Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is when minors use Internet technology to harass, humiliate, embarrass, and intimidate other minors. I have never been a cyberbully or been cyberbullied. When I was growing up social networks didn't exist to the extent they do now.
One of the big issues schools face is how or if they should regulate student activities off campus. Legal issues arise when schools try to inforce cyberbullying, especially in cases where students are using off site computers. Some districts have tried to get around the off site rules by coming up with their own district policies for dealing with cyberbullying. I am very much in favor of districts doing that. If students don't feel comfortable as school because they're being cyberbullied, it can limit their ability to learn. Hazelwood School District v Kuhlmeier (1988) touches on that by saying students must be getting in the way of some educational objective in order to restrict student speech.
If you notice a student in your class that changes the way they act in class or is noticeably being picked on by another group of kids, there is probably a chance they are being cyberbullied. The best way to know if cyberbullying is going on is to ask the student.
I would hope to be a school that has their own cyberbullying policies put in place. If there wasn't something in place I would make a plan to deal with cyberbullying that is both pre-emptive and reactionary. I would lead a classroom discussion on cyberbullying and talk to students about their experience with cyberbullying and how they feel about it. I also would have classroom rules set up to deal with cyberbullying if I saw it in my clasroom. As a Physical Education teacher I'm not sure how much I will have to deal with cyberbullying.

Who's Googling you?

I wasn't able to find myself online after doing a google search. I have searched for myself before and have found stuff but not this time. The other times I have found myself it had to do with coaching or when i was an insurance agent. I don't really follow my social networking site anymore. When I was looking for jobs after graduating from college I did take down some photos of myself that had alcohol in them. I took the pictures down because I had heard employers were checking social networking sites of applicants and didn't want those pictures to be a deterrent to possible employers. I'm glad I took those pictures down especially now that I'm trying to become a teacher.
I do think teachers should be held to community standards in terms of their personal lives. Teachers are public figures and they are influencing students. Not all careers are held to the same standards. People often compare what professional athletes do in their personal life (getting in trouble) to their own career. Most times saying if I did what the athlete did I would lose my job or my license. While that may be true, there are different standards for different jobs. If a client found out something they didn't like about a salesmen they go through for business, there is a good chance he would lose their business. Every career has different standards and with teachers being public figures they fall under more scrutiny for what goes on in their personal lives.
The most interesting part of the article for me was when the perspective teacher from Pennsylvania was denied her teaching license because she portrayed herself as "a drunken pirate". It just shows how the field of education is not messing around when it comes to teachers activites away from school and how those activities can become public knowledge. Whether they were right or wrong for denying her license it just goes to show that teachers need to protect themselves from having that happen to them.
I hope to protect myself by thinking about what I do and say publicly and privately. If my supervisor new what I was doing or saying could I get fired? If thats a yes than I should probably not do it.

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

If I had to classify myself as either a digital native or digital immigrant, I would say I'm a digital native. I'm actually probably somewhere in between the two categories. I don't play video games now and didn't play them that much as a kid, I do use the internet, and am some what proficient using computers. I am not very into social networking; call me a digital immigrant but there is something about talking to another person that is more personal than sending a message on facebook. In order for me to bridge the digital gap between myself and my students I must meet my students where they are in the digital world.

Prensky (2005) touches on that when he says "Students certainly don't have short attention spans for their games, movies, or Internet surfing. More and more, they just don't tolerate the old ways-and they are enraged we are not doing better by them" (p. 64). For my physical eduction endorsement area I feel limited on how I can engage digital students. Physical education is about being active, not sitting infront of a comuter screen. I have come up with some ideas though: putting skill development videos on my website, or letting them listen to their Ipods as they are running. Math is my other endorsement area, I could try and incorporate digital math games as much as possible or have homework problems come from my website instead of a math text book. Prensky (2001) says "We should be focusing on "future math"-approximation, statistics, binary thinking.

I have had some experience with digital learning when I was going to school. The first experience being in elementary school playing a computer based game called "Oregon Trail". The object of the game was to get your wagon safely from the midwest to Oregon. It was a fun game and I learned alot about what pioneer life was like. In High School I don't remember using technology that frequently other than giving power point presentations. In college I had afew projects where I had to produce a video of a sports related skills and edit it to show how each step was executed. I think all the technology I was exposed to as a student fostered positive learning.

If teachers don't meet their students where they are than their not engaging students the way students want to be engaged. Prensky (2001) sites Lightspan Partnership's "findings were increases in vocabulary and language arts of 24 and 25 percent respectively over the control groups, while the math problem solving and math procedures and algorithms scores were 51 and 30 percent higher" (p. 6). The digital student is only going to increase with time and teachers must do their best to foster learning in these students.

Intro to blogging

My name is Kevin Danielson and I am interested in teaching basic math and physical education. My favorite animal is the cheetah because they are very fast.