Voki

Documentary: Bully

Bully 
/ ' boole/

(noun)
  - a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker

Who delegated those to pick on kids who cannot defend for themselves? What gives bullies the idea to torment a classmate? When will bullying stop?  Where did bullying began? Why we have bullies in the world today?  There are endless questions as to why bullying exists.  As shown in the 2011 documentary Bully, there are countless stories of kids who are bullied at school, online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones, and on the streets of their towns.  But the really problem to bullying is that the victims rarely speaks up!  The only way to help lessen or even prevent bullying happening is by having school officials, faculty,and staff to take a course on how to identify those who are being bullied.  Also, schools should make the environment comfortable for students to feel safe and have the courage to speak out against their bullies.  Who cares if you are being a tattle-teller?  As long as you are protecting your life and dignity, then nothing else should matter.  The bullies are the scum bags, not you.

Augmented Reality Snags a Coveted Spot in Classrooms

In her article "Augmented Reality Snags a Coveted Spot in Classrooms", Laura Devaney writes to inform readers about augmented reality apps.  Augmented reality apps enhances things in reality by using things from the web.  At the beginning of the article, Devaney gave an example of how this app would work in a classroom.  The student holds a tablet in front of famous paintings.  For each painting, something comes to life-sounds, animation, or a pop-up fact linking the painting to historical events.  I found this really great for students to not only look at the painting but also see more to what the painting means.  I have never heard of augmented reality before but from what I have read, I think this would be a great app to implement in classrooms.  This would also help students in acquiring technology skills that they will be using later during their school career.

Five Essentials to Create Connected Students

I found the article "Five Essentials to Create Connected Students" by Vicki Davis funny yet so very true to society today.  Davis did a great job at pinpointing the simple, and obvious, mistakes many people make while connecting through social medias and blogging or creating a professional page for oneself.  Why?  There are two reasons: 1) there are still quite a few people who lack technology skills and 2)  some people have acquired the skills but do not use them properly.  For example, the misuse of hashtags.  Hashtags are used for searching something specific in the Twitter world.  I do not have a Twitter but I know some people who use hashtags on Facebook.com.  Even though I do not know anything about Twitter, I can obviously see that the overuse of hashtags are unnecessary.  Here's an example:

By looking at this, I did not know that there could be about 12 different ways to say food or seven ways to say "I"m tired."  This is so funny to me to read all these hashtags.  I just laugh at how unnecessary those are for just one post or picture.  

After reading this article, I realized that technology has evolved in so many ways.  I can remember back then when computers were used for homework and gaming and phones were used for calling each other.  Where has this gone to?!  Today, it is hard to separate ourselves from our phones.  We cannot last five minutes without looking at our phones for a text message or updating facebook statuses or taking photos on snapchat.  It is ridiculous!  I must say that I am one of the many people who cannot put the phone down.  I know my limits such as no texting and driving and no texting during class and work.  

21st Century Skills: Why They Matter, What They Are, and How We Get There

Ken Kay, president of 21st Century Skills, discusses the reason why the education system of the United States needs to be revised to adapt to the changes of the 21st century.  He made three valid points: 1) the world is constantly -and rapidly- changing, 2) schools across the nation are neglecting to adapt to the changes, and 3) the United States has no clear focus on the future of our economic competitiveness.  Kay goes on to expand each of his three points.  Point #1 - the world is constantly changing.  Technology is replacing anything and everything such as garbage trucks and assembly factories.  Machines are programmed to take place of human beings' jobs.  Point #2 - schools across the nation are neglecting to adapt to the changes.  Kay states that the public education system is not implementing nor preparing students for the economic, workforce, and citizenship opportunities and demands of the 21st century.  Instead of trying in schools, students are dropping out because they fear of actually applying themselves in schools.  The current school dropout rate is up to 70% in the United States.  Point #3 - the United States has no clear focus on the future of our economic competitiveness.  Because students lack the 21st century knowledge, there is no one to maintain America's economic statuses.

I completely agree with Kay that schools are shying away from teaching students the 21st century skills that they need.  The education system should be reinventing itself to fulfill the acquired knowledge of those skills.  I also feel that students should learn how to think, learn, solve problems, communicate with peers, collaborate, and contribute as a whole.  Just reading from a textbook will help improve someone's knowledge, they need to engage and learn from each other.

Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results

Would you rather have a nice and fun teacher or an intimidating and challenging teacher?  In the article "Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results", Joanne Lipman emphasizes on how the education system needs to be "old-fashion"- meaning no more giving the students the easy way out of learning.  At the beginning of the article, Lipman gave an example of a teacher she once had.  He was strict and wanted the orchestra to be PERFECT.  If someone was off key, he would stop the whole orchestra and called them "idiots".  Lipman compliments on this his way of teaching.  However, not the name calling but definitely the challenging aspect of it.  She also encourages for the education system to implement tougher teaching skills.

Overall, I absolutely agree with Lipman and her findings in this article.  I do believe that students today are being spoiled in the classrooms.  They are handed the information and basically copying it onto their papers for grading.  Easy A+.  I have also noticed that teachers give out way too many praises.  Praises, as stated in the article, are good but not great to be used all the time.  Sometimes it is okay to tell a student that they are wrong.  It will only encourage them to work harder the next time around to get the right answer.  Lately, I have been hearing teachers tell students to "don't memorize" information.  Well if you don't memorize, how else can you retain the information.  The article then mentions that "cultural difference helps to explain why students in China (Chinese families int he U.S.) are better in math."  Not to be bias, but I am proud to have grown up in an Asian decent household.  My parents and siblings pushed me to work harder in school.  While I was still in 2nd grade, I remember them already teaching me 3rd grade materials!  My father would be disappoint, not only in me, but also my brother and sisters when we make a B or lower on assignments.  As a result, I am a hardworker in school and I do not complain much about the amount of assignments given.  Instead, I work on those assignments to the best of my ability and I always keep in mind that I am a day closer to becoming a teacher.  When I do get my own classroom, I do see myself implementing these "old-fashion" teaching.  

Inspiration Comments

Erika

• The color choices goes well with theme of "Where the Wild Things Are".
• The activities are engaging.

Jacqueline McMillian

• Great pictures
• The games sound really fun and connected with the story. 
• Add more writing

Mary Katheryn

•  PBS kids website is a great source.
• I love the bear activity!
• Add more discuss about the book or let them write a story similar to Corduroy.

Jennifer

• Great worksheets
• I like the writing assignment!  Very creative.

 Amanda

• I think it is a great idea for the students to act out parts of the story.
• Thumbs up to parent involvement. 

Jordan

• Thumbs up to personal experience with hurricanes
• Great hurricane project!  
• Overall, the concept map contained creative activities.  The pictures corresponded with the activity planned for the class. 

Jonathan

• On the concept map, the lines that connects the activities are hard to see what it is connecting to. 
• Thumbs up to movie reference to show students emotions

Do Not Track Me

I would not have known that on every website I routinely visit that I would be tracked.  From two trackers to 15 trackers, it is hard to believe the amount of trackers being blocked just to gain information of my interests for advertisement.  After downloading, I was eager to browse the web.  I first went to Facebook.com and there were five trackers.  On Amazon.com, there were three to four trackers.  The last website I tested was pinterest.com.  Surprisingly, I found no trackers.

By seeing all the trackers being stopped, I realized that this download is very helpful in the prevention of identify theft or any other malicious Internet actions.  For instance, a lot of people like to shop online because it is convenient and easy.  If an online shopping website such as Forever21.com has seven trackers, imagine trying to type in your credit card information to confirm your order.  Would you feel at ease knowing that there were seven trackers on that website?

The Padagogy Wheel

Apps are so useful for today's technological generation.  There are apps for almost anything you could image such as cooking, games, magazines, newspapers, etc... The Padagogy wheel - while using Bloom's taxonomy- is an example of the many apps that educators can utilize in classrooms and with their students.  Although these activities are online based, the underline meaning of the activities are helpful and useful to students and teachers.  Just to list a few, these activities help develop critiquing, graphing, editing, mind mapping, social networking, storytelling, and the list goes on.  Of the many apps on the Padagogy wheel, the Toontastic app and the MindMash app are the two apps that stood out to me the most.


Toontastic is an app that allows children to draw, animate, and share their cartoon stories with family and friends.  I like this app because art is being taken for granted in classrooms today.  Art is barely introduced to children at a young age which hinders their creativity outlet.  With this app, children are able to spark that creativity outlet and run wild with their imagination.




MindMash is a brainstorming and note-taking app.  It allows students and/or other users to create any ideas mash-up by combining and manipulating text, images, and drawings in a visual and free-form manner.  I like this app because I know from firsthand experience that taking notes and trying to decipher it later that evening is hard.  I would have notes along the side of the paper, inbetween lines, and pictures with no textual reference.  With this app, students can easily take notes and brainstorm in a neat and fun way.

Greeting Card Scam (lookstoogoodtobetrue.com)

Have you ever received one of those adorable, heartwarming e-cards form family and friends?  I know I have once before.  However, did you know that some those e-cards can also be harmful to your computer?  In the article "Greeting Card Scam" from lookstoogoodtobetrue.com, it states that the FBI has been receiving reports of Internet fraud based on electronic greeting cards that have malware embedded in them.  These cards are sent by perpetrators claiming to be from a family member or friend.  Like most malware, the spam directs recipients to click the link provided in the email to view their e-card.  Once the recipient clinks the clink, the computer is unknowingly taken to a malicious web page.  A way to prevent opening spam e-cards is by asking the supposedly sender if they actually sent you an e-card.  If that family member or friend did not, then do not open it!  As always, be cautious of unsolicited e-mails.

Concept Map - Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Standard: RI.3.8 Describe the logical connections between a particular sentence and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence)

I.    Parts of the Newspaper

A.   Group Activity:
The students will work in groups of four. Each group will be handed a newspaper and they must label the parts of the newspaper that corresponds with their vocabulary.

B.   Vocabulary:
 The student will define a set of vocabulary words pertaining to newspapers.

Vocabulary Words:
1. Index
2. Headline
3. Dateline
4. News Article
5. Feature Article
6. Editor
7. Editorial

II.  Make Connections between Passages

A.   Deciphering the Article:
The teacher will read samples of articles.  With each article, the students (as a class) will point out linkages between paragraphs, cause/effect relationships, subheads, and more. 

B.   What's the Picture for:
The teacher will point out photos, diagrams, charts, or tables in the samples of articles and the class will discuss how the graphics and captions support the article.

II Good or Bad Article

    A. What Makes a Good Article:
       -The students will  practice with headline writing by playing a series of interactive challenges online that will help students understand how good news headlines and comments should be written. 

B.   Practice Makes Permanent:
-The teacher will show the class a few headlines and help analyze which ones are good or bad.

IV.Observations about an Article

A.   Investigate:
-The students will find an article on the website.  Once they find an article that they like, the student will present their article to the class and answer the following questions: What made the article appealing you; What is the purpose of the article, and can you point out any linkages between paragraphs, cause/effect relationships, subheads, or conclusions.

B.   Why that Article:
-The students will look at some articles and choose one to write a paragraph on what they learned from that article.

V.     Writing an Article

A.   Constructing a Newspaper:
-The students will type and edit their articles and work together to make a class newspaper.

B.   Making Your Own Article:
-The students will work in groups of four.  Each group will be given a different newspaper headline such as sports, advertisement, etc... and will write an article pertain their headline.