Internet Safty

Internet safety or Internet smarts? I diffidently agree with the internet safety ideas we went through for the class assignment. The ABC's of Website Evaluation by Kathy was dense but it had good information. The one thing is when evaluating websites it more internet smarts, to not believe everything that you read. The safety part of the interactive exercise I went through was more on the safety not to open emails from unknown recipients. This has a big impact on the computers not getting viruses and the children not being solicited to inappropriate information. I remember when I was in elementary school going through the importance of not giving out personal information on the internet and stuff but I never took it seriously. I think you have to personalize the severity of it so they really understand the importance and now I understand why it’s so crucial the teachers understand how to properly instigate this safety

UEN

Uen.org really is a good source to use in a classroom. It’s the perfect way to organize the entire curriculum using links your students are going to need, and information you are going to be referring to for your lesson plans. It’s also a wonderful source for lesson plans I was reading through some of them and they are grade oriented, and creative.
It’s a good way to keep your kids parent’s aware of what is going on also. You can update your calendar with all the assignments due so if there are any questions on homework either the student or the parent can refer to the calendar.
Since teaching information to others has proven to be a great way to retain the information it also gives the students an opportunity to show other siblings or their parents what they learned so that they retain the information better. When showing videos and other interactive material, if the students missed class it’s a good way to help them stay caught up.
The Pioneer library was a little different. There was a lot of information available but it was kind of hard to find and the website was slow. When I was in elementary school we used that website and I couldn’t ever really figure it out then either. I’m sure when I become more familiar with it i will like it more.
Over all this is my favorite resource we have gone over since it’s a way to coordinate all that we have gone over. You could even find a way to get your students grades posted on uen.

Grades

I like the fact that now days your grades can be posted online. I'm sure having this available in Elementary Schools only the parents would really be interested in this; checking it on a regular basis. When I was in Jr high i was able to view my grades, absences, and the balance of my lunch money. The great thing about that is it was all on one website. In college, teachers have so many choices in ways to post grades, if they choose to post them at all. this is kind of frustrating for me now since some teachers systems are great and easy to use but others aren't. I think it would be most beneficial if they created a set system so that all grades could be found in the same place. With university's it probable would be a hassle to get it started: teaching all the teachers how to use the system, etc, etc. but in the long run it might make things easier on the teachers as well. not having to explain there certain way 2-3 times every new school year with new students.

Comunication

Before this class I had never thought to have open contact with any teachers. If i had a question I would always just ask the professor during or after class. I am thankful for the enlightenment on the vast oprotunities to have open comunication with my future students. The world has changed so much even since I have been in elementary school, and I feel its important to keep current with tools such as instant messaging. I would have never thought to use that with my students and now I see how benificial it would be. the problem is not every student is going to be conected to the same instant messaging instalment. it might be benifical for the schools to institute its own IM so it would be safer and they would automaticaly have access to it with student ID's. I would have loved that in Jr. High, exspecially if it was on the same website as you viewed your grades and stuff: just kill two birds with one stone.

Happy New School Year