Monday, April 19, 2010
Favorite Blog Subscription
A Paper Back Writer was my favorite blog. It has great writing ideas like: What would Hester Prynne have had on her iPod?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Why I don't like Blogging
I figured out the real reason why I don't like blogging. At the beginning of the semester I thought that this reluctance to type messages on an online page that can be cute-sified and scrapbooked to the heart's desire, was because if I started this blogging business I wouldn't be able to stop; I would keep posting pictures and stories and changing the layout and fonts and adding little accents everywhere.
Well...I finally figured out why I do not like blogging!
It is an audience issue. The audience of a blog could be a few class members and a teacher to someone clear across the world. And we all know that audience affects writing. So, if I don't know my audience, how can a write?
Well...I finally figured out why I do not like blogging!
It is an audience issue. The audience of a blog could be a few class members and a teacher to someone clear across the world. And we all know that audience affects writing. So, if I don't know my audience, how can a write?
Monday, April 12, 2010
Teaching About Internet Safety
For my internet safety teaching assignment I talked with a mother who is in her 40’s and who has two children living at home. When I asked what she had been told about internet safety, she knew that it was important to keep the computer in an open area and to have a filter.
I shared with her what I learned from the Provident Living website on pornography. Some of the items on the list that we discussed were only using the internet for specific purposes and not surfing the net. Her daughter who is 11, learned about youtube from her friends. The mother came home one day to find the girl surfing through youtube movies. The mother established rules about youtube.
I also shared with her about how it is important to teach children not only about the dangers of pornography, but also what to do if it is encountered. Part of the problem of the addiction of porn is the feelings of shame and guilt. By teaching children to turn off the computer immediately and to tell a parent about it, helps reduce these feelings of shame and guilt.
We had a great discussion about being addicted to the computer. Her son who is 15 comes home from school and gets on the computer. Luckily he is in track, but she is worried about him. Technology is a good thing, but it can be overused by teens.
I shared with her what I learned from the Provident Living website on pornography. Some of the items on the list that we discussed were only using the internet for specific purposes and not surfing the net. Her daughter who is 11, learned about youtube from her friends. The mother came home one day to find the girl surfing through youtube movies. The mother established rules about youtube.
I also shared with her about how it is important to teach children not only about the dangers of pornography, but also what to do if it is encountered. Part of the problem of the addiction of porn is the feelings of shame and guilt. By teaching children to turn off the computer immediately and to tell a parent about it, helps reduce these feelings of shame and guilt.
We had a great discussion about being addicted to the computer. Her son who is 15 comes home from school and gets on the computer. Luckily he is in track, but she is worried about him. Technology is a good thing, but it can be overused by teens.
Internet Safety Video
Frontline Documentary http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/
I watched part of the PBS Frontline Documentary. It shows how teens are addicted to technology.
Although we have tools to reach so many people, this multi-tasking through technology is dumbing down the world. One girl remarked, “Well over half my life is spent in the virtual world.” Sad! Living your life in a world that you can’t touch.
Part of this video showed a study that was done with MIT students who are constantly texting or emailing. In class students don’t have to listen because they have laptops. Students reported that they were fully capable of multi-tasking during a lecture, however the study suggests otherwise.
Six multi-tasking students were chosen for the study. They thought they were brilliant at multi-tasking. However, the study shows that they get distracted. The researchers worry that technology is making people unable to think clearly, and inhibiting the purpose of technology: to help us be our most creative selves.
One neuroscientist has studied what technology does to our brains. The front decision making part is increasing. Some think that this shows that technology is making us smarter. However, bigger is not better. Like cigarettes which took a long time to discover that smoking is bad for our health, we may be slow to discover that using technology a lot is bad for our brains.
Technology is addictive. Asia is tackling the teen gaming addiction. In Cyber cafes some kids have died playing games without food or water for over 50 hrs. Many teens are addicted to gaming.
So the Korean government is offering internet recovery camps for 2 weeks. They have counseling sessions and activities to help teens gain the childhood that they lost. Most of the kids there have had to have medical treatments for effects overuse on the net, like eye or hear strain.
Even Doug Rushkoff who pushed the use of technology in the 90’s and wrote the book “Cyberia”, is now questioning the addictive nature of technology.
I have seen some of my brothers really get into gaming. One of my brother’s friends turned his garage into a place to have networking parties. I think that parents need to be aware of the harmful effects of overuse of the internet on their children, and limit its use.
As a teacher I have to be more enthusiastic and present things in interesting visual ways, because teens think differently. They need fast attention grabbers. This means I have to plan more and be a more effective teacher.
I watched part of the PBS Frontline Documentary. It shows how teens are addicted to technology.
Although we have tools to reach so many people, this multi-tasking through technology is dumbing down the world. One girl remarked, “Well over half my life is spent in the virtual world.” Sad! Living your life in a world that you can’t touch.
Part of this video showed a study that was done with MIT students who are constantly texting or emailing. In class students don’t have to listen because they have laptops. Students reported that they were fully capable of multi-tasking during a lecture, however the study suggests otherwise.
Six multi-tasking students were chosen for the study. They thought they were brilliant at multi-tasking. However, the study shows that they get distracted. The researchers worry that technology is making people unable to think clearly, and inhibiting the purpose of technology: to help us be our most creative selves.
One neuroscientist has studied what technology does to our brains. The front decision making part is increasing. Some think that this shows that technology is making us smarter. However, bigger is not better. Like cigarettes which took a long time to discover that smoking is bad for our health, we may be slow to discover that using technology a lot is bad for our brains.
Technology is addictive. Asia is tackling the teen gaming addiction. In Cyber cafes some kids have died playing games without food or water for over 50 hrs. Many teens are addicted to gaming.
So the Korean government is offering internet recovery camps for 2 weeks. They have counseling sessions and activities to help teens gain the childhood that they lost. Most of the kids there have had to have medical treatments for effects overuse on the net, like eye or hear strain.
Even Doug Rushkoff who pushed the use of technology in the 90’s and wrote the book “Cyberia”, is now questioning the addictive nature of technology.
I have seen some of my brothers really get into gaming. One of my brother’s friends turned his garage into a place to have networking parties. I think that parents need to be aware of the harmful effects of overuse of the internet on their children, and limit its use.
As a teacher I have to be more enthusiastic and present things in interesting visual ways, because teens think differently. They need fast attention grabbers. This means I have to plan more and be a more effective teacher.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Copyright Assignment
This first video from Teacher Tube is a student Snuggie Commercial. It was very entertaining! I assume it was a project to try to persuade someone to buy something. Some of the questions I had about this were whether or not it is ok to use someone else’s product, like a Snuggie, and use it in a video to endorse it. Logically, I don’t think Snuggie would mind if it promotes their product. The 4 second clip in the beginning says “Snuggie” and then wipes out. At first I thought that this was from a real commercial, but I think they just made it themselves. I think that it is ok because the multimedia project is done by a student for education purposes. If the students got the background music from a Snuggie commericial, they should cite that.
The second movie that I looked at was a Goosebumps movie. Get this, the whole one minute and 1 second was with the same green letters saying “Goosebumps” moving up and down with the Goosebumps music in the background. There is no source for this music. I think it depends on how a teacher uses it. If it is for instructional purposes I think it’s ok, like if the teacher uses it as a writing prompt to write about the mood or tone of the song. However, the song is more than 30 seconds, so there could be a violation problem. The teacher should cite where the song came from.
The second movie that I looked at was a Goosebumps movie. Get this, the whole one minute and 1 second was with the same green letters saying “Goosebumps” moving up and down with the Goosebumps music in the background. There is no source for this music. I think it depends on how a teacher uses it. If it is for instructional purposes I think it’s ok, like if the teacher uses it as a writing prompt to write about the mood or tone of the song. However, the song is more than 30 seconds, so there could be a violation problem. The teacher should cite where the song came from.
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