My Reilly Family Movie - Video

John Hunter on the World Peace Game

I thought that the John Hunter video was very touching and thought provoking. It is amazing that he is only a fourth grade public school teacher and can have so much passion for the topic of world peace in the way of the classroom. He brings alive an astonishing new game to his fourth graders called the "World Peace Game" which will inspire me and many generations to come. My favorite quote from his video and that I completely believe in and respect is when he said,"The World Peace Game is about learning to live and work comfortably in the unknown." Through his example, myself and many other teachers will be inspired to incorporate these great ideas into our own classrooms.

Voki

The Solar System Concept Map

The Solar System

I. Planets

There are eight planets in the Solar System. Planets are bodies that orbit stars, such as the Sun. The planets rotate around a titled axis and all share similar characteristics such as seasons, ice caps, hurricanes, and volcanism.

A. 8 Planets that orbit the Sun

B.

1) Mercury

2) Venus

3) Earth

4) Mars

5) Jupiter

6) Saturn

7) Uranus

8) Neptune

II. Moons

The Moon, in the solar system, is the only natural satellite of the Earth. The moon is the only body, besides Earth, that man has walked on. Each planet has its own moon that orbits it.

A. Revolve around a planet

B. Natural Satellite

III. Stars

There are millions of stars in the solar system. They are gigantic balls of mostly hydrogen gas. Our sun is a star. Because there is so much gravity, the gas becomes very hot and dense. There are many different stars. They are of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Stars even orbit around each other.

A. The Sun

1. The Sun is about 150 kilometers from our Earth.  

2. The Sun is a star that is the basis of the whole solar system. The sun is the reason for sustaining life on the Earth and provides heat and light to it.

B. Mass of Gas

IV. Asteroids

Asteroids are rocky fragments that are found in the solar system. They orbit planets, moons, and the sun. They are made from a mixture of stone, light and heavy elements, and also could have gasses mixed in. (Examples: Solid, liquid, frozen, or plasma states)

A. Small celestial bodies

B. Revolve around the Sun

V. Meteorites

Meteorites are pieces of bodies from the solar system that make their way to the ground. This happens when a meteor or a shooting star flashes through the atmosphere.

A. Stony or Metallic mass of matter

B. Fallen  to the Earth's Surface

Digital Citizenship

I learned from this article, that if someone is actively involved in groups on the internet with any sites such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. then they also need to learn how to have a sense of digital citizenship. This being said, all those that have access to a computer should follow this. All people need to show others respect even  digitally like through the computer. Things can just be as bad through the internet as if it was the real world. Having digital devices comes with having also grasping responsibility for one's actions. Everyone needs to be a good citizen, not only in society but also digitally.

Safe Social Networking

This article proved to be very intriguing to learn from, especially to people that have children or expecting to have children. This article talked about the importance of safe social networking for our young people, from ages kindergarten to age eighteen. The safety of our children is a number one priority in this nation. As our children go through school, if they use things such as Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube it could very well be applied to school and become a good idea for networking. If used in schools, it will be allowed through classes in a safe manner that is both used for learning and fun for children.

Children's Internet Protection Act

This article was very interesting to read and learn from because everyone needs to know how to understand the rights and protection laws of the internet concerning children. This keeps inappropriate content out of reach of children from the internet. It is very important to protect the minds of our young, naive, vulnerable, and growing children. There are simply to many issues in this world that children don't need to get caught up in. By following and abiding by this act, we may just save innocent children from the inappropriate evils of the internet. Once we have grasped this knowledge, we can go about bringing the internet into schools for children, but by doing that, it still being the right age appropriate content for our children to learn from.

The Chronicle

After reading the article, "The Chronicle," I have a better understanding of the badges movement. It talks about how this movement is based on the idea that people need to not only use evidence from an accredited school they attended, but also be able to gather evidence from what they learn. In the article, I learned that most first badge systems fail. I also learned though that an open system can be more successful because it is less expensive. I felt that this article was very interesting in the fact that the author introduced this on going issue to the minds of readers to realize how important it is in many different ways.

"Gamification"

This article concerning "Gamification" proved to be very interesting reading. This informative article really helped me understand what gamification is and how it can help me as a teacher with my students in the near future.  I feel that I can definitely apply this to my teaching because it is something that could very well be successful in the classroom and to the students.  I feel that by adding this into my students daily routines, with subjects such as science and math, the outcome would be the attention rates being very high.  Not only will students want to pay more attention to these activities for subjects, but it will also give them a better memory of material that they learned.  This is definitely a strategy I will apply to my classroom in the future, because of all the success this strategy has had for helping young students.

"The Virtues of Blogging as Scholarly Activity"

Reading this article, "The Virtues of Blogging as Scholarly Activity" has open my eyes to what blogging really has done for Martin Weller and also could do for me.  I have always seen myself as more of a YouTube and emailing type person for networking, but I may very well change that habit in the near future to blogging.  Blogging is something that is very new to me in my life.  My life of networking has always been simple, but as I grow through college and hopefully become a teacher in the near future, I feel that I should take this talent to heart; this will help create new networking for myself and my students in schools. I hope to take up this habit because it seemed to really be a success for Martin Weller, and could definitley be the turning point in my life for a better and more successful way of networking.

A Vision of K-12 Students Today-(2012)

               It seems that in today's society, many teachers still don't take advantage of the technology presented to them to better teach their students.  This could result in the statistic that 1 in every 4 students will not graduate with diplomas.  This means that 75% of students in the United States will not graduate. Eighty-nine percent of teachers don't use blogs. Many countries are far more advanced in the subject areas of mathematics, literacy, and science than the United States. Many students in the United States are poor test-takers on examinations.  This ranks the United States as the country with the lowest scores on examinations of the different school subjects. We as a country need to act now and fast. It will only help us in the long run with education. If we are all actively helping this cause there will be a change for the better.

eSchool News-“Why more schools aren’t teaching web literacy-and how they can start”

eSchool News-“Why more schools aren’t teaching web literacy-and how they can start”

            This article, “Why more schools aren’t teaching web literacy-and how they can start,” from eSchool News, proved to be very interesting to read.  This article introduced to me the different views and reasons regarding how most school systems choose not to bring about much experience in learning the ways of the web for children.  This immediately got me interested because I know full well how important it is in society today to learn about the many advancements of technology.  It not only can offer people a much better resource for good research, but also it is the way the world is now working.  The world is going in a whole new direction with all this new technological advancements including: internet, etc.  I feel that everyone, even younger children, need to be aware because it is happening in their generational times.  This also means that even older teachers need to stay informed and ready because it will not only be changing for these generations, but for theirs as well, especially when it comes to introducing them in their own classrooms.  After reading this article, I can see how many of the school systems have wanted to keep their children safe from the internet, but they just need to keep it at a reasonable extent.  This is simply because it is inevitable.  At some point, now starting at earlier ages, computers are too important because many schools are now requiring much more of an extent of research from elementary to high school aged children and anything else having to do with a computer such as the following: papers, power points, projects, etc.  This will only help them better themselves if they can understand this certain technology, but not take advantage of it.  Earlier in the article, some researchers mention that sites like facebook, email, and twitter are at people’s own personal interest to get involved with and is really not mandatory.  Research also shows that it betters peoples’ ways and ideas in school because it gives them a way to keep up with important events and keep in touch with other people.  Overall, the internet may not always sound like a very good idea for young children in the school systems, but it cannot be overlooked.  I feel that, from what I learned in the article, as long as school systems take a step by step process with web literacy, they can begin it at an early age.  But in doing so, this needs to be in a reasonable manner as years of a child go on.  This will enable the minds of young people to have a broader view of life, to be more prepared, and have right direction for their future.