iMovie PSA

I used iMovie, a Mac video editing software, to create a public service announcement for CSUSM. (NETS 2, 3,4)

Inspiration (NETS T 1,2,3,4,5)

Inspiration 9.0 is a software application that is used in visual mapping, outlining, writing ideas and making presentations.

Journal 9: Find Free Tools and More (NETS T 1, 2, 3, 5)

Ribera, Maria. (2011). Find free tools and more. Learning and leading with technology, 38(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Learning_Connections_Find_Free_Tools_and_More.aspx

Adam Bellow, director of technology for college board schools and a 2010 ISTE emerging leader, has created a great resource (http://edutecher.net) that offers free services for teachers and features a lot of sites about Web tools for the classroom. This website includes detailed explanation for Web tools to help teachers, students, and parents understand how to use them. It contains more than 1,000 links and is updated daily. It also offers audio and visual support for training and learning through its growing library (edutecherTV webisodes), as well as specific classroom applications of various Web tools.. Users can easily share any link from the Web tool’s description component. Edutecher can also be installed as an iphone application to facilitate social networking.

Question 1: Can users ask questions about Web tools through edutecher website?

Yes, each link allows users to ask questions or provide feedback. Users will be notified when a response is posted, usually within 2 days. This is very beneficial as questions are answered by Adam Bellow himself to insure users are getting sufficient information. This feature allows users to easily obtain answers instead of spending hours searching for it.

Question 2: Does this website offer links to a specific grade level?

Bellow’s range of selected websites offers something for teachers of all grade levels. Also the description provided for Web tools makes it easy for the teacher to select tools of interest or need. In addition, Teachers can search for tools that meets their requirements through the search tool on this website as it saves them time and effort. The search tool facilitates the navigation between pages and topics as well.

Journal 8: Collaboration Makes the Ed Tech World Go Round (NETS T 1, 2, 3)

Niederhauser, Dale, & Knezek, Gerald. (2011). Collaboration makes the ed tech world go round. Learning and Leading with Technology, 38(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Research_Windows_Collaboration_Makes_the_Ed_Tech_World_Go_Round.aspx

Summary: Later advances in technology have allowed opportunities for collaboration between scholars and teachers around the globe. Global collaborations have happened in 3 areas:

1-     Standards: Developed nations have initiated national tech. standards for teachers. Also the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and cultural organization (UNESCO) have attempted to create a set of international standards that combine a focus on information and communication technologies.

2-     Conferences: Educational professionals collaborate to share ideas, research, and learn from each other at international tech conferences such as the world conference on computers in education which occurs every 5 years.

3-     Research: Collaborative efforts are the reason for improving our understanding of tech use in education. Example: A major effort is the 1996 publication of children and computers in school by Betty Collis and her colleagues marked an early effort to explore the emerging role of technology in education at a global level.

Question 1: How does collaboration through technology benefit our schools?

Advances in technology have brought teachers together despite distance or cultural differences. Teachers and administrators can discuss how to benefit our youth and learn different teaching strategies and new ideas to improve their pedagogy.

Also it collaboration between teachers and students and between students and their peers encourages group work and group discussions which will lead to more students gains.

Question 2: How can we keep improving our use of technology in each classroom?

By continually exploring new tools, joining online discussions, researching new ways to incorporate technology in class, and collaborating with other successful educators around the globe through different web tools such as Twitter and Diigo. Doing that will better prepare us, as prospective teachers, to teach about technology and incorporate it in our lesson plans. Being involved is the key to fuel our innovation and expand our knowledge.

Crossword Puzzle, Egyptian Cities

I used Microsoft EXCEL to design a crossword puzzle about my cultural background. (NETS 2)

Journal 7: My Personal Learning Network

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is essential for every individual who wants to continue learning. A PLN is a network of people we learn from and share with, we can connect with people face-to-face or online to gather information and share our knowledge. Through the internet I use tools like Twitter and Diigo to grow my PLN. These tools are helping me gain a ton of knowledge as they provide a huge amount of information and ideas.

1- Twitter:

Creating a twitter account was a great first step in my learning process. I follow great experienced educators who are dedicated and motivated to improve our education system.

• Shervette Miller is a literature/ composition teacher who only tweets about education.
• Elana Leoni is a person who is very passionate about educational reform.
• Nancye Blair is an education technology specialist.
• David Weston is an education consultant, a Math and Physics teacher, and a data analyst and programmer.
• Lisa Dabbs is an education coach/ consultant, new teacher facilitator, and a former principal.

What made me follow them is their interest in education and educational reform.

I also participated in a discussion (#ntchat) on Wednesday 4/13/2011 at 5:00 pm. The topic was earth day. Teachers and other participants provided great ideas for earth day.

I stored these URLs for future refrence, as they are a great source of information about this topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyKt67BEMxY This is a great video as it provides an awesome idea about recycling, students made clothes out of newspapers.

http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/06/23/50-ways-to-go-green-in-the-classroom/

http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/06/23/50-ways-to-go-green-in-the-classroom/

http://cybraryman.com/environment.html

I was so excited to participate in such an outstanding discussion. I learned so much about environment friendly teaching practices such as using blogs to save paper, and teaching students “ green consciousness” by helping them participate in activities like beach cleaning or taking a walk around school neighborhood to enjoy nature.

I have to say that participating in this discussion was an inspiring experience for me!

2- Diigo:

This is a great PLN tool in itself because it connects me with great educators and other people who share the same interest like me. I grew my network by searching for groups that have similar interests, I followed people that I found talking about subjects in education by clicking "follow" on their homepages.I was so excited to be able to collaborate with remarkable educational leaders such as David Warlick and Lucy Gray through Diigo. I can also learn as I explore what they thought is valuable enough to bookmark. I bookmarked Classroom 2.0 and Educator's PLN becuase they are outstanding discussion websites as they connect me to educators and educational leaders who are interested in Web 2.0 tools and social media. I can participate in discussions and share my ideas with others. I also recieve reminders through my e-mail about important events and seminars in education.
I also bookmarked Educational wikis http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/ It is a website that is created through collaboration between educators, it provides teachers with tutorials and articles which make great sources of information, they also connect me with more educators to grow my PLN through their discussion forums and lists.

3- Digital Discussion Forums (Ning):

Educator’s PLN is a remarkable discussion forum. I watched “Best Practices in Social Networking for Educators” posted by Thomas Whitby on 4/5/2011.

I really liked this video because it sends a clear message to all teachers and administrators to get involved and to use web 2.0 tools to learn about different teaching strategies and so to better connect with their students through technology.

Presentation Assessment

Using Google forms, I created this Assesment for my Prezi presentation. (NETS 2,5)

click here for assessment results

Journal 6: Grow your Personal Learnig Netwrok. (Nets 3 & 5)

Warlick, David. (2009). Grow your personal learning network. Learning and Leading with Technology, 36(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-march-april-2009.aspx

Summary: Personal Learning Networks like our families, friend, and colleagues have always been relied on to supplement our knowledge.

We have been connecting with people and information through the digital realm for decades. As educators we must learn how to grow our PLNs through tools such as Twitter, Skype, Google, Diigo, Wikis, and Blogs. These tools can be used to find information sources, suggestions for lesson plans, current events and trends, and a wide variety of other answers and solutions.

There are 3 main types of PLNs:

1)   Personally maintained synchronous connections. This is the traditional network that includes people and places you consult to find answers. You can enhance this PLN with new tools such as chat, text messaging, and twitter.

2)      Personally and socially maintained semi synchronous connections. In this PLN questions can be directed to a single person or sent out to a community of people. Semi synchronous means that collaboration doesn’t have to happen at the same time. People can participate in a discussion when they want. This PLN includes Google docs, Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs.

3)      Dynamically maintained asynchronous connections. This type of PLN connects us with content sources which we have identified as valuable. The central tool for this PLN is the RSS aggregator. You train information to come to you; you can subscribe to ongoing blog searches which will automatically send you new posts on your chosen topic. A useful tool is social bookmarking such as Diigo.

Question 1: How can we make sure that we are receiving the maximum benefit from our PLNs?

We must always try to cultivate networks that challenge our thinking. We should always search for new sources of information as well, and never forget that we are learners ourselves. Modeling a learning life style is definitely one of the best things teachers can do.

Question 2: Why is social bookmarking like Diigo better than a Google search?

Social bookmarking tools like Diigo return a more manageable list of websites that are of better quality as someone valued them and bookmarked them for later use. Diigo also connects you to people who share the same interest like you, so you can ask questions, share ideas, and collaborate on different topics. Also, less advertisements makes your search more efficient.

All About Me Survey

Journal 5: Should schools be held responsible for cyberbullying? (NETS 4)

Bogacz, Renee, & Gomez Gordillo, Miguel. (2011). Should schools be held responsible for cyberbullying?. 38(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Point_Counterpoint_Should_Schools_Be_Held_Responsible_for_Cyberbullying.aspx  

Renee Bogacz, a Language Arts teacher, expressed her opinion by saying that cyberbullying has greatly affected our school environment. She called for teachers, administrators, parents, and students to work together to fight cyberbullying. She said that teachers should learn more about cyberbullying to be able to address it, and that administrators have to establish clear and enforceable consequences. She stressed on the parents role to be always involved in what their children are doing online or on their cell phones, and should monitor them constantly. The students were not ignored in her plan to fight cyberbullying, she encouraged them to learn more about it and to report any incidents.

On the other hand, Miguel Gomez Gordillo, an IT director, did not hold schools responsible for cyberbullying. He blamed the parents and the society for this problem. And said that the way to solve it is to take care of our children and show them parental love. And said that by close communication between schools and parents they can discover the educational plan to support our children.

Question 1: What are the real causes for cyberbullying in your opinion?

I think that schools should be held reliable for not educating our students and preparing them to deal with cyberbullying. But I also agree that parents should be held even more responsible because they are the primary educators. They should provide our children with more instruction on how to use the internet appropriately.

Question 2: How can we educate our students about cyberbullying?

We should explain to them what cyberbullying is, and how to fight it. We should also talk to them about assisting victims and reporting these incidents for a better social networking environment.

Journal 4:"It's time to trust teachers with the Internet"(NETS 1,2,4,5)

Schaffhauser, Dian. (2010, December 01). It's time to trust teachers with the internet. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/12/01/its-time-to-trust-teachers-with-the-internet-a-conversation-with-meg-ormiston.aspx

The interview that was done with Meg Ormiston was remarkable. It provided me with valuable information about our schools laws and regulations. Ormiston viewed our schools’ restrictive policies regarding technology as some what legitimate as they want to provide our students with a safe environment. But she was also confident that our students will be even more protected if they are provided with instruction and guidance on how to use technology appropriately. She pointed out that students have access to a variety of technological applications at home, where there is no supervision sometimes. She spoke on behalf of the teachers who feel that their hands are tied when it comes to incorporating these tools in their teaching, and said that barriers like blocking Internet access at school harm our students and limit their learning. It was very impressive to see how she included social networking websites as a learning tool in her argument. I agree that students can benefit from this software, and that it is essential for better teaching and learning strategies. She also added that professional development is needed for our teachers and administrators to guide them through this process. Leaders have to develop a deeper understanding of this technology and explore how to use it in their schools. Education is certainly the key to show teachers and students how to use this technology in a safe way.

Question 1: Why aren’t schools cooperative when it comes to unblocking some internet filters?

For some schools it’s understandable, it can because they don’t have enough network power coming into those buildings for kids to be using internet continuously. Or it’s because of the piece of software that was purchased by the district. But mostly, in my opinion, it’s due to the lack of knowledge of our school leaders about the importance of these applications.

Question 2: Why do you think students are loosing opportunities when they don’t use applications like YouTube or even Blogs?

There are a lot of information, tutorials, and lectures that are posted on these websites. We should filter and check them before sharing them with students, but they are essential for their learning. Also social networking tools are necessary for communication, and we should trust our teachers to show students how to benefit from them.

Technology Self-Assessment: School 2.0 (Nets 3,5)

http://etoolkit.org/etoolkit/reflection/about is designed to help you reflect on your skills in technology integration and to identify areas for growth.

I investigated Nets 3 and chose an article titled Top 10 Web 2.0 tools for young learners, by Chris Riedel.

Top 10 tools that are mentioned:

1-     Wikis: This is the most powerful tool. It can bring all students together on a single platform.

2-     Blogs: This tool is my personal favorite as it makes communication so much easier between  students, teachers, and parents….etc.

3-     Voicethread: It can be used to upload images or videos. Comments can be added.

4-     Glogster: It is like a personal webpage with embedded media links, sound, and video capabilities. It can be used to create presentations.

5-     Skype: Very cost efficient to make voice and video calls worldwide. Very helpful for class participation as well.

6-     Animoto: Used for presentations, and it’s easier than PowerPoint.

7-     Yack Pack: This tool is used as Web voicemail. Communication can be done by broadcasting a message for students, or parents.

8-     Create a Graph: Used to teach students how to create graphs and read data.

9-     Voki: It is an animated figure projected on the screen. It is a text to speech generator.

10-   Kerpoof: It is a website that provides a variety of tools for animation, drawing, and movie creation.

Journal 3: 100 things that make me happy!

1-   Shopping
2-   Visiting Egypt
3-   Teaching
4-   When my husband kisses me
5-   When I hang out with my brother
6-   Warm clothes from the laundry

7-   Getting an A

8-   Travelling

9-   Going on a vacation

10- A full tank of gas

11- Getting a good tax refund

12- Hanging out with family

13- Being with my cat

14- Lakers winning

15- Smooth traffic

16- Summer

17- Spring break

18- Playing video games

19- Watching comedy movies

20-  Hanging out with friends

21- Helping people

22- Playing with snow

23- Sledding

24- Relaxing on the beach

25- Jets keying

26- Going to the gym

27- Reading a good book

28- Eating frozen yogurt

29- Taking a nap

30- Learning new things

31- Smelling flowers

32- Sitting by the fireplace

33- Cooking

34- Sitting in front of my laptop

35- Watching my favorite TV shows

36- Sleeping in

37- Going to the cinema

38- Going to Disney land

39- Going to theme parks

40- Playing chess

41- Lighting candles

42- The weekend

43- Getting stuff done

44- Fresh juice

45- Breakfast in bed

46- Riding roller coasters

47- Listing to music

48- Watching the stars

49- My birthday

50- Valentines day

51- Praying

52- Drinking chocolate milk

53- Giving my cat a bath

54- Eating sushi

55- Driving

56- Drawing

57- Dancing

58- Math

59- My house after its cleaned

60- Food

61- Taking pictures

62- Watching cartoons

63- My phone

64- Singing

65- BBQs

66- Chatting on the phone

67- Texting

68- Running

69- Road trips

70- Picnics

71- Swimming

72- Drinking coffee when I’m tired

73- Showers

74- Weddings

75- Ballet concerts

76- Editing pictures

77- Hugs

78- Rain

79- Nature

80- Basketball

81- Facebook

82- Making new friends

83- A better job

84- Taking my vitamins

85- Halloween

86- Sunset

87- Sunrise

88- Compliments

89- Massages

90- Making someone happy

91- Saving money

92- Going to the hair salon

93- The heater on a cold day

94- Horse back riding

95- Being on a boat

96- Cold water on a hot day
97- Carving pumpkins

98- Decorating for the holidays

99- Kids

100-Love

Journal 2: “Join the Flock!" and "Enhance Your Twitter Experience”. (NETS 3)

Ferguson, Hadley, & McClintock Miller, Shannon. (2010). Join the flock!, enhance your twitter experience. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Join_the_Flock.aspx

A PLN “Professional Learning Network” is a community of people around the world who learn together.  Twitter helps those people create a community built on communication.

To start this process, you can follow several steps:

1-     Set up your account.

You can sign up for a free account on twitter.  You’ll need to write a brief bio and post a photo.

2-     Learn to follow.

You can follow by simply clicking the follow button.  When the people you follow post something it shows up on your twitter stream.  You can search for a person you know or a group of people who are interested in the same topic.

3-     Check the lists that other people create.

4-     Wait and Listen.

You can just read tweets, blogs, and learn without saying a word if you are not ready.

5-     Start re-tweeting.

You can enhance your twitter experience when you are ready to be a part of the conversation, you can add a comment before re-tweeting.

6-     Expose yourself.

Begin tweeting the links you find. If you read a good article, copy the link and send it out.

7-     Tag your tweet.

Using a hashtag (#), a hashtag, as #teachers, will add your post to the stream of people who follow it.

Q1.  What is a twitter organizer? And what are the advantages of using it?

Twitter organizers such as TweetDeck or HootSuite, will help organize your twitter stream into columns.  You can open as many columns as you want, and delete them at anytime.

An organizer has many advantages; you can manage twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MySpace all from one place.  You can also shorten your tweet using TweetShrink, and translate a tweet from a foreign language.

Q2.  How can you manage your tweets with a bookmarklet?

A bookmarklet Hootlet is a tool within HootSuite.  If you found a post to share, this tool will help you to easily send tweets to any of the accounts that you have linked to your HootSuite.

Journal 1: “Do Web 2.0 Right” (NETS 5)

Light, Daniel. (2011). Do web 2.0 right. Learning and leading with technology, 38(5), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Feature_Article_Do_Web_2_0_Right.aspx

 

Summary: Web 2.0 tools, such as wikis and blogs, are a great way to keep students engaged and motivated when done right. Wikis are multi-authored web pages that focus on the final product while leaving authors anonymous, while blogs are conversation tools for communication. Teachers who succeeded in using these tools have focused on three elements:

1-     Instituting Daily Practice.

Teachers used blogs in two ways; individual blogs and classroom blogs. Individual blogs were used as private means of contact between the teacher and each student privately, which helped the teacher understand how individual students felt about the class. While classroom blogs were used to allow students to comment on the teacher’s posts and each others’.

2-     Considering the Audience.

With Web 1.0 activities, as creating a webpage, it was easier for the teacher to filter negative comments, while in Web 2.0 activities communication is directed back and forth between users. Therefore, students were concerned about the audience, and their participation was limited if they felt their audience wasn’t friendly, or that others will judge their work. Teachers overcame that problem by making weekly assignments private but created a public wiki to publish selected work.

3-     Teaching and enforcing Appropriate Behavior.

Teachers created a supportive environment that encourages students to share their ideas and opinions respectfully, through a strong in-class community.

Web 2.0 encourages students to engage with their peers and their teacher through out the day, in and out of school, which is an extremely effective technique.

Q1. How would wikis and blogs benefit students in a Math class?

Students can benefit from those tools in so many ways, the teacher can post a Math problem and students can try to solve it and comment on the post. Students can share their answers and ask question anytime and not wait for the next school day. The teacher can always stay in touch and answer any question they might have, and can post the next lesson as a warm up.

Q2. How would the teacher get a student who doesn’t have a computer or internet access "at home"  involved through blogs?

The teacher can always allow 10 min in the beginning of every class for that student to check his/her blog on a classroom computer while others are discussing homework. The teacher may give him/her the problem that will be posted ahead of time so he/she can answer it and discuss it later with his/her peers. The student can use school lab computers whenever possible.

Hey my name is Noha.... Egypt!! That's where I grew up:)

I am originally from Egypt, I met my husband in 2006(of course he wasn't my husband then:))) he's Egyptian too but spent most of his life in the U.S., we met while he was visiting. Long story short we got married in 2008 and I came with him to the United States!

I have a B.A. in Graphic design, which i received from Fine Arts University "Alexandria, Egypt". Prior to that I was enrolled in EGC "English girls College" since I was in 1st grade, it's an Egyptian-English school, that's how I learned English;). I want to become a Math teacher:)))I always loved Math, and I think I am pretty good at it.

I am very excited about this class because I always wanted to use my computer skills when I teach. since I have a B.A. in graphic design, I didn't want to disregard what I learned for 4 years. I wouldn't say I am proficient using computer, but I am definitely good with Photoshop, Illustrator and MS office suite. So I wanna learn how to use this in my teaching career.
 

The COE mission statement was for sure a part of my decision when I applied to CSUSM. "The mission of the College of Education community is to collaboratively transform public education by preparing thoughtful educators and advancing professional practices." CSUSM is really committed to produce educators that can improve public education, and I wanna be one of them!. Also since i realized when I came here that the U.S. is a big ethnic "melting pot", it is very important that teachers would commit to educational equity, and social justice. Technology can be the key to help every teacher bring students from different backgrounds together in class.