Social Bookmarking (Delicious.com) NETS I, II, III

1) National Archives
On the National Archives website I visited the archive, "A People at War". This website is all about World War 2 including timeline of the war, those who served and the aftermath. This site contains pictures and articles about the war in Europe and in the Pacific. It also talks about how valuable science was to this war in particular for weapon and transportation development. Primary sources can be a valuable tool in any classroom. In a social studies class they provide the information needed to study a specific topic, or even a science class students can use primary sources to study the history of science.

2) NEA- Achievement Gap
One area that fits my teaching style is networking with parents, families and communities that are concerned with the needs of diverse students. This area stood out to me because as a teacher I think it is crucial to the success of the student to have a relationship with parents, families and the community. All of these factors are an important part of a student's life and will ultimately influence them. As a teacher you can have some influence on whether these factors are positive or negative. I am a very social person at heart and love to reach out and interact with these groups.
Another area that fits my teaching style is to create and implement a cultural competence self assessment. I think these assessments can be used as a valuable tool to identify strengths and weaknesses within the school relating to cultural awareness. Results of the assessment can then serve as a guideline for implementing procedures and programs to create awareness. Sometimes I think assessments are over used in our school system, but in this case I think it can be valuable to identify needs and create a starting point to take action.
The third area that fits my teaching style is to ensure the school has a mission statement that commits to cultural competence as an important part of all its activities. Just like the College of Education has a mission statement and incorporates it into everything, I think all schools should have one. Promoting a mission statement that is culturally competent can help create awareness in everything the students and staff do. This constant reminder of cultural awareness should help to create acceptance throughout the school.

3) Stop Cyberbullying
After taking the quiz I scored 0-5 points which means I am a Cyber Saint. Since cyberbullying typically happens between the ages of 8-15, there was no IM or text messaging and the Internet was fairly new when I was that age. Even now with all of the current technology, cyberbullying or cyberharassment is not something I have or will be a part of.
Cyberbullying is a tricky situation to deal with as an educator because it often happens outside of school jurisdiction. Since most of the harassment is being done on computers at home, the school really doesn't have authority to discipline the cyberbully without consent of the parent. I learned that as an educator you can take control of this situation in two ways. The first being to invite both the parents and students to meet on school grounds to try and resolve the issue. The second and more important way is proactively educating students about this issue in your classroom. Bringing awareness to this problem is the best approach to prepare kids on how to deal with cyberbullying if it happens to them. You can teach them that sometimes the best thing to do is to ignore the cyberbully, or involve parents to help bring the situation under control.

4) Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators
The "Subject Area" that interests me from Kathy Schrock's website is Science, Computing and Technology. The specific subject that I explored under that area was Environmental Science. Within in this subject there were several resources relating to environmental science that can be used in the classroom. In the future I plan to utilize some of the lesson plans provided along with the on-line information about environmental issues. In particular I liked the High School Environmental Center which provides information for High School students on how to get involved with their community relating to the environment. This will be a great resource for me to direct my students to for information.
The topic that interests me from "Teacher Helpers" is the Webquest information. In my other pre-requisite class our final project involved evaluating 3 different webquests based on a rubric. This was the first time I had even heard the word webquest, but after searching through a few I think they are a great tool to get students interactively learning online. The information Kathy Schrock has available in her webquest tab is very thorough and even gives guidelines on how to create your own webquest. In the future I plan to not only utilize existing webquests available online, but also create my own related to a specific topic within the curriculum. Kathy's website even provides a place to submit your webquest once you create it to share with others.

5) Multiple Intelligences
Top 3 Intelligences:
1) Naturalistic: 92%
2) Intrapersonal: 75%
3) Logical-Mathematical- 69%
The video I watched is called Multiple Intelligences Leave No Child Left Behind. This video highlights a school in Indianapolis, Indiana that integrates multiple intelligences into the curriculum to form what they call a Key Learning Community. The philosophy of this Key Learning Community is that each MI is equally important and should be a part of students learning. They have created an elective course or pod that allows students to choose a class which highlights their MI strength. This allows many students to feel success and gratification they may not get in a regular classroom setting. The school also works with the students to recognize their strengths early on so they can capitalize on them for the future. The educators mentioned their concerns about keeping a program like this alive due to No Child Left Behind. So much of school time is dedicated to testing to meet the requirements for NCLB that there is little to no time for an emphasis in other creative outlets. The idea of a Key Learning Community is a great student-centered curriculum , yet there are so many obstacles to overcome in order to implement a program similar to this in our schools. I think starting with the idea of giving students the freedom to pick an elective of their choice, along with offering a wide range of electives, is a first step in recognizing MI in the educational community.

6) Teaching Tolerance
Grade-9-12
Subject: Science and Health
Topic: Reshaping Body Image
This lesson is designed to get students re-thinking the preconceived notions they have about body image. This involves investigating influences in society that make us think a certain way about body image such as the media and culture. The activities related to the lesson include showing images related to body size and having students record their initial thoughts and then answering specific questions. It also involves students exploring further on the web the influences that exist in society which form ideas about body image. Lastly the lesson asks students to self reflect on how many times through a day they might have heard something related to body image and how that made them feel. I think this is a valuable lesson to use in the classroom especially at the high school level when the issue of body image becomes so prevalent. This is an issue that likely impacts all students, whether it be directly or indirectly. This is similar to cyberbullying in that if educators can proactively teach students about issues such as body image, they may prevent problems from happening in the future such as some student being made fun of because of how they look.

7) Multicultural Education and Equity
Taking this quiz I was surprised how many answers I got wrong. One of the questions that frightened me the most was the question that stated out of the 23 wealthiest countries, which ones scored lowest in relation to child well being. I could not believe that the United States was rated one of the worst countries for child well being when we have so many resources and so much money. In relation to another question, it is shocking to believe how much money we spend on the military budget, yet our children can't even be taken care of.
The other question that caught my attention was the statistic about White men versus Latina and Native American women who all have graduate degrees yet get paid half as much as their counterparts. It is sad to see how prevalent racism and sexism still is in this country. Even education can't overcome barriers and even the playing field. This is why I think policies such as affirmative action are still necessary and important to give equal opportunity to those that are discriminated against.

8) Nettiquette
Quiz Score: 90%
Netiquette should be taught in the classroom because communicating on-line has become such a big part of our society. Students need to learn the do's and don'ts of navigating cyberspace out of respect for others and themselves. Teaching Netiquette directly addresses the cyberbullying issue, teaching students to not abuse their power and steal people's passwords or write something offensive about a peer. It is important to remind them that the rules of life also apply to cyberspace, this directly addresses the issue of piracy and plagiarism :-(. Teaching students about the rules and laws of the Internet is critical because it is not always black and white. Overall, cyberspace is not a free for all, there are simple netiquette rules to follow to ensure every one's safety and well being =^)