Final Reflection on CEdu525

It is amazing to me how quickly these classes are passing us by! I can't believe we have finished three classes already!

I have learned a lot in this class, and I have so many new resources to use... I just wish there were more "free" hours in a day so I could sit and explore some of them more thoroughly! I think "Thinkfinity" is still my favorite site we have learned about in this class - there is just so much there. I have gone back to it a few times already while planning lessons for my students, and I have used a couple ideas already. I am sure I will use many more in the future.

Toondo is another site I am excited about. I have not used it with my students yet, but I am planning to use it with my literature classes. I want to have them create a cartoon based on a scene in the novel we are reading. I think they would really enjoy that - it is something different than they have done in the past.

I enjoyed creating the scavenger hunt, and I plan to use that soon. We haven't started the Geometry unit yet. I found a few other neat ones while I was looking for examples and I will have to go back and look at those again.

Trinie and I have had an absolute blast with Facebook. I have never played so many Scrabble games in such a short period of time. It is really a good way to stay connected with people. I didn't really understand how I would use it in my classroom, but then when we talked about the closed social networks, I started to see some possibilities. When Wayne showed us his Chemistry network last night, I realized the potential. I think it would be great for the kids to be able to talk in a "safe" situation about homework and to discuss topics related to the curriculum. I am going to talk to my principal about the possibility of doing this with my class.

The 10 website assignment was a lot of work and at the time I was complaining about it, but now that it is done, I really like what I have. I needed a change in my tessellation unit, and now I have MANY new ideas to incorporate.

Voicethread really seems like an amazing resource. I think it would be great to create a slide show for Open House and let the kids add dialog to the pictures. The parents would really enjoy seeing/hearing something like that.

Finally, I am excited about Web Quests. I found a neat one on M&Ms and statistics. I don't know if I will use the entire web quest with my seventh graders, but I am going to take parts of it and include it in my unit. I want to look for more web quests and maybe, eventually, make one of my own.

I am always excited after class and anxious to implement the things I am learning about!

Internet Safety

It was a sobering class this week. It is really scary to see what can happen to kids who don't take internet safety seriously. It is amazing how easy it is to locate someone based on seemingly small bits of personal information. The videos we watched in class and the articles I have read this week really show the need to educate students of the dangers that are out there and how to stay safe. It is not realistic, in our world today, to keep kids away from the internet to keep them safe. It is so important for them to be exposed to all the information out there to prepare them for life after school. Therefore, we have to take the initiative, as educators, to do what we can to talk to them about the problems and how to avoid the dangers while still using all the valuable information out there!