Mitchell

= Hello! My name is Melissa Mitchell and I teach Kindergarten at Blue Mountain Elementary Cressona. This is my third year teaching at Blue Mountain. I would love to use technology more often in my classroom, however due to time constraints I am very limited! Many of my students have never even used a computer before, so it makes my job a little more difficult. I take my students to the computer lab once a week, and we have two computers within our classroom that we use weekly. We only have two smartboards in our school, so I rarely have access to it. =

Helpful website for Kindergarten teachers [|Click Here]

Social Networking... I have a facebook account, but not a myspace page. I think there are a few differences between the two...I feel Facebook is much easier to navigate my way around and add information, and seems to be more popular amongst my friends and family. The only disadvantage I have come across regarding Facebook is that it doesn't allow you to stream music onto your account, whereas Myspace allows you to upload songs/ of your choice.

Blogging.... It's a little more difficult to use blogs in my classroom, due to the fact my students are so young and inexperienced. I actually started a blog for another course through Wilkes...and I designed it mainly for other new teachers (as well as parents) to get some creative ideas. I liked having a blog for other "newer" teachers so that they could use my ideas. I made sure I always posted pictures of my projects, activities, etc so they could not only read about it, but see what the end project would look like. I also thought it was a neat way to communicate with parents. Parents could get on my blog and see what was happening in our classroom, on a weekly basis. Parents could then comment, respond, or add ideas of their own under my posts.

**Questionairre:**

 * 1) Do you agree with all of the items covered in this Bill of Rights? Why or why not? I agree with many of the items covered in the Bill of Rights, but I don't believe they are followed by many people, and I don't agree with ALL of the them. I think the Bill of Rights would be greatly if all citizens abided by them...but the way technology is headed...I don't forsee that happening any time soon.
 * 2) What do you disagree with? I disagree with several items listed within the Bill of Rights. For example, in article 1, section 3 they state that all citizens shall have the right to be informed about personal information that is being and has been collected about them, and have the right to review and correct that information. How often does this really happen? Many of these regulations are not followed, especially with the use of social networking sites.
 * 3) Do you plan to abide by these guidelines? Why or why not? I do abide many of these guidelines, yet I never knew they existed! I think being a teacher, I am much more consciensus of who and what I talk about.....and am always aware of what I say and do because I know it can be seen by everyone on the internet.
 * 4) Do you think they leave out anything important? Why or why not? I think they did a good job of covering the guidelines, yet I think it may need to be updated due to how many people are networking online and how quick and easy it is to post comments/pictures about each other.
 * 5) What's not covered that should be? With current trends headed towards blogging, facebook, myspace, twitter, etc they need to expand their rules and regulations to cover all emerging technologies.

Three of the latest viruses include: [|Backdoor.Tidserv!gen],[|Trojan.FakeAV!gen2], and .[|MailPassView] After researching several of these viruses...I think MailPasssView can be very harmful to computers, and very INVASIVE. This virus can leak into your email account and gain access to your emails.
 * VIRUSES:**

A recent report states that cell phone users must register with the National "Do Not Call" list by a certain deadline or else telemarketers will have access to their email accounts. FALSE!
 * Internet Hoaxes:**

Lester sends e-mail to the entire student body inviting them to a BYOB party at his house while his parents are out of town. Lester receives a message from a system administrator calling him in for a meeting with school officials. He objects because he feels that his e-mail is his own private business. My AUP states that: users are prohibited to communicate about non-work or non school related comunications unles the students' use comports with this policy's definition of incidental personal use.
 * Internet Ethics Issue:**


 * GOOGLE EARTH!**

Checked out Google Earth....what a great way to take a virtual field trip with my students! We can go anywhere in the world, and they can see various places of interests with a click of a button. This is great for any social studies or geography class, or for any students who want to step out of the classroom and visit sites around the world. I really like that you can cllick on photos of places, and measure the distance between two locations.


 * Here is my jing movie:** This video demonstrates how to use a handwriting worksheet online.

media type="file" key="2009-10-19_1724.swf" width="360" height="270"

**Here is my youtube video!** My youtube video is a compilation of the funniest clips from Ace Ventura.
media type="youtube" key="pG-DdKEV38o" height="344" width="425"

Welcome to my classroom.....here are a few things we will be learning about this year! media type="file" key="podcast.wav" width="300" height="50"
 * Here is my podcast!**

I created this movie for my sister who just got married in September. media type="file" key="SamandHezi.wmv" width="300" height="300"
 * My Movie Project:**


 * Video Conferencing:**

There are endless educational opportunites when it comes to video conferencing! Students (and teachers) can do so much via use of a camera and an internet connection. Students can connect with anyone in the world. Teachers can collaborate with other teachers to gather ideas or share stories. Twice and Polycom are two useful video conferencing websites that we were able to we explore during class. I couldn't believe how many options these websites presented. You can look up other teachers, classrooms, or groups and collaborate on any topic or subject. If my school was equipped with the necesssary tools, I would love to connect with other Kindergarten classes and see what they are learning, creating, etc. I could use video conferencing to allow my students to meet and greet new students, and gather information. Personally, I would love to connect with other kindergarten teachers to see what their bulletin boards, displays, and projects look like. Video conferencing is not only a useful tool, it's fun for the learners! Kids love to see themselves on the camera, and have the opportunity to see other kids their same age. Video conferencing is the way of the future. Allowing video conferencing in your own classroom adds value because it prepares the students for the emerging technologies of the future.

One site that I found while surfing the web is: [] This is a video conferencing site that allows you to connect with people all over the world. It does cost money, as most site do, yet you can join and get a free two-week trial! It is a multi browser site that connects mainly from business to business.

MY WEBQUEST!