Take a bite out of cyber crime?

http://www.mcgruff.org is a cite for bullying in general. It is mostly on face to face bullying and also touches on cyber bullying. It is a site for kids and has games, downloads, and an easy to maneuver site. The games are not extensive, actually there are only eight, but they have an easy to interpret message which could be used for younger children. There is one video, but it is about girls and ballet so it is not very appealing to boys. There are posters and cartoons that can be read and printed out in the download section and that seems the most applicable to teachers and parents because they can used it as a resource for things to do with their kids and the posters are kid friendly in content and presentation. There is only one section on cyber bullying which is tucked away in the advice section. The advice section is large, compared to all the other sections, but focuses on face to face bullying. Not that the face to face bullying tips can't be applied to cyber bullying, but it is a bit of a stretch for elementary kids to make that connection.

I like the cite for it's kid friendly look, but it is only really good for face to face bullying. Cyber bullying looks like a second thought on this site. There are some good teacher/ parent resources, but I'm not entirely sure that kids would look at that section of advice and downloadables and really use them. Maybe if they update the site and make some better games, it will be a really great site for kids to go to and learn. Maybe they will get more on cyber bullying some day.

Get Smart! Net Smart.

Getnetwise is a site about net safety. It is a cooperative effort to keep kids safe on the web. There are blog posts, how to videos, and lots and lots of information on how to keep your kids safe and your computer safe in general. GetNetWise contains the largest online repository of instructional how-to video tutorials that show parents and users how to keep their family's online experiences safe and secure. Instructional videos range from setting your search engine to filter pornography in its search results to activating your computer's security settings. The blog posts are even current, which is always a problem when trying to gather information that applies to the Internet. This site even has a link for kids so that they can look up safe places to go to on the Internet. Getnetwise seems like a really good resource for internet safety for kids, computers, and personal information.

A Hierarchy of Technology Needs

On one site out there on the webs there is a combination of technology and the hierarchy of needs done by Maslow. Most teachers are familiar with Maslow, but most have not seen the technology hierarchy of needs. First, there needs to be an established infrastructure. Then you need to have an effective administration. Next, you need extensive resources. On the next tier, You can implement an enhanced teaching program. Lastly, you can then empower you students. What this shows me is that there is a lot of work that goes into having the technology in the first place. It may be hard to get it in place, but I think that it has a much greater positive effect in the long run. Schools need this to help them keep in mind the amount of work that is ahead of them and also to keep in mind what teachers and students need before technology can start having a positive effect.

Professional Learning Sites for Learning Professionals

Continuing to develop outside mandatory development days can be hard and not fulfilling. The site I looked at, http://www.sedl.org/pubs/change34/, helps you set up a community in which you can continually learn and feed off of others ideas. The site tells you every thing from what a learning community involves and its attributes to what some outcomes should be of the learning communities. It is not just for teachers either, it has information and other helpful things for administrators, principals, and staff as well. This site makes it really easy to form a learning community and keep it up since it also gives out free materials for continuing learning. It gives the feel of a small group from church for the school. It is a pretty good little site for helping to cultivate learning in between mandatory development days and it is more rewarding in what you learn that is applicable right away to instruction in the classroom.

Techtorial

Sometimes technology can be hard to get and understand. You do not have to try and understand it alone with this nifty collaboration site! On the education world website there is a section called techtorial. It has hundreds of tutorials that you can read or watch that will guide you through all the steps of the program. All of these were made by one Lorrie Jackson and only takes about 15 minutes to read. I went through a couple of them and the tutorials go through all the basics while also covering the complexities of the program, for the most part. There are also ideas for teaching using the different types of software she just taught you how to use. It really is a good place to go to to get good technology ideas quickly that will work well with a lesson.

Lights, Camera, Action! Technology Director on the Scene

Adam Hotchkiss, a technology director at CAK, came to talk to the class about being technology leaders and managers. He made a distinction between leaders, the visionaries, and managers, the support and facial tours behind the leaders. He said that most of the technology you should get needs to be supported by everything the school does. Making long term plans are essential to getting technology in the classrooms and integrating it into daily lessons. These strategic plans should be broad and not specific so that your equipment is not already outdated by the time you want to put it into practice. The biggest thing to consider is the total cost of ownership like hardware, software, furniture, and the people needed to train the teachers. Other things to consider would be funding, who is available to accomplish different tasks, what goals do you have, where are you getting the equipment from (new/used), warenties, etc. All these things are good to think about when trying to update or outfit the school with technology. It is also important to maintain the new equipment and keep spairs do what you can so that teachers are more likely to use the technology and not think of it as unreliable so that the technology isn't wasted.

Polly Brake's Technology Time

Polly Brake came in and gave a special lecture on how she has interacted with technology and has helped it grow in her school. It all started with a comment on how her classroom was boring. Well, she got two smart boards and watched it grow from there. At first, other teachers were hesitant to use the technology or they ended up not using it to its full potential. Now there are a lot more smart boards in Polly's school and she is helping those teachers who are of using the technology well use it much more effectively. Polly is really leading her school into technology and how it can be used in the classroom and she encouraged the rest of us to be technology leaders in our future schools as well.

The Rock Star of Quizzes: QuizStar

For assessment using computers, QuizStar makes quizzes easy to make and easy to take. You make a class, make the quiz, have your students log on, and voila! There's an easy to read results page. The quiz itself can be made up of many different components allowing for multimedia quizzes in different formats including multiple choice, true/false, and short answer and in different languages (of all things!). QuizStar makes quizzes as about as engaging as they are going to get considering you can use movies and pictures in your quiz, but it also allows for more than just remembering and understanding since you can include short answer. It's also good that the results can be viewed in so many different formats. Quizzes are graded automatically, and results can be analyzed in multiple formats, including by class, student, and question. Reports can be saved, printed or downloaded in an Excel file. If you want to share the results with students, parents, or even the principal, all you have to do is download it.
I think this could be a really nifty way to take quizzes and assess what the students know while getting the feed back teachers need in a timely fashion to help their students learn.

Talking Made Easier

There is a site on the internet that has a mission to enhance the independence, quality or life, quality of education and employability of individuals with disabilities. It seems like a great cause and I believe that they have done a great job of it because they have so many options on how to accomplish that goal. The company is called IDEAL Group and they make portable assistive technology software smartdrives (or PATSS for short). All of their technology is designed to be portable and free giving a great advantage to the user. The greatest benefits of their devices is that it improves transition outcomes for individuals with disabilities from home to school, home to work, school to school, etc. It can be used with any computer, which reduces compatibility issues. It also helps eliminate stigmas of "special" equipment and enhances the quality of life, independence, and quality of education and employability of individuals with disabilities. The number of free smartdrive portable applications that are available through IDEAL Group is a little boggling. There are around 35 free programs that can be used ranging from being able to turn speech into text to helping children with disabilities to get on the internet.

This site, www.ideal-group.org, is a great resource for the classroom especially for inclusion classes where students who need a little more help can get it without getting a negative stigma placed upon them.

Plagiarism, It's Not Just From Adults.

I looked up this website: http://www.plagiarism.org/ and it relates to chapter six's TF/TL standard 6. It is a very professional looking site and has a lot of teachable material over plagiarism. The first thing that is seen on the sight is a document checker. If you click on it, it sends you to this site, https://www.writecheck.com/static/home.html, and you have to sign up, but it does a lot for you like checking your work against other works along with other student's work and spelling and grammar usage. It also has educational tips on plagiarism which says why students plagiarize, what intentional plagiarism looks like verses unintentional plagiarism, and what the cultural perspectives on plagiarism are. This particular site also gives lots of information on how to site information and even what a citation is. I believe this could be used to introduce plagiarism and put it in proper perspective while giving options on how to use these works properly. I know that sometimes citations can be confusing and that it can be tempting to just put it in without giving proper credit, but this site explains everything in easy to understand terms while giving the proper solutions to citation issues.

Autumn is the Best Season. Ever.

I believe that there is little to dislike about Autumn.Yes, it does get cooler in Autumn, but it is a welcome relief from the Summer heat and humidity. Personally, I don't miss either of those atributes of Summer. Also, I don't miss the amount of bugs. The temperature is getting lower and the activity of the annoying insects are as well. That alone would give Autumn an A+ from me; not that my opinion of Autumn would ever make Autumn change it's behavior. 


Another great part of Autumn is that people wear more clothes. The joy of wearing jackets is upon us and the bliss of not seeing half naked people who have no business dressing like a hooker. A++ there. Walks and runs become an easier task as the activity warms you up instead of making the depressing heat worse, but it is not so cold as to prevent you from stopping to look at something and therefore freezing to death from the momentary lack of movement. 


The trees change to brilliant colors of red, yellow, and orange. This wonderful change from the rest of the year of either green or dead and makes a good change of pace while giving prettier sunrises and sunsets. After the trees are done changing, the leaves fall and create pretty cascades of leaves to walk through and later jump in. For added stress relief, many trees will drop acorns and pine cones to crunch and smash.


The air itself is also better. Along with it being less humid, it is crisp and clean and fresh. It makes you want to just take a big breath in and smile. Breathing is just easier when it feels so good. The kind of air that Autumn brings refreshes people and makes outdoor activities more enjoyable. You can even make little puffs in the air with your breath and entertain yourself for hours.

I love Autumn...