There are lots of things online that can be harmful to our students if they are not informed. There are many ways that people can get personal information from our students that can be used to harm them and the growing use of cyber bulling is something that we have to deal with. One question that gets asked a lot is who should teach our students about internet safety? Some people think it is the parents and others the teachers. Even teachers can't decided on what teacher should teach the kids about internet safety Some think just the computer teacher. In an ideal world how should we be teaching internet safety? If this is a topic that you do not have much back ground knowledge on I would suggest doing a bit of reading on the topic. If we are asking or students to use technology then we should make sure we know what then need to do to be safe. (I can tell you from personal experience many kids are TOTALLY clueless when it comes to their safety on the web).
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I have a love hate relationship with my online grade book. I have been a teacher in the days of the old red grade book that you had to do EVERY thing by hand and the online grade book. I love that I no longer have to do all the math (there is a reason I don't teach math - I don't like it and I am not good at it). I also love that I just hit submit and my grades are ready for the person that prints the grade cards (I do miss filling out midterm and grade card seats with my husband at IHOP at 10:30pm the day before they were due). Yes it make the grading part of teaching much less time consuming so that is a win!
The part I am starting to question in my 9th year of having a online grade book is how much does it benefit our students? In Middle School, High School, undergraduate and graduate school I had a running list of everything I had to turn in for each class that include how much it was worth and the grade I received. I knew my grade in the class at any given time. I could figure my GPA whenever I needed. My grade was NEVER a surprise. As I watch my middle school students through the years I feel they are more out of tough with what their grade is and why they have that grade. I have had graduate students not know how to figure their own grade or GPA. They have become totally dependent upon the fact they can check their grades online. I feel that being able to check you grades on line is a good tool. Teachers do miss things....we put the wrong grade in, we give assignments the wrong point values, we just miss a student in the grade book, and we sometimes forget to correct something we say we will. The fact that a student (or parent depend on the age of the student) can check grades is a good form of accountability for the teacher. Many more of my students seem shocked about their midterm grades for all of their classes when I pass them out now then when we had hard copy grade books. Is the online grade book making students less accountable for their own grades? What are you seeing in your classrooms or with the students you interact with. At a faculty meeting last year we had a very good conversation about what our school guide lines should be for Bring Your Own Device. The two options that the majority of the faculty liked are listed below. Pick one that YOU would want to be the guidelines for a MIDDLE SCHOOL (6-8th grade) that you worked at. I know that not all of you have/do/will teach this age group be this is the group of students we talked about. Make sure to include your reasoning for your choice. If you decided to change your choice as we talk about this topic please let us know and why you decided to change you mind.
When I got my undergrad I did not even have to take a computer class to get my BME. We did use computer for papers and music notation. There was a SMART Board in T.Berry 209 but we never got to touch it (and my Professors used it as a projector screen for notes on Power Point) . We were not prepared for the world of Technology that was out there then and there is no way we could be ready for what we have today. This brings me to this weeks question....Are teacher education programs preparing teachers for the 21st centenary classroom?
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Class BlogThis blog is for class conversations for Ed 514 at Central Methodist University. We invite input form other teachers about how they use technology in their classrooms. Archives
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