Thursday, May 6, 2010

Ed Tech Profile- Nets 2 and 3

At the beginning of this course, we took a survey/quiz in order to determine our existing level of technological knowledge and competency. This image is a chart showing my assessment levels. 

Monday, April 26, 2010

iMovie Hate Speech PSA- Nets 2 and 4

Using iMovie, stock footage, digital photographs I took of CSUSM, and information from the CSUSM mission statement, I made a PSA about hate speech on campus. 

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Journal 9: “Let the Kids Do the Work” (Nets 5)

Lawlor, J. (2010). Let the kids do the work. Learning and leading with technology, 37(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3720092010/MarchAprilNo6/Let_the_Kids_Do_the_Work.htm

Joseph Lawlor details some memorable experiences revolving around integrating a wiki into a language arts classroom. From the first assignment, read a poem, answer a question, respond to someone else’s answer, Lawlor noticed that students were interacting with eachother online much more than he expected. Once class of 25 students generated 472 responses. Other notable moments included the “community of writers” that Lawlor’s wiki empowered helping one student revise her essay three times in one night. The instant feedback and help from peers was much more effective than the delayed grading and comments from the teacher would have been in this case. Students also took the helm, changing the layout and look of the wiki and posting content when Lawlor forgot to.  Students would occasionally teach Lawlor, allowing the power dynamics of the classroom to temporarily shift and engaging the students in controlling their own learning. Furthermore, the wiki surprisingly involved students who did not participate much in the classroom. Perhaps because it is more difficult to be shy online, some students who were quiet in the classroom became prolific commenters on the wiki.
Question 1: Why might wikis be beneficial in an English classroom?
In addition to the peer feedback, community engagement and increased participation documented by Lawlor, wikis also allow teachers to track student work easily and allow parents a chance to peer into the classroom. Furthermore, weekends, evenings and breaks can be bridged by using wikis (or another form of discussion forum). Also, students seem to enjoy writing when it is less formal. Even formal assignments might seem less intimidating online. Every comment a student writes is a chance for them to practice writing skills, whether they reflect on that fact or not!
Question 2: Are there concerns to consider before introducing a wiki?
I think that there are some. To begin with, the students need to be old enough and mature enough to use the wiki. Also, your students need reliable Internet access and if they do not have it at home, assignments must be timed so that they will be able to use the library or computer lab before the due dates. There might be privacy concerns, and these should be addressed with the class before the first wiki assignment. At the same time as the privacy issues are addressed, the students should review issues of digital citizenship and cyber bullying in order to keep the discussions helpful and not hurtful.

Journal 8: "Navigate the Digital Rapids" (Nets 5)

Lindsay, J. & Davis, V. (2010). Navigate the digital rapids. Learning and leading with technology, 37(6), Retrieved April 5, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/
LLIssues/Volume3720092010/MarchAprilNo6/Navigate_the_Digital_Rapids.html

Julie Lindsey and Vicky Davis argue that teachers who are effective at “flattening” the classroom walls and connecting their students to other classrooms do so by embracing technology and change, customizing their curriculum and allowing their students to take charge of their use of technology and involvement in global projects. These practices, in turn, lead to students being responsible digital citizens. Though teachers may be afraid that allowing students such leeway or encouraging such independence might be dangerous for their jobs and their students and their test scores, Lindsey and Davis suggest that these practices will actually make for more effective teachers, better educated students and standards that are met “with artistry.” However, there are some guidelines that are important to remember when engaging in global projects. Students and teachers should be mindful to remain professional and adhere to etiquette that is appropriate for an educational setting. It is tempting to treat all online networking as social networking, but global network projects are designed to further educations. As such, participants need to be culturally sensitive and remain professional. Furthermore, it is important to know how teachers will handle situations where students are not professional and post offensive materials. The action plan suggested by Lindsey and Davis includes consistent monitoring by a global network of educators who send evidence (screen shots) of offensive postings to the student’s classroom teacher as well as to the network administrator. The administrator removes the material and the classroom teacher coaches the students on why the act was inappropriate and might suspend or ban the student from the network. When students are properly introduced to the assignments and technology and trusted to adhere to proper etiquette, suspensions and bans are low. The article ends by giving examples or actual global learning networks that are being utilized today, including Eracism, Digiteen and Flatclassroom.

Question 1: The authors suggest monitoring students to make sure they do not “cross the line” in order to remain consistent with the rules regarding what is appropriate online behavior for students. Is this possible?
One problem I have with the idea of a “line” students should not cross is that some of what is appropriate needs to be considered contextually. The situation or assignment might determine what is appropriate at some times. There are, however, some things that are never appropriate. One example would be cyber bullying or using hate speech in online interactions. Students should be instructed as to what the hard and fast “don’t cross this line” rules are, and the classroom should have working rules that help to address what might be situationally or contextually appropriate.

Question 2: How do you feel about the possibility of E-Portfolios being used for college admissions?
I actually think that this is a great idea. One essay that is read over by your senior English Teacher half a dozen times (if you are lucky and your school pushes college) does not give admissions boards a comprehensive idea of who a student is and what kind of work they are capable of. E-Portfolios are not only more comprehensive, but they can also show growth over a period of years or months.

Atomic Learning Crossword Assignment Nets 1 and 2

Using Microsoft Excel, I created an interactive crossword puzzle themed around grammar terms.

Grammar Crossword

Prezi Wiki Page-Nets 2 and 3

This is a wiki page I made about Prezi.com. The wiki page is part of the Classroom 2.0 wiki project.

Internet Safety Collaborative Documen-Nets 3 and 4

This document was created collaboratively using google documents. In a group of six, we each used a section of the JCSS Internet Safety Site to create a document detailing how students can be safe and responsible online.




Thursday, April 15, 2010

Journal 7: The Beginner's Guide to Interactive Virtual Field Trips (Nets 5)

Zanetis, J. (2010). The beginner's guide to interactive virtual field trips. Learning and leading with technology, 37(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=March_April_No_6_1&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4516&ContentID=25443&DirectListComboInd=D

            Jan Zanetis’ article discusses what virtual field trips are, how they can be used in the classroom and why they can be important resources for students and teachers. Virtual Fieldtrips (VFTs) have two forms,  asynchronous VFTS and interactive VFTs. Asynchronous VFT’s are static sites that can be visited at any time and the content is not delivered to students in real-time. An example of an asynchronous VFT is the Smithsonian website’s virtual tours of exhibits. Interactive VFT’s occur as the students are watching, and interacting, in the VFT and are generally lead by a field matter expert at the site that the VFT is broadcasting from. Interactive VFT’s might include lectures or tours, and an example is a program by the National Baseball Hall of Fame that uses baseball statistics to convey math concepts to students. Special technology is required for Interactive VFTs, but many schools already have the technology and others may be eligible for grants to cover the costs of purchasing the technology. There might also be a fee for the VFT, but compared to the cost of an actual field trip, VFT costs are low.
            VFT’s can engage students in ways that regular lectures and curriculum might not. They give real world relevance to the topics being covered in the classroom and often give students a broader perspective, one that transcends the borders of the school. VFTs also make interactive and real world applications of knowledge accessible to much larger groups than real fieldtrips. Resources and money limit the fieldtrips that students can engage in, and many fieldtrips are completely impossible for most schools. However, VFT’s provide access to places most schools might only dream about.
Question 1: How could you incorporate a VFT into a High School English Class?
I think that it would be great to be able to integrate video, pictures and experts about the authors students are studying. One example would be to replace the normal diagrams of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater with an online tour of the theater lead by someone who is an expert on Shakespeare.
Question 2: If students are still in their seats, in their classroom, will VFT’s actually be an exciting and engaging alternative to normal classroom activities?
To begin with, I think that asynchronous VFT’s can actually become a part of normal classroom activities, as opposed to an alternative. That said, I think students relish the opportunity to do anything not lead by the same teacher they see 5 days a week. Movies always felt like a break to me, even if they bored me. I imagine that interactive VFT’s would be more engaging than movies, and therefore students would feel as if something different, and perhaps even exciting, was happening when they participated in an interactive VFT.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Inspiration-Nets 3

This is a visual mind-map made with Inspiration to show connections between assignments for EDUC 422 and Nets-T. The mind-map helped me to brainstorm and plan before writing my Nets Narratives for Taskstream.

School Comparisons Prezi for EDUC 364 Collaborative Project-Nets 2 and 3

This is a Prezi Presentation for my EDUC 364 class comparing and contrasting three schools in the Escondido Union School District.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Journal 6: Classroom 2.0 and Blogging (Nets 5)

Blogging: Blogging is like online journaling that is open to comments from other users. Blogs are hosted by providers like blogspot..com, blogger.com and kidsblog.com

One of the ways that teachers use blogs in a classroom is to provide an “authentic audience” for student work. Depending on the blog settings, the blogs can be seen by parents, students in the classroom, or other students in other classrooms. When one class comments on another class’ blogs, the other class generally reciprocates and communication between the two classes results. Also, it makes the students and teachers more responsible and open to parents. Both of these scenarios result in an audience for student work, which seems to motivate students to do better work and to write even when there is no assignment.
Teachers are also using blogs as a sort of online newsletter/calendar/information center for both students and parents. These sorts of blogs often host content that helps students review for exams and quizzes as well as information for parents about what the class is up to and what assignments are due when. Schools are finding blogs are a useful tool for keeping parents involved in the day-to-day activities in the classroom.
One of the interesting debates going on about classroom blogs right now is whether teachers are better served to maintain a website or a blog. Proponents of blogs argue that they often appear more professional than the standard teacher webpage does, that they are less static and that teachers are more likely to update them. Proponents of webpages argue that because a lot of teachers do not update, class webpages that provide basic information may be more suitable for most teachers.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Nets-S Collaborative Powerpoint Rubric-Nets 2 and 5

As a class, we used RCampus.com to create this rubric that we then used to grade each other's powerpoint presentations.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Nets-S Presentation made on Prezi.com- Nets 1, 2, and 3

Using Prezi.com, I created a presentation that integrates the Nets-S and possible student work that would meet those Nets.






Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Journal 4: “Finding Students Who Learn with Media” (Nets 5)

Bull, G. (2010). Finding studnets who learn with media. Learning and leading with technology, 37(5). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25255&DirectListComboInd=D.
Glen Bull details his experiences with having students create a student narrated video that incorporates primary documents and images about the United States in the 1930’s. The assignment uses Primary Access Movie Maker, a web based program, to reduce technology learning time and allow students to focus more on the specific project than the technology they are using to create the project. After tracking student involvement and outcomes from this assignment, Bull notes that students fall into four categories: “high technology/high content,” “high technology/low content,” “high content/low technology,” and “low content/low technology.” The students in the high/high group are engaged by all aspects of the assignment and it is a rewarding and authentic learning experience for them. Those students engaged in the high/low group are engaged in the process of making the video and as a by-product of this engagement, learn some of the content that they might not have otherwise. Those in the low/high group are more likely to enjoy researching and writing an essay than making the video. The low/low group is not connecting to the activity at all. According to Bull, part of the benefit of this project for teachers is that it allows teachers to track how students are engaging with technology and content online. This tracking, in turn, can aid teachers in tailoring their pedagogy and curriculum to the learning styles in their classroom.
Question 1: How could you incorporate some of the suggestions in this article in a classroom?
The information about using online tools to track how students are engaging with assignments is of particular interest to me. Bull mentions that part of what makes for authentic learning is the “degree of student choice” offered. Perhaps an assignment early on might show that a good percentage of your class might enjoy research and writing as much as others enjoy working with media. With this knowledge, you could offer students the option of writing an essay or making a video and engage more students more effectively at the same time. Alternatively, you could alternate traditional and media based assignments for big projects.
Question 2: Is there more information needed in addition to that provided in the article to know how you would implement these ideas in a classroom?
Yes. I don’t understand how they were able to track student engagement with both technology and content online to come to the conclusions they did. They might have tracked time spent fiddling with the technology and how well students performed on tests and then linked the two, or maybe they tracked these factors in an entirely different way. In order to replicate this sort of assignment, including the tracking for future use, in a meaningful way, I would need to understand how the tracking occurred. 

Journal 3: “Keeping the Peace” (Nets 5)

Levinson, M (2010). Keeping the peace. Learning and leading with technology, 37(5). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25237&DirectListComboInd=D.
In “Keeping the Peace,” Matt Levinson writes about the challenges the Nueva School faced during the first year of a one-to-one student laptop program. The particular challenge focused on in the article is that of students’ usage of instant messaging and video chat features that were initially enabled on the student laptops. Instant messaging quickly became a distraction in the classroom and some parents felt as if the school was making decisions for them about the use of instant messaging at home. Eventually, the school decided to block the instant messaging and video chat programs on student computers. This decision led to a lot of community comments, ranging from parents who applauded the effort, students who felt the ban was too all-encompassing and should be considered on a case to case basis instead, to parents who felt the school was taking on a censorship role that was unnecessary. Ultimately, the school felt that the laptops were intended for educational purposes and that blocking the instant messaging programs helps to keep the laptops as educational devices and not simply as tools for socializing.
Question 1: Do you agree with banning IM programs on school computers?
Yes! I believe it is a problem if students are communicating with their classmates clandestinely through IM when they should be paying attention in class. Notes and whispering are things teachers can catch, IM’s can be much more insidious in the classroom. Furthermore, I think that IM’s inside of classrooms might lead to more cyber-bullying. Finally, I don’t see how IM’s actually improve the learning happening with the computers.
Question 2: How could the IM problem and similar ones be avoided at other schools?
Levinson mentions that banning chat and IM would have been easier if it had been done at the start of the one-to-one initiative. In order for schools to know this sort of information, it is important to have a “best practices” guide with other schools experiences available. As schools begin to implement one-to-one programs, research into these best practices should help them avoid a lot of problems that other schools have already gone through and remedied. 

Journal 2: “Using Podcasts to Create a Global Perspective” (Nets 5)

Maguth, B. M., & Elliot, J. (2010). Using podcasts to develop a global perspective. Learning and leading with technology, 37(5). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=February_No_5_4&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4495&ContentID=25244&DirectListComboInd=D
            In “Using Podcasts to Create a Global Perspective,” Brad M. Maguth and Jeff Elliot document an assignment used in a technology, math and sciences highschool setting. In the assignment the authors wrote about, students are challenged to research a global issue and then present their research in the form of a “Meet the Press” style debate that is recorded and later turned into a podcast that can be shared online. According to the authors, using podcasts allows for “authentic learning” because students feel that the public nature of podcasts requires that their work be quality but also allows their work to reach an audience and be relevant to both the students and others. The technical aspects discussed in the article include the fact that the editing software Garage Band was used in the example project, but that Audacity is a free program that could be used, and that the audio files, once edited, need to be converted to the mp3 format before being posted to a website as a podcast.
Question 1: Are there privacy concerns about posting student work, in the form of audio content, on the internet?
If the students are identified by name and the website is publicly accessible, there may be privacy concerns. Teachers and administrators can get permission slips to post the student work. If the students are not visually identified in the file itself, and are not identified by name in the description on the website or in the file itself, there may not be privacy concerns to contend with. Another option would be to put the files on a password protected website. Unfortunately, doing so would negate the “global aspect” of sharing podcasts.
Question 2: Will student’s actually believe that their podcasts can reach wide audiences from a school website?
The idea that students will take their work more seriously and see it as relevant if there is a chance that people all over the world might see their work is contingent on students actually believing that people might see their podcast. By high school, students are smart enough to know that simply existing online does not guarantee being seen. All it would take is one cynical student to point this out to the entire class and change the dynamic of the assignment. To counteract this, teachers could have colleagues from other places comment on the finished podcasts from previous years to show to future students. 

Journal 1: “Computing in the Clouds” (Nets 5)

Johnson, D. (2009). Computing in the clouds. Learning and leading with technology, 37(4). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3720092010/DecemberJanuaryNo4/Computing_in_the_Clouds.htm
Doug Johnson, Director of Media and Technology for the Manakota public schools, predicts that the use of netbooks and cloud software can save schools money while increasing student usage of technology. Johnson describes cloud software as programs that exist online, rather than on an individual hard-drive; the specific programs Johnson focuses on, like g-mail and google-docs, are free to use. The advantages of cloud programs are that they are free, allowing schools to spend money on other resources, they do not use computer space, allowing students and schools to rely on inexpensive netbooks rather than more expensive computers for standard computing needs, and because files and resources are stored online instead of on a hard-drive, computers become interchangeable and the user is not tied to a specific device. On the flip side, there are concerns about security and privacy with online cloud programs. Furthermore, netbooks and cloud software do not provide the necessary programming, or computer power, to complete complex or large projects like film and photo editing. Though there are limitations to “computing in the clouds,” Johnson ultimately thinks that cloud software can be useful for schools and that most students will eventually own at least a netbook.
Question 1: What are the funding possibilities for getting netbooks into classrooms?
If the faculty was able to stop using programs like Microsoft outlook and move to g-mail accounts, for example, the school district might be able to save some money that they could relocate to funding netbooks in the classrooms. Furthermore, grant money and donations from companies could be pursued. Like the article mentioned, in some districts asking the parents to buy the netbooks as part of the school supplies might be a possibility. My parents were asked to buy calculators, just like Johnson was.
Question 2: Would netbooks be disruptive in classrooms?
A well-written and enforced student usage agreement would need to be in place to keep netbooks from being more distraction and disruption than teaching aid. In order for netbooks to really be useful, wireless internet and web-browsers need to be available, and with wi-fi and google comes a host of possible distractions. Teachers would need to be aware of ways of minimizing this, students would need to be aware of the proper usage of netbooks as well as the consequences for improper usage, and the administration would need to carefully draft the usage agreements in place.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Newsletter- Nets 1 and 3

This is a sample of what a classroom newsletter might look like. I used Microsoft Word to create the newsletter and incorporated word art, drop caps, clip art, columns and other style and formatting options within Word to create an aesthetically pleasing and interesting document.
newsletterCG

Social Bookmarking (Delicious.com)-Nets 1 and 5

1.     The American Women! Exhibit on the National Archives website provides histories and documents pertaining to 106 American women. By taking a “virtual tour” of the exhibit, the viewer can read a chronological account of some of the contributions women have made to United States history. There is also an alphabetically list of key women, with links to biographies and lists of historical artifacts linked to their names.
    Primary documents are a great way to supplement curricular materials in the classroom. While most history texts leave out women and ethnic people, primary documents provide insights into the histories and viewpoints of otherwise overlooked peoples throughout history.

2.     According to the National Education Association’s “Students Affected by Education Gaps,” the following groups experience achievement gaps: Racial and ethnic minorities (particularly American Indians and Alaska Natives, Hispanics, Blacks and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders), Students with disabilities, Students from low-income families, Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, English language learners, boys in lower grades and girls in high school math and science.
a. Determine the diverse groups served by your school. Consider cultural, linguistic, racial, and ethnic diversity. Find out the degree to which families and students in these groups are accessing available school services. 
I tend to research everything extensively before I “dive-in,” so compiling data on the “diverse groups served by [my] school” is a natural feeling idea to me. Having information readily available is a key part of me understanding any issue and planning a way to approach that issue. As such, determining what groups are being served and to what extent they are being served seems like a necessary first step to creating an includive school that would narrow achievement gaps.  

b. Network with parent, family, minority community, and faith-based organizations concerned with the needs of diverse students. Solicit their involvement and input in the design and implementation of initiatives for culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups.
I spent a little over a year developing a resource guide for San Diego Head Start Centers to use to network with faith-based organizations. Part of this process involved relying on parents and community members to share with me their needs, and part of it involved becoming imbedded in the community to discover the resources that could meet those needs. The first hand knowledge of this process makes me feel confident in saying that these practices are helpful for communities and individuals and would be beneficial in bridging achievement gaps for diverse student groups.

c. Gather and organize resource materials related to culturally diverse groups for use by school staff.
As I mentioned before, researching and utilizing available resources is something that makes me feel comfortable. Presenting and sharing my research as resources is an equally comforting idea to me. I feel as if a little bit of knowledge goes a long way in diffusing otherwise tense situations; that feeling makes me believe that sharing well researched knowledge by way of distributable resources could help teachers to diffuse the situations they deal with daily.

3.     Perry Aftab’s “Guide for Schools on Cyberbullying” was a useful resource that reminded me that off campus cyber communications may or may not be punishable by the school. It put me in mind of the current UCSD debate over whether the students who hosted the recent “Compton Cookout” should be punished by the school. In this case, the event was off-campus but student conduct agreements might hold precedent over the fact that the event was off –campus. Cyberbullying can work in the same way; even though students may engage in the acts of cyberbullying at home or away from school, if there is a legal student conduct contract on file, schools may be able to take action despite the fact that the actual event happened off campus. This article really brought the importance of well-drafted student conduct agreements into focus for me. By allowing schools to get involved in these incidents, or at the least to pass the information on to parents, some of the ramifications of cyberbullying can be addressed in the school system.

4.     Under the “Subject Access” links, I selected Literature and ELA and then linked to the Guide to Grammar and Writing website. This website would be a great addition to a high school language class because instead of running boring drills, students can engage in interactive online grammar quizzes. By making the quizzes interactive like this, students who are struggling can focus on specific areas, while those who are not can learn more advanced topics, all in the same classroom. In the typical high-school literature classes that I have observed, there is a wide range of competence in grammar and writing skills and having the flexibility that this website provides would be helpful.
Under the “Teacher’s Helper” links, I selected the “Assessments & Rubrics” link and then the “Research Project Rubric-Secondary” link; this link provided a completed rubric for use in a high school setting. From my own experience, the research project might be a single unit in some high school classes. Though a general writing rubric would need to adhere to the individual schools writing format and focus, this research rubric would be easily adaptable for any classroom. I have been told that the first few years of teaching involve a lot of lesson planning and curriculum development and that having resources like ready-made rubrics can help a new teacher stay sane during this process.

5. Results of the learning style quiz
a. Naturalistic-93%
b. Intrapersonal-88%
c. Verbal Linguistic-83%
Video: The “Community Begins with Morning Meeting” video discusses how the Care for Kids program connects students through a daily, morning meeting in small groups. The program has improved attendance, and social skills for students, and decreased bullying. Every middle school in Louisville participates in the program.

6.     I chose a lesson plan for a 9-12th grade English Literature class. The lesson requires that students make a timeline showing how events and people have led to change over a long time period, focusing on one specific group. This lesson would require the students research any number of groups that are traditionally left out of high school curriculum. I think this is a great lesson for reviving enthusiasm when it begins to wane in students. Maybe after a unit or a book that leaves students feeling as if they cannot make change or that the world is in a state of despair, this lesson could demonstrate to students that it isn’t one act, but the culmination of many small acts over time that make change happen.

7.  Question 2: Compared with White women, how likely are African American women in the U.S. to die during childbirth due to a lack of access to prenatal care, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality?
Answer: 4 times as likely
Discussion: This was actually a shocking statistic to me. As a nation, I feel like we act as if we are superior to some extent based on statistics like low infant mortality and longer life expectancies; what we don’t discuss is how these statistics are variable based on ethnicity.
Question 5: According to a 2006 report from the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans comprise more than 37% of people arrested for drug use, 59% of those convicted for drug use, and 74% of those sentenced to prison for drug use. African Americans comprise what percentage of U.S. drug users?
Answer: 15%
Discussion: Another question in the quiz shows the disparity between sentencing for crack and powder cocaine. These two questions are very linked because by targeting crack cocaine, the legislature targets African American men and women. Crack cocaine use is more frequently associated with African Americans and that White and middle to upper class people more frequently use powder cocaine, it seems clear that the law specifically targets African Americans. This sort of targeting leads to the disparities between usage rates and incarceration rates reflected in this question.

8. Quiz Score: 100%
Teaching students netiquette is important because it will help them communicate without offending others. They will most definitely use online communications in school and work settings, and it is important that they make a good impression. ☺

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Introduction Letter for Christine Goss


My name is Christine Goss and I was born in La Mesa. I attended elementary school from K-2 at Sycamore Canyon Elementary School and then transferred to Carlton Oaks Elementary as part of the GATE program. I then attended West Hills High School and graduated in 2001. After graduation, I started by undergraduate studies at the University of California, Davis. I quickly discovered that I wasn’t good at math beyond the Calculus level and that a Biology degree probably wasn’t a great idea for me. I changed to the English department. Then, I moved back home to San Diego to help take care of my ill mother. Nearly five years, a marriage, and a baby later, I returned to school at Cal State San Marcos. After three semesters, I graduated Fall 2009 with my B.A. in Literature and Writing Studies with an emphasis in Literature.
I love technology! I wouldn’t consider myself terribly tech-savy, but I definitely depend on technology a lot. I use my computer to research everything that I am even remotely interested in, to participate in online classes, and to share pictures and videos of my son with our family that is spread around the country. I sometimes doubt that I could live without my phone. I use it to play music to motivate me during distance runs, recently found out how to use the GPS while lost on a 14 mile hike, use it to text far too much, and, of course, make the occasional phone call. My sister’s boyfriend, Matt, is a computer-science type, which has been great because I always have someone to fix the things I inevitably break and I get his tech hand-downs. The flip side of that is that I don’t always learn how to fix tech issues myself because Matt is always around to help out. I switched from a PC to a Mac in September and that has been a great transition. I currently use Word for Mac V.8.
I had not given teaching serious thought until I took a Sociology of Education course at CSUSM. I knew that I was dedicated to social justice and wanted to work in a capacity that helped both individuals and society as a whole, but it wasn’t until this course pointed out to me the inequities in education and the drastic changes that needed to be made that I started thinking of myself as a future educator. The “Mission Statement” of the College of Education at CSUSM addresses the fact that future educators need to see themselves as vehicles of change, stating, “The mission of the College of Education community is to collaboratively transform public education by preparing thoughtful educators and advancing professional practices. We are committed to diversity, educational equity, and social justice.” Although other programs are closer to where I live, my experience with CSUSM is that these words are not just words to the faculty and staff, but rather a way of life.