Middle School Tech Topics

is the big question that my students ask. I am always telling my students and parents about the dangers on the internet and sometimes forget to share the great things. My students have found a few sites that I consider safe. However keep in mind that nothing is totally free from inappropriate content or creeps.
My favorite site for students to use when they have the time is Whyville “Whyville is a virtual world where boys and girls from all over the real world come to chat, play, learn, and have fun together. You design your face, earn clams by playing games, hang out at the beach, and go to town events at the Greek Theater. You can start your own business, buy a car and give your friends a ride, or write for the town newspaper. ”
In order to chat in Whyville kids must take a chat license test and up to a certain age must have their parents permission. If a child says anything inappropriate it is either not allowed, or the other kids can file a 911, and the site moderates the chat and will ban or put duct tape over the mouth of the character for a specific amount of time.
I enjoy this site it gives the kids some freedom but keeps them safe and if the kids want to earn credits in the game they must play the EDUCATIONAL games.
Another site that my kids LOVE is Webkinz. It is not really a social networking site because kids do not interact with each other. The kids use the code off of thier Webkinz stuffed animal and adopt it. They can then play games and earn credits to buy things for thier virtual pet. Some kids love it and some think it is childish. I find it is a nice safe fun place for kids to play online. My middle school kids like it and my 4 and 6 year olds like it.
Club Penguin is another social networking site for kids.
“Parent Tools allow you to manage your child’s playtime on Club Penguin. With these features you can view your child’s account history, change your child’s password or chat mode and more.” It is not the most educational site but it is a lot of fun for the kids.

Hope this helps.. Let me know your thoughts.

Wow school has started again. I am actually very happy to be leaving the world of 4 and 6 year olds to enter the middle school classroom again. I have some new toys to play with. However I get the toys and new site and now have to find good efficeint ways to use them.

1. Jing Project – this is free (for now) software that can be used to create screencasts. I have started to use it to do mini tutorials for the teachers in my building. Like how to check email. Very easy to use. I also thought it would be a good thing for Special Ed students who need extra instructions. It would be great for the visual learner. I also saw a math teacher having students create thier own screencasts on math topics.
2. Twitter- is a new site that I just started using. You send out short little “Tweets” to people who are following you on the site. You can add a “tweet” to a website or blog that you find interesting. You can also follow people who you want. I have some very interesting people and groups that I follow. It is a great way to get info that does not require a lot of reading unless you want to. A lot of bloggers use it to advertise their new topics. My user name is LisaSteb if you want to follow me. www.twitter.com

So I am finding new things to play with but now need to find the time to use them. Using cool new things in the classroom is good but I have to make sure it doesn’t cut into all the standards that I need to cover. Sure I can justify teaching just about anything with technology but what is being left off can be very important.

 Sharing technology with middle school students can be a controversial endevour. There are varying ideas as to  what kids should be able to do and not be able to do on the internet. 

The internet is full of fun and exciting things. I can spend hours searching the net for the most random things. Timeshares, LCD Screen cords, Disney pins, jewlery making classes you get the picture right. I often find some really neat things and want to share them with my students. The problem is not every cool thing you find is designed or marketed to a middle school student.

I recently started using Google with my 8th graders. There are so many cool things that would really get the kids excited about learning. However it also gives them access to somethings that are not allowed in our school. IGOOGLE is a great way to customize your home page. However some of the gagets that my kids found are not totally for middle school kids. The next thing we did was GMAIL. Kids all signed up and learned how to attach a file to send work to and from home. However anyone that you email that has GMAIL is also included in the side a chat feature. It takes me about a week to notice this feature. It takes the average 8th grader about 4 minutes to sniff out this feature.

I find myself checking my email and voice mail a lot right after introducing new things to my students. Parents have different views on the internet so far so good. I have not ruffled any feathers. I am sure that will not last forever. However I think that the possible negatives are far outweighed by the postitives when sharing technology with kids.

I recently saw this video and it really motivated me in my planning for next year. It really hit home that we literally ask our students to power down when the enter school. Let me know your thoughts on this.

I recently had a discussion with a collegue regarding using her school webpage to share homework information with students. In my school all teachers post their homework on their website daily. Some of the faculty are resistant to this practice.

The first side is against posting homework for students. Posting homework is creating bad organizational habits. Students are not writing thier homework down in an agenda because they know that it will be posted online. If the teacher is unable to update the webpage some students and unfortunaly parents use the webpage as an excuse to not get work done.

My arguement is for posting homework for students. College sylubus’s can  be found online when you take courses. This is the future and showing students how to use technolgy to obtain important information is a great organizational habit. I feel that students are ultimately responsible for writing down their work if the website goes down or is not updated it is still the students responsiblilty. The value of sharing information online is huge. Parents can check thier childs homework from thier job, home, or any location in the world. More parents work today than ever before they can now have more information quicker and easier.