Social Bookmarking - NETS IV

This is a social bookmarking assignment completed through Delicious.com, a social bookmarking website that makes keeping track of and sharing "bookmarks" on the web fast and easy.

1. I checked out several online exhibits. One of the exhibits that I checked out was about the Watergate Files. There were a lot of really great information on the case. Under each time-line tab was an overview during the event, a list of documents, names of people involved, and a film reel. I also checked out the Power of Persuasion website which features poster art from World War II. A lot of these posters were very patriotic and invokes a sense of responsibility to one's country. I can see how these posters were used to encourage people to support the war. I think that using primary sources is such a great way to get students involved in the history that they are studying. A lot of these primary sources bring to life the events of the past. Students would be better able to understand the events of history by studying these primary sources because they tell so much more than just reading a textbook.

2. The three areas that I feel fit my teaching style are: "Ensure that your school has a mission statement that commits to cultural competence as an integral component of all its activities. The cultural competence committee should be involved in developing this statement," "Determine the diverse groups served by your school. Consider cultural, linguistic, racial, and ethnic diversity. Find out the degree to which families and students in these groups are accessing available school services," "Network with parent, family, minority community, and faith-based organizations concerned with the needs of diverse students. Solicit their involvement and input in the design and implementation of initiatives for culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups." I chose these three areas because diversity is a very important issue to me. I believe that every group of students are different and we as future educators should not treat them all the same. The first step in becoming culturally competent is actually acknowledging the different ethnic groups at your school and in your classroom. Identifying the different culture at your school environment will allow for you to better accommodate to your students needs based on their cultural background. I also think that involving parents and others from different ethnic groups to help at the school to educate about their culture would also increase culture awareness.

3. The website that I found is called Owl Online Writing Lab. This website discusses the differences between an adverb and an adjective. It gives several examples of each and also discusses how to use these parts of speech correctly. At the bottom of the website are two different exercises that students can complete to apply there understanding of the uses of adverbs and adjectives. The reading level for this website is grades 3-6.

4. The area of Kathy Schrock's website that I focused on was the "Education Resources" area. Once you click on this link, there are so many other tabs that are so helpful for teachers. There is a tab for lesson plans, one for useful websites, one for how to integrate technology into the classroom, and so many others. I will use this website to get ideas on how to integrate technology into my classroom. I will also use it to make quizzes and create web-based activities to engage my students in their learning process. So instead of pencil and paper activities all the time, I can use this website to get ideas on how to engage my students in learning with different technology tools.

5. Something interesting that I learned about multiple intelligences is that everyone posseses them. There are eight different intelligences and most people are strong in certain intelligences and weak in others. Each of the eight intelligences is different from one another. Each intelligence focuses on a particular area in the brain. In a classroom, all the students will not be strong in the same type of intelligence so as a teacher you would have to accommodate your teaching style to fit the learning style of your students. Some students learn better visually, some learn better kinethestically, and so on.

6. The lesson plan that I chose is called "Family Ties and Fabric Tales." The link to it is http://www.tolerance.org/teach/activities/activity.jsp?cid=331. This lesson plan has two parts to it. For the first part, students are to talk to their parents about their family's background. Students then discuss their background in a presentation in which they bring in something that symbolizes a part of their background. Along with the presentation, students will also locate where their family came from on a globe. For the second part of the lesson, students create a family quilt by illustrating in each square on a worksheet something that symbolizes a part of who they are. This is a lesson plan that I would definitely use in my class in the future to get a better understanding of my students and at the same time it also allows my students to get to know each other better. This activity can really stimulate an appreciation for other culture and other people's differences.

7. One of the questions that I thought was interesting was the comparison between the earnings of U.S. white men and Latin and Native American women. Although they are both graduates, Latin and Native American women earn about $30,000 less than U.S. white men. Even though women are able to do more things now than they did in the past, there is still a gap in equality between men and women in certain environments. Women are usually still seen as the housekeeper, the nurturer while men are usually seen as the money maker and the authority in a home. It really surprised me how much of a difference in earnings are made based a person's gender even if they have the same qualifications and skills. Another question that I thought was interesting was the one about which country had the lowest rating for the treatment of children. The United States and the UK had the lowest rating out of the top 28 wealthiest countries. I was really surprised to see that the United States and the UK were at the bottom two. It's just kind of weird that we are at the bottom two because it does not seem like we treat our children bad.

8. I scored 90% on the Nettique quiz. I should teach students about Nettique because it knowledge on how to behave while in the virtual environment of the internet. I think that this is a step in teaching our students to become digital citizens. Nettique is about the do's and don'ts communicating with others online. Many students nowadays have emails and blogs in which they pass back and forth thoughts and feelings on certain topics. It would be good for students to know what they should and shouldn't do while communicating with others online. ; P