Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the use of internet technology to inflict emotional harm through repeated and deliberate harrassment, threats and intimidation.

Personally I do not have any experience with this. Maybe because I am older and was at an age beyond hazing when technology came to a place to be used in such a manner. But I can recall instances that friends and I would send mean or hurtful text messages to eachother as jokes. I guess this is a perfect example of cyberbullying, but in all honesty it just fit in with our sense of humor and how we joked with eachother. I can definately see how this could be taken farther or be used negatively if our relationships had changed for the worst. But never have I felt bullied by anyone through technology personally.

Some of the issues schools face in dealing with this growing problem are the boundaries in which they are or are not allowed to operate. If it happens off-campus is it the school's place to get involved? This is a tough question, but even if it occurs off campus, students will bring it to school in one way or another. They will either show a lack of focus, motivation or enthusiasm due to fear or feelings of sadness, or they will come to school looking to exact revenge in person on school property. So either way, I feel that if it is going on and the school knows about it no matter where it takes place, it is the school's duty to intervene. Without knowing the specific laws regarding this issue on behalf of the school's rights or lack there of, I believe the school has a responsibility to at the vary least be a reporter of any bullying happening on or off-campus.

Some may disagree that the schools have any right to extend into the home life or personal space of students off school property and seperate from school hours. Parents may take offense to schools medeling in what they consider to be private business. However, if the bullying includes students from that school or district and the reprecussions of the bullying affect or disrupt the learning environment or experience for any or all students, the school should have the right to step in and take action to provide either assistance or discipline as they see necessary.
In my classroom, I hope to implement a preemptive plan to deal with and discourage cyberbullying all together. One important step in acheiving this will be to not allow cell phones in class. This will keep students from bullying via text message iin the classroom. To go along with this and to add to the effectiveness, the sschool would have to be on board to not allowing cell phones on school property. Unrealistic, but necessary for helping to stop bullying at school. However, there is no real way to prevent it off campus, or to prevent students bringing the results of such bullying to school. We as educators must be dilligent in noticing the signs of bullying and keep a watchful eye on all forms of technology offered to students on campus. This means closely monitoring students when they are using computers or other forms of technology while in class.
Being dilligent and stressing the importance of respect and responsibilty to students are all aspects of combating cyberbullying, but the issue unfortunenatley will continue due to the shear volume and level of advancement of technology as we know it today.

Cell Phones in the classroom...No thanks!

While reading the article on cell phones in the classroom, I knew going in that I would be against it. What I did not expect, was the other side to make valid points and arguments to the contrary.

As mentioned above, I am totally against the use of cell phones in the classroom. I feel they are already a distraction and there is no real way to ensure students use them for educational purposes only while they are in class. As the author of the yes side states, "I'm not going to spend time on the fact that students would use them for purposes other than education." While technology is a must in our schools, we have to moniotr student use of computers and other school related technologies for appropriateness. We do not need to give them another tool for distraction and personal use that we have to keep our eyes on. On top of that, cell phones in our schools provide more opportunity for cyberbullying and innappropriate remarks directed to harm other students. Cell phones should be banned from not only classrooms but school property, or they t least should have to remain urned off and put away until the final bell rings.

On the other side of the argument, I do see that today's cell phones could be viewed as a tool that most students already possess that can be used for educational purposes. They definately have they capabilities, they are essentially mini computers. The author of the NO side states that, "while schools are struggling to finance the newest hardware and software, they are over- looking that many secondary students already own a technology tool that can be integral ot only in school learning, but in the students' future professional lives." This is an interesting point to say the least. With budget cuts and the state of the economy, is it not fair to use tools already at our disposal, especially ones being paid for by the student his/herself? While an interesting piece to the argument, until we can ensure responsible and appropriate use of this tool, cell phones should not be allowed in a classroom setting.

Some of the questions that came up as I read the article had to do with the point I discussed above. If students possess a tool that is capable and not funded by the school, why not implement it? This raises a great question for debate. I feel like my definately NO WAY stance is weakened, but again, until it can be policed and monitored effectivley for responsible use, how do we allow our students this freedom that can prove to be negative and detrimental to their peers or fellow students learning experience? Time will tell, but for now I see cell phone use in the classroom as a huge distraction and one tht looks to be going nowhere.

CELL

PHONES

J

Powerpoint Presentations

Powerpoint was something I had little experience with before this year in our MAT program. Hard to believe, but as i finished my undergrad, there was just not a high demand or use of it yet. So everything I saw in them was terrific! The best item I saw or took away from the presentations was the sheer multitude of uses for this tool. I think I may make powerpoint presentations on everything I do and just show them to family and friends for fun! But I really see the value of being able to organize information this way. It offers a visual reference to anything or any information you wish to get across. I really enjoyed Steve's presentation on his travels through Chile. I think this is a great way to share experiences like this and to show photos along with pertinent information for fellow or future travelers.

The least engaging thing about powerpoints could be too much text. If you take the time to create one and just fill it with words, you might as well have just created a handout like lazy PE teachers like myself. To not put to use the visual tools associated with this tool seems to render it pointless. One thing that I don't feel anyone did, but is an important factor for using this technology has to be the importance of visual stimulation. Fill it with color and pictures and limit the amount of text and words to avoid a dull presentation!

After viewing everyone's presentations, I feel I could have definitely added more. It could have been more organized as well. I did a presentation on my trip to Lao and although it may have given people a look at what I did and where I was, I could have gotten more specific. In the future I will keep that in mind, but I also figured on our 5 minute time limit and it was great just to get to use the technology!

As a lesson presenter, I feel that powerpoint is an important and powerful tool and one that our students should get proficient with. It is a great way to deliver information with the help of visual stimulation as well as text. The pros are countless, but a few cons that could be found would definitely have to do with getting the technology to work within the classroom. That is, to make sure that the technology is up and running and there are no glitches that could render a student's project or presentation useless. As of today and my own experience, these problems are sparatic at best and way to prevalent. If our schools were to get more technologically serious and have things working better, this could be a tool used everyday for any occasion.

Social Justice and Today's Learners

After reading these articles, I feel that the use of technology in the classroom will be a must even if there are outside access issues. For some students, it will be the only place where they get hands on experience and exposure to such technology. However, as in the article on getting to know our students discusses, most students no matter what their economic or home situation is outside of the classroom, a large percentage of them still get access to computers and technology regularly. So it becomes more of an issue of how do we keep all students on the same level or playing field? Do students lacking access suffer a disadvantage? I don't believe so. I feel that as long as they get exposure and experience with it in the classroom we are only bettering their chances for continued growth and success with technology as they progress through their schooling.

I feel strongly that in today's advanced society, if we as educators do not use technology in our classrooms we will be doing our students a great disservice. At the age of 33, I am definitely lacking in my abilities and experience with some of the modern technologies, but I still see the benefit of their use. I also know that most jobs and students today are more proficient with today's technologies right out of the gate and that students will be at a great disadvantage when they enter the real world if they do not have at least a basic understanding of what technologies their future employers are putting to use.

To increase access to students at a disadvantage, I will try to increase student use and exposure during school hours. I also feel it is important for schools themselves to offer up time outside of regular hours for kids to come in and have access to computers and other technologies to gain the proficiency needed to excel in the classroom and beyond.

Teachers and Social Networkng

After reading the article, "Have You Googled Your Teacher Lately?", and completing the assignments on googling ourselves, I can see how the internet can be a helpful yet dangerous tool for teachers to be involved with.

After googling my name, I found little that would be harmful to me personally if someone were to see some of the information that came up. However, There are a few Jeromy Browns in the world. One of them is a lawyer who has some negative press about him on the net but I did not see anything that if actually opened and looked at would reflect negatively towards myself. There was mostly links to my facebook or other social networking sites like myspace used by a Jeromy Brown from Wisconsin. While there was not too much about my particular name, I can definitely see how this could turn ugly for teachers with famous names or names linked to people doing negative things in this world and how it could then be mistaken and used against a person who is merely wrongfully associated with someone with the same name.

Luckily for myself, I tend to use sparingly, sites like facebook or other social networking sites for this vary reason. Although I do use them, I do not put much personal information about my life or hobbies or interests that could be see in a negative light by peers or possible employers.

I do strongly feel that teachers, as long as they are not breaking any laws should be judged only on their life in the school or around students publicly, and that their home lives should be open to pursue anything they wish. However, with the day and age we are experiencing, I feel that teachers should be held to a higher standard. If we are preaching to kids as role models, we should be practicing what we preach. We should, as educators handle ourselves publicly as if we are on the job. In the community it would be easy for any wrong move or opinionated statements to be misconstrued and used against us. For our career and professional lives, I feel it only benefits us to handle ourselves professionally at all times while involved in the community.

The most interesting story I read in the article would have to be the Myspace example of the education student with the "bloody page." I think that most people enjoy expressing their opinions, views and interests on their personal pages, but if left open to the public or students, it could portray a negative image or give the wrong impression about you personally. I will definitely keep my pages private regardless, but moreover, I will keep my page as safe and simple as possible. I would hate to lose my job or my license to something trivial that could be used against me from something in my personal life!!