Netiquette

I found this article about "netiquette" very interesting. I have never even heard of this term but after reading this article, I believe it will soon be added to the dictionary right under internet. This term describes how you should behave and act online. Everyone should strive for a good netiquette. Kids need to be aware that you should not give out any personal information over the internet. Also when writing a formal email they should avoid "IM lingo" and caps lock. They should no that no email is ever really private and anything you post on the internet is there for everyone to see. I found it interesting that some schools are starting to implement classes about this netiquette. Hopefully the state or the national government will have some standards related to this class and make it required for every student. The internet is such a huge part of our lives that we need to know how to behave on it.

Art Range

Today in class I played with Art Range. This is a free program that is similar to paint. You can paint with different brush and different colors. You can also trace pictures and the program will automatically match the color of the drawing. You can also use stencil to draw simple pictures.
I found it neat that if you draw and red blob and paint blue on top of it, it will turn purple! This can be very useful in the classroom if you are teaching about colors. You can also use it as an enrichment tool and have students trace a picture of something they are learning about and then you can have them write about their picture. I also found Google Earth very interesting. It would come in handy as a introduction to a unit of study in Social Studies. You can use it to show geography and the different types of land and bodies of water. Back in my day, all we had was a globe to look at and that was a very boring an inaccurate picture of the world!! Now, my future students will have the opportunity to see a birds eye view of any spot they can possibly think of! I plan to use these two programs as much as possible and I am sure my students will love them.

Classroom Newsletter

This is my Classroom news letter. Click on the picture to make it full screen!

Animal School

The "Animal School" video shows the diversity of students and how they learn. Some excel in one subject and not another. And in this situation we have to encourage and help progress the learning in the area they excel in and not hinder it. We can also help them improve in the other areas while not taking away from the advancements made in the area they excel in. Some other students may not perform well in school but excel at extracurricular activities. They may not be able to sit still in the classroom so maybe the teacher an find a more interactive way to help that student succeed. Then there is the student who is "different" which will hold them back from their learning potential. This student may need help learning that we are all different and the class can learn a lesson of not making fun of people who are different. Then there is the students who may need extra help outside the classroom. They have the potential to learn and they need to realize that. It may take them longer and more effort but when they learn that they can do anything, they will feel amazing.
What we need to realize is that our classroom will be full of a wide range of different learners from different backgrounds. We need to be senstive to every one and help everyone succeed. Every is capable of learning and with our patience, guidance and help you can make every student succeed in there own way!

Did You Know?

The "Did You Know" video was extremely interesting. The world is advancing so fast with technology and we as future teachers have to be prepared. A four year old can use a computer better then most adults and more people use Myspace that could make up the 8th largest country!! YOUTUBE viewers have increased by ten folds in just a year! And China and India are surpassing us on technology. We need to realize that the world is becoming flat and the playing field is now equal in all countries. All children in India are bilingual and most US students take a semester of foreign languages because that is the minimum requirement.
As future teachers we need to help students utilize the technology handed to them and not be afraid of it. Our students are going to know more about it then us and we should learn from them and use it for our advantage. Who knows, maybe our class and instant message or web chat with a class from India and China and we can learn about different culture through and education and fun session. Technology can we fascinating and I am excited about using it in my classroom as much as possible!