Saturday, December 13, 2008

Internet Safety- Doing

* Who did you talk with? (I don't need names - just a brief description of age so I understand the context.)
I talked to my sister who is 20 years old. She is at BYU as well and is a very smart girl. She is also very cautious and a little bit conservative. So, her answers were a little bit different from what I think.
* Describe what you shared and how it went (was it positive? negative? hard? easy? valuable or not?).
The conversation went really well. It was a very positive experience. She shared with me what she knew about internet safety. She mostly talked about how pornography is such a big issue and really a problem when surfing the internet. Even when you are not looking for it, it just sort of pops up. She also gave me her incite about you tube, but I think she meant my space because she said that everyone had access to your personal info. So she is not really in favor of my space. Even with facebook, it took forever for her to get a profile. So she is pretty worried about her personal information safety, which is understandable, there are people out there who do use your info to damage your image and such.
I asked her if she thought that teenagers, or middle school kids should have blogs and my space, facebook pages. She shared with me that it would be ok if they were in 9th grade and up. But that smaller kids are not responsible enough to know what things are out there in the internet.
I shared with her what I learned about syberbullying, and how now days most kids in middle school have their own my space or facebook page. I shared with her that I think it's ok for them to have it b/c as a parent I wouldn't want my children to feel left out of some group. But, I told her that the important thing is for children to know the dangers as well as the benefits of the internet and of course of places like facebook and my space.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Final PLE posting

* What was the most valuable aspect to you of creating a Personal Learning Environment?
First of all, I didn't know how to make one and well now I do. I even made one for my husband and I. So, just the fact that I know how to make one now is very valuable to me. Also being able to share different projects and other things with other people was really good. I really liked being able to see what other people were working on and how they did their projects and such.
* What did you like least about the Personal Learning Environment?
You know what, I don't think I disliked anything. Like I said I am so happy that I know how to make on now.
* Comment on the likelihood of your using a blog or wiki for personal or educational purposes in the future.
Well, I touched on this a little bit, but for my personal use I am already using a blog. I thin that this is a great way to keep in touch with people all over. I don't know if I will use it for educational purposes. Maybe I will, to post announcements that the parents can look at. I think that this could be a good way to use a blog. But, who knows if that's ok with the school I'll teach at.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Internet safety- Watching

I watched the following videos
"Cyberbullying: Feathers in the Wind"
Internet Safety News
Tips to Help When Your Child is Bullied Online
Cyberbullying: Broken Friendship"
Julie's Journey"
Adventures in the internet Faux Paws
Ikeepsafe.com
Cyberbullying

1 What were the most important things you learned?
Some of the things that I have learned is that parents are trying to control their children's internet life so that they can make sure that their children are safe. I also learned that teenagers know what things are on the internet. They know what type of people to stay away from. I think that if a parent wants to protect their children, they have to trust that their children will make the right decisions when dangerous request come along. Also, teach them that people will try to take advantage of them, and that they need to be responsible when they are online, otherwise, they are going to get in trouble.
2 How might you use the resources you discovered in your future classroom or home?
I think that most importantly, I will teach my own children that the internet can be a great resource for a lot of things, but that it can be dangerous in different ways. I have a facebook, and myspace account, I think that when my kids are old enough to understand the benefits and dangers that can come from having social accounts like these, they should get one. I don't want my children to be isolated from the social life that their friends have. I think that as long as them and I know what to expect from their activity in the internet, they will be safe. In the schools, I think that the internet will be used more and more as the years go by. I think that it will be a good idea to teach students from the first grade how to use the internet, and what a wonderful tool it is. As they move along in grade levels, they will learn about all the different tools used to socialize online, with that will come my responsibility to teach them how to be safe when surfing the internet.

Internet safety- Reading

1 What article did you choose to read for your fourth article?
I chose to read the "It's only violence" article by Brad J. Bushman.
2 What were the most important things you learned from the readings?
From reading the articles, I learned that we are in charge of what we watch. We need to choose what to watch on TV, what to hear on the radio, what to look up on the Internet. We are so caught up in a society where things are so easily accessible that sometimes it is almost impossible to prevent watching and hearing things we don't want to hear. But we do have a choice of what things we let into our lives and what things we want to treasure up as good and beneficial for us.
3 How will what you have read influence your actions as a parent and/or teacher of children and youth?
I think technology, media, etc. are wonderful resources; it really does make our lives easier. But as a parent I think I have the right to prevent bad, harmful things to enter my home. I can suggest watching good, productive, informative TV shows. I can control the time that my children watch TV; it can be entertaining, but it can be damaging if watching too long.
4 How can you use what you have learned from the reading to have a positive influence on family and friends?
I want my children to feel comfortable with what I watch. I also want them to talk to me about what they hear and see outside of home, so in a way I do want to teach my children that there are things in the world that they will not see at home, but they will see outside of our home, and if they do see those, they can talk to me about it.
I think that by providing my children with good TV watching, movie watching strategies, can really help their friends. They can set an example to what really is beneficial for children to watch.