One Great Semester

It has been a great semester. I have learned so much. Some of the assignments that will help me throughout my career are my recent demo class website, iSafe, Skpe, and learning how to create my own blog. There were many other activities that were beneficial. I did not use or know of many of these programs prior to the class. Knowledge of these resources will allow me to communicate with my students in a variety of ways. I will also be able to provide answers to immediate questions that students and parents have. The students will have access to class calendars and homework assignments. The best thing about these resources that were provided in class is that majority of them are free. I had no idea how many free programs were available to the public. All my life, I have spent many dollars on the name brand programs, not realizing that similar programs were free.

I also think learning about copyright infringements and the rules and exceptions for teachers was very helpful. I plan on utilizing most of these programs in my career and personal life. I also plan on sharing this information with everyone that I associate with. These tools are so great to know and I highly recommend this class.

Class Website

I created a demo class website for my final project. It is located at the following address:

http://sites.google.com/site/pollistershealth2010/

This was very insightful. I was used google sites for my website. It was very user-friendly. I am still getting used to it. The teacher template was a very helpful. It provided me with a lot of ideas, since I'm not an extremely creative person. I wish it was a little more drag and/or cut and paste friendly. As a beginner, the editing template needed to be followed exactly.

Some of the programs in my site were: surveymonkey, googledocs, viddler, google maps, google calendar, and iphoto. My two favorite programs that I think will be very helpful in a classroom setting is surveymonkey and googleDocs. Both programs are extremely easy and it will be very useful. Both programs were actually fun to use and create documents.

Online Resources for Teaching

I discovered this website:

http://www.techtrain.org/teacher_tools.htm

It has a lot of free resources that may be beneficial to learn and use as a teacher. I may also find out more about blackboard and/or decide whether I should use my own website or blackboard.

Healthy USA

I love Skype!!!

I love Skype. Most of my family live in Hawaii. One of my brothers lives in Japan. Before Skype, I either talked to my family through cell phone or email. When I communicated to Japan by phone, it would cost a lot of money. Also, being able to see emotions and expressions as people talk, minimizes any miscommunications that may occur.

Skype is a great way to keep in touch with loved ones. I think it will be a great way to communicate with my students if they have any questions, especially before an exam. This tool will also help students that have conflicting schedules that need additional help.

Healthy Living through Nutrition

I've never used iMovie before. I plan on doing a movie on good nutrition and how it affects people. According to my storyboard, I will use a graph involving stats of overweight and obese people in the USA. I then plan on using pictures of unhealthy foods. I hope to use a clip from a cartoon, i.e. The Simpsons regarding unhealthy eating. Next, I plan on showing another video clip of unhealthy kids and parents to portray the message that bad habits with kids, lead to bad habits in adults. I plan on showing a commentary from kids about healthy foods. Lastly, I want to show a video clip showing healthy kids playing.

There may be more or less. Hopefully, this all works out!

i-Safe

I-Safe is a great certification that everyone should be required to learn. Students, parents, and educators should all learn about Internet safety.

Every online user should be responsible and Internet literate. People need to know of the dangers that are out there in the cyber world. Predators, hackers, identity theft, worms and viruses, and other Internet breaches can harm Internet users. It is so important to be educated and prepared prior to accessing the Internet.

I-Safe has really made me aware of Internet prowlers. I did not realize how easy it was for savvy prowlers to find out so much information about youth with so little information given. These prowlers use the Internet to disguise themselves to minors and are so dangerous. I plan on sharing this information with my children in my own home and incorporating i-Safe into my lesson plans as an educator.

I also think it is critical to be savvy about Internet safety. Even if spam filters are set up and I am very cautious about content that is downloaded, it is inevitable to never receive harmful spam containing viruses or to never come across sites that have harmful executable files. Because of this it is so important to be educated on Internet safety so I do not open harmful attached files and so that I am not involved in the spread of damaging viruses and worms.

I think it is very important to teach students and parents about violations regarding illegal file sharing. Downloading music and other files without paying for the files is a common abuse that is morphing into a Norm in today’s society, especially among teenagers with limited funds. It is important that they realize that illegal downloading is wrong and it is crime. Students also need to know that there are harsh penalties if they are caught. Parents need to be aware of the free harmful, illegal content that can be downloaded by anyone, including children and teenagers. This can make youth susceptible to unwanted, disguised material associated to pornography and predators. Education and awareness for parents and students is very important when dealing with the Internet.

The Internet offers so much good to society. However, without education on Internet safety, the Internet may cause more harm than good. I plan on passing on this i-Safe information to my children, extended family, and future students and parents. Hopefully, this information will make a difference in the lives of others.

Collaborative Tools

Google Docs is a great tool in any learning environment. I heard the name, "Google Docs" before, but I never knew what it was. Most email providers have a quota on email size which can limit a person from sending documents to a large group of people. Limits on mail size can hinder group work. Google Docs offers a safe environment for even large groups to access the same document and work together on a document. I believe that group work promotes a higher learning environment. I plan on promoting Google Docs to help my future students accomplish group assignments. It will teach my students to collaborate on assignments and it will also teach how to work around scheduling difficulties when dealing with large groups.

Social Networking

There are many benefits regarding social networking. I have a Facebook account right now and I just signed up for a Twitter account. Facebook has helped me connect with so many people that I have lost contact with. It also lets me see different sides of people that I didn’t see before. Besides keeping in contact with friends, networking can also help with employment. It is quite common these days, for employers to view online networks to learn more about future prospects. Social networks can be an additional feature to resumes. Twitter makes information fully accessible to others. It is convenient to get and pass on information to others. Social networks take communication to another level.

Social networks are a great way to communicate with others. However, people need to be careful regarding content posted. There are many Internet prowlers and scam artist out there. I prefer Facebook because only friends can view my account. As I mentioned prior, current and future employers often view social networks. If negative comments regarding co-workers or employers are posted, this could cause people to lose their jobs or not be hired.

Bottom line is that if online networks are used wisely, we can only benefit from the newest technology.

group 2 response on copyright infringement

Copyright

video 1