobb's Copyright Clarity book. The opening parts were almost the same with some exceptions. The chapter discussed what copyright law was but kept bringing up the topic of infringement. It made me feel like this author is much more scared of copyright than Hobb is. The chapter also talked about fair use. For the question of "Isn't fair use available as a defense to infringement with copyright?" Her answer, "It depends." I hope that she continues to bring out her point instead of leaving me confused. The four factors for fair use are mentioned just like Copyright Clarity.The author of this book believes that though fair use can be used in an educational setting, school should still provide plenty of listened resources so that the teachers don't have to go out of their way to find material that may result in infringement. This again shows me that though the author understands, she still stays on the safe side of copyright instead of living on the edge.


To reduce the risk of copyright infringement the author blatantly makes the statement that educations need to know the law and the need to contact the copyright owners to negotiate usage. This shocked me when I read it because how does the author expect every educator to contact every owner before using a copyrighted material? That would be impossible! The author goes on to talk about licensing material and greatly encourages schools to get licenses for using materials. I agree with licensing, especially if the copyright material is strict and does not fall under fair use. 


This book discussed a term or materials that I had never heard about before: OpenCourseWare. It seemed really interesting from reading it. It is a website or a number of websites that host content of free classes and material for students and teachers. This could be a good tool that I will have to look into further. I also did not know about Learning object repositories. Both are good tools for people who don't quite fully understand  copyright and don't want to get into trouble from the fear of the unknown. I would say every one needs to be educated but in the process, know your resources. 


This book was an example of those books that Hobbs talks about in her book, where teachers are scared more than anything about anything copyright. They don't learn the full potential of copyright and fair use and what that means to the classroom. Books like these can still be good tools, yet a person should always be striving for new and deeper understanding of issues related to education.

Teaching with digital images

Bull, Glen L., and Lynne Bell (eds.) Teaching with Digital Images ISTE, 2005

Chapter 4: Digital Images and Copyright

The biggest question that comes to copyright in my mind is with images. Once a week at the least, because of some project or assignment, I go on google images to search for an image to use. I often wonder if that is breaking copyright or not. Especially in an educational setting, I don't want to do something that will be illegal in front of the students. This chapter from the book Teaching with Digital Images helps clear up that issue a little. The chapter discusses fair use in the classroom with the four points that were mentioned in Copyright Clarity including the four factors or purpose, nature, amount, and effect on a market, which need to be considered before using from the web. I don't know how I feel about using this as a test before using material. Wouldn't everything be biased? Wouldn't people have different opinions on what is fair use with the four factors? I guess I like cut and dry rules instead of something which it is up to individual people to decide for themselves.

The article also talks about the Creative Commons. I came in contact with this a little this summer during a summer class. I really liked the idea. The chapter mentions that Creative Commons sees and protects the rights of the creators but at the same time allows it to be used for educational purposes. The chapter goes on  to discuss public domain, permission, and attribution. Public domain is another issue which is not clear to what is in public domain and when it becomes public domain. I personally do not remember finding anything online which was public domain, but I also wasn't looking for it or simply didn't see it.

Permission and attribution, I believe, are good behavior to teach students, as the chapter suggests. Attribution requires a simple training of your brain to copy a link from where the material came from or simply listing the name of the person used. This act will help students as they become good digital citizens. Permission is one aspect of copyright I have not been involved in. I have seem where it says contact the author or creator before using but I have never done that. To my it just seems like extra time to do and what's the use. I know that is a wrong philosophy. But it will be interesting to see what Hobbs says about the fact with the transformational usage of such material.

Adam Hotchkiss - Technology Coordinator CAK

Once more I was amazed at a story where a person went in and build up a technology department from what seems like ground zero within a school. You can see the time and hard work that went into the policies and budgeting that he has created for his job. I just love to see someone who works hard genuinely out of pure advancement for the school and the students. He also doesn't stop at being satisfied at what he has. He is always looking towards new and innovative technologies, even if it costs lots of money. Even still, he is realistic though it all.

It was also good when Dr. Krug asked about the relationship between tech coordinators and classroom teachers. The relationship is so important to build up a good schools based on technology. I could see how many schools could fail in technology uses just because there is not a good relationship between the tech coordinators and the classroom teachers.

I also hadn't understood what policies were until Adam had talked about it. I really enjoy how he passed around the policy for CAK so that we could see a real life one. I see now that it is very important to have policies especially with technology because technology is such a big thing. I have trouble wrapping my head around it and one can easily get lost with in it. With those policies and boundaries, funny business is less likely to happen and learning can be done in a good and safe environment.

Guest Speaker: Polly Brake

Right off the bat, I was very amazed at Polly Brake. From being in the marines, to homeschooling her kids, to working part time, and in the end, developing her own technology proposal to implement at her school. What determination and what result from that determination! I admire that from her so much. So also went on to talk about how preparation, dedication, and time are important to be a technology coordinator. It's so remarkable to see a personal who had a dream and followed through with it by making a plan and getting it approved. I also like what she talked about the webinar's for professional development, because that would be a tangible way, especially if it were free to get more knowledge on certain technological features. The $25 walmart gift card?? That was so neat! Who knew there was such a thing! You know she's smart when she uses her resources around her and get's what she needs in a cheap but ethical way.

She ended by talking about how innovation excited parents. It also excited the students too. While my mind is still trying see how exactly entertain and engaging is different, this was another step in developing these ideas in my brain. No, not everything has to be innovative, there are traditional means that would fulfill a teaching responsibility, yet at the same time, we are in a innovative world, where everyday, something new and creative is being introduced into our society. If more teachers like her grabbed a hold of innovation and ran with it, I bet our classrooms and schools will be changed and ready for the future to come.

Upgrading the Curriculum: Assessment

Jacobs, Heidi Hayes (ed.) Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World ASCD, 2010 

Chapter 2: Upgrading the Curriculum

The first thing that hit me while reading this chapter was the fact that the author believes that instead of "integrate technology in the curriculum" which is what we have heard all our classes in technology, the author believes the wording should be replace instead of integrate. Integrate technology seems to be a term that teachers do in staff development and where teachers are lost at how to do and seems like extra work. Instead by using the word replace it incorporates something concrete as a replacement. 


The author starts with how assessment can be upgraded and replace in the curriculum.  There are several steps that a school can take to replace their assessment and upgrade it to technology. Step 1 involves developing a pool of assessment replacements Step 2 is to identify the types of technology that do exist currently. The author suggests stretching teachers to use one new told per semester or school year. Step 3 involves students commit to replacing one assessment type per semester. Step 4 involves sharing the assessment upgrades with colleagues and students. This step encourages collaboration and brainstorming. Step 5 involves incepting ongoing sessions for skill and assessment upgrades throughout the year. When students are stretched and measured with new assessment processes, it will help them become students ready for the years 2015 and 2020.


I really like how this book gave practical and very measurable ways to upgrading and replacing technology into the curriculum. We have staff developments that try to talk about incorporating technology into the classroom where the whole school tries to change but it really depend on each individual teacher and their desire to incorporate the technology little bits at a time. Even if it is just one technological element that replaces a traditional assessment while used in the semester and the teacher works at it, I think they will find that that helps them considerably instead of trying to incorporate technology all at once. 


I still don't know what I feel about this author's view on replacing instead of integrating. I have been so conditioned into the saying "integrate technology in the curriculum" that it blows up everything I've thought previously. It is definitely a new way at looking at technology and maybe it is better way at looking at technology. We want our students to be students with a technological mindset in the 21st century and so that may require us as teachers to completely revolutionize the way to teach with our curriculum, assessment, and technology. When you start to think of technology as replacing the traditional ways, it is a complete paradigm shift and ready or not, it is the 21st century. 

Engage me or Enrage me

Prensky, M. (2005) Engage Me or Enrage Me. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0553.pdf Prensky_Engage.pdf

Marc Prensky write a very entertaining and thought provoking article on the student in our schools and asking the question, "are we engaging them in schools on levels they are used to at home and play?" The article starts off with three types of learner, the motivated, the going through the motions, or the tuned out students. I certainly already see all three types of students in my 4th grade class for my student teaching. The article then goes back in time. The author mentions how in the 1960's, yes their were all three types of students yet at the same time, these students were not expected to be engaged by anything they did. But now, every student expects something to engage their attention and something to push their creativity. Just like the common video games have captions such as "explore..." "challenging..." "build..." the author points out how we don't have these captions for school much anymore. School has become boring to students and they can't wait to go home and engage their brain the way they prefer. So what are we to do? The author believes that the students of our age are sending us a message, that these students want to be engaged in the same level at school and so incorporate these things into the curriculum. 


Yes, I agree that students should be engaged in school and I try to do that every time I teach, yet at the same time, I have this belief in the back of my head where students should not have to always entertained, they are students, this is their responsibility to be in school so they should listen and behave because that is what we expect of them. When I think about this reasoning in my head, I think it comes from an old philosophy of teaching. This was a different age when children were not allowed to talk up to adults, school is where students were sent to everyday to learn. But our society is different now. I don't know if it is child rearing or simply our rapid expansion technological world but we can't treat students the same way we used to. These old tactics are not working. Children need to be engaged, they need to be entertained in all their senses, they need challenging and exciting work for them because now this is what they expect out of life. So teachers need to wake up to the fact, even if they don't like it, that their are other ways of engaging students, even if it may be through gaming. 


This will take what we read about today in our Chapter 3 of Williamson. How to incorporate technology into the curriculum. Our student live off of technology. Therefore, in some way, technology needs to be incorporated so that the students are engaged and are pushed and stretched into young men and women who are ready to become the leaders of our 21st century. 

So, as the author ends his article, student are asking us, are you going to enrage me today or enrage me? The choice is yours. 

Social Networking and Equity

National School Boards Association (NSBA) (2007) Creating and connecting: Research and guidelines on online social and educational networking. Fromhttp://www.nsba.org/site/view.asp?CID=63&DID=41340 or Creatingandconnecting.pdf

This article was a very interesting article illustrating a study done by Microsoft, News Corporation, and Verizon. Social Networking in our age among students is so rampant now that it has even come ahead of Television in the amount of time teens spend on activities. But when educators try to connect social networking ot schools, many times it is shut down and heavily barred down. This study showed that a vast majority of students use their social networking for school work as well as for posting, creating, videos and pictures showing the potential for social networking to be used in the classroom for educational purposes. This article also brings up an interesting note about nonconformists. They are adolescents who, “step outside of online safety and behavior rules.” They are heavy users of media and are highly advanced technologically but they may be average or below average academically.    

This article’s main point is why don’t’ we connect the school to the home, get parents and schools involved in the technology of our students by creatively incorporating social networking into our schools and into our children’s lives in a academic way. This article does touch on technological equity in how incorporating more social networking could work for if students don’t have a computer. The do not give a solution to the problem but they do say that it is up to the school to ensure the equity is reached. They also say that in our ever age, more and more homework is requiring the internet and so students are finding ways to be connected to the internet even if they don’t have resources at home.

The interesting thing about this article was with the nonconformist. This sounds exactly like what was discussed in class today that will come up in our book Copyright Clarity. I haven’t read the book yet, but if it is like what I understood today, then there are students out there who are creating and experimenting and shaking the technology world because they can and because that is how they display themselves.

This article gave me more hope for using social networking in the classroom. I used to feel like social networking shouldn’t be used in the classroom but now, with these good arguments the article brought up, I could see myself using some of these sometime. Yes, we do not want to loose the traditional way of handwriting or face-to-face communication, but since our world is quickly turning towards a more online and high speed world, it is important to bring our students up to date and engaged in our culture as it is. At West Hills where I just finished my first module for student teaching, there were two computer labs but students rarely accessed them and can’t even type in 4^th grade. I would like to, when I return there in January, start to incorporate more technology and social networking either through emails or blog correspondence so even if students don’t have access at home, I am still getting them used to these issues that will be a part of their life in middle and high school. 

EXPAND 5: Netbooks hit right spot for schoolchildren

Moses, A. (2009, January 29). Netbooks hit right spot for schoolchildren. SydneyMorning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/netbooks-hit-right-spot-for-schoolchildren/2009/01/28/1232818513771

This article is from the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia from 2009. I'm always interested in seeing what other countries are doing educationally with their technology. This article is from 2009 so it is very recent. In these recent years, the sale of netbooks have risen drastically making it one in 10 of all computers  sold. This growth is coming from parents who want to equip their children with simple low powered computers for doing homework. There is another reason why Australians are buying up netbooks. There is a Rudd Government Educational Tax Refund which allows parents to claim up to $300 or $700 for their children. Another feature of these netbooks that allows for easy transfer since they are light weight and easily portable. The article ends with a propositions for a new netbook being created that is durable and only usable for schoolwork. It will be interesting to see what happens with this new netbook.

While I do see the good impact that netbooks can have in the classroom, I still have some reservations. If computers are to be use in abundance at a school I really like the one-to-one correspondence of computers to students. A computer is only fully used when one persona is utilizing it. When groups are expected to work on a computer, usually it ends up one person doing all the work and not full collaboration gets done. Comparing netbooks to ipads, netbooks are closer in comparison to pc and mac laptops and desktop computers. Those types of computer require a lot of upkeep and troubleshooting becomes complicated. Especially if the students using the computers don't know how to keep good track of them. Ipads on the other hand, don't require much upkeep and is very simple to use.

While right now, it seems like schools are experimenting with ipads and netbooks to see which are better used in the classroom. It will be interesting to see which one will win out in the long run. For example, my mom's school that she teaches at in Japan has both ipads and netbooks for use in the classroom. Especially for her kindergarten class, they use the netbooks mostly but as my mom says,  "they are not too kid-friendly." Her kindergarten class has yet to use the ipads but their goal as a school is to incorporate technology into every aspect of school. It will be interesting to see which my mom prefers as a teacher of kindergartners in the future.

EXPAND 4: Families Wise Up to Importance of Online Safety

Kirk, J. (2009, March 16). Survey: Families wise up to importance of online safety. PCWorld. Retrieved from http://www.pcworld.com/buisnesscenter/article/161344/survey_families_wise_up_to_importance_of_online_safety.html

With all the alarming articles we read about kids and the dangers on the internet, it is refreshing to read an article like this where families are becoming more savvy about Internet safety. This article relays information from a Global Norton Online Living Report of adults and children in several countries. The results showed that more children admit getting caught as well as more software to control internet use. Parents are joining their kids in social networks to be another watchful eye on their children. But the article brings up a good point. What's the balance between trusting your kids and respecting their privacy or establishing rules and limiting their use on the internet? This article was a listing under the chapter for Virtual Worlds in Brooks-Young. In a technological world, more and more kids are becoming the pro's of technology over the older generation. They are technological native compared to the immigrants of their parents. Because children are becoming more technology savvy then their parents, it is even more important for parents to do all they can to wise up to online safety. Even in virtual worlds parents need to be doing all they can to learn about the different worlds and talking to their children about safety. So going back to the balance - what is the balance? I guess the right answer would be a safe balance of both. Every family needs to find out themselves what their level of trust is when it comes to their children but at the same time establishing boundaries so that their children will be safe stewards of their online worlds. Teachers need to help out parents in this way so it will be interesting to see what happens in my class when my students are engaging in the internet. I hope to be a teacher and a parents who knows the correct balance between the two.

EXPAND 3:Teens Wear Their Heart on Their Blog

Kornblum, J. (2005, October 30). Teens wear their heats on their blog. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-10-30-teen-blogs_x.htm

This article in USA today was a fairly old article in technological standards but still a good one. Written in 2005 it describes how 8 millions teens blog, which by now in 2011, this number would have gone way up. This article mainly implies myspace as the site for blogging and social network which isn't used as much anymore. This article brings to light the fact that these teens are doing things on their blogs that they once did through personal diaries, phone calls, hanging out etc. Another person stated that blogs are like reality TV for the web. Because teens are using blogs as personal online diaries, parents are concerned as they should be to keep up on what their children are doing. Students love putting their personal emotions on their blog. I could see blogs as being used as a good connection between home and school. Especially in connection with this chapter in Brooks-Young about Creative Content - Writing, blogs are quickly becoming a common tool in the classroom. Parents want to learn what students are learning and usually students don't want to tell them anything. A blog could become a spring board for parents to child communication as well as student to teacher. Students could pour out their emotions and their frustrations with hope that someone will read them and reach out with hope or a solution. As with the parents reading them, I feel like since the child is willing to put everything on the world wide web for all to see, the parents should have a right to see what is going on. This article closes with the thought that what these students are doing is nothing new, teens have been doing this for years on end, but it just depends on what we as a society do with it all and it will be interesting to see what happens next.

EXPAND: Army uses video games in suicide preventio

Lubold, G. (2008, November 26). The army uses video games in suicide prevention. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1126/p02s01-usmi.html

This article by the Christian Science Monitor introduces an act on the part of the Army Suicide Prevention Program to do develop an interactive game to help in suicide prevention of soldiers because of the intense nature of war and especially the Iraq war. Because of these wars the suicide rates have gone up by 46%. This interactive game is a modern-day military mortality play meaning that the players watch a drama unfold and then makes decisions for the outcome of the characters. Another scenario focuses on preventing a buddy's suicide. These games are so realistic that they allow people to walk in someone elses' shoes and they get the chance to "play it out before they live it out." All the soldiers need is the courage to seek help and the game provides them with a way to realize that. This game made me think of different issues that plague teens and young kids. Issues such as teen pregnancy, alcohol, drugs, are just a few that maybe a same sort of scenario game could be created where teens step in someone else's shoes to see the consequences of their would-be actions played out. I would be a big fan of those types of games allowing kids to come to a realization before they fall into it.

EXPAND 1: Friending Mom and Dad

Lenhart, A. (2009, January 14). Social Networks Grow: Friending mom and dad. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved from http://pewresearch.org/ pubs/1079/social-networks-grow.

This article by the Pew Research Center is a compilation of studies to show percentages of people and social networks. Some of the astounding numbers show 75% of adults 18-24 use social network meaning that most users are young. The article goes on to say that most users, 89%, use their online profiles to keep up with friends while others, 57%, use it to make plans with friends. 44% uses them to make new friends. This brings up an interesting note in connection with this chapter five in Brooks-Young. If the most usage of social networks is to keep up with friends already known, then students in a class who see each other daily could use social networks to keep up with their classmates during summer days or after school hours. The second was highest usage was to make plans. Classrooms could use this with group projects where students could collaborate and plan all over a social network. It scares me a little when 49% is the number of of people who use social networks to make new friends. Especially for younger students, it could be very dangerous. That's why I like the idea of closed networks such as ning or elgg for school settings where only allowed people are in the network but it still works like a social network. Also, if more and more adults join social networks then communication with parents should get easier. Also, another statistic in the article said that more Blacks and Hispanics use social networks then white people. This intrigues me and got me thinking about the use of social networks in inner city or with ESL students of different races and how they may learn better this way. Overall an interesting article and made me think.

HTML website

http://gobigandgohome.webs.com/index.html

Enjoy! :)

SMART CH 10: Digital Citizenship

Introducing Jane, a model for digital citizenship. Jane knows how to conduct herself in a very ethical and responsible nature while living in this digital age. For one, she understands and knows what copyright is and understands how to distinguish between copyrighted material and not and how to use them. I have to say that I don't even know the full extent of copyright. I hope I'm not using anything against copyright but I do take pictures from the internet and print them out and use them in various ways. I'm looking forward to Dr. Krug's class in the fall where I can better get an understanding of that. Another characteristic is that Jane understands respect when it comes to a digital world. Jane respects herself when it comes to posting pictures and information and understands that nothing is private on the internet. She also respects the privacy of other by not posting pictures of others without their consent or not disrespecting others with her comments. Jane also understands rules and laws in her digital world. She understands the COPPA and the CIPA for children under 13 and understands the rules for her school. Jane is very internet savvy and still uses social networking but at the same time, she knows how to behave herself and has a high standard for codes of conduct for herself and others. 

When I first heard the word "sexting", I was shocked that our society has so much misused our recent technology that a new word had to be created to describe it. I can see the downfall to where these kind of acts are going on more and more. With the use of technology for people to communicate there is less face to face communication. When there isn't someone there right in front of you, an audience starts to disappear and what you say and do is not as significant if done face to face. People are loosing this integral part of society of face to face and falling behind a screen in which they act in perverse ways. I think sexting is utterly gross and I am so sad to see that students are falling into this act and getting in trouble. I do see it as a felony especially of child pornography. Students need to be shaken up to the fact that what they are doing is wrong and maybe if enough people realize it or get caught then this act will stop

SMART CH 8: Creative Content: Images

I very much enjoy taking and viewing photographs. They bring back memories of events already passed and capture just a moment of life going by. Since high school, I have enjoyed the google search engine of images as a way to see photographs of different things as well view slideshows and videos created for online use. I have used photos for everything from using images for a lesson plan to printing out images to use in letters or crafting. I do enjoy going on youtube once in a while but I definitely wouldn't sit around and watch youtube videos all day like some people I unfortunately know... Youtube really has become a great invention of sharing video of all sorts from watching movie trailers to listening to songs with lyrics to learning dance moves.

I also very much uploading and sharing photographs and videos. I understand the danger in exposing myself to all of the online but I am very thoughtful of how and what I put on the internet. Most of my pictures I upload are on facebook which I limit to only my 'friends', though I also post some on my blog which is public. In the recent few years, I have also enjoyed putting my videos up for sharing but I still feel weird about the thought of other people looking at my videos. My main purpose is for my friends and family to enjoy my creations or my memories from a certain, not for any public eye.

According to Wikipedia (which we learned in class is pretty alright to use now...) Creative Commons is a non profit organization that seeks to support a richer public domain on the internet by providing a place where permission is not required for domain of images and video. This is significant to teachers and students because of all the images and videos put on public domain on the internet, the copyright is not known. Most of it is copyrighted and it can't be used without the creator's permission. But now, from this creative commons site, the images and information taken is usable for all without any permission. Schools will not get into trouble with the law against copyright and will not unknowingly use copyrighted material. 

SMART CH 7: Creative Content - Writing

When I started to learn how to type in elementary and middle school, I never thought how much our world would have changed and how much we depend on our writing on a computer. It's interesting to see the development of our writing systems throughout history. I can think of the feathered ink pen which had to be dipped in the ink every few seconds, to the regular pen and pencil, to the typewriter, and now the keyboard which depending on how fast you can type, can be the fastest way of getting our words down on "paper" (not talking about the voice to type recording systems which are out there now where you speak and it transfers to typing, that will probably be the future but for now, we'll stay at typing.

Because of the fast nature of typing, in our society we have put many of our writing content on the computers. Lately a big fad is blogs. I remember from an English class trying to figure out from what two words blog came from. I think in our text book it said it came from weblog. The difference from blogs to other writing features is that blog is online and it is like a journal of dated entries that appear in chronological order. Now our blogs are so advanced that we can embed videos and pictures into them so it is like a high tech journal and diary. Students can write as much as they want on their blogs. I have had a variety of experience with blogs from my high school years of xanga and now with my own blog chronicling my after grad years. I am a big fan of blog for students and I feel like it would be a really good tool to see what they are thinking and how they feel about different subjects and to chart their own learning. Kids who also struggle with writing can use blogs as a way of letting out what they are thinking and the teacher could allow the students to type the writing promps into their blog.

Wiki's are something that I don't know much about. I have used wikipedia for quite a while, since high school if I remember but I didn't know the connection between the two till very recently. In high school the use of wikipedia was not very appreciated and the teacher warned us about using it. Even with wiki's are discussed in class, I get a sour taste in my mouth. But now, I have learned that wiki's are just websites where visitors can add, remove, and edit the content. With this simple definition, it seems like a very good tool for educators where students can add, remove, and edit the content. Wiki's can also work like regular websites where a someone personalizes it and uses it for educational or personal use. Wiki's can be set up for individual classrooms to organize and chart assignments as well as allowing the students to have sites where they share their research.

Web-Based Word Processors is another one where I have some exposure to this but not enough. I have used word processors all my life but not any web based ones. I didn't have a gmail account until this class so I never had explored the area of Google Docs. Through this class, I have gotten to enjoy google Docs and can see how powerful of a tool it can be. Web based word processors allows sharing of files so that collaboration can take place in editing and creating. This files can be easily published online or printed out whichever is needed. Most of these programs are free though some are not. Students can access these from home or school because they only need the internet in common instead of another application. Google Docs would be very good with peer editing since everything is done in real time and updates could be seen in the process as well as comments made on the writing.

SMART CH 9: Gaming

I have always thought that education and learning should be fun. Therefore, any use of educational games or ways to learn while I having fun, I have always been a fan of. I remember growing up and being home schooled and my siblings and I would play Mavis Beacon typing game or the Oregon trail or Reader Rabbit and other varieties of games. I know some kids who struggle in school really enjoy those types of educational games because they may really understand games more than books. Even for ESL students, I see a big benefit for any type of board or computer game that engages them in English and allows for extended exposure to the English language. I would say though that gaming should only be a part of education and not the whole of it. With gaming, the teacher is not there right along side the student and the teacher can't see the progress of the student. It is hard for teachers to monitor as well as assess. Some games are simply a waste of time for students so teachers need to play the games in advance to see the educational and fun side to the games. 


Before reading this chapter in our book, I never really thought of students creating their own minigames on the computer. I guess I didn't think it was possible and I didn't know that there were programs out there where regular students and people could create their own game. I always thought it was too complicated and left it for the super smart gamer guys to create it. I really do like this idea though of having students make their own minigames. Students, above other people, will know what their fellow student are learning or what they need to know and will able to create games that are challenging and yet fun. Having students create their own games allows them to be in the teacher position for a time to analyze what they know and to be able to show it to others in a manner that others will enjoy. This would be the top level of Bloom's Taxonomy: Creating. Pure creating from the bottom up is such a high level of learning that students would walk away from this experience learning much more if they had simply just played a minigame. If I could figure out how to use these programs, I would definitely consider using them in my classroom someday. 

SMART CH 6: Virtual Reality

Growing up, since I was the oldest of four and being a girl, I did not have much interest in virtual worlds or video games. I have never visited or participated in a virtual world. As I grew up and went to college, somehow my intensity against virtual worlds especially in video games increased. I saw boys come to college with good intentions and then drop out a semester later because all they did was spend time in their virtual worlds and neglect all school work. Just the word “avatar” gives me a bad feeling in my stomach. For my own life, I prefer reality world instead of a fake virtual world. Except that would be false because I love to read and I love to get lost in the imaginary worlds of Narnia and the phantom tollbooth. So what is it about virtual realities that I don’t like? One aspect is the addiction that can come with it. While I do spend time on facebook and while I do enjoy reading, I feel like virtual realities can sometimes take over a person’s life to where they get too addicted to it and they start to forget the real world. I don’t ever want that to happen to myself so I stay away from virtual realities. It’s also that just generally as a person I prefer to be outside in nature instead of always at my computer. When I was homeschooled in high school, I did a semester of online classes and I would get head ache’s all the time from staring at the computer screen all day. I know that not everyone is like me and prefers nature of computers, I still have a bias against virtual realities. I used to say that I would never date a guy who played video games… my boyfriend now plays video games and I’m slowly getting over my judgment of them and seeing that it’s a general preference for different people and that people engage in virtual realities because they enjoy them just as I enjoy riding my bike or reading a book.

Educationally, I really liked how the book explained practical uses for virtual reality. As I have stated in previous blogs, I feel that it is really important for teachers to discuss virtual safety and ethical and moral uses of anything online. Student probably don’t get this kind of teaching anywhere else and especially if our world is moving toward a more technological society, it is important for students to be able to learn this now instead of later on in their life when it is too late.

I could also see virtual realities as a good tool for ESL students to learn English. Especially in the elementary level, the games and sites would be fun and less harmful to students than to high school level virtual reality. If a student is learning English, high school students may stumble in bad situations such as chatting with a person and getting taken advantage of where as elementary students would only be in worlds where they play games, read stories, and navagate through a virtual world.

While I don’t particularly see myself using virtual reality in my own classroom, it will be interesting to see what direction virtual realities will take in the next few years. 

SMART CH 5: Social Networking

My first experience with social networking began back in high school. Before the facebook frenzy, I had a xanga account. I laugh now when I think back to having a xanga and how I thought it was so cool. Xanga had the feature of friends and followers as well as a blog type of social networking where you typed and people commented. After xanga, myspace swept my friends but I never gave into that myspace world and I was pretty proud of it. I didn't like myspace because it looked complicated and gave too much information about people. Next came facebook and this is where I am still at in the social networking world. At first, the only reason I joined was because my friends had but as I became more familiar with it, I saw how much of a benefit it was in my international circle of life. While living in Japan, I could easily connect and keep track of my friends and family back in America as well as my friends all around Japan who lived farther away. As my network of friends spread more and more around the world, I was able to better connect with friends through the use of facebook. Soon I began connecting to friends I hadn't seen for years and from my childhood. I have really enjoyed my usage on facebook and I have spent (wasted?) many hours on facebook.

I have even used facebook for educational purposes. For my capstone class last semester, one member of our group made a facebook group. It was a private group and consisted on only us 5 in our group. We kept up in this group on important information and times that we would meet together. 

But to look on the negative side, I do see the downfalls in social networking. With people I come in contact to daily, facebook is not a very good idea just as with texting or other non face-to-face conversations, once I learn something about someone on facebook, it takes away from the social contact I would have had if I had learned it in their presence. I have not talked to many people on campus because I already knew information about them and so I didn't feel the need to ask them in person. Facebook can also get annoying when people keep rambling and rambling on their about their life. I clearly don't care to hear what they ate for breakfast but somehow, I still read their posts. 

Social networking for the 21st century. I know social networking like technology is continuing to change. I could see a change in technology going more toward screen talk instead of face-to-face conversation. But I do see it's use in the classroom. If students aren't familiar with these tools, they will be behind in the world of technology. There needs to be a big push in the 21st century for netiquette as the book called it so that teens and children know how to proper behave on the internet and safe ways to get connected with their friends and how to use it appropriately. This should also go for face-to-face interactions and teaching children how they are important while at the same time how to behave on social network sites. 

I really like how the book laid out different activities for the classroom. I liked the idea of creating a profile for a historical or fictional figure. I have seen this done a few times but it is funny and educational. With good teachers who exemplify ethical ways of using social networks, children can learn the dangers and joy that comes with social networking. 

SMART CH 4: Netbooks

The questions about one-to-one computing in classrooms is something I have not thought very much about. My initial reaction to any kind of technology is that though it is useful and fun, it should not be what all of education is about. There needs to be a great amount of variety in teaching, and technology can just be a tool for overall learning. Therefore, I would suppose that I would not be a proponent to one-to-one computing. Though netbooks and computers do open the classroom up for a wide variety of exploration and tools, learning is still about collaboration, problem solving, and communication, as the chapter mentions. Yes these things can be achieved on computers, and yes the world we are living is becoming more and more technology oriented, I still believe that computers need to be just a small tool in the wide expanse of education. I could see netbooks being a station where a few kids go to work on them at a time. I could also see netbooks being used for internet research and websites for reenforcing learning instead of the sole way of learning. It will be interesting to see what become of the netbooks and whether ipads will over take them in the educational setting.

With the talk of two similar technological equipment, the netbook and the ipad, it is interesting to compare and contrast the two. For pro's I see the netbooks being used for research and word processing features. I could see an easy use of the internet as well as more things to do that is similar to a computer including typing skills and web browsing. For cons I see the netbook as limitless. Because the internet is used on it, I feel it is more difficult to control a student's viewing on the netbooks. While the ipads, I feel like are more easy to control what the student does on it. The teacher downloads the apps and choses for them to be on or off of wi-fi. The student only has a limed options of what to do. A con for ipads would be the typing. Not being used to typing on them I see the pad as being very sensitive to the touch. My finger also starts to hurt after using the ipad for long amounts of time. The machine heats up and it becomes cumbersome for me to use it. I may be old school so it will be interesting to see which the younger generations choses as their choice of technology in the classroom. 

SMART CH 3: MP3 Players

MP3 Players are a whole different issue surrounding schools today. Some cons with MP3 Players are that they are another distraction. Students say they are multitasking when they are using the media but are they really? Can the brain really multitask or is the brain just half way concentrating on both? Another con would be the cheating that can take place with it. This hasn't happened much in recent years but test scores can be recorded and listened to and information could be stored on them in a bad way. 


Some pros associated with MP3's are the usefulness of audio media in the classroom. Stories can be listened to, music can be listened to and languages can be mastered with ease. MP3 Players can also be used to record audio and so students could practice fluency. MP3's open the world up to podcasting where audio is recorded and listened to on MP3 devices which are a strong tool for classroom instructions and sharing of information over the world. 

I really liked the website for Grandview Library Blog. There were many reader's theaters, ebooks and audio to listen to and use as tools in the classroom. Listening to stories can be a strong asset to learning good reading skills in students. 

The second link for Radio Willow Web was really really neat! It was very inspiring to see a school achieve such a great level of podcasting. It was fun to listen too and anyone could learn something from it. It was very organized and clear to listen to and very professional. I would even share these podcasts with my students every week or even have my students make podcasts for different subjects or events in the class. 

For use in the classroom, the book gave several suggestions. One new way for me is that podcasts can be use for students to dictate and record notes while working on research or on a field trip A podcast can be a student's recording of a process or them reaching a goal or solving a mystery. Also, podcasts could be used in debating different issues or types of genres of book over other books. I'm sure there are many many other ways of using podcasts so I would like to investigate an extensive ways so that I may incorporate it into my classroom someday. 

SMART CH2: Cell Phones

It surprised me when the book said that 74% of all teens had cell phones. Thinking about all of American and the number of underprivileged teens, this number somehow surprised me. It made sense after a while especially because even if teens are underprivileged they can work to make money to support themselves and their cell phones. It also surprised in the number of smart phones in the recent years. If 20% of all teens who have phones have smart phones than currently the potential for using smart phone cell phones in class is low but in a few years, that number will go up and then more students will have smart phones to use. So even if it is hard to use cell phones in class today, in a few years, it will be possible that almost every person in my classroom will have a cellphone. Like chewing gum was once a big issue, the cellphone issue will die down within a few years and more potential with learning can be reached with them. 

Some of the cons involved with cellphones are involved with the possible misuse of cellphones. In recent years cell phones have been involved with cheating in the classroom, harassment in text messages or photos taken, and any kinds of bullying that are involved with this. Cell phones can also be a distraction with noise or with attention away from what is important.

As this book suggested, I really like the idea of using the photo feature of cell phones. The photos can be used in the classroom with subjects being studied to reinforce and to document the learning that is taking place.

I also like how the book suggest we teach ethics and manners involved with cell phone use. This would do students a lot of use as they grow up to be adults surrounded by this kind of media and more to use their media in respectful way and with good manners. 

But I really really liked the idea of using the cell phone for podcasting. I have never heard of the websites which you can call and then record a podcast right from your phone! That is brilliant and teachers can even have students call in for assignments with their reflections or ideas to use for the next day of class or to reinforce for learning. 

SMART CH1: 21st Century Skills

All while reading this chapter, my mind kept going back to my first memory of a computer in my house. It was probably I was around the age of 6 which would have been the year 1995. I remember we had a little office area and in that office was the computer. As a kid, I was instructed not to touch it or most importantly be careful when turning it off. I didn't use it much except to watch my parents on it and I only remember watching my grandparents playing free-cell on it... So much has changed now in just 15 years and the debate now stands, do we teach the content knowledge or do we need to teach 21st century skills? Which is more important? I don't know! I continually go back and forth.

21st Century skills are skills very different from all other generations before. While skills continually change, the skills needed in the 21st century have to do with being able to thrive in a constantly evolving society. It's a sink or swim world out there in technology and many technology immigrants are having to learn that the hard way. For the technology natives, there is still a possibility of sinking but it is easier to float since technology is the world that surrounds them.

One quote that really stuck out to me in this chapter said this, "Of course, one of the problems is that we do not know precisely what kinds of job skills today's kindergarten students will need when they graduate from high school." What a powerful and shocking statement? How do you prepare these students? What skills do they need? We don't know yet! Technology is always, always changing and it is hard to stay ahead of the game. But I guess this just means that teachers need to do the best of their ability to teach the students with the technological skills that are around at this moment and keep building on them so that when these students grow up to be adults they will have all the skills of the past and the future.