Emerging Technology

Things in our world are changing constantly. In regards to technology, it changes very frequently. Technology is constantly changing and all teachers should do their best to keep up with it.  Emerging technology is technology that is currently being developed or will be developed within the next couple of years. Even emerging technology is important for teachers to keep an eye on and possibly learn to incorporate into their classroom because one new technology may be more useful in the classroom than one that is already being utilized.

A really good emerging technology tool that I want to utilize in my classroom setting is the use of mobile devices and apps.  I have already experienced what it is like to use some apps in a classroom setting such as Socrative which is an interactive app where the teacher can create a quiz or survey questions that the students respond to on their own devices (phones, iPads, etc..). The teacher is in control of moving on to the next question or allowing students to go through the whole thing without stopping.  I could have students download a free a physical activity app and have them track their activity on the app and show me their results at the end of the allotted period given.

Follow this link to see examples of apps I might use in my classroom.

Assistive Technology

Thanks to advances in technology, students with disabilities can participate in physical activities no matter their physical, mental, emotional, or social handicap or disability.  With the use of assistive technology, disabled students can accomplish tasks that they may have not been originally capable of doing. One assistive technology tool that could be very useful to have my classroom is a hand cranked bicycle (handcycle). This allows students with spinal cord injuries or paralysis that are normally confined to wheel chairs to have more mobility. 

Handcycling is a great upper body workout and can give the student a sense of freedom from their wheelchair. Most handcycles  have three wheels, two in the back and one in the front that steers. Handcycles require strength to be powered so it encourages use of the body instead of rolling around in a wheelchair which may take less energy and be less useful when approaching the subject of physical education which requires students to be physically active. 

My hope is to use handcycles in my class for students with injuries or disabilities that doesn't allow them to use their legs to sort of "keep up" with the other students during activities. For example, if I am having students run laps around the gym or outside track, I'd like to have the disabled student use the hadcycle so that they are not discluded entirely from the exercise.

Professional Development Web Resources

I have created a list of educational sites that includes websites, blogs, newsletters, and archives to show the availability of resources for teachers for both technology use in the classroom and specifically teacher resources for teaching physical education since that is my teaching field. Half of the links that I included are about technology integration in the classroom and the other half are resources for physical education teachers including lesson plans, topics, printable worksheets, quizzes, and so on. Some of these sites are very valuable as professional development resources because as the years go on the digital world changes and we have to adjust with it so we should always be looking for ways to integrate technology into our classroom. The other sites are useful because it helps me and any other physical education teacher find useful resources on the web to use in our classroom. The best part about these sites is that they are updated regularly so that we are always up to speed with changes and technological advances. Follow the link HERE and take a look for yourself at the kind of resources that are available for teachers.

Prezi Digital Citizenship Presentation

Using Prezi as a presentation tool is a great alternative to using a simple PowerPoint. It utilizes visual features to connect multiple "slides" to a specific topic.  It is very easy to use and can make anyone look like an excellent presenter.  One of the many wonderful features of Prezi is the ability to make your Prezi public so that anyone can search and look at your work. Because of this, it allows you to search other people's Prezis to help give yourself ideas of what to put in your own Prezi.

My topic for my Digital Citizenship Presentation using Prezi is "How can teachers monitor/prevent student access of inappropriate content on the internet?" I connected youtube videos, pictures, and links to my page to really answer the question and help teachers, and parents, how to monitor internet access by students.

Digital Posters

I used Glogster to create a digital poster.  It is a site that requires a paid membership but you can sign up for a free 7 day trial.  It is awesome! Glogster has all kinds of graphics and images organized into subject categories and an image can be linked to take the reader to another site with more information about the topic matter. Unfortunately, you cannot embed straight onto the poster but it is still one of the best tools to use to get students engaged and interested in exploring the material. Digital Posters are a great tool to use in a classroom setting and maybe even as a fun project for families.  It requires the reader to explore information from all different areas regarding a single topic.

My digital poster (using Glogster) is centered around exercise as the topic.  There are some funny videos linked to some of the sports graphics and educational videos linked to some of the other images.  The video on the right hand side of the poster kind of introduces the importance of exercise for children and I encourage you to follow the link below and take a look at the material I have compiled.  

Click Here to view my digital poster.

YouTube Video Playlist

A video playlist is a collection of videos centered around a specific topic that will play back to back for an audience to watch.  Video playlists are created in a variety of ways but one of the most popular is through YouTube.  To create a YouTube video playlist, search through the videos in a specific topic and add them to a playlist.  Video playlists are useful and beneficial in the classroom because it allows the teacher to show or even teach content by using videos which are familiar to the students and more likely to grab their attention.

The YouTube video playlist I have put together consists of three videos.  The first talks about foods that are healthy for the body and how much to eat in one day.  The second explains why healthy foods are healthy for you and the third explains the process of how food is digested in the body.  Students will watch these videos for homework and should take notes because there will be a test in class on the content of the videos.

Click here to view the Test

Internet Search Tools

Below I have provided a list, with links, of five of my favorite kid-friendly search engines.  With the increasing amount of inappropriate material out there on the internet, who knows what our children and students may be viewing and reading.  These five search tools that I have listed are safe to use and always monitored to decrease the chances of children coming across a site that may be harmful to their ever growing brains.

KidRex
KidRex is probably meant for the younger children, elementary age.  It is a child-safe search engine and it's powered by Google Custom Search.  The main search page of this site is colorful and appears to be hand drawn which I have found draws the attention of elementary aged children.  Because it utilizes Google SafeSearch, inappropriate content is not included in the search results.

Infotrek
Infotrek is centered more around high school aged students with reference sites on many different topics and subjects.  On the main search page of Infotrek are subject-sorted icons that students can click on that can take them straight to a specific search page that focuses on searching just in that subject area.  Infotrek accesses only trusted websites that our recommended by librarians, teachers, and other educational associations.

MyMunka
MyMunka is a safe search engine designed for school-aged kids that blocks 98% of inappropriate internet content.  MyMunka's purpose is to protect families and their computers from malicious search results.  There are flashcard categories to help students expand their knowledge and it's a good site for disabled students as well.

AGA-Kids
Every site that is accessible through AGA-Kids Search is carefully checked by their network monitors before it is indexed onto AGA-Kids.  They only index sites that are kid friendly with kid related material.  There are games and pictures that kids can access as well. It is a great search engine for children to find attractive resources on the internet.

GoGooligans
The first thing you read on the GoGooligans website is "Simple, safe, and kid oriented."  They use Google to help power their safe search and can block sites that they view as inappropriate for children.  There are 38 different languages available to search in and there is a pop-up keyboard for children with disabilities.

Educational Websites

There are a lot of educational websites available for teachers, students, and parents to access.  I have created a page where you can access the websites that I thought were the best. The link for this page is listed below. Some of the websites are completely free to use while others may require a membership. The websites I chose are a mix of the two but the ones that require a membership, I believe, are extremely worth the money.  The educational websites I found that would be beneficial for teachers to have are ABCTeach, Edhelper, Brainpop, Teachnet, Crayola, Learning Page, and Middle Web.  These sites are useful for teachers because they provide so many resources for teachers to use in their classroom, such as printable worksheets or educational videos to show to their students.  The websites I chose to show for Students are Enchanted Learning, Homework Spot, School Notes, Arcademic Skill Builders, Ask, Infoplease, and Quiz Hub.  Some of these sites contain interactive, academic games and skill building activities and others are sites that students can visit to search for help with their homework.  The educational websites I chose for parents are still important to have.  They include Fun Brain, Kids Reads, PBS, Scholastic, and Time for Kids.  The sites for parents are meant to help parents find skill building activities to do with their child and also to help them find resources for their children such as books.

~Crystal R. Maine

Click here to view my Educational Resources Website.

Screencast video

A screencast is a capture, by video or picture, of a computer screen.  People use screencasts to explain how to do something with a specific, step-by-step, explanation. There are many different tools that one can use to create a screencast.  The tool I used is called Screencast-O-Matic. It is easy to use and free to download. There are also other tools available such as jing or screenr.com.

The video I put together is one minute and forty-five seconds and its purpose is to show viewers how to access basic information about their Windows 8 computer. The information I show how to find in the video is the processor speed of the computer, the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) the computer has, and the amount of TOTAL hard drive space and of AVAILABLE hard drive space the computer has.

Video Photo Story

Video story telling is a great way of learning for students.  The digital world has become a prominent way of communicating, teaching, and learning.  Children love the digital world, which is why it is useful in helping them learn.  Using a video to guide in the learning process for students can be creative and engaging, maybe even for the teacher as well.

There are many tools available to use to create a video photo story such as photo story 3 and animoto.  For my video story, I used voicethread. I added pictures that I edited through ipiccy.com and then recorded my voice over the pictures to teach the lesson. 

Because I will be a Health and Physical Education teacher, I have put together a video photo story that briefly explains to students (at the secondary level) what calories are, how to balance them with physical activity, and why it's important to know about calories.

About Me

In this first post, I would like to just tell you just a few basic (hopefully interesting) facts about myself to help you understand who I am and where I come from.

I am from a Christian family with many generations of Nazarenes on my dad's side.  No one on my mom's side is a Christian, except for her. My parents met and fell in love at NNU, were married, and had three children including myself.  Right now, just my dad (Eric), my brother(Matthew), and I live together in a tiny house of off Midland and Lone Star in Nampa, Idaho.  My sister lives in Monterey, CA.  My dad and brother will be moving out soon and I will have the house to myself again - I lived there alone for 8 months before they moved in.

I am originally from Bakersfield, California.  I love to go back to visit, see my friends, and spend time down there but I don't ever want to live there again.  It is a dry, hot, sweaty, brown place.  Many people refer to the area of Fresno and Bakersfield as the "Armpit" of California, I can't say I disagree. I enjoy the different seasons of a more Northern area in the states which is why I love living here in Nampa, where there is such thing as snow!

I absolutely love to read. It is my favorite pass time. I am a fantasy reader and like to read pretty much anything that can't actually come true. My boyfriend just got me some new Terry Goodkind books for Christmas and I am about to open those up soon and get rid of the new book smell. My all-time favorite book is Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. It is such a creative and fun read. I have read it too many times to count and continue to spend some time reading through it again.

I do the best I can in my life with what I am blessed to have and with whom I am blessed to live this life with. I keep a positive attitude as best I can because anger is an uncomfortable and ferocious emotion and it can easily consume and take over if you let it.  My favorite verse in the bible is Psalm 4:4 which, loosely translated, says "When you are angry, do not sin. Rest in your beds and think about it."

~Crystal R. Maine