Equal Access to the Digital World!

What does it mean to provide equal access to the digital world? It would be easy to think in terms of your own life when asked this question. For the average person equal access means such things as the ability to afford a device to access digital information and access to the World Wide Web. For those with disabilities, equal access means much more. Try to imagine being blind and needing to use a web site that does not have the code necessary to convert text to speech. What would you do? If you need the web site for school, can you complete the same assignment? Challenges such as these make it necessary for development standards to be followed that will give every user of digital technology equal access. Like most things, if the standards are followed from the onset, the extra effort is little extra cost.

Social Media in the Classroom...a message to parents.

To be honest, this assignment required citing journal articles with research to support my argument that social media belongs in the classroom.  While research more often than not is important, when it comes to the safety of my children and the children I teach, it's a matter of the heart.  I have to listen to what feels right.  In this case you may be surprised to hear that I feel social media belongs in the classroom.  It is our responsibility as adults to integrate social media into the classroom because it is all around us, it has become a part of who we are, it shares our identity and it is the future of social interaction.  If we don't integrate it into the classroom, in a safe forum that is private, where we can monitor it's use, provide guidance and give feedback, then our children, when they are introduced to social media won't know the appropriate way to use it.  They won't grasp the risk, understand the potential for harm, foresee the damage it can cause.  Like everything we teach in school social media lessons should have structure, guidelines, safety features and a plan for success.  That means helping students become responsible users in a safe and private forum sheltered from the public but open to each other, teachers and parents.  I hope you agree that now, together we can help shape the kind of social media users your children become by allowing them to participate in our classroom social media group.  The group is a Facebook group that is open by invitation only.  Parents as well as students are invited to participate.  Group members and their roles will be visible so everyone will have a clear understanding who is participating.  Please be aware that in order to be invited each potential user will need to be a member of Facebook.  Please let me know if you have questions or concerns you would like to discuss.   To find our social media page, follow this web address: facebook.com/groups/career.stories
   

What do you want to be?...a WebQuest to try.

Have you told someone what you want to be when you grow up, but when they ask what about that career interests you, you aren’t sure how to answer?  Having a feeling about something is great, but taking it one step further by learning more about what interests you will help you make better choices for your future.  The WebQuest called ‘What do you want to be?’ is an opportunity to do that.  Using ‘What do you want to be?’ you will explore your interests, values and goals.  While doing this you will gather information about different careers that may interest you.  After completing the WebQuest you will know yourself better, know useful facts about a variety of careers, and using both will have a better understanding of what careers may be a good fit for you.

Animoto rocks! (The Educational Value of Animoto)

I have never tried Animoto before, but I'm now a very big fan!  It was easy to use and helped me create a video to visually present the theme of my blog.  Images and music are a great way to capture attention.  With Animoto I was able to create a video despite having no prior editing experience.  A video like this can aid students as they explore and develop ideas for projects, it can help them create presentations that grab attention, it can help them create something new they can feel proud of.

Educational Value of Wordle

Wordle is for all intensive purposes, fun.  Who wouldn't want to use a fun tool in the classroom? Despite it being fun and free for all to use, not all teachers have heard of it, use it or even understand it's intrinsic educational value.  I'm not a sales person, but I'll take a stab at the benefits of using Wordle in education.  First, Wordle displays writing in a condensed, attractive format that helps students analyze their work from a different perspective.  It's also a means to summarize content for others to see, kind of like how an abstract is used in a journal article, but in a visual way.  It's also a picture that represents a main idea that can be used by younger students who still get to insert pictures into projects and reports. Oh wait, one last thing, for teachers who really like hanging colorful, smart looking things outside their classroom door to display the kind of neat stuff their class is working on, it's a wonderful combination of writing and art.   Did I mention it's fun?      

On finding the right line of work...

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

-Steve Jobs