stop cyber bullying

Cyber bullying is going on all over the world. Many children have committed suicide because of the things people have posted online about someone. It is worst than the rumors that get spread around school because they are able to link up and connect with people at other schools to get the news spread even further. So I found this really cool website that tells us how to prevent cyber bullying, what it does to the bully, and what happens to the victim. But here are some tips on how to prevent its.

"Teens have figured out ways to prevent cyberbullying. Follow in the footsteps of other quick-thinking teens and

Refuse to pass along cyberbullying messages
Tell friends to stop cyberbullying
Block communication with cyberbullies
Report cyberbullying to a trusted adult
You can also help prevent cyberbullying by

Speaking with other students, as well as teachers and school administrators, to develop rules against cyberbullying
Raising awareness of the cyberbullying problem in your community by holding an assembly and creating fliers to give to younger kids or parents
Sharing NCPC’s anti-cyberbullying message with friends"

http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying

Here are two more cites that can be helpful as well:

http://www.safetyweb.com/stop-cyber-bullying
http://www.cyberbully411.org/

skype!!!

Well I had my skyping session with Amy Mcroberts and Butch Abling. I have used Skype on many different occasions with some of my friends to keep in contact. This was only different because I had to discuss schoolwork but that didn't make it that much different. It was fun because it is easier to keep a conversation flowing when your actually talking other than emailing back and forth. I found out that my classmates and I share alot of the same feelings in our school work; not just in this class but them all. I was glad to know that my classmates liked the project and we could discuss some of the things openly.

Peaches Thurston on What I Wish I Knew Then

I have grown so much as a teacher this semester. My basic use for technology in a classroom was making printouts to post around my room, buying computer games that taught my kids concepts, researching information and activities to do with my kids. I reflected back to my first blog about my goals that I wanted to reach during this semester, and I have found that I have reached every single one! I wanted to learn about wikis, podcast, and assistive technologies. I have heard about Wikipedia but the way we had to create our wikis gave me a greater appreciation for the wiki world. A lot of hard work and research goes into creating this source of information. Learning about podcast was not that shocking for me because I was familiar with podcast but just did not know that it was labeled a podcast! I certainly learned a lot about different assistive technologies and I plan to save all of the websites to my delicious sites to always have as a reference. This was especially important for me because I want to open a daycare for children with physical handicaps and the technologies that need to be provided for them will be very important. I did not know that they made certain tapes that refrain the children from slipping in their chairs as well as placing the material on their desk so their stuff does not slip away. All of the tools and supplies they are provided with are a great help. I have learned so much this semester!
Cognitive: This has helped me cognitively because I have the information stored in my memory so if I am ever crossed with a dilemma I know of the resources that are provided to me and I will just have to go and get it!
Physically: I’m not sure how any of this has helped me physically but when I think of how I will let you guys know…if anything it has definitely helped my fine motor skills on this computer at all times of the night! Lol
Social/emotionally: This class has definitely helped me socially because it has shown me the benefits of working with other people in creating greatness for our future America. It has dwelled in me quite emotionally because I feel like I have been depriving my kids from great resources within the classrooms to extend their learning.
I have already began downloading more video and podcasts to show my children at work. When we talked about birds, I just didn’t feel as though a picture would do them justice so I downloaded videos and podcast to get them excited about their size and movement. They were very intrigued. Creating this wiki has caused me to be able to dig deeper and do greater research. I have some kids who were lacking in certain areas with their fine motor skills so learning about the different utensils has definitely been a great help on how I can help them

Reflection of my Semester Blogs

This past semester I was challenged to write many many many blogs on information I barely understood (hahaha). But through late night studying I think I finally grasped the concept of them all. Now how well I transferred that information was transferred to you, I rather you be the judge! But in this case you cant be because Mrs. Keesee wants me to be the judge....Thanks!

I have reread all of my blogs and I can honestly say I have seen the change of lazyness to being very intrigued in my assignments. Over a course of time I can tell that I have come out of my shell and began to explain what I was learning more in depth. I think sometimes I have overwritten things and said the same things twice and in different ways. One thing that I notice that I could have done was add more links or references. I think with written work, visuals are great no matter what your age may be. What I like the most about blogging is that through the blogs I can see how much I have learned. One way for me to prepare for test throughout high school and middle school was to write the information until I gained the understanding of each concept. This is what blogging has allowed me to do.
I would love to think that Reading is Essential was a post worth revisiting because I don't think a lot of people realize how important it is to encourage reading to children. Even if it is just looking at a picture and telling what one may think is going on. For the children that is reading!!!! Everytime I do a major transition in my class, my children are sitting with a book because I want their mind to think and put concepts together.
What suprised me most about my blogs was my grammar...I think you can tell I didn't do a great spell check (sorry!) Other then that I think you can feel the energy and my excitement about the topics I enjoyed writing about the most!

Technology in Early Childhood Family Education Classrooms

I attempted to embed this video but they have a block on the video so that no one can embed it. You guys can still check it out though!

I chose this video because it is a dream of mine to be able to use a smartboard in my classroom. I have said previously how I wanted to fill out the information to get a grant and get one but I am having problems getting the people over me to allow internet access in my classroom! Bummer, right?

Well, while I am waiting on that, I will still educate myself on ideas on how I can use them. I chose this video because it was preschool based and showed fun games for them to play. It showed how the teachers let the children play games that were appropriate for their age level and was still fun for the preschoolers. Circle time is critical in my opinion. Yes, while centers are important and you can have fun and learn in those too, what do you do when you have these new aged kids who do not have any interest in regular toys and are so technology based? I have some rather "fast paced" children in my room who attention is so hard to grab unless I pull my laptop out. I think the smartboard would be a great contribution to my room because I would be able to keep my children on the carpet for a longer period of time. The biggest obstacle I see with using youtube are all of the ads that pop up. You have ads that play for atleast fifteen seconds before your actual video starts, then you have an ad banner that pops up when the video comes on, you have ads on the side of the video, and then they list other videos that are related to the one you watch. I see a problem with that because you never know what someone will put as a title that may make the youtubers think it is a related video. I would hate for my kids to see any "racy", especially on my behalf. In some ways, I have already incorporated using youtube in my classroom. Now when you play a youtube video, they give you the option to download the video straight to your computer. I look up songs that are related to my topic or theme and then download them to my video library. I take my laptop and play the songs for my children at school. This has been an easier way for me to teach my children new songs instead of me just repeating it and them getting bored with my not so pleasant singing voice!

podcasting for dummies

Since Mrs. Keese wanted us to browse Youtube, I decided to find a podcast on the website. I chose the video , “Integrating Podcasting Into Your Classroom”. I used the rubric that was labeled “Podcasting Rubric”. If you follow it, it goes in order by Awesome Podcast, Cool Podcast, and L Podcast. I would label this podcast to be a “Cool Podcast”. It gave a great deal of information, utilized music transitions, cited other websites to use, and uses pop up information while she is speaking so that we may know the correct spelling for the information given. As you can see these may be great qualities to a podcast but it ended up being a “cool podcast” instead of an “awesome podcast”. Some things that I noticed throughout the podcast was that some of their music was too loud and I couldn’t hear what she was saying. Another major problem that irritated me was sometimes, two segments would overlap each other causing a commotion as well. In this podcast I learned about great software to use to create my own podcast, how and where to upload and download other podcast, as well as types of podcast to make and how they can be beneficial in my classroom. Over all it was a good podcast and full of information that showed us how to do things step by step as well as giving us great information!
Check It out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExkMeQfuLGc

Spreadsheets

As I have said before in my other blogs, I truly feel like spreadsheets and databases are too similar for me to explain to my group of preschoolers the difference. I just really try to stick to basic bar graphs. But a database shows comparison to things over time because you want to keep track on something as you go along. I chose for my database to do it daily on whether which one was more popular for that day but on my spreadsheet we will just choose which is our favorite over all. The children will only be able to pick one nursery rhyme to be their favorite. This will fit in the the NETS as creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, as well as critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making.

Databases

I teach a preschool class and I have been trying to think, how in the world can I create a database using nursery rhymes? I know this class is all about technology and doing things on the computer but to be able to show my children, we will make a paper database. Children at my age need to see what is happening and in large print. I am a big fan of making bar graphs in the classroom with my kids so I think I could set up a big paper that resembles a database to show on what days, how many children liked the nursery rhyme of the day. At the end of the week we can compare which day had the best nursery rhyme. The biggest disadvantage of this to me is that I have to use terms in my classroom for my children to understand. When I say " Ok guys we are going to create a database" I do not see anything about them that will make them excited. They may remember that we made a database and to know that is what it is called but will they truly understand the importance of it. Still to me it's just a fancier name and set up of a spreadsheet. I can still make the database colorful and exciting for them to look at though. Creativity and innovation is definitely one that can tie into this lesson plan with databases because  the way I can dress the wall database up can cause the children to be more intrigued. They will be communicating with me which ones they like most to me as well as their friends and explaining what they don't like about it. Giving me reasons why they do not like the particular nursery rhyme is causing them to have some decision making.

Word Processing

Word processing can be very fun for kindergarten kids. In kindergarten children will be learning cite words as they are beginning to read. A fun game that they could play on the word proccessor is matching rhyming words with pictures in the clip art.Advantages are that they can play with the keyboard and typing letters. They can play with the colors to change the font as well. This is a disadvantage for the kids are not computer savy and the ones who are struggling to read. That's why it is great that they have pictures.

Pinky Dinky Doo!

Pinky Dinky Doo has definitely brought the fun back into the ordinary reading. Our country has many children of young age who are struggling with literacy. The world that we know now is very technical that once these children get to class and have to open up a book, they don’t know what to think or how to feel. I don’t see this as an excuse to not teach them the correct fundamentals but we have to remember what type of world we live in and how to move with it. Pinky Dinky Doo puts the excitement and imagination back in to writing and reading through story telling that has animated pictures and sounds. This program can enhance my children’s cognitive and social abilities by using complete team work. The children can sit at the computer while trying to figure out what phrase should come next that makes the most sense. They will have to work together and come up with the next phrase together. This also helps their cognitive development because they have to think about what makes the most sense in the earlier part of the sentence. A developmentally appropriate use for using technology is to expand the children’s thought process. To make their words come alive before their eyes. An advantage of this website is to see their visions laid out on screen from an animated concept. The disadvantage from this website is if I do this in a group the children may not be able to compromise on one idea. I will definitely need to consider the time of the day to have them play this game on the computer. This helps with classroom management because I am sure that children will all want to join in and have a turn. We could also play this game off of the computer by writing them down on note cards with pictures attached to do as a board activity too.

Come Alive! Nursery Rhymes!

When doing my unit plan on Nursery Rhymes, I have chosen the software, Come Alive Nursery Rhymes!
This software is fun filled game to teach children the legendary nursery rhymes.  The songs included are, "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Jack and Jill", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Hey Diddle Diddle", "Sing a Song of Sixpence", "Mary Mary", "Humpty Dumpty", and "Hickory Dickory Dock". The children will play interactive games that allow them to make rhyming words and place them together as well. It also gives the children an opportunity to sing all of the songs. This game also comes with a book that has 48 pages so that the teacher may get activities from to bring this game to life off of the computer. Rhyming cards(a set of eight) are also included in the case. These colorful cards are doubled sided as well with a word on the front and one that rhymes on the back. there can be many games played with this during free time or circle time. The publishers have also attached an audio CD that can be played in the classroom through out the day to enforce the songs that you want them to learn. One of the best assets to this game is that they give you wooden people pieces that you can put in your block area or make a table toy set out of as well. This way children can sit at the table and play while they sing their newly learned songs.

Mobile Technology

In your blog post this week, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating mobile computing devices in the classroom and how you might use this technology to enhance your students' learning if you were provided with a classroom set.

I think having mobile computing devices in the classroom is a great idea. But we all know that when their is a great positive in something, it always has a down fall.
I think that all ages are engaged in technology and it is easy for them grasp the concepts. I have no doubt in my mind that anyone by the age 3 and up can use any type of technological device.
I think they will benefit children and teachers by providing a more exciting source or learning, better interactions, help the teachers with a better filing system, be more beneficial to students with site problems and others who have trouble with mobility.
However, I still believe in "old school teaching" all of the things that we have now to me are also a distraction in education. Yes the children will learn new concepts but things come so easily to them now that something so simple as tying a shoe or holding a pencil correctly is almost taboo. These systems can also renig on us if they are dropped multiple times, if something falls on it, if something is spilled on it, or if it is misplaced. Hard earned/raised money will go straight down the drain and years worth of filing and a months worth of work will go straight down the drain if these systems fail us. I think most parents and some teachers find technology as their outlet time away from dealing with certain behaviors and use the term "times are changing" to make excuses for just doing the right thing. I am not against change in the technology world because I actually think that the Ipod and Ipad usage is really neat and creative, but I think that we need to master home base learning first.

NETS

The website for NETS for Students stated that these are the areas for the standards

• Demonstrate creativity and innovation
• Communicate and collaborate
• Conduct research and use information
• Think critically, solve problems, and make decisions
• Use technology effectively and productively

I feel that I apply all of these areas to my classroom. I think the one I need to utilize more are types of digital technologies in my classroom. We have two computers but some of the games are just what they are, games. They are not really teaching my kids anything strenuous which is why I limit their play on them. The only problem with me fulfilling this is the funding. I don't have the means to be able to provide my classroom with these types of technology. I know that some schools do fundraisers but we are only allowed to do two a year. To be able to fulfill this area, I am currently looking into getting a grant and asking parents to make donations. I have always had issues with being creative but I have been thinking out the box lately by using my resources and conducting thorough researches.  I have also been communicating more with other teachers at my center as well as having a brainstorming time. I see what things they have done, how it worked, what did it help improve in the classroom and with their children, and what would they change.

Isn't it just Delicious?

Delicious is a website that you can use for bookmarking. I know I have experienced forgetting the names of many websites to help when I go the library or I'm using a friends computer. Using the Delicious website allows you to put in these websites online for the next time you are away from your main computer, you can still find the websites with easy access without having to research them all over again. The aspect that I liked most about creating a Delicious account was that I didn't have to give them a lot of information because it was already linked to my Yahoo! account. The aspect that I didn't appreciate most was that after I put in one book mark, it was quite hard for me to find the link to add more. It took me quite sometime to find it because th elink was so small and I felt that if this was a site to add bookmarks that the link to add more would have been easier to find. This site would be a great use for when working in a group because I wouldn't have to jot down links for my group members, I could simply just have them go on to my Delicious page and click the links. Then they could easily save them to their account as well.

Weblist Checklist Sheet

Website Evaluation Checklist

Student Name:  Peaches Thurston                                                       Date of Evaluation:2-8-11

Name of the Website:  atozteacherstuff

URL of the Website:  http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Nursery_Rhymes/

Accuracy of the Web Page	Yes	No	Notes
1.  Can you find the author of the page? Hint:  Scroll to the bottom of the page.  It may be an institution.		X	Author Name:
2.  Can the author be contacted: Hint:  Look for an “About Us” or “Contact Link”	X		Author email: webmaster@atozteacherstuff.com
3.  Do you think this person or institution is qualified to publish this webpage?	X		Why or why not? Yes because they have copyrights on the pages or they reference their information properly.
Authority of the Web Page
1.  Check the domain of the URL, particularly the extension.       Is this a commercial site?   The URL can give clues to the authority.		X	What does the extension tell you?
2.     Are there credentials listed for the author(s)? If not, try Googling the name of the author or the institution.		X	What did you find? No because this site basically just sends you to other sites for your information.
Purpose of the Web Page
1.  Read over the information on this website carefully.  Can you determine the purpose of this web page?	X		Why is this web page on-line?  Think critically about possible opinions or bias? It’s an easy access websites for teachers to get ideas or printout for them to do activities with their kids.
Currency of the Web Page
1.  Can you find a publishing date?	X		When was it published? 1997-2011
2.  Can you find the date it was last updated?		X	When was it updated?
3.  Are the links working and current? Click on some of the links to check.	X		What do you think about the links? The links take you directly to the information that you need.
Looking at your answers, do you think this website would be a reliable, credible source of information?	X		Why or Why not?  Yes I think this website is a liable source of information. It is also very use friendly. It is a site made up of other links and websites that you can go to. It gives you printable, songs, and activities that you can do with your kids. It gives credit to all the sites that it uses as well.

Content Standards and Benchmarks

Content standards are a guide or outline that tells a teacher what their children need to learn and master. There are areas that these children need to be able to master in such as language, math, history, and science. I know that in NC they strive for student excellence and want the children of our state to catch up to other states and countries. We have teams of professionals that link together to come up with end product for the children to complete accordingly.

Benchmarks help us to see which milestone our children have completed. In completing a standard, you must take it step by step. If you are wanting your children to add three digit numbers, you must see if they have mastered adding two digit numbers first.

To see if these standards and benchmarks have been met, teachers can do assessments in the classroom as well as test depending upon the age.

It is important that when teachers are planning their lessons they know what type of children they are dealing with. They need to figure out who are their hands on learners, visual learners and audio learners. i think knowing each child's strength and weakness as well as their interest are three of the most important things to learn about them. I say this because if you can play on strengths to improve their weaknesses by incorporating their interest that will make it easier for the child to grasp the concept that the teacher is wanting them to learn. In turn they will pass benchmarks and surpass the content standards.

People learn in very different ways. It is important that teachers know all of their students background information so they will know how to teach them. If your students have auditory problems or vision problems it can affect how they learn greatly. The process of learning is to receive information. You receive information by either seeing, feeling, or hearing it. After you  figure out the basis of the information that you are receiving you have to make a connection with it with something that you are already familiar with. If you are a student in class and your teacher is teaching three digit addition, you will have to connect your prior knowledge of using the same rules from the two digit addition. Then once you make the connection, you can apply it.

Adapting instruction is very important because you want to make sure all of your students are successful. So many children are overlooked because they may not pick up material as fast or they may have a disability but it is up to the teachers to do right by them. Adapting instruction is also important because it allows you to know what type of modifications need to be met for your student to continue to be successful.
        Three components of a good assessment are individual-referenced, norm-referenced, and criterion-referenced. Individual-referenced are assessments when a teacher compares their previous work to their own work to see what progress they have made. The norm-referenced assessment is standardized test. It is a test that is designed upon what a bunch of people feel each child should know. Lastly, there is a criterion-referenced assessment. The teach may come up with objectives for their lesson plan and then they see whether the child has mastered their objective.

One of the instruction cycles is labeled as, “Intended Instructional Outcomes”. This is the time that the teacher will discover what the standards are for a certain subject that needs to be taught. She will have it figured out about what they need to know and about how she wants to teach them. The second stage of “planning” the teacher should begin getting materials together for lesson plans that she wants to create. While she is in this stage of planning she also must know how she plans to assess these children on what she has just planned for them to learn. The third stage is the “assessment” stage. This is when the teacher will pick a type of assessment to see what the children have learned throughout this lesson.
        The curriculum is a guide of what the teacher will teach the children and how she is going to assess them will also guide her on how she will teach them. When a teacher is planning their lesson plan, she should give it a topic that comes from the curriculum. They will simply give it a name that helps children to have an inquiring mind. If you have to teach them about the solar system you could call it a “Journey to Outer Space”.

Group Collaboration and Problem-Solving

When working in a group, I enjoy seeing my group members really get into the subject and coming up with great research. I think being in a group over the internet is the aspect that I enjoy the least. I think if we could all get together and do our research at the same time, we could come up with a great product in the end. I know that my group members wanted to get on google chat and I think it is a great idea. That solves the formal meeting problem because we can have an ongoing conversation and shares links instead of emailing and waiting for responses.

Reading is Essential

Reading should be a part of everyone’s life on a daily basis; whether it's a text book, fiction story, or non-fiction story. Reading can expand your vocabulary as well as you imagination.

I read for many reasons. I read because I have to study for my classes, I read as a hobby to do on my lunch break, I read because I am a pre-school teacher and I'm always looking for new things to excite them, and I also read because I read to my children. Whenever it is my turn to do the lesson plan in my classroom, I go to library and get a bunch of books to relate to my theme. I will sit in an inviting area and read the book and interest my children to come and read with me or grab a book of their own and they sit quietly and read books as well. Most of them can not read the words but children CAN read pictures. They look at the pictures and describe what they see and try to guess what the story line can be. Setting an example for these children is very important because I am learning that the children in these schools, children are suffering because they cannot read.

I would like to think that I am an avid reader. Sometimes I may go two weeks or more without reading a book other than my text books because I have to much studying to do. Most of the time I try to keep a fiction novel ready in case I am done with my school work. After I spend as much time as my brain and patience allows on school work, I curl up in my bed and read my book until I fall asleep.

How People Learn

I think in order for a teacher to improve their students learning, they need to give them a small assessment just to figure out what they already know. Once they know what their children know they can figure out where they need to begin instead of starting from scratch. Teachers can present new information by allowing their class to do their own research. Having to just jot down notes doesn’t allow many people the opportunity to actually really learn what they are being taught instead of just drilling themselves on the information. Doing research allows them to get into character and deliver the information firsthand which actually allows them to learn it. They could always try a learner centered perspective in the classroom. To me this is trial and error because you can see your own misconceptions of things. Some people take what they are familiar with into the classrooms instead of doing full on research to figure out what they actually need to do. Letting them make that mistake actually allows them to see what they need to do from there on out. There is a type of tool that you can use to organize your instruction and plans. The star legacy was built for teachers to use to help create their lesson plans and it helps you to have a creative learning environment. Teachers can also use bubble maps, spreadsheets, and lessons plans that can help them sort things out. There are also other charts you can make on the computer to help sort out materials. IRIS has dedicated its’ time to perform research for college students and professors on activities and other information to do with students with disabilities. They increase the students learning by knowing what to do in case they have a child hard of hearing, hard of seeing, or immobile. The faculty can use them by allowing the students by providing the interactive trainings online in the classroom.

My goals

I have very simple goals that I wish to attain this semester. I have always thought that I was very computer Savvy until now. Lol. I know my way around the computer which now I know is very basic.  When doing the student survey that my teacher asked us to do. I had no idea what a wiki was as well as a podcast. So two of my goals are to learn what those are and how to use them effectively so that I may begin using them in the near future. Atleast I won't look crazy should the topic of them ever surface :-). Another one of my goals is to be more familiar with assistive technologies for people with special needs. I know of some of them but for my own sake I will have to get out and learn more about them and how to utilize them. My dreams are to open a shelter for run away girls as well as a daycare specializing in helping children with special needs. That is something that is going to be beneficial to me for this class as well as my future.