Passport to Digital Citizenship

Passport to Digital Citizenship talks about the importance of teachers and students gaining knowledge about digital citizenship and proper use of technologies. It also talks about ISTE releasing the book “Digital Citizenship in Schools” which mentions and explain the nine elements of digital citizenship, which are digital access, digital commerce, digital communication, digital literacy, digital etiquette, digital law, digital rights and responsibilities, digital health and wellness, and digital security.  These are standards that teachers, students, parents, and basically everyone who uses technology should be aware of and learn how to use them properly.

The article also mentions the Four-Stage Technology Learning Framework for Teaching Digital Citizenship. This method is intended to open discussions about what we know about technology and how we should be actually using it, it helps teachers know the knowledge students have about technology and then teachers can know how to help students in the areas they might struggle with. It’s a cycle that helps teachers and students to better understand the use of technology.

I think that these resources are important not just in a class setting but in your own private place or home. There are things that we are not aware of in the internet that can cause us harm or distress later in life. We post pictures, comments, and other personal information almost daily and sometimes we don’t even know who might have access to them. Now a days I am very cautious as to how much information I give out online, even in applications. Now I ask if they really need my information or if I could just leave some spaces blank. Just the other day at the dentist they were asking for my social and driver’s license number and I actually asked the lady in the front desk why they needed that information from me and she told me it was optional if I wanted to put it. So it made me think that they really did not really need that information from me and they were just going to keep it. And what would happen if that information accidently got into the wrong hands, well now they would have the opportunity to steal my identity.

This article made me realize that I need to be more cautious of where and to whom I give my personal information too. I believe that things you post online eventually get lost and can end up in someone else’s hands and those people can use then against you. I also have a Facebook account which I am glad I usually don’t post anything too especially family photos. I think there is a limit of how much personal things you can post. I also believe that if it’s something personal that you don’t want everybody to see or read then maybe you shouldn’t even be posting it or sending to anyone via internet, online, or even text, because you never know where it might end up.

"Digital Video Goes to School"

After reading the article “Digital Video Goes to School” I have concluded that both authors Helen Hoffenberg and Marianne Handler are speaking from the knowledge they both have from experience in technology and being teachers themselves. This particular article talks about the many uses of video recording that can be used in a classroom setting for any purpose or topic. Here they give examples of schools that have used video recording for research, interviews, narrating, theories, and investigation. All children did different projects and different recordings but they all got to do their own editing and final details on their own with the supervision of their teachers and maybe other peers if they worked in groups. Children were given the opportunity to use technology instead of just writing an essay paper about something. With video recording children had the experience of not just using technology but having fun doing a projects in which they could use their own imagination and be creative with it.

This article gives me the idea of using video recordings for them to do their own biographies and then present them to class. This way I can learn more about each child and know where they are coming from opening a door for me to know how to approach them and help them with their learning. I would probably do this at the beginning of school so I can have that info available to me for the rest of the school year. This would also help build community and relationships in the classroom by each other learning about everyone as we show each movie in class. I know that doing something like this might not be possible depending on the school and district I am in so a resource to this would be to buy or use my own video camera and give each child a time frame to which they do their own biography, that way everyone gets to do their own and then once everyone has done theirs they can be presented.

This article was clear in presenting the information about the benefits of using video recording in schools to better prepare students for newer technology and for them to have experience using it. Video recordings also give students a break from having to do research and then type up a paper about it; this is a fun way for children to enjoy what they are doing without them feeling like their doing work.

 

 References

Hoffenberg, H., & Handler, M. (2001). Digital video goes to school. Learning and Leading with Technology, 29(2), 10-15. Retrieved from www.iste.org.

ISTE Review

After reading the article “National Education Technology Standards (NETS-T) and performance Indicators for Teachers, I have found that the standard I feel stronger in is promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility. This standard explains how teachers have knowledge of the growth of technology and that there are rules, regulations, and standards to follow. It is the teacher’s responsibility to model and promote legal and ethical behaviors by themselves being cautious of how they use technology and sharing that with the students. For example now a day there is Facebook which is a social network that mostly everyone has, so as teachers we should be careful and aware of the things we post and comment on because anybody can see our status. As teachers we should be teaching safe, ethical, respectful technological practices to our students that way they too can be careful to know what it correct to post and what should be just kept to themselves. Most of all we should be teaching responsibility and respect when it comes to using and managing technology.

I think that now as a student I have followed rules, regulations and guidelines when it comes to using technology, not just in school but in my own personal computer at home. I am very cautious as to whom I have as friends, whom I respond to, and how, the language I use, and the pictures I post in my Facebook account. If you were to see my page you will see that I don’t have that many friends and the reason is that there are people I rather just send an email too instead of having them in my Facebook account snooping around in my personal life. I believe there are social networks which you can use to share personal information with people you truly trust and then there are those networks were you just talk with whomever you want to without sharing too much.

I think that as a teacher I will continue to model ethical and moral behavior when it comes to using technology and teaching my students. I will try my best to teach my students about copyrights, referencing, and being careful when searching, because if they don’t know how to use those techniques they can end up in trouble or they might get a bad grade. I believe that for now I have been a good role model and will continue to be especially when I have students overlooking everything I do.

The Verizon Foundation

ISTE partnered with The Verizon Foundation in supporting mobile learning initiatives across the United States.  There are about 24n schools that part of this program called Verizon Innovative Learning Program or VILS for short. The way that ISTE supports this program is by providing services lie program evaluation, needs assessment, and personal development. The VILS program was design primarily to increase effectiveness and use of student success with use of mobile technologies and engagement. Most of the services are provided onsite or online. Below I have attached the link to their web page.

 http://www.verizonfoundation.org/our-focus/#education

The Maryland Public Television

The Maryland Public Television in partners with ISTE contribute to Mathlanding.org which is a program which there is live online professional learning for teachers and students that apply to the common core state standards through the NETS. Mathlanding.org has tools and resources available to teachers to use to in order to teach math in different ways in order to meet children’s needs. Below I have attached the link to their web page.

http://www.mathlanding.org/

Both of these partners with ISTE meet the standards and help promote the use of them as well by providing schools and teachers with the resources necessary to follow the ISTE standards.

My article "Blog On" by Catherine Poling

In the article “Blog On” by Catherine Poling, she shares with readers how the different kinds of blogs have helped her to connect more deeply with the students and other staff at her school. She talks about and describes in detail these different blogs based on her own experiences of having used them. The types of blogs she has used are individual blogs, classroom blogs, collaborative blogs, and staff development blog. Individual blogs are set up to be used by each person individually in a way of keeping a journal type of blog. Each day students can write their own thoughts and ideas about a certain topic or they can just write about their day. Classroom blogs are created for students to communicate with each other in a classroom setting. There students can write comments to each other when doing research, or when they want each other’s opinion or feedback about a specific thing. Collaborative blogs are set up for students to be able to interact with students from other grade level or classroom. In these blogs students can share experiences from school with each other, for example if there was a career fair, students from two classrooms can communicate with each other about what they thought about the career fair. Staff development blogs are designed for teachers and staff to communicate with each other on a daily basis about events, meeting or other issues going on in school. She mentions how it helps teachers interact with each other more specially when everyone is busy all the time and they barely see or talk to each other. This article was very interesting to me because I got a better understanding about the different kinds of blogs there are and how they can be used. I believe she was very confident I using those particular blogs and at the end they were very resourceful and worked out well with her students. I would like to have more information about how to obtain these blogs and instructions on setting them up in a classroom setting. In the future I think I will definitely be using blogs because technology is moving fast and kids now days are very high tech so this will be beneficial in a classroom setting. I can see mu students interacting with each other without being shy or nervous about having to share personally with someone else in person.

 

References

Poling, C. (2005). Blog on: Building communication and collaboration among staff and students.Learning and Leading with Technology, 32(6), 1-4. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/store/my-virtual-products