Article Response- Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction

·  Does technology amplify your personality? I would like to think that it doesn't affect my personality because I don't want technology to control the way I feel or how I develop mentally. I would like to think that I do use technology more than I should, but I do try to limit the amount of technology that I am exposed to so that I am not dependent on technology, and so it doesn't alter my personality.

·  In your own experience, do you think gaming affects your sleep patterns or your ability to retain information? Well, in my opinion I don’t believe it does, I think of games as a way to relax, a hobby that allows me to do the things I like while relaxing from school work. As for if it affects my sleep patterns, I'm not entirely sure, I don't often play games before I go to sleep, but when I do finish playing a game after a few hours I feel the affects on my eyes because they become very dry.

• Should schools be embracing more technology or do the costs of technology (not just financial costs) outweigh the benefits? Schools should be embracing more technology because in a modern age such as ours, students and everyone are dependent on technology, because at this time, it is the way the world moves. I think schools would be benefiting from integrating more technology into the schools considering that without technology you will be behind on the modern world, so the cost for the benefit of all students shouldn't even be considered even though that some teachers believe that students should stay away from technology at a particular level and focus more on school work. This is why some schools don't want more technology in the school. Students use technology on an hour-to-hour basis. By removing technology from student’s lives, you are putting a road block in front of them, but due to the mass production of technology, students will still keep using technology even if it is not available in schools. So instead of fighting students to use less technology and focus more on schoolwork teachers and students should meet halfway.
• Are the students in this article a realistic depiction of your life?  Does the writer of the article have a good grasp of technology use among teenagers?  In a sense I can relate to those in the article, but I feel that those mentioned in the article are more dependent on technology than I am, therefore I can relate to them in the sense that I understand why they are dependent on technology. I believe that the writer has a good grasp on technology among teenagers, because he not only offers his points on why technology should be limited to teenagers, he also offers points on why teenagers need technology. The writer benefits both the teenagers and those parents or teachers concerned with students spending more time using technology then focusing on school work, thereby pleasing both sides.

Teacher Placement

1) What did you accomplish last week in your placements?
     Last week Aaron, John and I learnt how to use Diigo and Windows Movie Maker because that is what the teacher we were placed with asked of us. We set up appointments last week to consult Mrs. Elso-Ponzo, but due to some circumstances we couldn’t meet up with her until today, November 1st.
Today, we talked with Mrs. Elso-Ponzo and we learnt on how much she is progressing in her class by incorporating Diigo and windows movie maker. We understood that the students already had some experience with using Diigo, but Mrs. Elso-Ponzo suggested that she would like another tutorial for Diigo since they currently need it for the beginning of their research project that has already been started. Mrs. Elso-Ponzo also has no experience with windows movie maker so our group decided that we would either make a tutorial video for her class or we would personally go during second period and give a quick demonstration on how to use windows movie maker. We also came up with a plan that will be taken place within the next weeks, but Mrs. Elso-Ponzo will give us her final thoughts and suggestions this week on Wednesday November 3rd.

2) What do you need to do this week?
This week we already consulted Mrs. Elso-Ponzo and we are meeting up with her on Wednesday to finalize what she needs for her applied history class. This week my group and I also intend to make a tutorial for windows movie maker and possibly Diigo.

Placement Blog Post

1.       Developing innovative classroom lessons using technology: I’m the best suited person to come up with lesson plans

Finding ways to incorporate technology into existing projects: I am pretty good at coming up with ways to incorporate technology into projects

Designing and developing websites: I have very little experience in web designing

Teaching teachers and students to use technology and software: I am somewhat good at teaching others about technology and how to incorporate it into schools project, and I’m somewhat good at teaching about software programs

Finding online resources for teachers: I am interested in this but I have never done this type of assignment before

Teaching video creation and editing techniques using movie maker: On a previous assignment I had to learn and present to the class about windows movie maker, so I’m experienced and conferrable with working with Windows Movie Maker

2.       Responsibility: 7/10 I think this because I am responsible but at times I am very forgetful

Web Design: 3/10 I have very little experience

Developing action plans: 6/10 I am good at coming up with plans

Teaching other people: 7/10 I am pretty good at teaching others what I know

Meeting deadlines: 8/10 I always meet my deadlines other then the occasional time I can’t meet a deadline

3.       I am conferrable leading a group of students to the point where the numbers aren’t over exaggerated and I have another person with me, I get to shy when I lead alone.

4.       I prefer to work in a group, but with just one another person is also good, but I have a hard time working with a group of students alone

5.       Geography: somewhat comfortable

Media: Not comfortable

Business: very comfortable

English: somewhat comfortable

Biology: not comfortable at all

Pursuing Prezi

I say to pursue my idea because all that is required is the internet so it is very easy to learn the Prezi program. I suggest working with any of the business classes, preferably a business class that does and works more with presentations. As for the teacher I don’t know which teacher specifically teaches the business classes, although if Mr. Stoffman or Mrs .Gram is teaching, any of those 2 would work, or any other business teacher.

Enriching Technology

Idea: Incorporating Prezi into all presentations instead of the traditional basic PowerPoint presentations

Subject Area: All subjects can benefit, however, I believe business classes can benefit the most since they will learn and utilize Prezi into their daily lives based on the amount of technology at their disposal.

Details:  Business classes (or any class) can present their projects using a new flashy and attractive way, discarding the traditional method of presenting using PowerPoint. Prezi is the new way of all presentations that is fun, attractive and more beneficial to you and those watching your presentation

Technology needed: Internet access to download Prezi

Pros:
Ø  It’s fun to use

Ø  Prezi comes with many attractive features such as zooming or rotating the screen to expand and emphasize your points

Ø   Its new and more beneficial than the traditional PowerPoint

Ø  Your viewers are more intrigued and interested by your presentation

Cons: 

Ø  You need to have access to the internet to create an account on the Prezi website

Ø  You rely your presentation success based on whether or not internet is working

Ø  Takes time to learn how to use Prezi properly

What Needs to Happen to Make the Idea Work – Who is Responsible:

Ø  You need to talk to the teacher first to see if your teacher will allow a presentation method such as Prezi

Ø  You need to have access to internet

Ø    You need to learn how to use Prezi effectively

Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a basic editing program that allows you to make your own videos or edit videos already made. Windows Movie Maker contains features such as effects, transitions, titles/credits, and an audio track that you can incorporate into your movie. Windows Movie Maker also allows you to edit your music such as fading in or fading out. Another feature of Windows Movie Maker is that you can clip out sections of your movie, if you feel that parts of your movie are inappropriate or if you just feel the movie would look better without certain sections.

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Pros of Windows Movie Maker: It’s very easy and basic to learn compared to other software editing programs, it allows you to create your own movie starting from the title screen all the way to finishing credits, and it also allows you to incorporate your music of choice along with special effects

Cons of Windows Movie Maker: Sometimes windows movie maker crashes as you’re making a movie which makes you start from the beginning, it can’t save huge movies you edited, and the video quality is basic, and often when you’re creating even a basic video, windows movie maker freezes a lot.

Windows Movie Maker is a good program to start with for making short basic films

Some suggestions I have based for educational purposes include the history and science classes. For the history classes, for example, if you’re showing a war movie and some parts are to violent for students to watch, with windows movie maker you can clip out sections of the movie that you don’t want, and with special transitions already included in movie maker, it will look like those deleted scenes never existed. For the science classes, especially biology, if you want to show a quick movie on the anatomy of the human body, then with windows movie maker you can add effects, pause the movie when you want, add transition slides to emphasize what you want to say and you can emphasize, for example, important sections of the human body through special effects already installed in windows movie maker.

Windows movie maker is very simple to use, but if you’re ever having trouble then this tutorial will help you learn the program in less than 10 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZXK68NS7gU

This link is from you tube and it’s a step-by-step tutorial that is easy to understand and learn.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/getstarted/default.mspx This link is directly from the windows movie maker website and it’s an inquiry and answering page that answers any questions you may have. This website also has step-by-step tutorials for any question you may have on windows movie maker.

Blog Number 7- I Thought I Posted This

For this contest I don’t have any ideas on which original song we can make a parody that demonstrates or envisions the use of technology in the classroom, but I do have ideas on how we can make the video. One aspect of the video can be how we made surveys on the benefits of using netbooks in classes to help students create and learn more effectively. This is a good idea because we can possibly create lyrics for this.  Another aspect of the video can be how our classroom has a smart board, and how students are learning how to use the smart board to teach the other classes in our school. We can talk about how the smart board could be used for personal use to enhance one’s school presentations. We can also break up into groups and get teachers feedback on the video, or possible suggestions that will enhance the video.