Cyberbullying

After watching the videos about cyberbullying, it gave me a lot of insight as to how hurtful it can be. The video entitled “Feathers in the Wind” gave a good meaningful explanation of how gossip spreads. It is almost hard to believe how quickly word can spread. It is important to not talk badly and make things up about other people. The second video called, “You Can’t Take it Back” showed how once something is on the internet, you can never take it back. This video specifically talked about rating people online, and once they made the website, they cannot get it back. This does not have to only be specifically about rating people. It also can include any information you put about yourself on the internet. Once that it is up, it is extremely difficult to get that back out without anyone seeing it. The video entitled, “Broken Friendship” provided insights about who you can and cannot trust with information. It discussed how you could not trust anyone with private information, not even your best friend. After watching the videos, I felt so bad for the students who had been a victim in cyberbullying. It is an awful and degrading thing that happens. The people who took part in cyberbullying must feel awful about themselves. It is rude to deliberately hurt someone in the way they do. The people who do such a thing do not realize the victims have feelings. The victim from, “Broken Friendship” was explaining how she wished she could disappear or move and start over. It is awful to hear such stories, and the trauma of cyberbullying will last with the victims for the rest of their life.

As a future educator, a teacher must not allow cyberbullying to take place. Although it can be difficult because the students are cyberbullying from their homes, it is important to not let the nonsense be continued into the classroom. Once word gets around about a situation, it is difficult to stop it, as described in “Feathers in the Wind.” If a student continually brings up an inappropriate topic, the educator can inform the student’s parents of the actions to hopefully the parents can prevent it from happening at home.

Real Life Stories. NetSmartz Homepage. Web. 17 Nov. 2010

http://www.netsmartz.org/resources/reallife.htm

Plagiarism

I can create a classroom that advocates and practices safe, legal and responsible use of information and technology in many ways. To start, I need to reinforce to my students that taking work that is not their own is considered plagiarism. I don’t want to scare my students into making sure information is properly being cited, however they must also know the side effects of what can happen if you take something that is not your own. In case a student does try to plagiarize, the netknowhow website provides a four step process to which educators can take to get rid of the plagiarism habit. The first step is to inform the student of their wrongdoing. They have to know that plagiarism is cheating and unacceptable. The second step is to detect. They need to figure out if the student has a history of plagiarism and also to figure out if the student essay’s language and style matches up with previous work. The third step is to respond. It is important to communicate with the student and allow them to know the consequences of plagiarism. The fourth and final step is contract. This is a written document which specifies what the student can and cannot do when writing a paper. These will be specific and the student will sign it and have to deal with any consequence in the contract is violated.

As described in the netknowhow website, they suggest many ways in which you can support collaboration, learning, and productivity. It stated, to make it clear to students that you value their ideas, and will support them in developing and refining their ideas and writing skills. In addition, it also believed that educators must shape students' research/writing processes and explorations ahead of time. Providing students with examples of writing can do this, so they have a better understanding as to what is being looked for. Another method to use is to become familiar with the student’s type of writing. In doing so it will allow you to set reasonable goals for the student. Also, encouraging the student in writing there own stuff will also boost their confidence in writing on their own and not copying. There are several other types of strategies that will support the use of outside sources as well.

The 2Learn.ca Education Society Presents NetKnowHow.ca. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. <http://www.netknowhow.ca/NKHPLRRU.html>.

The 2Learn.ca Education Society Presents NetKnowHow.ca. Web. 17 Nov. 2010.

http://www.netknowhow.ca/NKHPLWID.html

Concept map

I had a difficult time trying to figure out what type of concept map to make. I kept thinking back from when I was in elementary school to see if there were any concepts, which could be described through a concept map. In the end, used a topic from the classroom that I am tutoring in right now. My concept map shows the three types of burns. There are 1^st degree burns, 2^nd degree burns as well as 3^rd degree burns. If someone were to get a 1^st degree burn, they would have a sunburn. The burn takes place on the top level of the skin, which is the epidermis. This burn is the least harmful. Another type of burn is a 2^nd degree burn. This burn breaks through the epidermis into the next layer of skin, which is the dermis. This burn will make the skin blister, turn red and it will be painful. The last type of burn is a 3^rd degree burn. This burn is the most serious. It destroys both the epidermis and the dermis. There are no blood vessels left once a 3^rd degree burn occurs. This concept map is simple but is used for more advanced students.

Concept Map Reflection

The type of program is used to make my concept map was bubbl.us. At first, I did not like this program at all. I could not figure out how to use it. I had to start over many times because my map would not meet my needs. The layers of the map would keep being deleted and I was unsure as to why. However, I eventually got the hang of using this program. In the end, I really enjoyed using it. I would use it again in the future. I also believe that both teachers and students can use it. For students, it is a good way to organize notes. For example, I am tutoring now in a special education class, and the students were learning about burns. However, they were getting confused as to which burn had which effect. This program would have helped them keep track of which burn had which effect.

The most difficult part about this assignment was trying to figure out how to use bubble.us. The website did not provide much instruction as to how to use the program. However, by continually trying I managed to figure out what each of the buttons mean. In the end, I was able to make my project. Another difficulty I had was trying to figure out what to use as my concept map. I could not think of many topics that would need levels of detail. However, I eventually remembered the students I was tutoring had struggles with learning about burns and I realized I could incorporate that into my project.

My knowledge of learning this assignment will help in the future for my profession because all students learn differently. Some do better with just listening and taking notes, others need to see a visual diagram. In the future, I can use this to benefit the students who need to see a visual in order to learn the material. This program keeps notes very organized and I think my future students will benefit from me using this program with them.

Bubbl.us - Free Web Application for Brainstorming Online. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .

Jo Fool or Jo Cool

On the cyberquiz on Jo Cool or Jo Fool website, I received a 17/20.

I think Jo Fool or Jo Cool is a good website for young students. It is a good way to show the differences between reliable and not reliable websites. It shows how some websites can scam students into giving their personal information. For example, it may seem as though some of the websites are going to be beneficial. They could help you win raffles, download music, meet new people, etc however, not all the websites are being truthful. They are scamming students into getting their information and people will fall for it. This websites provides good insights on how to tell a real website from a website that is trying to get your personal information. Going through the cybertour, it has you pick whether Jo is making a good choice-cool or a bad choice-fool on the website. Once you pick, it provides a good explanation on why Jo made a cool or fool decision. These explanations give solid reasons for children as to why they should or should not trust a website.

I thought the teacher’s page did not provide as much useful information. It suggested few activities that could be done with the students but I had already thought of someone of them while doing the student part of the website. The information is useful but I think the students will get more out of the website then the teachers will. In addition, no matter how many times I tried, the website would not let me click onto the teachers guide page. The link may have been down.


"Jo Fool or Jo Cool | For Teachers." Media Awareness Network | Réseau éducation Médias. 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2010. .

Online tools

I think I would consider integrating quizstar into my future classroom. It seems like it would be very beneficial. For one, making the quizzes online is a very simple process. They also get graded automatically. For a teacher, quizstar is very efficient. It will cut down on a lot of time. From the students point a view, I also think it will be beneficial. Students will be able to take their time on quizzes and not feel the in class pressure. Some students, when they physically get the quiz in front of them tend to draw a blank on everything they had just learned. For quizstar, the teacher can make the quizzes have unlimited amounts of time so the students can calm down and take as much time necessary. They will have more time to really think about the question and come to the correct conclusion.

I think either zoomerang or surveymonkey will positively impact a student’s learning. On these cites, they both talk about giving students surveys. I think this will impact a student positively because taking surveys are anonymous. Students do not need to feel pressured into voting a certain way. This is also good because it will keep the students involved. They will enjoy taking surveys because it is an easy way for them to feel connected with the classroom. It is a positive way for students to participate in the classroom and not have to fear embarrassment for giving a different answer.

Screencast Reflection

I thought our group worked together very well. Everyone was positive and we all got along. The only negative part was that nobody wanted to speak right away in the video. But other than that, everything worked out. We were able to work efficiently to finish our project. I am very satisfied in how our screencast came out.

Most of the feedback received on the google form was positive. There were many high ratings given to us. I believe the feedback was useful because we know for next time what we will need to improve. There was one comment which stated they were already familiar with our artifact, so they gave us a low rating. I did not find that to be fair because we were suppose to only show the basics of powerpoint and we did not know how advanced everyone was. I believe if we were to do the screencast again with more advance tools, we would have addressed their issue.

The process of creating the challenge artifacts was very easy. The videos provided an easy step by step process. The only difficulty was the different computers and versions of programs. My Microsoft excel is an older version so when trying to do that screencast, I had a hard time finding where buttons were located.

The screencasts created by the other groups were useful. I had already been familiar with the challenge artifacts but it was a nice review. In the excel artifact, I was not sure how to use the formula to compute the numbers into letter grades. I think that will be helpful for when I am a teacher because it is more efficient.

I believe anyone can really benefit from the use of screencasts. As a future teacher, I believe I will be able to show a screencast video to any of my students and they will be able to use it. Screencasts are very good visuals to provide students. They can be used in many different subjects as well.

I really like screencasts because they are helpful in doing step by step processes. I like that I can pause the video, do the step and then play it again. It is also helpful because you can replay the video as many times as you need. I will definitely consider using screencasts in the future. They are extremely beneficial.