Final post for final! with link :)

I feel like the video I made was the thing I was most proud of so here is the link to my video on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK71Rrtmdzw

Final Semester Blog

• What do you feel is the most useful technology (or teaching approach) you have learned this semester?
• I think that learning more about Google Earth as a resource in my geography classes was the most useful technology I learned this semester. 

• How do you plan to use this or other technologies in your future teaching?
• I plan to use it to bring the world to the classroom. In my social studies classes I can use it to give virtual tours, show pictures, and just give students a better idea of what the world looks like and can offer.
• How can you use technologies (the ones we learned or others) to engage your students in ACTIVE learning?
• We can use it to do projects and small assignments in the classroom using available computers.  We can also do it as a quiz, having them pick a place and then virtually tour it and find things that are similar to other places.

Participation for first week of December

An interesting technology that people commonly use to share videos can also be really helpful in the classroom. I am of course talking about youtube. When I was preparing for a study abroad this summer I used youtube to find out about the culutre of wales and ireland and also some cool facts that I should know. It was a great visual and its readiliy avaliable so you don't have to make your own video. It is great for history majors because youtube often has clips of historical documentaries that take only a couple of minutes to show but enrich the lessons a lot.

Weekly participation

This week I thought I would go off the deep end and suggest the use of Itunes as a technology resource in Social Studies classrooms. The reason this would be a good idea is because it would allow students to find songs that they find applicable to various subjects of study in history such as Napoleon and the song (falling down but rising up again.) Or the Oliver Cromwell song. Music can be very powerful especially for teens who always connect with music. Showing them songs and allowing them to pick songs out that connect to the subject currently being studied is a great tool as long as it is not overused. You can also use these songs in tests.

Final Project Proposal

World Civilization

Standard 4 Objective 1 :Assess the importance of intellectual and cultural change on early modern society. (Art, Literature, Architecture, and humanities..)

I have decided to do a mix between a virtual tour of various sites using Google maps and videos and then add some pictures for statues and art that can be found using Google maps. It is important that students be able to see the differences in arts and architecture so that they can more easily compare and contrast the differences.

participation (week ending 11/15)

Today I want to share a website that I came across as a freshman in college. The website is Purdue OWL (online writing lab.) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/677/01/  Specifically on this website there is a section for 7-12 graders. It gives a ton of resources on teaching students how to write well. It gives examples of the writing process and many other helpful hints. As a history teacher, I know the importance of teaching kids to write well and this is a great resource to help teachers manage just that.

I-Safe program for internet Safety

This week I decided to do the alternative activity for internet safety. Yes, that means that I actually listened to about 5 hrs of information and most of it was worth it. I feel like that I have mostly known about this stuff as my middle school and high school have been diligent in teaching about internet safety but it was a great review.  I definitely would recommend this site to parents and students to help them understand what really is out there.  One interesting note, I was talking to someone about the information given during the lessons and the person brought up an interesting point. They asked how hiding your real name, picture and other things would really help when the predators are so tech savvy these days that they can just find you anyway. I thought about it for a minute and then said that when I went to London this summer I was told that the best way to avoid being pickpocketed was to blend in. Yes there is a chance that you may still have issues online or may get pickpocketed but the chances are much lower. Predators always want to go for the easy prey, it is human nature. So, by blending in you are less likely to come to their attention. Yes this means that others must take the fall but at least you are trying to help as many as possible blend in.