Week 15

The other day I could hear my 12 year old son talking in the other room.  The only thing that made me go see what he was doing was I knew there was no other person in the room with him.  When I came in the room I saw him playing his Nintendo DS.  I asked him who he was talking to.  He immediately got mad and yelled "Mom you ruined my tutorial!"  I asked him what he was doing, he said he was making a video on his ipad for his friends on how to capture a special character in his Pokemon game.  I apologized and left the room.  It was then that I realized that he was actually making a flipped video for his friends. 15 weeks ago I would not have been able to tell you what a flipped video was or why teachers or anybody would use them.  I don't think I have ever talked to my sons about making flipped videos, or about how they are used.  I thought it was just ironic that he actually was creating one.  Ironic that I have been learning about how to make one and how they are used in school and that he just knows how to create one and he was doing it to help his friends to get better at a video game.  This showed me that children are using this technology and it is second nature for them to learn from a video.  I think about him learning a new dance or how to do almost anything by watching a flipped video.  I guess the old proverb is correct.  It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

Here is about a minute clip from his tutorial on how to catch a legendary Pokemon.

I hope this clip works, I trip to capture a portion of the 15 minute video then email to myself and then upload it to blogger.  I am still learning how to use technology.

Week 14

When I was in middle school I was able to get a pen pal from Scotland.  Eileen and I kept in touch all the way through high school and lost touch when she moved to a new school.  I learned so much about Scotland, and how different the educational system is there.  I also realized that Eileen were different but also very similar.  We had similar fears about the future and about relationships with boys and peers.  Our tastes in music and fashion differed but that did not stop us from sharing our lives with each other.  I also had pen pals from Trinidad and Sweden.  Neither one of them had the connection I had with Eileen.  When we talked about the Epals website, it brought me back to the excitement I would get when I would receive a letter from any of my pen pals.  Social media has made the world seem so small but I still think it is important for people to still make that personal connection with another person through letters.  Epals though was not just a website about writing letters to other students in another country, it was a way for teachers to bring other cultures, histories, and stories into a classroom.  While we were exploring the site, I was amazed as how many different activities and lessons that could be done from this website.  Another great site to add to my wiki to have as a resource for my future classes.  I would love to see a student make a connection like I did with my pen pal/friend Eileen.

Week 13

The Wednesday that we met with Aida for class, I was hoping to get more of chance to know this students.  I guess I was hoping to find out what they are hoping for in the future.  I used to work with minority girls in program called Girls in the House with a non-profit called Journey House.  I can remember that these girls had hopes and dreams but then never acted on them.  Most of the time it felt something that was unobtainable.  I try to be the catalyst to have the girls see that those hopes and dream were reachable. It would take an incredible amount of work and I never hid that from them.  It is something that has always broke my heart, to see children or even people give up on their dreams.  I always want to help them and try to make them see that there is hope.  I want give all the children that walk into my classroom hope for a brighter future.
I only worked at Journey House for a year but after the Wednesday night with those eight graders I thought back and wondered if a program like this would have helped them.  In that year, I had 8-10 girls ranging in ages from 12-17.  I remember taking them to Waukesha County Technical College for a Career Day.  I remember the girls being anxious and nervous.  I remember that they had to take a computerized test that would help them develop an idea of what careers fit with their answers.  So many of them did not know what they would do after high school.  Many of them talked openly about having a baby or working at the local gas station or restaurant.  Many of the fears were of not belonging.  If they had a baby then they would always have a connection with their mothers or with the father of their baby or even with other girls who had become teen mothers.  Many of them stated that their mothers did not approve of them going on to school because that was not what women of their ethnic background did. (the majority of this girls were Hispanic and few were African-American).  I felt guilt much of the time working with these girls.  I was lucky that I had role models and mentors that believed in me and my dreams.  My parents did not go to college.  My mother married almost 3 months after graduating high school.  My father didn't finish high school he enlisted in the Army as soon as he could.  But that never stopped them from believing in me.  Maybe that is way I want to be that person who believes in someone when they have no one else.  I believe hopes and dreams are what keep pushing people to do their best.  It is the cheerleader in me.

Week 12

I have been working in a 5 year old kindergarten room and recently they began working on a Social Studies project.  The project was introducing them to maps and locations that can be made on a map.  It was very simple.  The teacher read the book daily.  After she read the book the students would then create a map.  The first map was of their bedroom.  The next day it was their house.  Every day it got a little bigger.  The kindergarteners focused on room, house, town, state, country, and planet.  I thought this would be a great way for second grades to use technology and introduce a few more locations that are important to know.  So being inspired by the kindergarten lesson.  I created for my fourth lesson plan a Me on the Map.  I integrated technology by having the students use Google Earth to find all the locations need to create their own Me on the Map book.  I know I could have had them create a tour using Google Earth but I honestly was having trouble myself navigating it.  I have in the pass created a Lit. Trip using Google Earth but I really struggled with that also.  As I created this lesson, I was thinking of so many other ways that students could use Google Earth in a Social Studies curriculum.  I know that I need to "play" with it more so I can overcome some of my own technical difficulties with it.  I think that is my problem with much of the new technology that I have encountered is finding time to actually work with and figure out all the ins and outs of it.  Maybe on my Summer off between this semester and student teaching.

Week 11

This week I had many conversations that related to things that we had discussed in class.  I was listening to conversation between friends the other night.  One works in Human Resources and the other in Customer Services they were discussing about how the attitude of the younger generation has affected getting employees with good work ethic.  They were discussing how potential employees dress for interviews but the Human Resource friend was stating her and her companies biggest problem is that technology.  Employees feel that they have the right to bring their own devices to work and that it is their right to be connected to technology during working hours, especially non-work related.  I know that I am guilty of checking email, texts and sometimes Facebook when it is not appropriate.  But I was surprise that the words she used is that it is their right.  Is this something that we are teaching the entitlement of technology?  She questioned how it should be regulated.  How do schools that have bring your own device deal with Facebook, Instagram,  and all the other social media? I love technology but how do you get away from the constant social media connections.

I came across an article entitled  27 Tips For Becoming A Digital Teacher.  It had this wonderful picture of the characteristics of a modern day teacher. The website Edudemic is a neat website filled with many articles for students and teachers interested in education and technology.

Week 10

As I read chapter 10 on Literacy in Social Studies, I kept reflecting on the fact that I love going to the library with my sons. We love to browse the stacks looking at all sorts of things. I think about easy it is to find books that relate to almost any subject. I have picture books at home that relate to math concepts, health concepts, science concepts and social studies concepts. Some of the books are non-fiction but most are fiction books that concepts can be drawn from. In my lesson, I use a picture book to engage the students into thinking about different types of communities the characters in the story live in. This not only helps the students work on comprehension because they need to recall the events, characters and the details of the settings in the story, but it gives the students an idea of the aspects the different communities in our world have. In the lesson I have the students compare and contrast the communities from the story by using a Venn Diagram. The beginning of this lesson is all started by reading a children's. picture book.

I have seen many different ways teachers have used books, fiction & nonfiction, picture & chapter books to help students dig deeper into their social studies curriculum. It seems like a natural fit.

Week 9

I love Geography.  I loved learning all about other countries and capitols in school.  I know that I am by no means an expert on the subject of Geography however I still to this day love maps and books about other countries, states, rivers, mountain ranges etc.  I am not a world traveler either.  Although it is on my bucket list to travel through Europe, Asia, Africa, Austratlia, and South America.  (I have no real desire to go to South or North Pole)  It surprises me how many people can't identify the 7 continents on a map.  I just read a story about a professor that gives her Sociology students a pop quiz on the 7 continents. (Read the Article and watch her video) She now requires this map primary test to pass her class. I think that there are several politicians and even news reporters that need to take this test.  There are several times I have been watching a news program and have seen a geographical error.  I can't believe that a politician who discusses foreign policy does not have his or her fact checker give them correct geographical information (.  It seems like a simple subject to learn and teach.  It just also seems to be a subject that many chose to forget, when it is a very important subject to know for everyday life.  Here is Mitt Romney (I am not looking for a political debate just trying to show how important it to learn geography) in the presidential debate that Syria is Iran's only route to the sea.  I think he needs a refresher course on the middle east geography. :)

Here are some funny pictures and cartoons I found:

Look closely that is not the state of Wisconsin in between Braun & Rodgers. This is ESPN reporting!