Ali the Australian

http://www.voki.com/create.php

Voki Charachter-"Ali the Australian"

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Future of Technology (April 18)

The future of technology is something that us as humans can comprehend, but can't fully understand.  I believe that we the American people, have become so use to having everything available at our fingertips, as technology has allowed us to do so.  The future of technology to me means more gadgets and technical devices that make our lives even faster and convenient than they currently are.  (Which is extremely fast by the way.)  There are always newer, bigger, and better inventions that are so nifty, often we can't even afford them.  The future of technology is always dealing with artificial intelligence, which includes the good, the bad, and the ugly.  This will impact us as teachers in many ways.  For one, cell phones are already a distraction in the classroom, because not only can students text, but they also have access to being online while you are teaching, and some can hide it better than others.  One of the benefits however, is being able to use the amazing inventions that the district provides for you to use in the classroom, including things like Smartboard, GarageBand, etc.

What I Have Learned in This Class

I have enjoyed learning about blogging in this class, and I think I will start to use private blogging now instead of writing on paper for journaling.  I also was not familiar with the Assure Model until I took this class and enjoyed working with others on the presentations.  I have always heard of GarageBand, especially since my whole family owns MacBooks, but I had never played around on one, or gotten a feel for it myself.  I was really excited to have the opportunity to use GarageBand in class and be able to  incorporate my musical skills into homework for a class that isn't musical. 

I know that I will use this class in my career as a teacher, because I have seen other music teachers use technology in the classroom.  It can be a huge advantage because you do not want to be the type of teacher who knows way less than her students about technology. 

I also was able to learn about creating an imovie which I'm super excited about presenting in class!

Proper Etiquette

I have already had an encounter with the choice of using proper etiquette with another professional in the school system.  I am doing my practicum right now with Mr. Curt Isaacson at Northwest High School and he is easiest to get ahold of over text messaging.  Anytime that I need to ask him something or text him for any reason, I have the choice to either use proper etiquette or not.  I believe that it would be really unprofessional to use poor etiquette over text, because I work with him in a school setting and he is my superior. If I used shortcuts or poor grammar within my texts, it shows that I don't take the type of relationship we have into consideration, or perhaps even that I don't respect him, (which couldn't be further from the truth, but it would come across that way.) 

I also believe that if I start making good habits now with being professional and using proper etiquette, that it will transfer over into my career and be natural to me; in other words, I won't have to break bad habits.  Using good habits with proper etiquette specifically as a student also shows that I take what I do seriously and that I want to do what I am studying.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is basically the same thing as bullying except for it is online, as opposed to in person.  (Bullying is deliberate behavior that is used to harm others, phsically or emotionally.)    Examples would be name calling, threatening, harassing or just downright making fun of another person and making them feel uncomfortable.  Cyberbullying is increasing across the board and it becoming more and more common with young kids. 



http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/index2.html

http://www.cyberbullying.us/

Digitial Citizenship for Students (March 7)

Digital Citizenship for students is very important to prepare them for the real world. It is something that I myself am learning to do this very semester, while taking Instructional Technology.  As far as the concept of learning new things in the classroom, I think the student's responsilbility is to follow the teacher and pay attention as to what is the correct way of using technology. This is all they can do.  When just learning something, all someone can go off of is what the instructor says.  However, once the student has learned the jist of things, and know the basic concepts of rights and wrongs when using technology, the responsibility falls on them to use it correctly and appropriately.