Digital Citizenship inside Kindergarten

Generally digital citizenship is to teach users the rules of good citizenship online. This usually includes email ettiquette, protecting private information, staying safe online, and how to deal with bullying, whether you're a target or a bystander. Digital citizenship at a Kindergarten level is extremely cructial to educate properly. Usually this is the age where children are just getting online to play games and explore so setting rules or regulations may be a bright idea. 

To me it's important to educate young students about digital citizenship due to the materials that can be reached while exploring online. Especially at a kindergarten stage where a child may just be 'click happy' and could lead to almost anything. There are man dangers that can be confronted while online so educating students on safety and proper usage of technology is a must! 

Some teachers may want to look into setting restrictions and locks on computers that allow internet access. This resource would promote digital citizenship to such a young range of students. 

http://prezi.com/ldueowfdeupo/present/?auth_key=4peb03s&follow=ehtgdd8gi108 

Learning to Unlearn

          Learning to unlearn seems like an impossible task. But doing so is necessary to relearn especially in          the field of education. Educators need to be consistent with education and the progression it takes. Which seems to be constant and at a fast pace. LEARN TO UNLEARN LECTURE
          Learning to unlearn is basically training your brain to forget prior knowledge to allow your brain to gain new knowledge. Doing this is crucial if the old information and knowledge is going to interfere with when is trying to be learned.

Interactive Whiteboards in Today's Classroom

          Interactive whiteboards are going to be part of America's education system whether everyone agrees with the idea or not. In fact it has already began its relevance in schools everywhere. The only real problem that these white boards are causing is figuring out whether they are ACTUALLY beneficial to educators and their usage in classrooms. It almost seems as though Americans MAKE it seem beneficial just because it's high tech and "modern" but is that all that education stands for? Not everyone agrees and they are starting to see the Interactive Whiteboard as more of a road block in education.

         The first Interactive whiteboard was created in 1991 by SMART. More than 2.3 million interactive whiteboards have been installed in educational settings. Over 2 million of those were installed in primary/secondary classrooms, reaching more than 40 million students and their teachers. With statistics that high you would automatically assume that these whiteboards are having nothing but a positive impact on students and their grades. Many teachers and even some students would agree with that as well, but is that the ONLY reason grades are increasing? In many researches and even in the opinions of educators everywhere the effectiveness of the interactive whiteboards is based on the teachers that are incorporating the boards usage within their class rooms. It's not all about the Interactive whiteboard and what it can do but how teachers use them and the tools that come with it to educate their students.
          On the other hand many teachers and students see the Interactive whiteboards as a pointless piece of technology. In 2010 an article in the Washington Post stated "...the interactive whiteboard -- essentially a giant interactive computer screen that is usurping blackboards in classrooms across America -- locks teachers into a 19th-century lecture style of instruction counter to the more collaborative small-group models that many reformers favor." Later the same article quotes Larry Cuban, education professor emeritus at Stanford University, "There is hardly any research that will show clearly that any interactive whiteboards will improve academic achievement." Overall it seems that the Interactive whiteboards will only have a positive impact on educating and students grades if the teacher is capable of finding ways to use it to its full potential and getting the students fully involved and motivated to learn!

Twitter & Me

I found the assignment and the way of taking the quiz as a really good way to learning how to use Twitter. Some things that I found extremely positive would be how the class was able to work together through an online community to be able to get others feedback and opinions. It was a good way for everyone to get a better understand of the questions that were being asked. One negative I saw in the assignment was participation, it seemed as though a good amount of the people in the class were hesitant to participate in the twitter discussion. Other then that I found the assignment mostly beneficial to learning how to use technology to communicate with others on a certain subject matter. BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY USAGE IN CLASSROOMS! EVEN THE OLD FOLKS ARE USING TWITTER!!! Pros and Cons of Social Media in the classroom!

The Final Frontier

The assignment we were given in class was a group project. We were to make a power point on an article "Teacher Pedagogical Beliefs: The Final Frontier in Our Quest for Technology Integration?" written by Peggy A. Ertmer. The articles main purpose was to expose why some teachers are not willing to incorporate technology into their lessons and that many of these reasons are the beliefs that teachers have on education. The following is a power point that myself and two other students created to expose some statistics and facts that have been found on teachers beliefs and how if effects their willingness to use technology in their classrooms! Enjoy!!! 

All About Morgan Kelly

Aloha, my name is Morgan Marie Kelly. I prefer to be called Miss Morgan though. I'm 19 years old and graduated from West Allegheny High school which is 15 minutes outside of Pittsburgh. I am a freshman at Edinboro University studying Early Childhood Education. I am on my second semester at Edinboro and love everything about it so far (besides the weather!)

I don't know all that much about technology in all honesty. I see it as a very useful tool for many different things but I tend to be indifferent about it when it comes to learning/teaching. It's clearly important to stay brushed up on technology and how to use it because as this generation progresses and grows technology tends to stay a couple steps ahead. As for teaching through technology I think it can create a road block for learning. Just an observation on my mind and its process with learning and understanding technology seems to distance itself off the more time I spend trying to use it as a beneficiary.
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Saying that I believe that it does depend on the mind at task and what materials are trying to be taught.

Changing Education Paradigms



This is my face!

This Is A Test Post

Black lab puppies are the best!

I would love you own a Leonberger and live on a boat house with him in Key West. Just go off the grid.

NATE DOG