Internet Safety Reflection

I completed steps 1-3 listed to do for this week's PLE:

1. Complete the University Course Evaluation in RouteY.
2. Complete the Course Feedback Survey.
3. Check grades in Moodle and let the instructor know if there is anything that seems incorrect.

- The article I chose to read for my article of choice was, "Entertainment and the Media" from For the Strength of Youth pamphlet.

- The video resources I watched:

On Netsmartz.org -
Cyberbullying: 'Feathers in the wind'- feathers in this movie are gossip, they can spread anywhere, and getting them all back is impossible. Same with gossip, once you spread things to others, you'll never get it all back if you want to fix it.
Cyberbullying: 'You Can't Take it Back'- a teen thinking he'd never do anything crazy, yet with the influence of his friends he makes comments on a rating site. Turns out the site was directed toward specific people in school, including his sister. People got hurt, and he can't take it back.
Cyberbullying: 'Broken Friendship'- Two best friends shared each others' passwords to everything. One friend gave the password of the other friend to some bullying girls who got into her email, sent risque messages to some of the senior boys in school. Now the boys look at her differently, she won't talk to her friend, and she feels alone.
'Julie's Journey'- Julie spoke to someone online who she didn't know, as retaliation to her parents; she needed to talk to someone. She'd talk 3-6 hrs. a day, which in turn caught her in his grasp leading her to run away with him for 3 weeks until someone recognized him on their way to Reno and turned them in. She didn't think of who he might be, and that he could have done something to her; now she feels empty and alone.
'Amy's choice'- Amy felt like she didn't have anyone to talk to about bad things in her life. She met someone online she felt safe talking to, which turned into more than she expected. He came to her house, she met him outside not telling her parents, she left with him for 2 days until she was found.
'Tracking Teresa'- It's easy to find kids online information from chat rooms. Within 20 mins you can find out their full name, phone number, where they live, what school they go to, their family dynamics, email address, etc.
'Keisha's Crime'- two friends liked the same boy. One found out the boy's chat name, and tried chatting with her, which he wasn't too keen on. She found out his email address, sent a risque picture of her other friend to him, which he deleted. Her friend found out it was her who sent the email, now their not friends.
'Angela's experience'- In a chat room someone sent Angela a mean message, which continues on until she got a hate email threatening her. She reported it to her mom, which was the right thing to do.
On iKeep Safe.org -
FauxPaw the Techno Cat- Never give your contact info to anyone online, don't give any personal information. Never meet someone from online you don't know.
On PBS.org -
'A revolution in classrooms and social life'- You've got to cut through media to get the students' attention. More students struggle to focus, they're used to immediate stimulus. two responses you can have to this: 1) fight it, or 2)accept it. Be aware of what your students are doing online.
'The Child Predator Fear'- Good kids make a bad judgment and they pay for it. A mother is concerned about her children online, and makes sure she knows what they're doing, has the family computer in the kitchen where she can see them, and tries to keep communicating with them. Faculty in schools are saying that kids are smart, they're not looking for trouble, they know to ignore risky things.

- The most important 'take-aways' from the reading and videos -
As parents, teachers, adults, we need to be aware of what is out there on the internet, and what kids are privy to. If we're informed, and communicating with children, we can hopefully prevent drastic measure that can happen. Encourage children to view and only work with uplifting media online or anywhere, and that can eliminate many problems as well.

- I did an interview with my 11 yr old sister, asking her what she knew about bullying online. She told me she knew it was where kids go online to send mean messages to people; she didn't know anyone who does that. I asked her what else she knew about internet safety, and she told me that a few years ago, in school, they watched a FauxPaws movie clip showing you that someone you meet from online can be someone completely different than you thought they might be. I was able to tell her the importance of being extra careful with the information you put about yourself online, because it's so easy for anyone to get your information. She was a little scared, but understood the gravity of the topic; she was interested in what I told her, and excited to share what she knew. I believe my sister will be a lot more cautious with what she shares with people online now.

Practicum observations

I was in Heber Valley Elementary School in Mrs. Hayter’s 1st Grade class. Mrs. Hayter was a wonderful mentor teacher who used technology throughout each day to teach her 1st graders. Every student, in their center groups, would get a chance to be on the computers for 13 minutes using Razz Kids, an online virtual reading program that tracks the students’ progress and tests them after reading books. Mrs. Hayter also would use her document camera to project on the whiteboard from her laptop the math website the school uses to teach math. She would also use the document camera to also project on the whiteboard different worksheets the students would be working on together as a class, or test material she would step each student through. The school had given Mrs. Hayter, along with all the other teachers, a touch pad to record students’ progress with different subjects; she didn’t know how to use it, my partner taught her so she could start using that technology to help benefit her and her classroom. I believe Mrs. Hayter adequately used technology in her classroom to effectively teach her first graders.

Video Comments

Bookends of War video:
http://etec.hawaii.edu/etecvideos/videos/bow/
Inside Kapunahala video:
http://etec.hawaii.edu/etecvideos/videos/kap/

With the ‘Bookends of War’ project, students are put into groups where they work on different parts to create the classroom website. One student is taught the skills needed and then goes back to their group to teach everyone else what needs to be learned. Cooperation is seen in this classroom, and their knowledge of technology increasing daily. Students see technology as aiding them in showing others what they have learned, and a great way to prepare for future jobs when they get older.
With the ‘Inside Kapunahala’ project, students that struggle are given opportunities to create commercial story boards and film short video clips to help them be better at communication skills and using technology. Students have found they can communicate more clearly from participating in this program, which has helped them in other classes with participation points because they can vocalize their thoughts and opinions better. Also, they find creating the story boards quite fun, because they get to write and draw pictures. Their involvement with technology enhances their confidence and abilities to learn and produce projects.

Using technology with young children

The most important thing I learned from the three videos about using technology with young children is to clearly define what the students are to do, model it for them to see, and then be there to help facilitate their work. With the video on spiders, the teacher was actively involved in not only helping the students learn about spiders, but taught them how to use their technology equipment (cameras) so they could take pictures of spiders they found. The video with the kindergarten class taking the book ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?’ and applying that to vehicles by doing a book extension, which they put together on the computer. The teacher was there every step of the way for each student so they not only knew what was expected of them, but were able to get the help they needed. These two videos showed a great example of how to clearly direct students in their use of technology.

Technology observation

My initial observations about the technology available to the teacher I am working with in the practicum was quite interesting. I could see she has access to 4 student computers and a laptop for herself, which she uses with her projector to teach and also allows the students to use when doing centers. Also, I saw she has access to a TV and a VCR, as well as a CD player and headsets to let the students use to hear books on tape. She has access to basic technology that helps in the learning environment for children.
I completed the mid course evaluation, and the informed consent, as well as the technology survey.

Science Challenge Summary

The three presentations I reviewed were:
1. Alexandra
2. Beth
3. Andrea

The upside of implementing a science activity idea in an elementary classroom is it's a great way to implement technology for students to use in learning about science. The downside of of implementing this is the lack of control over each individual student, because they are individually or in groups using the technology.
Overall, though, the upsides outweigh the downsides, because it truly is a magnificent way for students to interact with science and internalize the learning better.