Apple in Education

Photo credit: apple.com/education

We all know that Apple products are everywhere. They are increasingly making it into our schools as well. Along with iPads, other Apple products are easy and fun for students to learn in the classroom. 

As I was researching how Apple plays a part in education, I found a handy resources webpage with basically everything you need to know about how to use Apple products in the classroom. 

Apple's are expensive, but I've always been convinced that they are good-quality products. I have a MacBook Pro, and I honestly never leave home without it. I'm considering getting an iPad some day soon to be able to implement it into my lessons plans, so it will be nice to have an Apple that is a bit easier to cart around all the time. With how many schools are currently getting iPads for their classrooms, knowing how to effectively use them myself will make me more marketable when I'm applying against hundreds of teachers for the same job. A thorough knowledge of all of Apple's products will keep me up to date on the best of technology. 

NET Standards

 Photo Credit: degreedirectory.org

With students spending more time online in the classroom, it is important that they are successfully learning. The NET Standards ensure that students are learning, but they also give teachers a guideline of what they should be teaching when it comes to technology. On the iste.org, there are 5 things for teachers to be aware of:

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility*
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

(Found on the NETS-T (PDF))

I have a star by number 4, because we took a long time to discuss it in class. Lack of digital citizenship is increasingly becoming an issue. Kids are going online as young as late elementary or early middle school, and the internet seems to facilitate bullying. In general, people are much more comfortable saying things online that they would never say in person. It breaks my heart to think of the children who have taken their own lives to escape the bullying, because, due to the pervasiveness of the internet, they couldn't even escape it in the safety of their own home. Teaching my students how to be good citizens online, as well as offline, will be a huge priority in my classroom.

Finally, there are 6 things students should be learning while using technology:

1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts

(Found on the NETS-S (PDF))

Making My Own Instragram Photostrips!

In class, we had to make our own instagram photo strips. The inspiration came from the website Photoboother, but since my class is called Educational Technology, we had to actually create them ourselves using Photoshop. (As I've said before, I am HORRIBLE at using Photoshop, but I try REALLY hard. I think this project took me well over an hour.)

Anyway, we had to use the photos we had been taking for our weekly Photo Assignment. I made one strip of my pictures of my favorite pair of shoes, my black converse. The other strip was made with random photos of my friends and family. Here's how they turned out:

Favorite Teacher Blogs/Websites

Here are some of my favorite teacher sites! Just so you know, I'm using some awesome things I've pinned to my Pinterest board.

The first is a blog called Classroom Collective. There are a ton of different areas of the classroom that this blog talks about, but I especially appreciate the classroom management tips. For example, this gem was posted and I pinned it to my "For the Classroom" board.

I like the fact that I wouldn't have to disrupt class to discipline someone. I can just set the little stop sign on a students desk and keep on teaching.

The next blog that I really like is called Classroom Freebies, a blog made by Charity Preston, the creator and founder of PEN Group Online. We actually learned a bit about her in my Ed Tech class, because she is a well-known blogger and teacher. (How she has the time for all that she does is beyond me.) Anyway, I pinned this little hot air balloon project, because I thought it was adorable. I love asking kids what they want to be when they grow up, so I plan on doing some kind of career activity with my students. Then, they can go back and see how their answer changed as they got older. When I was an elementary student, I was convinced I was going to be a veterinarian! I realized a few years later that anything medically related was NOT for me, and now here I am on my way to be a teacher. :)

iPads in the Classroom

Schools all over the country are now using iPads in the classroom. At first, I was very skeptical about it. iPads are expensive, and I was unsure of how schools would make the cost worth it. After getting to play on iPads in two of my education classes, I'm convinced that they are definitely a classroom enhancer. There are so many awesome apps that would make students excited to learn. Math games, vocabulary games, you name it! One of my favorite apps was called Piano Man - Piano Lessons. I'm not sure how I would incorporate that particular app into my classroom, but I just thought it was really fun. :) I ended up going home and downloading the app for my iPhone, so I could play it all the time!

Home-made Polaroids

In Ed Tech, we made our own cute little Polaroid photos. I just love these! We were given a template to use, then we just had to go into Photoshop and fit a picture onto each square. All of the pictures I used were Instagram photos, because they were already cropped into squares, and I love the fun filters you can use with Instagram.  It makes the finished product look like actual vintage polaroid photos. 

They turned out pretty cool, huh? I think I'm going to cut them out and use them to make little magnets for my fridge.

Paperless Educator/ iPads vs. Smartboards

"Going green" is a huge movement in the world at the moment. We try to go green at home and in our businesses, but is it possible to go green in the classroom? I think it might be.

I read "5 Web Applications for the Paperless Classroom," on QuickOnlineTips.com, and there were some very interesting ways to incorporate technology into the classroom to save paper (for FREE). The first application the article talks about is Evernote.
Evernote is a way to takes notes, organize web pages and pictures, and a bunch of other functions that could potentially take place of notebooks and binders.


The next application is GoogleDocs. We've been using is a bit in my Educational Technology class, and I'm convinced that this is definitely worth your time. Computers are sometimes unreliable. Several people in my classes had their computers crash, and the stuff saved to their computers was inaccessible for quite some time. With GoogleDocs, you can save all of your work to an online folder, so you can access it from any computer. I like knowing that the documents I have saved on GoogleDocs won't be lost with an unexpected computer crash. Not only can you save documents, but you can also create them online. The software though GoogleDocs is very similar to the Microsoft Office Suite.



The third program is called Zoho Challenge. It is a website that can be used to create quizzes and tests, so summative assessment can be done on the technology as well and no paper is needed. I think students would enjoy being able to take tests on computers or iPads.

Prezi is the fourth online application. I'm in the process of making a Prezi for one of my classes, and I found the process quite enjoyable. It is a nice variation on the basic PowerPoint presentation. A teacher can make a Prezi with information for the lesson, and students would love the way the presentation moves. They would also be able to access the presentation on their own computers or iPads.

Finally, the article talked about Wordle, a website we used in my Ed Tech class. I posted my Wordle creation to my blog way back in August. I like using Wordle, and I think kids would find it really interesting as well. If I used it in my class, I would have them make a Wordle with all of their spelling words for the week. It's a way to make learning vocabulary fun and colorful.

I like the idea of saving on paper in the classroom, but I don't think I'd want my classroom to be COMPLETELY paper free. I think students still need to learn how to write correctly with an actual pencil and paper verses learning completely with a stylus and an iPad. Technology is great, but there are still positives to keeping some of the old ways of teaching.


In Ed Tech, we learned about another way that iPads can be used in the classroom, and it actually SAVES money, believe it or not. I'm sure many of you have heard of the Smart Boards and the corresponding projectors that are being installed in many classrooms. They are really cool, and they have some neat functions, but they are expensive as well. If you have a regular projector and a wireless internet connection, AirDisplay is an awesome way to get your iPad mirrored onto the board. If i had my iPad connected through the projector, I would be able to walk around the classroom and teach with different apps and internet sites. There are whiteboard apps that can be used to write, just like I would with an actual whiteboard. I like the idea of the iPad keeping me free to walk around the classroom as I teach.

Final Craft Project of the Semester

Our final crafty project in Ed Tech was to make a cute little paper box. When you take the lid off, the sides fan out, and you can decorate it in any way you like.

Here's the box with the lid on. It holds all the sides. When you take off the top, it falls down to reveal many different flaps of paper.

If you wanted to give this as a gift, you could put cute pictures onto each flap and write nice memories or things you love about the person you're giving it to. I'm thinking someone in my family may end up getting this for Christmas!

This box was made with 4 sheets of 12x12 scrap booking paper, and we were given the templates in class.

Copyright

Critical Reflection #4

According to the Copyright Frequently Asked Questions page on teachingcopyright.org, "Copyright is a form of legal protection automatically provided to the authors of 'original works of authorship,' including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works." Basically, any idea is automatically protected from misuse. When something is created, copyright laws are immediately in effect, and it lasts, in most cases, until 70 years after the death of the creator. When someone fails to obey the copyright laws, it's called copyright infringement. If someone were to infringe on a creators copyright policy, they may have to pay the owner the amount of money they originally would have made from the creation. It is recommended that creators make their copyright information known to the public, but since 1989, it is no longer required to do so. That's why it is so important for students to thoroughly know the basic laws of copyright when they are creating in the classroom. 

Rules in the classroom are slightly different than the regular copyright laws. If something is being copied or used for educational purposes only, and no money is being made, it can be called Fair Use. To make this easier to understand for myself, I found some examples of Fair Use in the classroom from the Bern Dibner Library of Science and Technology website:

1. A teacher copies one article from a periodical for distribution to the class, but it is recycled after use.
2. A student gives a presentation using pictures he/she did not have direct permission to use. 
3. A teacher shows a copyrighted movie to her class for instructional purposes, but does not charge an admission fee. 
4. A student or teacher used copyrighted music in an instructional presentation. 
5. A teacher copies a Shakespearian play from a copyrighted anthology - the play is in a public domain and not subjected to copyright. 

Thanksgiving

Man, am I thankful for Thanksgiving break! After some very stressful weeks in school and R.A-ing, it came exactly when I needed it. Unfortunately, it went by rather fast. Still, my family and I definitely made the most of the time we had. My mom, step dad, and I went Black Friday shopping on Thursday night, and it was a blast. Laughing as we tried to avoid the crazy shoppers, my mom and I made our way to the back of the store where all of the cheap movies were located. We went to town on those DVDs. Here's a picture of my stash:

I got the entire Harry Potter series for only $18! My family owns it already, but I would like to have a set that I can take with me when I have a place of my own. I don't think I've mentioned it on my blog before, but I am a HUGE HP fan. I was able to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter over spring break last year, and I almost cried from excitement. Now that I'm off on a random tangent, I'll share a picture of me geeking out in Florida. 

Yes, I actually paid $30.00 for a wand. I'm not ashamed! Hedwig was also worth another $30.00. 

Anyway, on Sunday, my mom and I spent a few hours in the kitchen baking and jamming to 80's music together. It was a wonderful way to spend my time at home. We made delicious chocolate chip cookies (I'm willing to wager that ours are the best), and some tasty molasses sugar cookies. The bag of chocolate chips had red and green as well as brown, so they were festive for the Christmas season.

I took a bunch of the cookies back to the hall with me so I could hand them out to my residents. They've been enjoying them, and so have I....I swear, I think I eat about 4 a day. They're just TOO GOOD.

Finally, before I left home, my mom let me put in a request for supper on Sunday night. I decided on a throwback to my childhood:

Kraft macaroni and cheese and pigs in a blanket! Well, technically they were turkeys in a blanket, because turkey-dogs are a bit healthier.  I topped this meal off with a glass of chocolate milk--perfection! With a full stomach and a happy heart, I drove back to Fargo with Christmas break in my sights. I'm now looking forward to three full weeks at home with my family!