Technology Agreements

In today's super-savvy Internet world, anyone can post anything to the world wide web and anyone and EVERYONE can see it. How does this affect the world of education? Parents are proud of their kids and want to show off their skills. Schools are the same way. What better way to show to the community that their students are succeeding than by sharing that on the internet through websites and social media? However there must be a sense of safety and protection for our students. Thus the "Technology Agreement" must be key in any school. This gives parents the right to control how much their child can be shown or mentioned on school websites and other social media. This also protects the school from unseen harm of lawsuits by parents. In today's world, everyone needs to protect themselves. Technology Agreements are crucial to today's education. It protects the school, the parents, and most importantly the students. It is something that any teacher who is going to publish school work online needs to consider and alert parents to. Hence why on my website, I have specifically designated a spot for parents to see this form and fill it out.
Below is a link to that page:
Ring Lardner Middle School's Technology Agreement

My Website

Technology has provided many different resources for teachers. One amazing site is Weebly! I've been able to create a website designated to my classroom. Below is a link to my very own website: Ms. Glover's Amazing History Class.

Ms. Glover's Amazing History Class

UDL Checklist

     To say I enjoyed the assignment would be an outright lie. And my Mother taught me never to lie. Actually she taught me if I didn't have anything nice to say, I shouldn't say anything at all. Unfortunately I am graded on what I say thus I have to say it. The idea and theory behind this assignment is valid. Yet it is a theory. This was time consuming and slightly annoying. It may have been designed to encourage me as a teacher, but it made me want to drop this degree like a hot frying pan!
     Are the ideas presented in this website and checklist valid? Yes they are. Like riding a bike, this will take practice to apply to every lesson. It will help one grow as an educator to become a better educator who looks at every and all aspects of teaching. However at this particular moment I am frustrated and am not looking forward to repeating this process.

Prezi- Method to Our Madness

Telling students about "rules" and "regulations" can be... Well... BORING! They see a poster on the wall once and then ignore it for the rest of the school year. However, if a teacher presents the rules in a different format (such as a Prezi presentation) the students will be more incline to pay attention because its something new!
Here is a link to my Prezi presentation of my "rules" for technology. I prefer to call them "Method to Our Madness"

Enjoy!

Method to Our Madness

Technology & YOU

Technology Survey-

            I had ten questions asking my future students about technology. I am a social studies teacher with an emphasis in secondary level. My questions were based on what I would be expecting my students to do in my class with computers and online resources. My first few questions were concerning if they had access to a computer as well as the internet. It is one thing to have access to a computer, but having access to the internet is another topic all of its own. I would want my students to have both because I would be expecting them to type papers as well as use the almost limitless resources found online.

            The information I wish to obtain from this survey is not only what kind of computer and internet access do my students have, but also what they do while online. I want to see if they spend more time on Facebook or Twitter. Do they even have a Twitter or Facebook account? Would they be willing to create a Skype account and use web cameras for a class activity? Getting students to use their favorite online pastime in the classroom helps them be more excited about class time. Finally, because I will be expecting my students to do projects and research papers, I want to know how they view online sources. Do they think that Wikipedia is a decent source? Have they ever been to a government website? I want my students to be able to see what a reliable online source is and what it is not. Thus with this survey I can obtain background knowledge that they have and create my curriculum and activities around what they know and need to know. 

Check out my survey! 

Technology & YOU 

Boilerplate Man

Boilerplate Man-

            To be completely honest, I have no idea what to think of this website. I know it is not real because I have never heard of a “Boilerplate Man” disappearing during World War I. Yet I commend the creator of this because he shows very “real” pictures and the stories are almost believable. This kind of reading and graphic novel would have been something I read as a child. The idea of combining history with science fiction is something I love as a recreational hobby. That could be why one of my all-time favorite television shows is Stargate SG-1. Nevertheless, from an educator’s point of view, I actually really appreciate this website.

            As a potential social studies high school teacher, I hear kids tell me how much they hate history. To them, it is boring and they claim they’ll never need to know who signed the Declaration of Independence or what the Magna Carta even was. Perhaps this is true, but using resources like “Boilerplate Man” can get a student interested in history. It is a story about a mechanical man doing his civic duty. The fact that it is fictional perks kids’ interests. It’s a weird way of looking at history. What would have happened in World War I if all the soldiers were actually metal men? Who would have won the war? Obviously this is not how history should be taught all the time, but it is a fun and different way of looking at a “boring” subject.

            Another insight that I found myself thinking about when exploring this sight was the idea of technology. Obviously this is a class designed to get us thinking about this. Yet since I am a social studies teacher, I found myself planning how to use a site like this by talking about technology in the past. Could this have happened? “Boilerplate Man” shows us how far technology has come from past to present in the idea that we do have robots fighting wars. Yet there is also the fact that anyone can Photoshop a picture and create “real” evidence. How do we distinguish truth from fiction? Does technology help make that distinction?

What do you think?
Boilerplate Man

My Tips for Classroom Computers

 Tips for Computers-

Computers are a fabulous invention. They're better than sliced bread! Unfortunately there are rules. The key idea: Relevance. Is what is on your screen relevant to the topic? Here are a few tips for using technology in my class.

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1. Social Networking
• Facebook is awesome for getting in touch with that BFF from first grade! It is not meant for using while a teacher is trying to tell you something amazing about history class
• Please, be kind. Rewind that web browser to the SCHOOL task
• Instant messaging, texting, Skyping, etc.
• Again, awesome way of communicating! NOT meant for class
2. Resources
• The internet has BILLIONS of them
• Picking the right one is the key
• Keep in mind:
• Accuracy
• Authority
• Objectivity
• Currency
• Coverage
3. Rules of the classroom apply to this site
• Respect
• Be Prepared
• Be On Time
• Ask Questions
• POSITIVE ATTITUDE
4. Respect
• I respect you. You respect me. One big, respectful family!
• We will be having LOTS of discussion on this page
• BE RESPECTFUL
• Please no derogatory comments to anyone
• There are ways to politely disagree, that is what discussions are all about