Blog Post #5

Taken from Google images

Though out this class I have realized how influential technology can be in the classroom and how so many people have different opinions on why it is a good thing to move towards or a bad thing. Personally I want to teach kindergarten and I believe that technology should not be a main part of the curriculum for teaching them because they are so young. Kids today already have so much technology surrounding them that they should not be forced into interacting with more at such a young age. Kindergarten is where they need to learn the fundamentals of reading and math without the help of technology. They should learn how to do things on their own before having technology there to help them. Technology can help make a kid become focused on an activity but it can also cause them to become distracted too. I do plan on using technology to help my class with programs I learned in EDST 220. I really enjoyed learning how to make a classroom newsletter and I know that will come in use when I become a teacher myself. There was many new programs introduced to me that I never even knew about that could really help me later on. I really did enjoy EDST 220 and feel like I learned a lot about technology to better help me in the classroom.

Taken from Google images, PBS

Blog Post #4

      Reflect on how technology has impacted your own learning...

Taken from Google images

 Technology has been really helpful with my learning and impacted it a lot. It has giving me access to the internet which has helped with research and projects I have in school. There is so much on the internet that I can find almost anything I need by just searching the data bases and finding articles and so many facts needed for the project or papers. I also was a really bad speller, more so than I am right now, before using spell check and the auto correct on phones. Now my spelling in my papers and school work has improved a lot thanks to technology.  I can now learn the right way to spell the words and over time I have spelt the same word wrong over and over again having to change it with spell check that I now know how to spell the word correctly, and I am now more confident with my spelling than before. It still needs a lot of work but it has improved drastically. Technology has also helped me by getting in touch with people through email and any social media to ask questions and share info with other classmates or the teacher. It is also a great tool to work on projects with other students for example using a Google doc so everyone can work on a group paper without actually everyone meeting up together and working on it. Technology has helped bring people together when they cannot physically get together to work on a project and that has helped a lot when people that are in your group have different schedules and cannot not always find a time that all people in the group can meet up to work. I believe technology is a positive influenced in the class room and it had improved my learning immensely. 

Taken from Google images, Rotten ecards

Blog Post #3

Approaching Inappropriate Content Posted by a Student

If you were put in a situation of seeing inappropriate content posted by a student, how would you approach it?

Taken from Edudemic: Should you share that picture online?

I feel like the age level of the student when it comes to inappropriate content is a huge factor in what should be done when talking to the student about what you have seen them posting online. If the student posting the content is older, like in college, then the teacher/professor should just remind them that what they do and post on the internet is there for anyone to see and can cause harm in the future, like if they were caught by a future boss or by the authorities. It should not affect the way you treat them as a student though and they still deserve the same education everyone else is getting.  If the student is in elementary school, middle school, or even high school the parents should be involved in approaching the student about what they are doing inappropriately online. Inappropriate posting online can have a huge effect on the students and on the way their peers and future peers look at them. The postings also show what they have been doing outside of school that some parents might not even be aware that their child is doing. Getting the parents involved is always best because it shows that the parents care about what their child is doing. If the students' parents are not involved then as a teacher you should show that you care and help the student make right choices because what they post on the internet is there forever and it could really affect them later on. Always be understanding of why the student posted what they did and do not judge them for their actions just help them see that it may not be the right thing to be doing on the internet.

                                                      
                                                                     Created with Voki by Erika Stanford

Technology in the Classroom

Do you think technology in the classroom encourages or hinders exploration or creativity in students?

                                             
                                                                         Taken from YouTube

Taken from Google images

I feel like technology in the classroom is a good thing but it also depends on what it is used for and who is using it. Younger children should be encouraged to use their own creativity with out the help of technology when creating projects that are suppose to show their own personal creativity. They can be influenced by the technology and end up not using their own ideas and therefor stopping their ability to be creative on their own. Technology is helpful when they are doing educational programs and activities on the technology but should be monitored so they only have a specific amount of time on the computer or other sort of technology. For older students like in high school and middle school where they already had an opportunity to be creative on their own with out technology they should have the chance to use technology in the classroom, because by that point in students lives they have already discovered if they are very creative or not. They also already have had to learn to use other resources other than the internet so they should be more up to date with the way people now in days find out information on the internet. Technology is a very useful resource when it comes to looking up information and gathering facts on topics that the students are learning about. They should have that resource available to them so they can further their learning but should not take advantage of it when coming up with creative concepts of presenting the information they have learned. Technology in the classroom is a good thing but also depending on what it is used for can be harmful because of the stunt in children's ability to use their own mind to create something new and exciting rather than getting the idea to do a project in a way they saw online.