Looking Back..

It's hard to believe that my Issues and Ethics in Technology course is almost complete. I have learned a lot over the course about new technology and tools that I can utilize in my classroom. I have tried to implement some of these tools over the past few weeks. During week 1, I posted about the ISTE NETs and my goals around these standards. You can find that post here.

1. My first goal was Standard 1d which states: Teacher will model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.
   
   My goal that I wrote to go with this standard included using Skype to connect with authors, researchers, other classes, etc. This will allow my students to construct new knowledge with others in a face-to-face virtual environment.
   
   Today was the first day I tried this. I must say, it was AWESOME! I couldn't believe how engaged my kindergarten students were. We are working on doing some animal research and we are also learning about fish. I found a shark researcher on Skype that gave my class information about how he researches  sharks, and also general information about sharks. It was so neat to pull in lots of curriculum in a different way. My students loved getting to ask a real shark researcher questions they had been asking me (who doesn't always know the answers)! I am planning to do this again with my class before the end of the year is over. If you are interested in Skype for Educators. The link to sign up is: https://education.skype.com

I feel that I am now meeting this standard of using face-to-face environments to allow my students to collaborate new knowledge with others.

 2. My second goal was to address standard 2b: develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress. My goal was to get more technology in my classrooms for students to use. I have been slowly trying to make this goal happen. I have not yet written the grant to get an iPad for my classroom, but I have been trying allow my students to use other types of technology in more meaningful ways. This week I will be bringing in the small laptops on a cart (from our EMINTS room) to use for our animal research. Typically we go to the computer lab to do this research, but I want to try something new. This will allow us to research in the comfort of our classroom and not have to haul all of our stuff that we will need to do research. I also want my students to have exposure to different types of computers that they will come in contact with in the future. I am curious to see how they do with computers that do not have a mouse! 

I feel that I am still approaching this standard, but will be meeting it by the end of the school year.

3. My third goal was to address standard 2d: provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. My goal was to begin using technology to help assess my students. I have been doing this using a tool that my students already use. The software my students already use includes: Raz-Kids, Reading Eggs, and Xtramath. These programs all have assessments at the end of each "unit." I have been using these tools to collect data on what skills students are still struggling math. The data is graphed and organized in a simple way for me to use. This definitely helps save me time on organizing my data! 

This is a standard that I feel I am now meeting.

4. My fourth goal was to address standard 3b: collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.

 My goal was to create a teacher blog and post at least once a week. Well, I have been writing this blog once every week so I feel that I am on my way to meeting this goal. I hope to continue this blog after this class and continue to post information for other teachers, as well as promote some of my products on TeachersPayTeachers. 

5. Finally, my last goal was written to address standard 5d: develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools. To meet this standard, my goal was to do a research project once a year with another classroom. This goal is still in progress. I plan to do a plant research project with a classroom located in Florida for later this year, but we are still working out all of the details. I will keep you posted on this blog about it! 

This class has opened my eyes up to the world of technology in the classroom. Kindergarten and technology do not always go hand in hand, so it was nice to learn some new ideas and tools in this class that are kindergarten-friendly. This class has given me a confidence to allow my kindergarteners to at least try something related to technology, and most of the time they succeeded. For example, I had never taught my class about using the @ sign on a computer before today. This symbol was used in one of our log-ins today. In the past, I have gone around and typed in the user name for everyone. Today I hesitantly taught them how to type it and viola! It was amazing! It made my life so much easier. This class has reconfirmed that we are in a digital era, and technology should be used to enhance lessons. It is not something that should be avoided. 

Thanks for reading! 

Copyright Laws

This week I learned a lot of information about copyright laws in regards to education. After reading up on copyright laws, I felt shocked and slightly embarrassed at just how many copyright laws I was in violation of. For those of you that need a brief review of copyright laws, check out the video below.

Luckily, copyright isn't as strictly enforced in education. Copyright can be a friend to education. I also found the following charts to be very helpful to reference in regards to using material in my classroom.
Cick on the following links to review the documents and print a copy for easy reference in your classroom.

Copyright Laws for Teachers

Administrator Copyright Scenario Checklist

Among these copyright laws, I was quite surprised at a few things I discovered. The most surprising thing I found was that showing a movie to students for entertainment or a reward is considered to be a violation. This surprised me because we use movies a lot for entertainment in my school. We use them for indoor recess in the cafeteria, as well as occasionally during popcorn parties. I had no idea this was a violation! I also found it very interesting  that no copyright characters may be used for nay school purpose unless it is relevant to instructional use, and there aren't many situations where that applies. One of the articles stated that "permission is a virtual impossibility." 

I have three tips for teachers in regards to copyright and fair use laws. I think many teachers are unaware or misinformed about copyright and fair use, so I hope my tips are helpful to some teachers. 

1. Be sure to monitor software installed on student computers. Teachers must NOT install the software on more than one computer unless multiple licenses are purchased. The software must legitimately be purchased before installing. 

2. Teachers may post copyrighted material on the internet IF the material is instructional AND behind a password protected site that is managed. Managed implies that the site is only active during the unit of study-- it can not be archived! Be sure to take down the site when the unit is no longer being studied. 

3. If you are going to show a movie during reward time, you have two options. Your first option is to secure a license. These can be obtained through companies like Disney, usually for a price. In the case of Disney, you can pay $25 per tape use. The second option is to show more educational videos, such as Reading Rainbow, with a permit. These are the better option in my opinion because they are more educational and certainly cheaper. 

I think the biggest mistake teachers run into is simply being unaware and uneducated in regards to copyright laws. Many teachers aren't informed about all of the regulations that revolve around copyright. I think every school district is responsible for educating their employees on copyright and fair use. Unfortunately, many teachers break these laws every day. I believe that many teachers aren't even aware they are doing it. I have printed these documents and have posted them in my classroom to use as a quick reference and to avoid any potential problems in the future. I hope that you do the same. 

On a personal note, I got engaged this weekend! :) 

Have a great week!

Google Drive

This week I learned more about Google Drive and all that it has to offer. Within Google Drive you can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and drawings. You do not need any special software, just a Google account. Don't have a Google account? Just click here to sign up for one.

My favorite feature about Google Drive is the accessibility of documents from any location. You can download Google Drive to your computer. After downloading, simply save any documents to your drive. When you need to access your documents, you can simply go to https://drive.google.com . The other option is to download Drive onto your phone, tablet, or another computer. You can sign in to your account and you will see all of your documents that you have saved to your Drive.

Here is a introduction to Drive:

Another feature of Drive is the ability to allow others editing rights to your documents. This is great for collaboration with others. Below is a quick tutorial on how to share and collaborate with others using Drive. 

Sharing and collaborating using Drive can be a great way for students to complete assignments together in or outside of the classroom.

Another feature of Drive that I enjoyed was the ability to create forms. This gives the user the ability to quickly gather information in an organized way. For example, I created a form that I can use in my classroom on Back to School Night to collect contact information from the families. You can see my example here. This would be set up on the student computers in my classroom, so parents can type their information in. After submitting, the information goes to an organized spreadsheet. 

To make a form, simply click "create" and then click "form."

Next, you choose a template and complete your form. Be sure to click "send" when you are finished. After submitting you will see a link that you can copy to use with as you please. 

After reviewing Drive and using the different features, I would highly recommend Drive to everyone. It is very simple to use and very accessible from anywhere. It is helpful to me both personally and professionally. 

What do you think of Drive?