Web Awareness Concept Map

This is my concept map regarding web awareness and the issues surrounding it. I have focused mainly on safety, authenticity of sources and marketing to young people. The internet is both a wonderful tool for education as well as a dangerous, slippery slope to anyone, young or old when used incorrectly. I hope my concept map provides some clarity as to the major issues with web awareness and leads to good discussion topics.

Integrating Computer Technology

TITLE OF ACTIVITY: Spelling
REFERENCE SECTION: SpellingCity. (2009). Retrieved October 3, 2009, from http://www.spellingcity.com/
GRADE LEVEL: 8
SUBJECT: Language Arts
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY: Students will go to a website and complete a spelling test online. I have registered as a teacher and pre-entered the exact words that are being worked on in the class. Students go to http://www.spellingcity.com/ and click on the “Find a List” link. They search for the name “Anna VanderHeide” under the teacher search. After clicking on my name they can select the correct list, in this case, Lesson 1. Then they select “Test”. After completing the test they select “Print a Report” and bring the printed report to school as an assessment.

GENERAL LEARNER OUTCOME:
Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance the clarity and artistry of communication.

SPECIFIC LEARNER OUTCOME:
Students will develop a systematic and effective approach to studying and remembering the correct spelling of key words encountered in a variety of print and other media texts

ICT OUTCOMES:

C.1.3.3 access and operate multimedia applications and technologies from stand-alone and online sources

C.5.3.1 access, retrieve and share information from electronic sources, such as common files

F.6.3.4 demonstrate the ability to control devices electronically

P.5.3.2 demonstrate proficient use of various information retrieval technologies

RATIONALE FOR COMPUTER INTEGRATION: Practicing the spelling words at home in the student’s own space and at their own pace takes away the pressure of the classic ‘spelling test’. Furthermore, the website is very interactive between the students and the teacher, allowing the teacher to test the exact words being used in the daily lessons and provides an element of fun and accomplishment by being able to print a certificate of achievement, as well as an assessment tool in handing in the completed report.

Assignment Two: Digital Media Presentation

Part 1

This assignment was all about learning to effectively use a digital media presentation tool like PowerPoint to put together an interesting lesson. The original file was three slide presentation that needed a little bit of work to make it more interesting. My major changes are:

1. Broke the information down into smaller, simpler chunks and spread it out over a greater number of slides (from 3 slides to 7 slides).
2. Added pictures to supplement the story.
3. Focused on the human interest element with a personal survivor story.
4. Created a graphic to illustrate the ecological changes, as opposed to just having bulleted points.
5. Used a thematic font for the headlines and brief color changes to highlight the headlines.

Part 2

The second part of this assignment was to create an account on http://www.slideshare.net and publish the completed PowerPoint presentation, with references. This is the address to access that:

http://www.slideshare.net/teachlearnshare/crowsnest-fire-improved

Welcome!

Welcome to my Education 3508 blog! I have begun this blog to record my thoughts, ideas and feelings with all aspects of my PS1 experience.

It is only a week into the semester and I have already felt such a myriad of emotions regarding this journey. I am delighted, overwhelmed, scared, excited and so much more. I hope that I have everything it takes to be an exceptional teacher, to make a difference in the life of at least one child.

This whole blogging thing is pretty new to me. I am an avid social networking site user, Facebook being my particular brand of addiction but I have never been one to share all my feelings and thoughts online before. I definitely see the usefulness of this medium and I am looking forward to exploring the ways blogging can be used in the classroom to further enhance the children's education.

This is the first assignment, with all assignments due on the last day of class, November 5th, 2009.