Digital Learners

How can you provide equal access to the digital world to all learners? Are mobile devices a way to accomplish this? Should schools try to acquire more of these vs. computers? Would an iPad work in your classroom?

I believe the only way to provide equal access to all students is by providing them each with time at a school computer lab. As a teacher you can't assume that every student will go home to a computer with internet access or have a smart phone. Still to this day not every student even has access to a word processor to type up papers never mind being able to post homework electronically. For all big projects I make sure that I take the students to a lab or the media center to have an opportunity to work in school.

Mobile devices might be a way to accomplish equal access if you had a small class where you knew that all the students had a smart phone. I think you would need to know your students well to be able to do this to. Last semester I had a Latin 4 Honors class with 12 students who would all have been able to access the internet via a smart phone or home internet and I would have liked to have tried Twitter with that class. But in large classes of 31 students I don't think it would be fair to ask all students to use their mobile devices as all students might not have access to one.

I think a lot of schools are acquiring more mobile devices to test out with their students. You are always going to run into funding problems when trying to acquire them. Also who will actually get the mobile devices can be an issue as well. When administrators first got iPads here, I'll admit I was a little jealous of them. My friend at Souhegan is provided a personal laptop for school purposes to take home and I think that is a great idea. I don't know about providing every student with them though, that would be a huge responsibility on their part.

An iPad would work in my classroom for students to keep a digital binder of all the translations that they do. I know that some people don't like typing on an iPad, but I do already have a student who uses her iPad for all homework. I also allow students to listen to music while they are translating and we could explore interactive websites together. I think an iPad would be a great addition to my classroom.

Is there more to social networks than meets the eye?

In education social networks can be a touchy subject. As a teacher you hear horror stories about students misusing social networks for bullying and also teachers getting in legal trouble for inappropriately using networks to communicate with students. Last summer we even discussed social networks in our legal issues in education class. The professor told us even more stories about social networks that he has dealt with as a school superintendant. I have always been very cautious about combining school and any social network. When I first got my job I actually went on my Facebook account and changed all the privacy settings and deleted a lot of information that could be at all viewed negatively. My father to this day cautions me against posting anything dealing with school. I have only accepted friend requests from two former students in five years of teaching, and only after they have graduated.
After class last week I felt a little more optimistic about social networks and perhaps using them for education. I would actually feel better having a Twitter account for educational purposes than ever using my personal Facebook account. Twitter would be great for posting homework or club information for a class. I would be much more open to trying Twitter with students, especially in the upper levels. I will continue to separate my personal life from my work life with Facebook though. I don't think I'd ever want to create a class page on Facebook. Facebook is still a little to uncomfortable for me.
So I do believe that there is more than meets the eye with social networks, but an educator needs to fully understand the network before they even attempt to open up using one with the students. In most cases the students know more than teachers about the networks. Blogging could be used as with students but I don't think you should assess a blog except for participation. I never imagined that I would have a blog and/or a Twitter account, but I am warming up to them.

Digital Footprint

I did my search on Rodney Eugene Coffin III. His name is pretty unique so he was not hard to find. At all. There were no images on google that were correct though. New info showed up for Rod when I put in Nashua, NH and any newspapers articles related to Nashua North High School then came up. For images, there was a photo of a student of the month that Rod nominated.
On pipl.com I found Rod very easily and his address, family members, and wife's name. People reigstered to this site might be credit card/debt collectors or any profession that needs to access personal information quickly.
I've actually used pipl.com before to find a family member for my mother and it was helpful if you have enough information for a lead. It did make me wonder about my digital footprint but fortunately my name is pretty common - there is even a girl in my hometown with the exact same name and age range as myself.
I think it is primarily the parents' job to teach their children about online privacy and protecting your reputation. Unfortunately, most parents don't know enough about social medias and online privacy yet. In that case I think it is a good idea for teachers to be good models for online use. I will comment on facebook use and other medias in the classroom, especially when students are using their cell phones for it.

Why should we integrate technology into the classroom?

Becoming more familair with and integrating technology into my classroom was originally my professional goal when I started teaching. I have attended many wokshops with Sarah in the summer on technology to support that goal. However, it has been hard for me to use technology regularly because I have to sign out equipment from the media center to use anything in the classroom. I have found some interactive games and a a pronunciation lab that I have used with classes. I have not yet tried to coordinate with students using social media, sharepoint, or online resources other than email but I would like to.

I feel that it is important to integrate technology because technology is the future of education. I feel fortunate that I have developed with technology and used it in school myself. Everything is turning digital and as educators we need to stay current with different medias to be able to teach our students. I believe that it is essential for a teacher to be current to understand a student and to be an effective teacher. There can't be a huge gap in knowledge between students and teachers.

I would like to try using the online posters for my mythology project in Latin 1 and interactive websites relating to Latin. I want students to be able to access the textbook website from school and take advantage of the vocabulary testers on the website and use quizlet. I know that students won't be able to have their own laptops or iPads anytime soon but I would like to have a projector for my own classroom use.

Reasons to Blog

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/05/12-reasons-to-blog-with-your-students.html

Blogging teaches digital citizenship would be the relevant heading to my class. Students need to know how to be professional and proper in their online etiquette and a classroom blog would be a proper forum for that.

I think that blogging can be a valid form of assessment in terms of student participation. I would count a student actively blogging towards their participation grade. I don't know if you could have a rubric on blogging that you could assess. You could have students post an assessment in their blog that you could assess or a project but I don't think blogging in general is able to be assessed.