Reflecting on my Multimedia Lesson Plan

        

                                                        (My ROY G. BIV Digital Tutorial)

          Given the opportunity to take the class, ED 271 with Dr. Cyrus, I have learned a great deal about how to integrate technology with almost anything, more specifically a lesson plan. The lesson plan was created with one of my new technology tools, Wix, a site building website that has various customizing options and editing tools. I decided to create a lesson plan where I, as the teacher, would teach first graders their primary, as well as secondary colors. My ideas for the lesson plan were gathered based on the content of my digital tutorial, which was a rap video, meant to teach children about the colors of the rainbow. According to the Guam Department of Education's fine arts, content standards for first graders they are to already have some knowledge of the basic colors, however, by this grade, learn how to mix primary colors in order to make secondary colors with paint (GDOE 2010). Because of this I decided to introduce the lesson with the rap video on the colors of the rainbow, followed by a lesson on the color wheel, where primary colors are found. Without directly telling the students how to obtain a secondary color I incorporated a finger painting activity in the lesson plan where students would have to experiment with their primary colors and mix them in order to create their secondary colors. The exploration portion of the lesson will allow them to find out on their own where secondary colors come from. The kids will then use the colors they have learned to make and use them to create a rainbow.
       As part of the lesson I was required to chose a specific disability and make accommodations for that individual and  i chose the disability of a visual impairment. For that child with visual impairments, the accommodations that I would make would be a print out of the lyrics to the rap song at the beginning of the lesson in large font, a seating arrangement at the front of the classroom where the lecture is visible, I would assist he or she in the finger painting activity if certain colors are hard to see, and allow the student more time to complete the online color wheel game. These accommodations are important, especially for the child with the disability in order to guarantee all learners' success in the classroom.
      A way that I can make the subject material more challenging is if I have the students create a more abstract piece of art work rather than a rainbow or if I decide to incorporate patterns into the lesson plan. Regardless of how challenging the lesson may be for the students, it will meet their needs as first grade students and with the incorporation of technology the students will be more motivated to learn which aligns to the first NET standard for teachers (NETS*T 2008). Moreover, I am very excited to have found a new way of creating lesson plans and the fact that students are becoming more tech savvy these days reassures me that my teaching strategies, in which technology will be incorporated, will be effective one day.




GDOE Content Standards,http://www.gdoe.net/ums/GDOE%20Content%20Standards%20June%2015,%202010.pdf

NETS*T Standards 2008,  http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx

My Multimedia Lesson Plan!

Technology Tools Assessment

The video below is an assessment of chosen technology tools that have assisted me in my ED 271 course. Enjoy!

                          

If you would like to view it in full screen, feel free to click on this link: Shayana's Tools Assessment

Cyber Bullying Follows You Home

 

Megan Meier's Story

          Bullying has always been a heated issue in schools and outside of schools, however, in today's modern society, bullying now exists in technological advances that are not as easy to escape from. This heated issue, Cyber Bullying, has resulted in suicide, depression, and isolation amongst children and can also continue to affect them as adults. This is the case because individuals feel less intimidated bullying others via the internet or cellphones, giving reason for them to include more harsh statements targeting another individual in order to demean their character or threaten them. This form of bullying is considered to be the worst form, most especially because it can follow the individual anywhere, unless something is done to stop it. Awareness must be spread to children at an early age, in order to teach them about the risks, as well as how to deal with the issue if it ever makes its way into their lives. For this reason, my group was formed in order to address this issue and inform others about how to deal with it.
         Cyber bullying is defined as when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones (Wired Kids 2011). It is an issue that has more recently scarred the lives of individuals since technology became much more accessible. The various types of cyber bullying were researched such as harassment, flaming, denigration, outing, trickery, exclusion, exposure, and impersonation. All of which, having the same devastating effects on individuals. Once my group had a better understanding of each of these types of cyber bullying and their effects, a news report of a girl who was cyber bullied, which eventually led to her death, left each of us in shock. We decided that we wanted to share the story of Megan Meir, a 13 year old girl who committed suicide after finding out that "Josh Evans", a boy she had been confiding in and gained feelings for, was fictitiously created by a classmate's mother (Maag 2007). The case ended with Lori Drew, the mother who created the fictitious, "Josh Evans", being charged with violating MySpace's terms of service and breaking a federal law. This case prompted law officials to take bullying cases more seriously and consider specific laws to if not diminish, limit them. Introducing cases similar to Megan Mier's and covering an entire lesson on cyber bullying would be the best way to make children, at an early age, more aware of the issue and learn how to avoid it, as well as report it. As a future educator I will make it a point to really focus on the topic of cyber bullying and other digital safety issues that are significant.
         The story of Megan Meir, and other cyber bullying cases has shocked many individuals around the world, including my group. Therefore, by informing others about the issue of cyber bullying, more can be done to prevent it from happening to anyone else. Not only should this topic be covered in the classroom by teachers, but at home too, where parents should also be responsible for educating their children. Let's not wait until another child has to commit suicide before more is done to resolve the issue.

-Shayana Mariano
Undergraduate, Elementary Education
School of Education
University of Guam
11/22/2011

Wired Kids Inc., 2011
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html

Maag, Christopher (2007 December 16). When the Bullies Turned Faceless. New York Times. Retrieved from home

page web address

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/fashion/16meangirls.html?ref=meganmeier



>>>>>Digital Safety Issues Presentation, Cyber Bullying

The Gateway to Success

              In today’s society each and every individual has the ability to become equally successful. It was evident in the video, Enabling Dreams, that some individuals need the appropriate tools to help them seek those abilities. Technology has become extremely advanced, where anything is possible, even for a child with multiple disabilities. Moreover, for the majority of these children their disabilities do not exist to hinder them, but to enable them in seeing a brighter future. With the reality of assistive technology, teachers now have a better idea of how to successfully accommodate children with specific disabilities in the classroom.

             Before creating a lesson plan a teacher must always take into consideration the abilities of the students rather than their disabilities. This may not always be an easy task, considering that the different accommodations may serve as an ongoing trial. Not all accommodations will work for the students and that is when assistive technology comes into the picture. Examples of ways teachers can implement assistive technology in the classroom are when reading a story, incorporate the usage of media to demonstrate pictures for students to use as a visual learning tool, which highlights Standard 1 under Educational Technology in Guam DOE’s Content Standards (GDOE, 2011).  An example In the video was the band student who used assistive technology together with his trumpet to successfully participate in band performances and lessons in the classroom. This goes to show how assistive technology can truly bring out the creative side of each student with disabilities, which highlights one of the NET standards for students (NETS 2007).

            During the process of creating a lesson plan with specific accommodations, a teacher must always involve the parents of the children. This is one of the steps needed in order to take on the responsibility of revising a lesson plan. The teacher must also do his or her own part in researching various accommodations for that child’s disability. For example, if a student has physical disabilities and he or she needs assistance making their way around the classroom, the teacher must take charge and find a means of providing the child with a wheel chair. If a child has a specific learning disability, the teacher can make accommodations by granting the child more time to complete the assignment or by allowing the usage of laptops in the classroom as writing tools.

            Ways teachers can assess whether or not their accommodations are appropriate in the classroom is by observing through trials. Another way is by communicating with the principal of the school, who can also help to revise the lesson plan. All that should matter is if the child is benefiting from the accommodation and if the child is comfortable with those specific accommodations. These matters should guarantee learning success in the classroom for everyone and not just the children with disabilities.

Enabling Dreams

           

Guam Department of Education, 2011

https://sites.google.com/a/gdoe.net/curriculum-and-instruction/content-standards-1

Net standards

http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx

The Math Engine: Educational Online Game Reflection

In today’s society, technology continues to grace the world with its everyday advances. One of the advances being, educational online games, that can be beneficial for students and teachers. Even if this is the case, not all of these games meet the criteria needed to serve as a valid resource in the classroom. For this reason, finding online games that have the ability to keep students engaged, while effectively teaching the lesson, can be difficult. 

During the process of evaluating various educational games, a rubric was created in order to properly assess them. The creation of the rubric was fairly complicated, only because it needed to fit the standards of both the teachers and the students. Teacher concerns surrounded the educational aspects of the game and whether or not the game targeted key concepts in their classrooms. Meanwhile, student concerns surrounded the fun, colorful, and musical aspects of the games. Moreover, a combination of all these criteria was needed in the rubric. The group took into consideration all of the different subjects covered in the classroom, and then narrowed it down to the subject of math. With math being one of the subjects that does not easily maintain the attention of the students, the group figured that a math game was the perfect option.

The math estimation game called, “Ice, Ice Maybe”, managed to engage the group, while allowing each person to brush up on their math skills. The game used animals as tools to motivate the students to move on to the next level and the colorful aspects of the game also played a motivational role. The incorporation of addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, and percentages as well as providing levels for the students to choose from, showed the games ability to reach out to different age levels and students struggling in a particular category of math.

“Ice, Ice Maybe,” is a game that teachers should consider using in their classrooms. Not only is it fun, it provides students with the opportunity to use their critical thinking skills with the provided math categories to chose from, problem solving skills, through the process of estimation while being timed, and sufficient decision making in order to move on to the next level (NETS, 2007). For those reasons, teachers could clearly identify the game to meet one of the net standards for students, as well as meet various curriculum standards for math in the classroom (NCTM, 2011). With a game that has the ability to meet student standards as well as teacher standards, students will eventually learn to love math.

Ice, Ice Maybe: http://www.mangahigh.com/en/games/iceicemaybe - atid=6&reload=true

International Society for Technology in Education. (2007) NET Standards for Students.

http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students.aspx

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2011) National Math Curriculum Standards

http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=7564

Practice for you

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy black dog. UOG