Week 7 Teaching Kids About Global Poverty

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-poverty-education-lessons

This was an excellent documentary.  These videos should be worked into the classes we teach.  A few college kids went to Guatemala for two months and lived on one dollar a day.  This could really help the students realize what is going on on the world with poverty and clean drinking water.  We hear about these problems on the news or in a textbook but these videos really make it real.  Even if we can get eh students to be thankful for what they have or inspire them to go and do something like this in their future would be great.  Raising the awareness is what will  get things changed. Highly recommend this video series.

Week 6 Chapter 6

In chapter 6 Richardson, talks about Diigo.  I have just recently been introduced to Diigo. I really like it, it is easy to work with.  I like that you can leave notes on the pages for others to see.  You can use sticky notes,  highlight and comment with the Diigo tool bar.  I like that the students can do this with others in the class, at home or on a laptop at grandma's house.  The students love learning all of this technology too. It is fun when you are able to teach them some bit of technology that they actually like and didn't already know....we do know they know it all..ha ha

Week 6 Why Snapchat is the Perfect App at the Perfect Time

http://readwrite.com/2013/11/20/snapchat-perfect-app-visual-web-privacy-free?utm_source=feedly#awesm=~ooJMHMhSs7rqKD

Sorry, I am about to become a hater.   I know there are some good uses of Snapchat but I am having a hard time seeing them at the moment.  The last thing any high schooler needs is a picture or video they send to be seen for a few seconds then disappear.  They all incorrectly think these pictures or videos are gone for good but little do they know that if the police or FBI want to see what has been sent on that phone it is all available when they hook up a special device to the phone.  I love technology but some of it does not need to give the false sense of anonymity to teens.

Week 6 Teaching Critical Thinking (with Dog Food)

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-critical-thinking-dog-food-james-bach

I really liked this article because a lot of the kids now are trying for the right answer, meaning the one the teacher wants to hear.  They are not worried about learning or understanding the concepts.  Students need to think critically as a practice.  A friend of mine gave an Algebra II/ Trig class a test and said NO CALCULATORS!!  What she had given them were graphs( I know she used a more complicated math term) and the students had to give reasons for things on the graphs, not do any calculations and she told me they were having a fit about it.  She told them they had to really understand what was going on, not just calculate it to get the right answer.  Needles to say she is doing this more often to boost their level of confidence about this, they rely on the calculators and forget to think about reasoning.

Week 5 Using Wikipedia for Academic Research-Video

" Don't use Wikipedia!"  That is a phrase you hear a lot in schools, especially schools that subscribe and pay for internet databases. Wikipedia is peer edited so it is not totally reliable. I do agree you should not cite Wikipedia, but you can use it to your advantage.  You can use it to identify terms and categories and maybe something you had not thought about before reading through Wikipedia about your topic.  Use it for what it is, a whole bunch of information added by people all over the world, some know what they are talking about and some do not.  Make sure you use credible sources in addition to the information gleaned from Wikipedia.

Week 5 You're Gonna Hear Me Roar: Overcoming Classroom Stage Fright

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/overcoming-classroom-stage-fright-todd-finley

Loved this article, it really hit home.  I was terrified to start going into the classroom for practicums, then student teaching but I never thought about giving up and changing my career.  Once I got familiar with the building and the staff it was less nerve wracking.  You have to look at the kids as individuals also because if you look at them as a hungry pack waiting to eat you up that's not good!!!  I have had a few professors that you could tell were nervous, it is OK to be nervous as long as it doesn't stop you from doing something.  I am in a high school this year after years of elementary schools...I was nervous at first but they are turning out to be a lot of fun!!

Week 4 7 Tips for Great Selfies

http://readwrite.com/2013/11/06/7-tips-great-selfies?utm_source=feedly#awesm=~onBnsT5thtFcfP

I just had to comment on this article, I can't believe someone actually wrote what I have been thinking.  I can't believe the pictures that people take.  I can't even say kids or students, adults are to blame also.  No matter what site you go to you will always see these selfie pictures, they are often in the news too.  I agree with everything this article says it is like they were reading my mind, although I would have said just let someone else take the picture but if you feel you need to take a selfie please, please follow these guidelines.  The 2 major problems I see are the duckface and the obnoxious background.  Please clean your room before you take a picture of you in it!!  I am not sure where this duckface came from but that should be something to go bye bye really quickly.  Thanks, just my 2 cents!!