The Jason Project

Hi everyone! I just finished a two day workshop for prof. devel. on the Jason Project. I'm sure many of you have heard about it but if you haven't I thought I would throw this out to you. The Jason Project was started by Dr. Robert Ballard (founder of the Titanic). He thought that students needed to have inquiry in their studies and become excited about science. So he developed this project that currently has three operations: Operation Resilient Planet, Operation Monster Storm, and Operation Infinite Potential. Resilient Planet deals more so with environmental issues, Monster Storm of course is about weather, and Infinite Potential is about energy. They all have components for earth science, physical science, biology, and some chemistry. In each operation there are 5 missions that the students and you work through that have a researcher and student argonauts that help the students through what it is they are studying. All of the information and curriculum is FREE and downloadable!!!! You can join the "Mission Center" by visiting www.jason.org. Sign up as a teacher and you will be able to see lesson plans, all the materials that are in the actual books(which are VERY VERY nice- we were fortunate to get copies and work through materials of both Resilient Planet and Infinite Potential), and you can see how it connects to our standards as well. ALSO- big thing- there are digital labs and educational games that allow your students to practice the material you are learning! I really hope you will take a bit to look into this if you are not familiar with it. Its an awesome tool that gives you FOR FREE materials that are current up to date information about science! Let me know if you have any questions about it! I would be happy to help!

Student mentor relationships

Any thoughts on my original email or the gentleman's reply?


-----Original Message-----
From: Edna Patterson [mailto:edna.patterson@fcps.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 9:44 AM
To: info@mentornet.net
Subject: MentorNet Request

Hi - I teacher Juniors and Seniors. At the top of thelist is student
safety. Does MentorNet do any kind background check on the mentors? I must
show a reasonable level of safety before I can recommend the site to my
students. Thanks,Edna Patterson

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Edna:

Your question addresses the issue that is part of the reason we currently
don't do matches with secondary students. MentorNet currently only connects
post-secondary students with mentors. We do ask for a reference check on
our mentors but that's not sufficient due diligence to address the need to
protect minors.

Please tell your students about MentorNet as something they might
participate once they get to a participating college or university. There
are some professional societies that, through their local chapters will
provide mentors and they either provide background checks or run the mentors
through the local school district process.

Thank you for your interest in MentorNet. I'm sorry I don't have more
information about a program in your area that does provide the high quality
mentoring experience that MentorNet offers.

Be well.
Ray

Raymond M. Rose
Director of Programs and Partnerships
MentorNet, the E-Mentoring Network for Diversity in Engineering and Science
www.MentorNet.net

tel: 512.791.3100
fax: 408.296.4404
rrose@mentornet.net

MentorNet
1275 S. Winchester Blvd., Suite E
San Jose, CA 95128-3910
USA

Earth Science Collaboration Project

I just found another link in the CIESE site...Real Time Data projects, that include an Ask an Expert section. Check out this one on earthquakes and plate tectonics:
http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/musicalplates3/en/index.shtml

Virtual Collaboration

The CIESE is a great site. I used theInternational Boiling Point Project for my lesson. You can sign up for their listserv : http://www.ciese.org/cieselistserv.html

Collaboration

I am having trouble coming up with my collaboration lesson plan... I don't want to just have the students ask a question, most of the collaborative websites dont deal with earth science, and the biome project doesnt help in earth science either. Any suggestions??

WebQuest

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had an okay time completing the WebQuest assignment. My one complaint about Zunal.com is the "Evaluation Page". I did not want to set up my rubric for the assignment I chose in the same format that Zunal.com picked for me. Did anyone else have this problem? Dr. Parlo said many people wished that this page had more flexibility for teachers. Does anyone agree?
Have a good Tuesday!

Emailing in classroom

At the beginning of the year I have the students fill out the typical informational sheet and I request the students email as well as the parents. It is definitely time consuming to call parents about an upcoming tests or events so one quick email helps. Of course when you send out a mass email, make sure you fill out BCC! I have a lot of students that actually email me (only my school account) to find out what they missed for the day. Next year we will be using a textbook that is online so I will really be pushing for students to email me because they will be able to read and do the bookwork at home if they were absent!

Webquest

Hey Everyone! Hope you are having a good week. I just finished my webquest today. Wow that was a lot of work. I just wanted to post it in case anyone needed some ideas! Plus, I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty proud of it! Here's the link: http://zunal.com/webquest.php?user=32862
Good luck!

Email

I have never thought of emailing students before. I see how it can be useful if a student has a question for subjects like science or history but math....I am not so sure. I think it would be difficult to talk about a math problem through email. I can see it being useful if a student did not have the assignment or lost the paper but I don't always remember the assignment or have a copy on hand to send. I make most of my worksheets but for worksheets that I get from other sources it would be hard. Maybe email is something I can try this year. Now I do use email for parents and it works well if parents have email. I found that last year only one parent wanted emails from me about up coming tests or other school relate information. I think there should not be a problem with emails as long as they are basic information being exchanged. I tell the parents that if they email me about their child's grade I say "see their blue grade sheet". It is away for the student to be responsible for keeping track of their grade.

WebQuest

Hey are you all using Zunal.com for your webquests? I like the way it is setup and it does make it very easy, but it's kinda of unappealing when compared to those templates. Anyone using a template, is it easy to use?

Email/Listserve for Homework

Email/listserve is great for sending out nightly homework assignments. At open house and through the year, our team maintains a listserve. We send out a daily email that contains homework and any team announcements. Our parents love this...they can give us their work and/or home email and support their children. We can also add attachments such as a dance flyer, fundraiser, etc. Middle schoolers are notorius for not bringing things home so this ensures that parents receive school news, etc.

Email for Assignments

I often have students who email assignments if they have a printer/ink problem. This eliminates the "I don't have it" excuse due to printer problems! The students have my school email but I would never give my personal email address. I only correspond with parents via my school email as well.

Emailing Parents

I think staying in contact with the parents is key. My high school did a wonderful job of keeping our parents in the loop of everything that was going on. My teachers sent my parents websites and documents explaining the course material so they could help us work on homework and various assignments. It was neat for my Dad especially because he was a big science geek when he was in school and loved trying to out-smart me when I was studying for quizzes and exams. I hope to have a similar relationship with my students' parents when I am teaching.
My Mom, who is a 3rd grade teacher, has actually had some pretty rough situations with parents on the other hand. This past year she wished she had not given out her e-mail address because she had a very intense mother harassing her with daily e-mails. They were not always rude, but the mother would send her an e-mail at least everyday and sometimes more than once a day. Typically the e-mails would be about whether or not the daughter was staying on task, but sometimes she would simply want to know if her daughter was having a good day. It was annoying for my Mom who was trying to keep the mother in the loop without giving daily, minute-by-minute progress reports.

Email in the Classroom

I think email is a great tool, if used properly. It can be beneficial if a student needs to contact a teacher after school hours or a question comes up on an assignment. I think it could also really help shy students have a forum to talk with the teacher in a more comfortable environment. Of course with this technology comes the issue of the blurred line of professionalism. I think setting up a folder to keep track of email correspondence is extremely important. Setting up ground rules at the beginning of the year probably helps too. You could tell a classroom that they shouldn't expect a response to anything non-school related, or any questions after 10pm or something along those lines. Overall, I think the use of email is a great tool.

Emailing Students

I feel that I wouldn't really email students. Mainly because so many of what is written online gets misconceived all of the time. It is very hard to get across tone, feelings, and opinions online. I would prefer to talk to my students in person after class. I would use the email to let students know if I wanted to talk to them. Besides that I would use email as a way to distribute things to all of my students at once. This would come in handy because it would no longer take class time up to hand out an important document. Another reason that I would use email is to send out websites that I want all of my students to use or look at. This will provide an easy way for the students to just click on the address and be right where I want them to be.

Graphic Organizers

I came across this website in another graduate course I am taking (EDCI 5264) and thought I wouls share it with everyone! This website seems like a great resource to use to make and create graphic organizers. I used Word to ccreate the organizer I turned in for this class, but the symbols, graphics, and text of this application seem much more appealing to students! Check it out and let me know what you think! There is a free 30 day trial.
www.inspiration.com

Email

Personally, I love e-mail as a communication tool. I think it will be very helpful to allow my students to communicate with me this way. It is a quick way for them to get clarification on assignments or ask questions from material covered in class. E-mail is especially nice for those students who may be too shy to ask a teacher something directly in class. As mentioned earlier, it will also be a useful tool for me to send reminders, give feedback, or offer study suggestions. As long as e-mails initiated by the teacher are relevant to class and student e-mails are saved for records, I don't foresee any major problem using e-mail to communicate with students!

Emailing students and FACEBOOK question

As mentioned in other posts, emailing with students is generally a good way to communicate. I keep a folder called "Student Communication" for all student emails. As others have posted, my students will email when they are absent, etc. The biggest advantage is for my procrastinators. I remind them that they can email me with questions or problems the night before a deadline. Even if we can't fix it, at least I know they are working on the assignment. Usually, I check email throughout the night and respond until about 11 PM. I haven’t had a time when there was a sensitive or personal issue. Depending on the issue, a face-to-face conversation with the student or with a counselor might be the way to go. Whether communication is in the classroom or virtually, we are all bound by the legality of mandatory reporting.
Added question for your comments – does your school have a policy of teachers and students being “friends” on Facebook??

Email

Like the other posts on here, I believe that it is appropriate to email students about classroom work only. Emails should be limited to subjects such as homework assignments, grades (like what Dr. P. mentioned in her lesson about emailing out report cards or progress reports), or questions about science concepts that were taught in the lecture that week. There are tremendous benefits to emailing. Through email, students who are unable to stay after class could get the extra help they needed on a homework assignment or lesson. Additionally, email is a less invasive way for the students to communicate with the teacher outside of class. To me, handing out a cell phone or home phone number to have students call if they have any questions is too personal. I have had teachers and professors who have given out their cell phone number and told the class to call if they had any questions. I never called the teacher because always I felt that a phone call might interrupt the teacher at inappropriate time. For instance, what if I had called while the teacher was having dinner with his or her family? With email, the teacher can designate a time frame to the answer students’ emails during the day. For example, teachers can tell the students that they will answer all emails between 7 and 9 p.m. in the evenings.

The drawback of email occurs when a teacher uses it incorrectly. To avoid any legal issues, the teacher should keep all emails strictly professional. To CYA, as Dr. P would say, teachers should keep a folder on their computer that contained all of the emails that were sent out to students. That way you could always know exactly what you wrote in an email to a student!

Emailing Students:

I think that emailing students/ responding to emails should be strictly professional. Personal emails amongst teachers and students can only lead to problems. You don't want anybody to question your professionalism or perceive something wrong. Students should email their teachers if they have questions about an assignment or project that they are working on at home. My students have a tendency to email me when they miss a day of school so they can stay up to date with their assignments. At the beginning of the school year, you give your students your email address and I expect them to use it. To me it is there to aid in communication, not to be a hinderance. My students can even email me from their phones (outside of school of course!!) with questions. If used correctly, email is a great advantage to clearing up misconceptions and answering questions. The problem comes from teachers not using it properly and students trying to be friends with their teachers.

Emailing Students: yes/no?

I think emailing students in your class is okay if it is for classroom assistance only. Some of these benefit items may include things like homework help and reminders for tests/quizzes/projects. I feel like it is important for your students to have some sort of communication with you if possible. I personally would rather them email me instead of calling me because it would allow me to have a source of documentation right at my hands in case anything were to come up with it. And it also is contributing to the idea of incorporating more technology into the classroom and schools. I think that is important to lay out ground rules though from the beginning. Let the students know that your email is only for school/classroom related business and nothing else. Hopefully this will nip some things in the bud before they start. It would definitely be a drawback if your emailing relationship started to become abused.
I believe it becomes a legal issue when you start to building a "friendship" relationship with your students on line and it is no longer about class. I think it probably starts out very innocent but you never know what could happen when you least expect it.

Email with Students

In your "lesson", you saw many different uses for email in your classroom. My question for your discussion is:
Is it appropriate to email students? What would be the benefits? The drawbacks? Any legal or ethical concerns? How might you address any issues?

Link for Max Axiom Graphics Series

Hi all, I found the publisher..Capstone..here is a link...read some teacher reviews if you have time...I did't even know there was an ecosystems book!

http://www.capstonepress.com/aspx/pDetail.aspx?EntityGUID=a679f13e-9e47-45af-a1e9-71550f20b298#detail

Assistive Technology Site

Here is another resource on assistive technology:
www.internet4classrooms.com/special_needs_assistive.htm

Accessible Reading-Grahic Science Comics

This year we got some new books in the school library...has anyone seen the series
"Max Axiom-Super cool scientist? The kids love them..the titles include safety, sci method, magnetism, light, global warming. I just googled to find that they even come in an interactive CD version! The reading level ranges from 3-5 but honestly the interest is through 10th, especially for struggling readers. I highly recommend checking these out. Just google "Max Axiom" (science teacher/super hero!)

Head's Up...

Hey everyone I was looking at my bill for the Fall Semester and noticed that my Teacher Reduction was not included on my bill. I asked Dr. Parlo and she informed me that you have to fill out this form every year to get the reduction. I have attached to the link to retrieve the form, its the fifth one down from the top. Good Luck Everyone..
http://www.grads.vt.edu/forms/index.html

Reading is essential to any classroom. All teachers are reading teachers and each teacher has to help students comprehend his or her textbook’s subject matter. This can be especially difficult for science teachers because the concepts they teach contain a very large and diverse scientific vocabulary. I know when I mention a concept like the Krebs cycle to most people I might as well be speaking Greek. I can’t imagine trying to comprehend the Krebs cycle from a textbook if I struggled with reading. All students should be taught how to read properly and their reading skills should be monitored within each classroom. Reading properly can help a child excel academically and it can also help the child be successful later in life.

I have a very mixed opinion on this subject. I feel that reading is very important, however, I believe that if a student struggles with reading then testing that child through reading is unjust. Like many people who have posted, I believe that you are really only measuring how well the child can read and not how well he or she understands the concepts that were taught to him or her. There are multiple ways to test a child within the science classroom. I think a teacher can have a better idea of what the student has learned if you give them an oral exam or a laboratory practical. If you test a child through reading, such as multiple choice tests, they may just get lucky and pick the right answer and not know the material at all.

If a student has difficulties reading, then assistive technology should be used. There are computer programs to read the test orally for students. Tests’ texts could also be enlarged or the color changed for students who are visually impaired. The student could be asked to give a presentation (such as a power point presentation) rather than being tested through a written exam. Assistive technology should be used on a case by case basis, to fit each individual with a reading disability’s needs.

Accessibility is Key

When a student is a struggling reader, testing them on science content is essentially inconclusive. If the content is inaccessible to the student, it’s like grading them on attendance even though the door to the classroom is locked! When dealing with the issue of struggling readers, I feel as though there are several routes to success in science. First of all, even as a biology instructor, I know I will be a reading teacher as well. It is important to help students with reading and literacy at all stages of their academic career. Everyone can use some improvement.

Second, since I will be teaching biology, it will be important to get the content across to all students regardless of their reading ability. The key to this issue is making the information accessible to all students. I think the picture on Dr. P’s PPT slide about shoveling the snow is a seriously fantastic explanation of accessibility. Using assistive technology, or at least providing options to all students, is extremely helpful in increasing accessibility. It would just not be fair to test a student on something they were supposed to have read in a textbook if they are grade levels behind their peers in reading ability, so offering all students the option of listening to a lecture instead really helps.

All reading teachers

I truly believe that we are ALL reading teachers. Even though I am not an inclusion teacher, I am constantly finding new ways to help my students. For example, my school is a part of an online program called quia.com. All of my tests are given on quia and when I created my tests I also recorded them. All of my students are able to grab headphones on test day and have the tests read to them. I also use other content reading strategies such as graphic organizers, KWL, Webquests, RAFT, etc. Using these strategies reassures me that even though the students might be struggling in reading, they have numerous options to gain the knowledge in other ways and build on thier reading skills.

Milbourne. Assistive Technology

No matter what the curriculum is students who are not good readers are going to struggle with reading and comprehension when taking test. A thought that crosses my mind is that we are testing their ability to recognize certain words and then they make educated guesses on what they see, even though they truly do not understand the context. Reading and comprehension is very important when trying to understand science. Discovery and exploration through laboratory work are two important concepts I believe are important in a science classroom. Laboratory work is often preformed by individual students or with partners that are required to read the laboratory manual before performing an experiment. There is a concern raised about laboratory safety when students are not capable of reading the manual to prevent accidents from occurring. I believe it is important for science teachers to develop strategies and instruction to identify and help bad readers. There are several technologies that can assist students with reading disabilities and many other types. One is the use of a computer when conducting labs. A computer could possibly read the laboratory manual to the student before he or she performs the lab, ultimately reducing the risk of an accident occurring. The computer could also enlarge text for students who have visual disabilities and offer help to physical disabilities by providing software where students can perform the lab on the computer with a click of a mouse versus having to pick up or move heavy or dangerous equipment.

Assistive Technology- Reading

The longer I teach the more I have realized that the Biology SOL is really a reading test. This past year I taught 4 collaborative biology classes and I really watched my kids struggle on reading the test and what the questions are actually asking them to answer. To help combat this problem and to get the kids used to these type of questions I added released SOL questions to everyone one of my tests throughout the year. I found that this helped all my students, but especially those who had a reading disability. I unfortunately think that as a teacher you have to test each students scientific knowledge even if they have trouble reading. You can aid those students who struggle by offering small group testing or read aloud. Also, to combat student struggles with tests, I offer other ways for a student to show that they understand the material. This is either through labs or projects. Not everyone can prove their knowledge on a topic through tests, this allows those students to demonstrate scientific knowledge through a hands on means.

Are we all Reading Teachers?

Are we all Reading Teachers?
The answer is yes. As a new teacher I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to a two day reading seminar. What did I know – it was a free seminar and I might just get something for my classroom. The seminar leader started the first day by asking – “How many of you are teachers of reading?” Only a handful of people raised their hands. She raised her voice a little and asked again. The audience “got” what she was really saying and almost everyone raided their hands. The truth is, no matter what the subject, we are all teachers of reading. Each text book is set up differently, maybe there are bold or italics for the ‘important’ stuff. We need to show all the students how to handle the book. Formatting of lectures, use of graphic organizers and tests should be set up the same way as we teach.
Assessing their science knowledge is more important that assessing how well they read is. Luckily, in science we have labs. Performance assessments help gauge knowledge for lower skilled readers.

Assistive Technology Link

Here is a cool link I found about Assisstive Technology for elementary schools. I am sure there is a similar source for middle and high schools.

Assistive Technology

That is a very good topic. If you give a test and the student cannot read the test what you are really testing is their ablilty to read. If you want to test the student on what they know in science then the test should be read to them. I don't know of any programs that you could have the test read to them on a computer but I am sure there is software out there for that. I do know that some of the SOL test are read by the computer now. I know that math could be read by the computer but I don't know about the other subjects. Also, with laws and IEP's some times the test must be read to the student. If it is stated in the IEP that a student should have something by law we have to give them what is stated in the IEP.

Dreamweaver

Would anyone know why if I uploaded all my information from my web folder into filebox that my web address wouldn't work??? If I click on preview in filebox, my homepage is there, but when I try to click on my web address, an error comes up! :(

Assistive Technology

If a student struggles with reading and comprehending a question, then you are not completely assessing their knowledge of the subject. This is unfair to the student as well as the teacher, because your methods of teaching that lesson could be right on point and make sense to the student, but it is the exam question that is preventing them from choosing the correct answer. It is even worse for a student with a disability who might be able to comprehend the question if using assistive technology. Every student deserves a fair chance at answering exam questions. That includes students with disabilities or students in general who benefit from assistive technology. A student with an attention deficit disability needs the proper medication or tools to focus through the entire examination. Otherwise, the teacher is only measuring a fraction of his/her ability at that point when he/she is able to focus during the exam. Without the proper tools, these students are not only conquering the science content, but the disability they face as well. If they are being thrown more obstacles than their classmates, they have less time to focus on the science aspect of their exam or learning in general. It is extremely important to me to be able to measure everyone of my students' science content knowledge and to do that, every other obstacle must be overcome first. If this means using assistive technology then I fully support that method. If the student has trouble reading the word problem, then it is unreasonable for me to expect them to be able to answer the question. Chemistry is hard enough. These students do not need anymore obstacles. There are several symbols in chemistry word problems that are difficult to read with 20/20 vision so a student with vision problems is going to have an even more difficult time doing so. It is very possible that he/she will misinterpret the question. Assistive technology such as magnified print can greatly reduce this problem.

Reading is Essential

I was always a reader as a kid, and throughout my life as a student, mom, etc. As a scientist, reading was critical. Now, as a teacher, I like to bring "real world reading" into my classroom so my students realize how relevant science is(news articles, etc.) I am trying to use my text more, since taking a reading in the content area class. I used to disregard the text, giving kids the notes they need, showing videos, clips, etc., and of course mostly doing hands on stuff. Now, However, I realize that using the text can really help my students strengthen their reading skills. Content reading instruction enables students to become autonomous learners. Our newly adopted text for life science in Virginia Beach (Glencoe) have an online student edition with a resource called "interactive text". This is a basic version of the text, but it is written with no frills/extra info, at 2 grade levels below 7. The student reads a section, and it also has embedded questions to help guide them in their comprehension of the material. I am looking forward to seeing how this will help students this year. i am pretty "old school" in the philosophy that we are all teachers of reading and writing. To that end, I also taught many math lessons this year. For alot of kids, I feel that science is the class where all the basics are used, and are integrated (that's why science ROCKS!)

Assistive Technology

If a teacher has a student with reading disabilities that affects their test taking capabilities, then that teacher should make accommodations for that student. Without these accommodations that student is being punished by taking a test they can't read or understand. The student is not getting a fair assessment of their knowledge because the teacher is assessing their reading skills/capabilities rather than the students content knowledge. As a science teacher, reading is important, but no more important than a students content understanding, visual aids, and other resources in the classroom. I feel is it more important to judge a students knowledge based on how they can interpret information and apply it to real world situations, and other sciences, rather than reading and regurgitating what was read. In order to not punish students with reading disabilities, reading accommodations need to be given. The assistive technologies that these students can use are, bigger print text, computer based test, or have an assistant read the test to the student and have that student record their answer. By using these assistive technologies the student has the same chance of learning the material as the other students, and is assessed based on their knowledge and not any reading disability that they may have.

Assistive Technology

If a student struggles in reading and it is affected their outcome on my science tests, that is definitely something that I need to address. No, I am not a science teacher, but I always stress upon my students that you need math, reading, etc. to make it in science and vice versa. If they are not receiving services through an IEP, I would arrange for them to take their test with me maybe during lunch or my planning period. I would then see if the students does better if I read the material to them. Or I could use some assistive technology means such as a read to software material. It is our job as teachers to provide the means for each student to be able to do their best. If the student requires more assistance we need to be open to providing or thinking of new ideas that can better serve the student. I wouldn't want the student to begin to dislike science because they couldn't read the test questions.

Assisstive Technology

If a student has difficulty reading then assessing their science knowledge through reading seems unfair. I agree with Alex that this is mostly testing them on their reading ability. As a science teacher, it is most important for me to evaluate the student's understanding of science concepts; however I believe it is also my responsibility to help them access science material by providing them with necessary reading strategies or assisting technologies. If a student is really struggling with reading comprehension, helping them organize text and make meaning of what they read will ultimately help them achieve my overall goal: understanding science! Although I am not a reading teacher, reading is a necessary part of science in the classroom as well as in the real-world. To participate in future science endeavors students must be able to access science literature and comprehend scientific journals. For some students this may only be possible through assisting technology. For example, text may be provided in Braille or large print. Written text can also be read through digital devices. Whether it is a matter of simply providing reading strategies for better comprehension, or providing alternative assessments through assisting technology, science content should be made available for all students and adapted to each student's individual needs.

Assistive Technology

• If I have a student who struggles with reading and this in turn affects their ability to do well on test, I am actually just measuring their reading ability. The questions on the test may deal with content knowledge, but the test is just measuring their ability to decipher words to try to make sense of test questions. This really is not an accurate description of how well the student is performing in my class.
• It is not very important to me as a science teacher to view a student's science knowledge through the lens of their ability to read. Although I want all of my student's to succeed in reading and I think it is vital attribute for success in society, if a disability is preventing or causing struggles for a particular student, I would like to find another fair way to assess their progress in my class. Literacies can come in many forms, and reading is just one of them.
• These assistive technologies would take the stress away from reading and allow the student to focus on the material present. Oral tests given either by a teacher or aide or an assistive technology device can help the student answer the questions without the stress of reading the actual words. Larger print tests could also be beneficial for the struggling reader. Another accommodation could be giving the student extra time or extra help when reading the test, although this may not be assistive technology.

Homepage Help!?

Hi everyone!
I am having some difficulty uploading the templates to my webpage to use as a homepage? Does anyone have any experience un-zipping files on their computer? I can't seem to get the whole template to load. Thanks in advance for the help!

Computer crashes

I am very lucky (I hope I am not jinxing myself) that I have never experienced a total crash. My computer is a laptop from the school and we have a great tech department that take scare of everything. All my data, etc is stored on the school server, so if that ever crashes – I’m dead. My daughter has taken her computer to the “geek Squad” at Best Buy to fix problems and it usually come back with different problem that results in a second trip! Since losing many pictures, she bought an external hard drive and backs up her data.

Security Breach

Well this past school year, I was fortunate enough to get a laptop to go along with my new smartboard in my classroom. I took my computer on spring break with me to work on SOL review, etc. While I was on vacation I must have gotten the mother of all trojan viruses. It took our media specialists several days to try and get rid of the virus. In one day I had 200+ notices on my computer about a virus. Finally, she had to ghost my computer because she could never figure out how to get rid of it.

Security

To be honest, I don't think I have ever had problems with my computer or with a security breach. I am careful of the websites I use and never give out information that is important. I bought my first computer in 2000 when I began college and I just purchased a new one in 2009 only because I needed an upgrade in memory and style! My secret is making sure I have an up to date Nortons Antivirus.

Kyle's Security Breach

Several years ago I experienced a security breach of my paypal account. Not knowing any better, I fell for a phishing scam that luckily only resulted in me losing about $400. I received an email from what I thought was paypal asking me to confirm some information. I clicked on the link and thought all was taken care of. That weekend when I checked my account I noticed 2 ATM transactions from Transylvania (I kid you not)of about $200 each. I immediately contacted my bank and canceled my debit card as well as contacted paypal. In the end I was reimbursed the money and even interviewed by the FBI. About 4 months after the ordeal I received a letter from the bank saying that they were unable to obtain enough information for the FBI to make an arrest. Once again I learned my lesson the hard way!

Tray Rives Security Problems

A few years ago I got some virus on my computer, most likely through downloading music. I couldn't be on the computer without hundreds of Internet Explorer windows popping up. I then had to spend close to three hours on the phone with Dell support talking me through how to wipe my hard drive clean and redo my computer. I no longer illegally download music.

Technology

I have never had a computer security breach that I know of so far. I think some of the reasons are because I do not use the computer a lot. I don’t use it to bank, pay bills, or just to “surf”. Now I have lost data from hard a drive which is really sad. Losing pictures from vacations and family events that can not be replaced is heartbreaking. Also, the computer that I am working on just had the hard drive replaced because it crashed. There was a lot of data on the hard drive that was lost but most of it was my husband’s data. The last big amount of data that I lost was an external hard drive that my husband dropped. My husband explained that the way that it fell is what messed it up.

Introduction

Hello everyone! I am April Clark and I work in VA Beach public schools. I have been teaching Earth Science for three years and try to incorporate technology as much as possible. I have no idea about blogs or wikis, so this should be interesting!! VA Beach is trying to encourage teachers to have websites so everything I learn here should help me in the future.

KD Computer Security

Computer crashes are so terrible. My sophomore year of college, I had a three year old computer that had thousands of my pictures, all my school work, and lots of music on it. I don't even remember what led up to the crash, but one day I turned my computer on and the screen was just blue. I called the IT people on campus and I remember the lady I was speaking to said "oh you have the microsoft blue screen of death".... I was very concerned at that point. I spent five hours that day in the 4help computer place, and eventually they recovered most of my data by putting it on an external hard drive, restoring my computer, and then putting everything back. It could have been much worse, and I have definitely invested in an external hard drive for backup purposes since then.

Introduction: Kyle Evans

Hi everyone. I am Kyle Evans and I teach 4th grade in the Falls Church City Schools. It's my 8th year teaching and 6th in VA. I am always looking for ways to incorporate technology into my lessons, not only with Science, but everything else as well. Over the past couple of years my 4th graders have been able to use our class blogs (to post and comment)as well as use email through Angel (think baby blackboard). I look forward to working with all of you.

Computer Security Story

Unfortunately I have several computer horror stories to share. The worst one I have had to deal with was when I was a junior in high school. I was using the family computer to write a 10 page research paper for my English class and I did not back the paper up on a disc. I was up to the 8th page of writing when the computer froze and I lost everything I had written. I had to rewrite the whole paper 2 days before it due. (Turns out our hard drive crashed, it was a really old computer. I also blame my brother who had multiple online games downloaded to the computer). Since that day I've backed up all my files multiple ways (through flash drives, discs, etc).
Another story I have is from a friend of mine. Her computer crashed junior year of college and she had not backed up any information. The computer service people at Tech said her hard drive had crashed and they could not recover any of her music, photos, documents, etc. She lost everything. She replaced the hard drive for $100.00 but she probably lost hundreds of dollars of music from her computer. Now she has a new hard drive and an external hard drive that she backs up all her files on every week.

Computer Security Scare

Like Lauren, my daughter was also an AIM addict( and the evil myspace). Our family computer had been slowing down to a crawl and I was panicking as I was in the middle of an online course. It seemed like the computer was about to crash..it would turn on but never actually boot up. It took three days of work by the computer resource specialist at school to remove a horrible number of viruses, some of which he thinks came in through kaza (sp)., and the downloading of various images that my daughter wanted to use to "decorate" her myspace page. Luckily I had saved my research and other work on a thumb drive. She is a little older and a little wiser, but we still share the same computer, so backup and protect is my mantra!

Computer Security Post

I use to be addicted to AIM and received an IM from one of my friends one more that had a link to a cute picture. Well sure enough it was a virus/trojan mix and ended up sending the exact same IM to everyone on my buddy list. My sister had just set up an AIM account for my mom and she was so excited she received an IM from me so she opened the "picture" right away. Well, it took several different anti-virus software programs to clean out both computers and my dad uninstalled AIM from everyone's computers after that.

Devin Milbourne: Introduction

Hi! My name is Devin Milbourne. I finished my undergraduate at Virginia Tech this past May and started the graduate program for education shortly after. I am excited and looking forward to teaching middle school science, high school biology, or earth science. I am not sure where I want to teach but I have always wanted to live near the beach, so I might give it a try after graduation. Since technology is rapidly becoming more accessible and widely used throughout schools I hope to gain new knowledge about technology that I can incorporate in my classroom to enhance student learning.

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Cindy Kube and I teach middle school in Virginia Beach. I have been teaching for 10 years and am so excited about finally beginning a Masters program. I have two daughters-one a rising junior Hokie and a soon to be freshman at Tidewater Community College. That means all three of us are enrolled this fall! I want to make my lessons more "alive" by integrating technology in ways that give my students a stronger voice in active learning. My adolescent students have a keen interest in using technology; in fact, the more technology in the classroom, the more they are interested and the easier classroom managament is...negative behaviors seem to diminish! I love the social and collaborative nature of wikis, blogs, voicethreads, etc. I'm glad I have the time this summer to dive into full time learning (that's what it's going to take to get comfortable with all this!) when I am not teaching.

I DID IT!!! Introduction

Wow!! That was really hard!! I am not joking. I have been trying to do this all day. If every assignment is this hard it is going to be a long class. So, I have been teaching for nine years now. I have taught in other countries and in a few different states. The last four years I have been teaching math. I can do a few things on the computer, not blogging, including a promethean program called flipchart. I am going to be learning a lot in this class. There are things I have never heard of that I am going to be learning.

Intro- Carrie Bateman

Hi everyone! I am getting ready to start my 5th year teaching high school biology and oceanography. I graduated with a MS in marine biology from UNCW and minored in chemistry and environmental science. I also did some graduate work in oceanography, where I taught college labs, this of course led me to want to teach. I teach at Patrick Henry High School in Ashland, VA. I love teaching science, especially to high school students. I am looking forward on learning how to incorporate more technology into my classroom and how to improve upon some of the technology I already incorporate into my lessons.

Introduction

Hi everyone. I am looking forward to this class to test what I think I know about some of the programs we will be using as well as learning about some new programs. I think that technology is a great medium in to teach/learn information. Good luck to everyone and have a great second half of summer.

Ashley Short -Introduction

Hello, my name is Ashley Short and I just graduated from Tech with my B.S. in Biology. After I finish the masters program for secondary science education, I hope to teach middle school science or high school biology. I would like to teach in or around the area I am from, which is the Shenandoah Valley. Like many others who have posted, I am also technologically challenged and hope to gain a lot of useful information that I can use in my own classroom someday.

Kelli Dubac-Introduction

Hello! My name is Kelli Dubac. I have a B.S. in Biology and look forward to teaching high school bio somewhere in the Northern VA area after finishing my Masters. Down the road, I would love to teach human anatomy and physiology. I am extremely technologically challenged-I had to call my 15 year old brother to ask about all the stuff we'll be using in this class, and he assured me that if he can learn it, I can too. Needless to say, I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty slow at this, but there is obviously so much benefit to using the technology that my students will likely already know how to use when I'm in a classroom next fall!

Computer Security

I had a friend who was taken advantage of by a phising e-mail. The e-mail was supposedly from Bank of America and asked to verify her password and user name. In a hurry, she replied to the link and lost everything in her checking account. I think the bank was able to replace most of what was lost, but this instance definitely made me more cautious receiving e-mails!

Computer Security Blog Post

My father will tell you that he has been telling me to back up my files and protect my computer using anti-virus applications since I was born. The truth is, I only back up my pictures. I am a huge fan of taking and uploading photos and because they are so near and dear to my heart I always back them up on my parents' hard drive. Just beginning my teaching exploration and reading the other "Computer Security Blog" post, I have realized the importance of backing up all of the materials I use/need on a daily basis. I could not imagine putting so much work into lesson plans and administrative type documents as a teacher, or in our case the e-portfolio for graduation, and then losing everything! Ah! I am definitely going to start now as I proceed through this course and the rest of my Masters program. I'd hate to be Carrie Bradshaw in this situation. :)

HI my name is Edna Patterson. This class marks the second half along my path to a M Ed in Teaching Science. I currently teach Geosystems, in Fairfax, to juniors and seniors. We use the SOL standards for Earth Science, with other technology enhancements. So, all the parts of this class will help me with my lessons.
I have a 13 year old cat and a 2 year old Westie. They have a love/hate relationship, but keep each other occupied. I enjoy reading, anything sci-fi (saw the new Star Trek in IMAX 2X - wow) and traveling. One daughter just graduated from U of Maryland with a major in Criminology and even got a job. She will be attending Marymount University for a MA in Criminal Psychology. All that and a wedding on 9/19/09! The second daughter is starting the Travel and Tourism program at NOVA. Good for my traveling desires.

Welcome Post!

Hi! My name is Alex Gallo and I have just started my Masters program this summer for Secondary Science Education. I am interested in teaching Chemistry back home in Northern Virginia after I graduate. I am excited about this course because I do not have any experience using Dreamweaver or making websites. I am also excited to get a jump start on my e-portfolio that can be added to and changed throughout my program. I really look forward to working with and learning from all of you through the blog and wiki this semester. I hope everyone is having a great first day of classes! :)

Introduction - Lauren Thompson

Hi everyone!! My name is Lauren Thompson and I am an avid surfer and beginner stand up paddler from Virginia Beach. I just graduated with my degree in Chemistry and I plan to teach high school chemistry as soon as I finish my Masters. I am very excited about this class because I am technologically challenged and have never even heard of half of the websites we are going to be using. I am thrilled to learn a lot of valuable information that I can use in my classroom and pass on to my students in the future.

Introduction

Hello Everyone!
My name is Jessica and I am excited to be in the second summer session working towards completing my Masters! I will be teaching middle school life science after I graduate. I am from Richmond, VA and plan on moving back to teach there. I know I will gain a lot from this class considering how little I know currently! I hope to have a better understanding of how to incorporate technology in my classroom as well as to make planning and instruction easier for myself. I am excited to get started and know I have a lot to learn!

Computer Security Blog

In the PowerPoint on Computer Security and Acceptable Use, Dr. Parlo mentioned how important it is to back-up your data. I definitely see the extreme importance in doing so now. Back in March, within one week, I lost my entire teaching material on my flashdrive, my home computer got infected with viruses, and my school computer got infected with viruses. I suppose both of the computers I was using got infected due to my flashdrive that I used both at work and at school. I was lucky enough to recover all data on both computers but was not lucky enough to recover the data on my flashdrive. I was not very smart in that about half of the material on my flashdrive was not saved anywhere else. I have never felt so sick than I did this week when everything went up. I now am keeping back-up files for all documents I create and I have updated my virus ware on the computer. Please take my experience as a learning experience! It really doesn't feel good when you know you have lost over 30 some PPTs which is quite a bit of time gone as well!

Hello

Hi everyone! I am going on my fifth year teaching and I decided that I wanted to earn a masters before I lost my drive to do it! So I am now in my third masters class and I am really looking forward to seeing new ways to use technology in my science classroom. I hope to take away from this class many new ideas and ways to modify my old methods. I think its important to continually learn and develop new methods of teaching in order to meet the needs of our changing students.