Tool 11

I actually think the best tool that I could use in the class is the blog itself.  It can be used as a central location where I can give out links and specific information that students need both at school and at home and it gives them an opportunity to also interact with me and other students on certain topics.  Since my students in all 3 of my different classes have to do various types of research, a blog is a great place for me to put the instructions, requirements, and resources so they are easily accessible.  I don't feel that my view of how things are going to work in my classroom has changed because I have already been using various types of technology and encouraging students to look for information in places that they don't normally think of.  I have just seen some other options that I can take into consideration when making plans.

Tool 10

The things that I would like my students to know about being good digital citizens is that the internet is not a place to bully or ostricize others, especially on Facebook, posting lewd pictures can put you in all sorts of bad situations, and lastly whatever you put on the internet stays there forever because it is archived.  I see my students spend way to much time on Facebook and talking about posts on Facebook.  I have even seen some of their pages and they clearly don't know or care about the repercussions of what they post.  I would definitely want to let my students' parents know that they should talk with their kids and patrol them to prevent them from making serious mistakes that can affect them right now and years into the future.  I would probably use the iSafe program to go through some of the issues that students should be aware of while using technology.  I think the best way to teach kids about digital citizenship, at least from the Facebook perspective that is most common is to pull up students pages in class and have them feel a little uncomfortable about the fact that everyone in the room including the teacher is looking at all their business.  It would probably be a good idea to simply google their names on the screen to show how much personal information comes up.  Telling kids doesn't do anything in my opinion when it comes to netiquette.  They have to see their mistakes from a different perspective to make them realize some of the problems that can arise from their online presence.

Tool 9

The objective for a lesson must be tied directly to the technology so the students know exactly what the end product should be using the technology so that they don't waste their time playing games, using Facebook, or cruising on the Internet. Students have to be held accountable for the hardware checked out to them so they don't damage them and will protect them from other studnts. Unfortunately none of the sites listed work with my curriculum but any of them would be great for enrichment time during my PRIDE class. Again I will not receive any new technology because I am a CATE teacher but if I did get any iOS based hardware then the most handy apps would be sketching apps, calculators, measurement apps, woodworking blog specific apps, and YouTube.

Tool 8

Unfortunately I will not be receiving any of the devices mentioned because I am in the CATE department and I already have a COW for my PLTW course.  I am very familiar with all the of the different types of hardware that each classroom will be receiving so I didn't learn anything about them.  I will say that many teachers are going to be pulling their hair out when they plan on using a flash based  website with iPads or iPods.  Unfortunately Apple views flash as an antiquated technology compared to html5 so be warned.  The easiest way to begin management with your class and the hardware is to assign a piece of hardware to each student at the beginning of the year and keep it that way so they are responsible.  I have to have a laptop for each of my GTT students so they have to make sure that they maintain it and that the have quick access to their server folder.  This also helps during boot up because any new login account on any device that requires a login takes forever because the device has to upload the account data from the district servers and then create that account locally on the device.  Since my GTT class is based around the usage of the laptops I don't have any management issues.

Tool 7

Gateway To Technology

Content Objective:  The students will collaborate with another GTT class by working on an engineering design of a chair by interacting online to use Autodesk Inventor to draft other students' designs while the other students draft my students designs.

Implementation:  I plan to implement this idea during the 1st 9 weeks when my GTT students must go through the design process and create a working CAD drawing of their design during the 2nd 9 weeks.

Tools:  Google Docs (word processing), Skype, SketchUp, Email, Autodesk Inventor

Description:  GTT students must understand how to work through the design process as an engineer.  One of their first design tasks is to create a design of a classroom chair given certain guidelines and constraints from their client (another class or myself).  They must have discussions with their client and come up with detailed sketches to present to their client before creating working drawing for manufacturing.  Once their designs are approved they must create a working set of drawings by using the CAD software Autodesk Inventor.  In this project the students will use another classroom as their client and vice versa.  They will have to report to each other in paired groups to finalize their designs and submit working drawings to each other.

Tool 6

Below is a link to a sample wall wisher board I created for students to easily access the state Career Cluster Magazines available for my Career Portals course.  The students have to do research on a chosen career field and the magazines are a great source.  Using the wall wisher board allows them to easily access the pdf files rather than having to search the web for them or use the physical magazines.  My students would much rather use the computer than to flip through a magazine so I think they would be more likely to use a service like this.

http://wallwisher.com/wall/bx2fqs3z3q

Tool 5

The following wordle could be used as a warm-up in my Exploring Careers class at the beginning of the year to have them do a quick write about the words that they see and how they are related.

This is a motivational poster that I made with Big Huge Labs that could be used in my Career Portals: Architecture and Construction class.

My students could use web 2.0 tools to create their own advertisements for products that they will create and sell, create animations that describe their findings about specific careers, or simply design their end of the year portfolios using images of their finished products.

Tool 4

All the available "in the cloud apps" are great for the simple fact that you don't have to have specific software installed on your computer.  This is a "plus" since the district no longer will install the Office Suite on student computers and is pushing Google Docs.  I have my students create brochures and presentations in my classes and many times the students need more time.  It would be easy for them to work at home using Google Docs.  This would also work well when creating a department document without taxing the email system with attachments.  Everyone could simply edit in one location and leave comments as well.

Tool 3

I use both youtube.com and www.thewoodwhisperer.com because youtube has multiple videos about each individual topic that we might need to look at and they are fairly easy to download using a third party service and thewoodwhisperer is all about wood working.  The following two videos are of some of the robotics challenges that my GTT students have to deal with which is a great help for them to wrap their heads around how to program and build certain robots.  This happens to be one of the most complex challenge for them to program.

I really haven't learned anything new about copyright laws but I can tell you that the internet sure is full of violators.

Tool 2

I think it is great to be able to communicate with others by leaving comments however most of the time there isn't a whole lot for me to say to add to someone's post.  I do currently use and plan to continue the blog/general website http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/ for different ideas and projects.  I even use the guy's app on my phone.

Tool 1

Creating a blog and avatar is fairly simple.  The hardest part is deciding on the title or the look of your avatar.