Article 8 EDUC 422

Article Eight

“Whiteboards Engage Autistic Students”

Kathleen McClaskey and Randy Welch

McClaskey, K. & Welch,R. (2009). Whiteboards Engage Autistic Students. Learning and Leading with Technology, 30 (30-31).

“Whiteboards Engage Autistic Students”

            In the article, “Whiteboards Engage Autistic Students,” by Kathleen McClaskey and Randy Welch, they discuss the idea that by using interactive whiteboards schools have been able to engage autistic students and drastically change their learning styles. In the article they talked about one student in particular; an eleven-year-old girl with autism, that struggled in school and often became aggressive when she could not communicate her needs. By using the interactive whiteboard she could walk up to the classroom and clear communicate her ideas, tell stories and really participate in the classroom community. She went from only having an attention span of five minutes up to forty-five minutes at a time while using the interactive white board. These boards are made so students can actually go up and touch them, write on them, and pick from different games or materials on the board itself. The school that did this research said that it drastically transformed the communication between students with autism and students without. In turn the students with autism are now happier and more involved in the classroom.

            This is a technique that was used in my high school. We had them in classrooms of students with all special needs and classrooms with students of all learning abilities. The interactive whiteboard is especially helpful in a classroom like math. The teacher can put a graph on the board and then the students can work directly on the board and the rest of the classroom can see what they are doing. If I have an interactive whiteboard in my future classroom this is absolutely something that I would use. I find they are incredibly helpful to any student at any learning level.

            Using interactive whiteboards in the classroom would meet ISTE standard one, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. I feel it would best meet this standard because using the whitebeards would allow all students to be active participants and learners. It would also allow all students to think creatively when doing projects. I think using the interactive whiteboard is a great way to meet any of the ISTE standards.

            

Blog Seven EDUC 422

Article Seven

Free Resources from the FTC

Jennifer M. Leache

Leache, J (M). Free Resources from the FTC. Learning and Leading, 38 (38-39).

           In the article, “Free Resources from the FTC,” Jennifer Leache provides an overview of the Federal Trade commission’s programs they provide for teachers, parents and students. The FTC stands for Federal Trade commission and they help to provide programs that will enrich children’s educational life including their life on the World Wide Web. The four different programs she that the FTC provides that Leache talked about were; Admongo, Living Life Online, On Guard Online, and Net Cetera. The first program, “…teaches critical thinking skills and encourages kids to apply them to advertising…” The second program was, “…designed to help kids make smart and thoughtful decisions.” The third program in the article, “… offers practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry for developing such digital age skillsas guarding against internet fraud, recognized a phishing attack, securing your computer and protecting your personal information.” In the fourth program offed from this article it provides a , “… kit lets anyone give a presentation on children’s online safety.” These were the four programs talked about in the article provided by the Federal Trade Commission.

            I found this article to be incredibly helpful because it provided many options for not only teachers but parents to teach their students about being safe in the online world. While it is important for teachers to provide students with ways to have strong digital citizenship it is also important for parents. This article is something I would not only use in my classroom but would also be an article I would provide for parents to use as well. If these programs were displayed at back to school night or in a parent teacher conference I feel that the digital safety of all children could be met more efficiently.

            The ISTE student standard that this article would meet is standard five. Standard Five is digital citizenship. I would absolutely say that this article would help to fulfill this standard if it was regularly worked on in a classroom and in the home environment.

EDUC 422 Blog 6

Students Read Around the Planet

Janine Lim

Lim, J. (2011). Students Read Around the Planet. Learning and Leading, 32 (32-33).

            In the article, “Students Read Around the Planet”, Janine Lim discuss the idea of sharing ideas and educational lessons via the internet with other students around the world. The article talks about a program that schools are participating in, in which the students all read a book and then come up with lesson plans, games or skits that portray the book and share them with other classes at different schools. The schools can be within the state or country and even outside the country. This program allows students to make virtual but meaningful relationships with other students around the world. Some of the ways the students were able to communicate messages of the book were through game quizzes, where one classroom would read the book and come up with a quiz and the other class would answer the question. Another idea that they used was coming up with a skit or rap that would talk about the book. The article said that many schools are using this including schools with English as their first language, Spanish and French as first languages. The program is growing rapidly and becoming an activity in many classrooms today.

            In my future classroom this is absolutely something that I would use. I love the idea of the program and the article got me super excited about what you can do with technology in the classroom. One of my favorite things in elementary school was having a pen pal with another student in a different state. I can remember making a true connection through just mail. To me, this is like an updated form of pen pals. Now not only is it one student connecting with another about life, but instead two classrooms connecting and sharing material that will help them in the classroom.

            The ISTE student standard that this program meets is standard five, digital citizenship. I feel like it can meet other standards as well but this standard stood out the most to me. I feel it meets this standard because the students are asked to exhibit leadership, and practice ethical behavior. I feel this program can easily be overseen by staff while still allowing the students to practice great behaviors when using technology. 

Blog 5

Less Than a Class Set

By: Kristin Redington Bennett

 Bennett, K. (January, December 2011). Less Than a Class Set. Learning and Leading with Technology, 52 (22-25).

            In the article, “ Less Than a Class Set”, by Kristen Redington Bennett, they discuss the topic of having I Pads in the classroom. It says that many teachers believe if they cannot have enough I Pads for each student to have their own then you cannot use them for lessons in the classroom. The article then proceeds to talk about a school that gave I Pads to student teachers to use for lessons in the classroom. While they only gave five I Pads to each student teacher to use in a classroom each of them found the I Pads incredibly effective. The school also found that this was a good way of forcing teachers to be innovative and come up with different techniques for teaching other than the traditional style of lecture. Some of the ways they said you could use I Pads in a classroom was by setting up stations and students would go to different stations and at one of the stations could be I Pads and they would be given a chance to work at it. Another idea was to have the students work in groups and have one person in charge of telling the students what to do with the I Pad while the other students took turns using it. The article gave many techniques for using a limited number of I Pads in a classroom to effectively enhance the learning experiences.

            I would definitely use this article to refer to as a future teacher and feel I would be able to find many styles of using technology in a classroom. I think that this article provided not only easy ways of using technology in the classroom but truly effective ways. It provides techniques to ensure all students are getting a chance to use the I Pads and it also provides techniques to have each student better his or her own learning. I found this article very useful and plan to use some of these techniques in my future classroom! J

            In a classroom we could use these techniques for teaching to meet the ISTE Student standard number two. Number two says, communicate, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or other employing a variety of digital environments and media. The reason we could use this standard is because students would be working together in groups or stations using the I Pad. 

EDUC 422 Blog 4

        The article, “Promote Digital Citizenship Through School Based Social Networking,” written by Matthew R. Win, discusses a school in Texas that has integrated social networking into the school. In the article is says that the school saw social networking as an opportunity to connect with the students on a different level then just in the classroom. The school took this opportunity and created a safe environment for students to not only interact with faculty and staff but also with their peers. They created a private networking system for students elementary through high school. The networking cites was not only for academics but a safe place for students to talk to their friends without the fear of being cyber bullied or having a stranger talking to them. The school worked with a company that would allow them to create a social networking cite that was private and that students could reach faculty outside of the classroom. Not only did it create a safe environment for students to talk to each other but also to speak with their teachers outside of the class. The website did not have a privacy app so everyone could see what was being talked about. That way both the student and the faculty were protected. This also was a way for teachers to remind their students of homework or create digital projects for their students to work and they could link them to the social networking page. This allowed access for a safe and easy outlet social networking for all ages of students and teachers.

            Because this is the generation of technology we need to embrace social networking in a safe and controlled setting. I think this is a perfect option for teachers and students to communicate as well as teachers being able to monitor how their students are interacting with each other outside of the classroom. This is something I would absolutely be interested bringing into my classroom because I think it the most effective way to reach out to students these days, especially students in high school. People always tell students to check the learning network that they use but students rarely do that, but if teachers were on the same networking cite that students are already using the students would have no excuse not to check the information. I think this is an effective and necessary way of integrating social networking and curriculum today.

            This particular article met more than one ISTE standards in my opinion. The use of social networking cites integrated with education meets ISTE teaching standard two, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, standard four Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibly and standard five engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. I feel it fits all of these standards because it is asking the students to be smart while using the information, it allows for students to experiment with technology and it asks students to participate in what is going on in the campus around them if an entire school is using one networking cite.

Win, M. (2011- 2012 December/January). Promote Digital Citizenship Through School Based Social Networking. Learning and Leading with Technology.  10(52) 11-13.

EDUC 422 Blog 3

"Got a Student Who Hates School? Give Him an I-Pad!"

            The article, “Got a Student Who Hates School? Give Him an I-Pad!” is written by Diana Fingal the editor of Learning and Leading. In this article discusses tools and techniques in which Ashley Talley, a teacher in Tennessee, used to grab the attention of all of her students. Ashley Talley worked in a classroom with students of learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Ashley quickly found that by using technology the students responded better. She had one student in particular the article discusses that hated school, had no respect for authority and didn’t want to do any of his work. It wasn’t until Ashley introduced him to the world of technology in the classroom that he became a better student. Ashley started small by allowing him to work using an interactive whiteboard as started to do more of his work and became less of a behavioral problem she rewarded him by allowing him to use other modes of technology. She found this tool to be effective with all of her students. Not only could she get the messages across but also the children were enjoying learning.

            As a future teacher I absolutely plan to use technology in my classroom. I think in this generation it is the only way of reaching out to our students. At home most students are absorbed in video games, television and the computer that just looking at a worksheet does not keep their attention span for a long enough period of time. I think that by integrating technology you are allowing the students to use something that they are interested in while still getting the same amount of information across to them. At first I was not sure if allowing behavioral students to use technology would just be a reward for them but by the end of the article is was clear that maybe that all that student needed. Maybe that student needed another view of the information. I think to use a traditional style of teaching and integrating technology is the best option for today’s generation.

            The ISTE standard that this article would help me to meet is Teacher standard One, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. This would fit this standard because it promotes innovative thinking. It allows the students to problem solve as well as learn how to use technology and what to use it for. 

Fingal, D. (2012 December/ January). Got a Student Who Hates School? Give Him an Ipad!. Learning & Leading with Technology, (46,52), 47. 

Information Literacy Summary: Quick Write

There are many good reasons for using technology, however there are also issues that may arise. One of those issues is learning how to effectively search for and use information on the internet. Some of the effective ways of using the internet to find information are asking yourself what you are really searching for? Once you have decided what you are looking for you can use search engines to narrow down that search. Some of the search methods you may use are advanced search features such as phrase search, "information", and a "date limiter".

After finding information on the internet you can evaluate it for credibility by checking the publisher and sponsor. You can also check and see if the information is up to date and the author used correct spelling and grammar. A few of the quick ways of knowing if the information you are finding is credible is looking at what type of media is, is it a library web page? Is the information you found on a credible database such as the school website? It is important to evaluate a website before trusting and using the information.