More to Blogging

As you can see I have been researching and trying some new things on my blog because I find it very unique and I really want my future students to learn to communicate with one another through blogging. As i was researching about blogs i came across a website that helps you with use of HTML and Java Script (witch are internet languages) so then I was able to make my countdown of the summer thing. :)

Discussion 1b: What can be done??

After reading that articles “(Under)mining Privacy in Social Networks” it really made me think to myself how many different concerns we should have for our students. I would say after talking to my students everyday they probably access the internet on their own for at least two hours a day. Some of that may be searching the net but for the most part it is talking on MSN, Facebook, Twitter and being in chat rooms. To be honest with you I guess I was kind of nieve because until I read this article I had no idea that all that coComment, Trackbacks, Merging Social Graphs and unwelcome Linkage even existed. So as well as teaching our students about all these issues I think we should also be teaching the teachers and the parents about these issues as well.

As for cyber bullying and identity loss that is a huge issue that has been around for a while. I teach at a pretty tough school and some of the things that I hear student’s say to one another’s face are cruel and demeaning. So when you put a computer in front of them and they do not have to actually confront the other person (worry about getting hit for something that they have said) they then take on this extra confidence and with the extra confidence comes more cruelty and demeaning comments. I have seen cyber bullying go so far where the police have been involved, and I think that with time unless we educate our parents and students it is just going to get worst.

As teachers I think that we need to be aware of what the students are accessing at school for research sites and other sites for school projects. In my school district it is pretty straightforward, at school there are a lot of sites that are blocked and cannot be accessed from any school computers. When they go home to continue what they started at school if a parent does not have any security on their computer our students can access anything.
Therefore as teachers the only thing I can think to do would be teach them about what can happen if they give out important information on the internet. Give them real life stories, have them realize that they are not invisible and it can happen to them. I really liked the safety tips that were provided I will read and go over them with my class when school starts again in September. I also think that posting them and constantly revisiting them is a great idea. Students need to understand the harm they can cause not only to themselves, their family but also how they could really truly hurt other people by what they post and give out on the Internet.

This is kind of a little off topic but close to the end of the year I told the students if they wanted to bring in a movie to watch at the end of the day we would put one in. Now, I went over it has a to be PG, with no violent and so on. So the next day I had one of my students bring in a movie that was pirated. It was “Night at the Museum II”. He asked if we could watch it at the end of the day. I looked at him and said where did you get this movie? He said his mom’s friend had given it to him. I said he would have to call his mom to come get the movie and he couldn’t understand why we couldn’t watch it. He didn’t understand that it was against the law to watch/pirate movies. So to prove my point that if we educate not only our students but their parents as well we might put a dent in trying to stop some of our technology cons that have arose in today society.

To answer the last part of the question do I think we as educators are doing enough I am going to have to say “no”. Do I know what has to be done I am not quite sure but I do know that every little bit helps and I am going to start with the safety tips and the famous quote “Treat everyone the way you would like to be treated”.

Websites I found

This site I added looks like it would be a great site to start with your students, I haven't really had to much of a chance to explore it.
http://my-ecoach.com/online/webresourcelist.php?rlid=4992
I also found this article on "Twitter" which is like "Facebook" I was reading this article and I was shocked how this is like a whole new language. You have your "Twits", "Tweets" and so on. That is why I think that it is so important to include technology in your classroom, it is such a huge part of our students life outside of school. Technology has been on the rise and rising fast for the past 10 years and in my prediction I think that it is going to keep advancing, and we need to prepare our students for the future. The reason I read this article is because "Twitter" and "Facebook" although are not exactly a blog are very similar. So if you would like, check out this article.....it will even read it to you....lol
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/

Discussion 1a: Edublogs

I have created my personal blog on www.blogspot.com if anyone would like to check it out feel free the address is http://coriforbes.blogspot.com . I will also be posting all my assignments on my blog if anyone wants to comment on them I would be glad to hear from you.

Prior to this course I have never been on a blog nor seen one, but it seems from what I have read in the articles “Literacy in the Classroom”, “Educational Blogging” and also creating my own blog I can see the relevance of blogging being a great way of communicating in the future.

Blogging to me would be a great way for students to express themselves in all different ways seeing that the internet has endless resources for them. Some types of activities that you as a teacher could perform are: everyday journals, reading assignments, writing assignments, and also any type of homework that students can comment on each other’s work (constructive criticism).

Online communicating in my personal opinion is becoming the way of the future. The reason why I say this is the students of tomorrow should be up to date in all aspects of the internet. Blogging is a very powerful tool for students to be creative and gives them confidence in their work knowing that it will be posted to the world. I think that I am going to try my best to incorporate blogging in my daily class work next year. Some problems I can see is how can you mark the work being posted, I know you can comment on it but, is the student going to follow up on checking his or her mistakes. Another problem would be bullying. Bullying is not only an issue at school it is now becoming an issue at home on the Internet. With the freedom of a blog you have no control over what each student’s posts or comments on. But just like everything else in teaching, you have to know the dynamics of your class to know what will work best for them.

In conclusion there are many pros to blogging and although I am looking forward to this school year to end (last day) I am excited to start and try a blog with my class next year if the dynamics allows it.

Introduction: Cori Forbes

Hi, I am Cori Forbes. I am currently a grade 6 teacher. I have been teaching for 4 years. I have taught grades 5, 6, 7 and 8. I have taught in both Canada and the United States. I am taking this course to familiarize myself with the new and upcoming technology as well to keep my students engaged with new ideas and techniques. I find computers great when they work for you and extremely frustrating when they don't. I look forward to this class!