I have been searching the Internet to locate some online resources to effectively teach Internet safety to my middle school students. I found this website http://www.mcps.org/admin/Technology/TRTWebpage/middle_school.htm It has several short videos on Internet safety all told from the perspective of teenagers. The first video I viewed was of a young girl telling her story of how she met a man in an online chat room and ran away with him. He was later put in jail. Another video described a situation where some mean girls convinced a classmate to tell them her best friend’s email password. These mean girls then sent embarrassing emails to other classmates from her email account. Several more videos caught my attention. They are engaging and I believe middle school students would relate well to them. I need to check with my principal to make sure that she approves the videos and lesson plans. Hopefully I will be able to share these with my students next quarter.
I do not feel the need to modify my action plan at this point. I was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of resources available online to teach middle school students about Internet safety. Also, I do not have any questions. I am just waiting for approval from our administration to continue with my GAME plan.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
GAME plan
In order to carry out my GAME plan, I need to spend time researching available curriculum that focuses on Internet safety. Even though my students grumbled about participating in our school wide Internet safety activity, I think they all benefited. The activity that we participated in was good, but a little elementary for 8th grade students. I would like to find some resources and lessons that are geared toward middle school students. I would also like to invite a representative from the police department to speak to my students. Listening to an expert describe the potential dangers of the Internet will have a powerful impact on students.
In order to implement my “student expert” plan, I need to gather additional information on our district technology policies. I need to clarify whether students are allowed to troubleshoot different issues on another student’s computer. My goal is for these “student experts” to help troubleshoot problems when our technology support staff is not available. There are days when we spend a good deal of class time trying to troubleshoot some basic computer problems including trouble logging in, saving to the server, adding printers, updating software, etc. Also, I would need to find out who would be willing to train these “experts” and when the training would take place. It seems like a great idea, but I need to gather more information before I can implement it.
Currently I have not had the opportunity to put these plans into motion. In my classes I have continued to focus on helping my students to locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources. My students have been diligently conducting research to complete their Illinois History Fair papers and projects. To do this effectively, I have been guiding my students through the process of locating reliable and valid sources on the Internet as well as teaching them how to properly take notes to avoid plagiarism. This process is extremely important and time consuming.
In order to implement my “student expert” plan, I need to gather additional information on our district technology policies. I need to clarify whether students are allowed to troubleshoot different issues on another student’s computer. My goal is for these “student experts” to help troubleshoot problems when our technology support staff is not available. There are days when we spend a good deal of class time trying to troubleshoot some basic computer problems including trouble logging in, saving to the server, adding printers, updating software, etc. Also, I would need to find out who would be willing to train these “experts” and when the training would take place. It seems like a great idea, but I need to gather more information before I can implement it.
Currently I have not had the opportunity to put these plans into motion. In my classes I have continued to focus on helping my students to locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources. My students have been diligently conducting research to complete their Illinois History Fair papers and projects. To do this effectively, I have been guiding my students through the process of locating reliable and valid sources on the Internet as well as teaching them how to properly take notes to avoid plagiarism. This process is extremely important and time consuming.
Friday, November 13, 2009
ISTE Standards
After reviewing the ISTE Standards for Students, I realized that there are some areas that my students and I are doing a great job with. However, I also realized that there are some areas that definitely need improvement. One area that I consider to be a strength is #4 Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. As a history teacher, I have been fortunate enough to purchase several of Tom Snyder’s Decisions, Decisions computer simulations. My students absolutely love using these in the classroom. Each simulation is based on a real world problem. To solve the problem, students must set priorities or goals and make informed decisions with the guidance of advisors. These simulations allow students to identify a problem, create a plan to solve the problem, collect and analyze information that can be used as possible solutions, and finally, discuss and debate with their classmates as to which choice should be made. These simulations encourage critical thinking skills and help middle school students gain confidence when it comes to forming their own opinions as well as discussing and debating with their classmates.
Another area that my students and I have experienced success is with # 3 Research and Information Fluency. Each year my 8th grade students participate in the Illinois History Fair. Every student writes a 5-7 page research paper on a topic relating to Illinois. To complete this project, students must conduct research. Using their laptops, students gather, evaluate, and use information on their topic. Once students finish writing their research paper, they either create a display board, podcast or iMovie. By the end of this project, students become quite comfortable locating and evaluating reliable information using the Internet.
One area that I feel needs improvement is # 5 Digital Citizenship. My students use their laptops nearly every day in my classroom. Many students are also allowed to take their computers home. While our school district has filters in place to protect students, this is obviously not the case once students leave school. Because of this, I need to spend more time working with my students on the importance of being safe on the Internet. Just last week, our school participated in a school wide Internet safety activity. We discussed the benefits and dangers of social networking sites. I found this to be very helpful to my middle school students.
Another area that I need to continue working on is #6 Technology Operations and Concepts. My students are very comfortable with technology but are not always the best at troubleshooting when problems arise. Our building does have a computer technician, but he is only here part time. It would be great if interested students were trained in troubleshooting so that when problems arise, we would have “experts” that could help other students.
In order to improve in these two areas, I plan on creating other activities that could be done school wide to promote Internet safety. I also intend to discuss legal and ethical issues that apply to Internet usage. Also, after talking with a co-worker this afternoon, we came up with a plan to train students who could act as technology troubleshooting “experts”. Our plan is for several students to voluntarily attend after school trainings as sixth graders. These students would then be able to serve as “experts” throughout their middle school career.
Another area that my students and I have experienced success is with # 3 Research and Information Fluency. Each year my 8th grade students participate in the Illinois History Fair. Every student writes a 5-7 page research paper on a topic relating to Illinois. To complete this project, students must conduct research. Using their laptops, students gather, evaluate, and use information on their topic. Once students finish writing their research paper, they either create a display board, podcast or iMovie. By the end of this project, students become quite comfortable locating and evaluating reliable information using the Internet.
One area that I feel needs improvement is # 5 Digital Citizenship. My students use their laptops nearly every day in my classroom. Many students are also allowed to take their computers home. While our school district has filters in place to protect students, this is obviously not the case once students leave school. Because of this, I need to spend more time working with my students on the importance of being safe on the Internet. Just last week, our school participated in a school wide Internet safety activity. We discussed the benefits and dangers of social networking sites. I found this to be very helpful to my middle school students.
Another area that I need to continue working on is #6 Technology Operations and Concepts. My students are very comfortable with technology but are not always the best at troubleshooting when problems arise. Our building does have a computer technician, but he is only here part time. It would be great if interested students were trained in troubleshooting so that when problems arise, we would have “experts” that could help other students.
In order to improve in these two areas, I plan on creating other activities that could be done school wide to promote Internet safety. I also intend to discuss legal and ethical issues that apply to Internet usage. Also, after talking with a co-worker this afternoon, we came up with a plan to train students who could act as technology troubleshooting “experts”. Our plan is for several students to voluntarily attend after school trainings as sixth graders. These students would then be able to serve as “experts” throughout their middle school career.
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