We finally finished our unit on Digital Citizenship.  The 3rd through 5th graders at White Oak Intermediate School are ready to have their technology instruction tailored to their needs. Below you will find lesson ideas for each grade level.

Third grade students will learn the proper technique to keyboarding.  At the request of a third grade teacher, we will spend at least one technology period learning about the home row and proper keyboarding technique.  I created a paper Mac keyboard using Corel Paintshop Pro.  Click on the keyboard below to print out your own PDF version. The students will color the fingers and related keys the same color.  They will practice proper keyboarding technique using Dance Mat Typing.

Fourth graders had an awesome day Friday celebrating Texas Day.  You can check out the fourth grade teacher blogs to highlight pictures of the event by clicking here.  Our principal, Mrs. Dickson, commented that they will have a great deal to write about.  In technology, each class will collaborate on creating a slideshow of all the various aspects of the day.  They will upload their Keynote slides in Google Docs to create one class slideshow.  We will then share the slideshow using Slideshare. The teachers will post their slideshow on their blog, so check back often to see details of their amazing day!

Fifth graders are going to be using Photobooth on the Macbook and the greenscreen to video geography definitions. This will be our first attempt at using the greenscreen, and we are very excited.  Mrs. McFall will post the completed geography terms on our blog, so don’t fail to check out her blog at http://mcfalla.wonecks.net in a few weeks.  While preparing for this technique, I discovered how to download many more effects for use in photobooth.  You can check it out here.

Some of my students and some entire classes have been taking their test in Moodle to get their web license. Those students who completed the quiz last week had the opportunity to see a digital content concept first hand, thanks to an email I received from Scott Floyd.  Scott sent me a link to a website a few weeks ago to help save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.  The site looks authentic. It even shows pictures and a video of the creature! The more we looked at the website, the more questionable it became.  We discussed the fact that just because something is stated as a fact on the internet, does not make it true.  After doing a search on Google for the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, we looked at the wikipedia definition. To complete the activity, students searched on Facts4Me to find an interesting fact about a favorite animal. Each student shared that fact on TodaysMeet. I asked students to make sure their fact was stated in a complete sentence with proper capitalization and punctuation.  I had Pam Cranford, our testing coordinator, and Karen Dickson, our principal, join us on the website from their offices so the students could gain a better understanding of the fact that ANYONE could be in the same “chatroom” with us if they had the url. It was a VERY exciting week! Students were totally engaged in the activity. They were correcting each other’s sentence structure and word usage in the “chat room.”

Cyber Bullying is a hot topic right now.  Hardly a day goes by without a news story involving someone ending their own life  due to the effects of being bullied, quite often using cellphones and the internet. Some states have already passed anti-cyber bullying laws. The federal government is considering making it a federal crime to harass or bully someone using the internet.

Bullying is not a new social ill. It has been around as long as there has been human civilization. Using cellphones or the internet to harass takes on a whole new element, though.  To begin with, it is often very difficult to identify the bully because of the ambiguity of screen names.  Secondly, because the audience that witnesses the attack can grow exponentially through the use of the internet, the victim feels the effects of the bullying more.

One factor to consider when discussing cyber bullying is the development of the human brain.  According to http://www.examiner.com, the human brain is not fully developed until the age of 25.  Teenagers are therefore participating in activities they are not equipped to deal with. The article goes on to say:

“Prior to full brain development children exhibit the following behaviors more coincidentally vs. consistently:
•    Decision making
•    Use of appropriate judgment
•    Rational thinking
•    Integration of emotion & critical thinking
•    Ability to think clearly about long-term outcomes that stem from behaviors
•    Global thinking vs. self-centered thinking”

So, what is a parent and teacher to do.  We must make our children and students aware of the dangers and temptations they will face when using the internet. That will require talking to them, and talking to them often. That will require monitoring their cellphone and online activity.

Students will watch the Garfield cartoon on cyberbullying in the e Safety LiveBinder under the Student tab called Bouncy-A.  They will then go to their own computer and complete Garfield Cyberbullying 2 or Garfield Cyberbullying 3 in the same tab.

The students will then log in to Moodle and complete the Digital Conduct Quiz. You can log in as a guest to view the lesson. The guest user name is woteacher and the password is woteacher. You will find my course under Enhancements: Technology with Mrs. Peery.

We will finish up our unit on Digital Citizenship next week when the students examine Digital Conduct.  This week we are going to take a break from the routine and look at passwords. Today being Columbus Day, the students had a break and did not have to come to school. The district employees met in the High School Auditorium to hear about Social Networking from the TGB Fraud organization.  We heard some very good information about safeguards to keep in mind when using social network sites to help protect your identity.  The speaker also shared with us some good ideas for setting and changing passwords.  I will pass this information along to my students this week.  We will watch the above video to get the converstation started.

Click on the picture below to see the rules for passwords we will be discussing.

Students must be equipped with the knowledge that not all information found on the internet is true.  Students must be able to determine the difference between fact and opinion. This week students will participate in activities that highlight the difference between fact and opinion.   Students will be shown the Garfield Fact-Opinion video. When they get to their own computer, they will return to the E-Safety Livebinder and choose to complete Garfield Fact-Opinion 2 or Garfield Fact-Opinion 3 to independently review the concept. (Click on the Bouncy-A tab in the Livebinder to find the Garfield sites.)

This week in Technology, students will learn how to leave a clean digital footprint by learning about digital content.  Digital content refers to the use of information on the internet. Students will learn about copyright and fair use. Students will also be introduced to using Creative Commons as an option for determining restrictions to use of their original work.  We will watch some videos together and discuss them as a class. Each student will then answer four true/false questions using Moodle.  You can view the videos and quiz by clicking on the picture below.  You can log in as a guest by using the username: woteacher and password: woteacher. Click on Digital Content Quiz.

Last week the 3rd-5th graders discussed what kind of information should be shared on the internet.  We talked about their digital footprint and how important it is to their well-being. We watched the Phineas & Ferb public service announcement. I shared some personal stories of people who have suffered from making poor decisions regarding their use of the internet. Students then watched a video to help them understand the nine things that should go in their top secret folder. Using Moodle, students took a ten question true/false quiz.  Most of the students did very well. The first class I had in the computer lab did not get to finish the quiz on Monday. The video was part of their Moodle lesson. Twenty-four computers trying to access the video at once seemed to stress our bandwidth somewhat.  I got a little wiser with the next groups, and we watched the video together before going to computers to take the quiz.

This week we will continue to stress the importance of staying safe by following the guidelines concerning what to post online. I came across a great collection of Internet Safety Websites through the blog I follow called Blogging About the Web 2.0 Connected Classroom.  They are arranged in a LiveBinder.  You can click on the picture below to find the Online Safety LiveBinder.  I am going to use the Garfield Internet Safety 2 and 3 with my Wii remote interactive board to review digit contact.

This week the 3rd-5th graders will begin the Digital Citizenship Unit.  The unit consists of an introduction and three lessons – digital contact, digital content, and digital conduct.  The lessons have been placed in a Moodle course so those students who miss technology will have the opportunity to make up their work.  I believe the next few weeks will be the most important lessons I teach. I want my students to realize the impact their “digital footprint” will have on their lives.  They are growing up in a culture full of wonderful global opportunites and possibilities.  They need to realize they also have an enormous responsibility to think about the results of what they choose to post to the internet.  They need to be reminded daily by their parents and educators of the tremendous privilege and responsibility that having access to this global community entails.

This week in technology, 5th graders will be signing up for an Edmodo account.  I used this social networking site with my 5th graders last year. They loved the social aspect, and I loved the convenience of using the site to post lessons, videos, and polls.  We will begin our “Digital Citizenship” unit next week with all the Intermediate students.  Giving the 5th graders access to a social networking site I can monitor helps me teach and demonstrate the concepts they are learning about being a good digital citizen and leaving a clean digital footprint.

Third and fourth graders will be taking another probe in Moodle.  I had some frustration last week in getting the students to listen and retain the steps they needed to take to get to the quiz.  I pondered most of the week how best to help these students learn the art of disciplining their mind to focus on instruction and hold those images in their memory until they get to the computer.   If you have any suggestions, I would love for you to leave a comment.  (I can use all the help I can get!)

Here is my idea: I will give each student a ticket when they enter the room.  I may give a ticket for each step they will need to follow.  I will explain that in order to keep their ticket, they must listen carefully and watch closely to each step.  When they go to their computer to access the site they need, or log in, I will help them with any of the instructions.  If they require my help in remembering what to do, they must give up a ticket.  At the end of the class period, each student will write his/her name on the ticket(s) for a drawing.  I will draw out one name. That student will have access to the iPad my district purchased for my use in technology.  The remaining tickets will be placed in a bucket. From the class bucket I will pull a ticket every six weeks.  That student will receive a racquetball.

This week in technology, students will be taking online tests. Our students have access to Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reader program. The program offers a test that gives each students a reading level. It is called the STAR test. Students log in to the program and take the test to help identify the level of book they should be reading. In addition, students will take the first of several probes that were developed by the grade level teachers with the help of Pam Cranford, our testing coordinator. These probes are designed as timed Moodle lessons.  In addition to the probes, White Oak Intermediate School has a host of Moodle lessons in varying subjects and grade levels. If you are interested in exploring our Moodle lessons, you can view them by clicking on the picture below.