Becoming a Politician: A reflection on my creation of a multimedia lesson plan

From the moment that this assignment was given I knew that I would not only have to be creative myself but develop a way for the students to be as creative as the way I would present my lesson plan. Personally, I thought this assignment was one of the most interesting assignments of the course considering that we had to include at least one student that had a disability.
I believe that the first standard of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T) would apply to this assignment. In fact, I believe that this standard is basically what this lesson plan is all about. Standard one says to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. That is what I believe the students will be doing entirely throughout this assignment. It enables them to think critically about the issues that surround them as students in their school. After they think about that the lesson plan encourages them to think how can they gain the trust from their peers (using technology) to persuade them to believe that they are the best answer to the problems of their school.
I learned a great deal about planning lesson activities from this course. I learned that my lesson plans activities have to engage the students to learn. However, they also have to be fun because students generally tend to not try as hard if they do not find the assignment interesting. I believe that it all falls down to the question that would ask how interesting would the lesson plan activity be to the student. After all, techniques that work well in one situation may be useless in another (Clark & Starr, 2006). However, I know to my heart that this technique is perfect for the students because it enables them to do what they want the way that they want it.
I used a free website creator that the students will be going to when they log on to the internet on their computers. They will then be watching a video that I have loaded into the website that will inspire them for the assignment. I then required them to use at least two technological tools being Windows Movie Maker and a digital camera. The digital camera allows the students to film their commercial but Windows Movie Maker would enable them to do whatever it is they wish to do with their video.
What I liked most about this assignment was when I figured out what I wanted the students to do and how I wanted them to do it. It can be somewhat tedious to teachers to try and think how they can make what is just words in the book interesting to what the students can comprehend. I really enjoyed drafting this lesson plan because I know that it can be interesting for both the student and the teacher. This lesson plan lets the teacher know what it is that the students want changed in their schools. This lesson plan also lets the students feel like they are being respected by because this lesson plan allows the students to speak out.
I can not imagine anything that I did not like about this assignment other than the time that it took me to figure out that what it is I wanted the students to do. Once I figured that out it was all downhill from there. The lesson plan was so convenient that I had no trouble at all drafting how I would accommodate a student with a disability.

References

Clark, L. H., & Starr, I. S. (2006). Secondary and Middle School Teaching Methods. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

The Great Eight: An assessment of eight technology tools

1. Moodle
From the first time that I used this tool I knew that it was going to be one of the most useful technological tools ever created. Whoever created this tool should be recognized all over the education realm because of the capabilities that it has. Students can upload their work from their computers but also their Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to their blogs and other websites. What I like about this site is how the teacher or professor can easily move around assignments, projects, or meetings. Students can also be formed into groups and have a group discussion on the site as well.
Rating:5 out of 5


2. Mozilla Firefox
I started using this tool after much frustrations from using Internet Explorer. With this tool, there are much more convenient aspects than Internet Explorer. With Mozilla Firefox, you can change the theme of your browser which enables the user to use a program to his or her liking. Another big aspect is the "tab," which is like sub-windows inside one huge window of Mozilla Firefox. Internet Explorer was not able to have this until Internet Explorer 7. However, what I believe is one of the biggest steps that any browser has taken is the auto-tab recovery. This enables the user to recover a tab in case the window suddenly closes or the computer restarts. I do not believe that Internet Explorer nor Safari has this capability up to now.
Rating:5 out of 5


3. Delicious
This site I am most definitely thankful for because of what happened when my laptop was down and I still had work to do. What this site does is it allows the user "bookmark" a site. You might be thinking that Firefox can do the same thing and it can. However, what Delicious.com does it is holds the site online. What this means is that you can go to your saved bookmarks anytime and anywhere. When my laptop went down I still had research to do that I had saved onto my Firefox and my Delicious site. Because I had bookmarked the cites that I needed I was able to complete my assignments without being held back. You can even bundle (group up) your bookmarks and add other users as well as look at their bookmarks too.
Rating:5 out of 5


4. Google Suites
Almost everything about Google is just so amazing that I believe that I am using something from Google at least every time that I am on my laptop. Gmail has been one of the most convenient mail sites I have ever used. It has more space than hotmail.com and yahoo.com. To me, it is also the fastest to send mail and upload attachments out of all three. Google Maps is really convenient to those that do not have Google Earth on their computer or are for those at a public area. You can find almost anything about locations like distances or directions to and from places. Google Blogger is also fun to use because you can interact with other Gmail users as well. This capabilities of Google Blogger enables Gmail users to express themselves in numerous ways.
Rating:5 out of 5


5. MSN Messenger 8.0
Windows Live Messenger is an instant messaging program that lets you instantly converse with those that are online as well. You can also send e-mail from Windows Live Messenger as well as have video chats with other users. What is good about this is that it is entirely free and very user friendly. You can also add people from yahoo.com and chat with them as well. However, some features are reserved for those with hotmail accounts.
Rating: 4 out of 5


6. Oovoo
Oovoo.com is a program that allows users to have multiple video conferences. This is especially convenient to those that like to do that because with Windows Live Messenger, you can video chat with one person at a time. Other features of Oovoo is you can record your video chats with other users. You can even call phone lines from Oovoo, but this is only available from the U.S. What is fun about Oovoo is that you can play around with the video effects that is available from Oovoo. Best of all, you can even chat with those that do not have Oovoo through your webcam.
Rating:5 out of 5


7. Skype
Skype is a program that enables the user to make phone calls anywhere in the world to any other place in the world for extremely low prices. All you need is internet connection and your already done. This program is especially important for those who travel and do not have a phone that has roaming on it. You can even do video chat with other people as well. I personally have used this program numerous times when I was staying in the U.S. but did not want to buy a phone. Instead, I downloaded this free program and was able to make long-distance phone calls for over six weeks for less than ten dollars! I strongly suggest this program for anyone even if they are not travelers.
Rating: 5 out of 5


8. Window Movie Maker
Windows Movie Maker is a program that enables the user to make movies within their computer. It comes standard with every pc but I believe that Mac users have a similar program. I personally have used this program and have almost no complaints about it. Importing audio, video, and title overlay was really easy and interesting to use. I made a movie as a project for my Intro to Literature class and got good responses as to how funny some of the effects was. I believe that this programs is essential to someone who is not so technologically literate but has the will to get started.
Rating: 4 out of 5


The Rating System
1.

2.

3.

4.

and the highest being 5.

"Emergency Preparedness" by Diane Nelson Bryen, Ph.D.

The lecture for today was about the emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. Dr. Bryen pointed out that this is an important issue for Guam because it has had a lot of natural disasters and some man made disasters as well. She pointed out that it was only after Katrina did political action come into play for preparedness against such types of disasters. One of the discussions that we started out with was whether or not we purchased extra provisions, arranged for a place to meet in an emergency, and other types of measures. Dr. Bryen was discussing about how planning is an important stop for people with disabilities. Developing accessible shelters is even a requirement under the American Disabilities Act. Other things that should and have to be provided was sheltering which means foods, grooming, medical attention, and communication. One of the most important issues to recognize was replacing lost or destroyed assistive technology of those that need it.
The first step that was pointed out on being prepared is to be informed. So we were shown an eight minute video about preparedness for people with disabilities. It talked about taking the necessary steps is taking care of those with disabilities. It showed people who are caretakers of those with disabilities talking about what steps to take in case of an emergency with those that have disabilities. The video also talked about how practicing is just as important as any step in preparing for a natural or man made disaster. What was brought up as well was disaster preparedness for those with limited speech. I thought that it was really interesting and necessary to go through the check list that was shown.Again, it is not only our responsibility to make sure that we as a community should prepare for natural or man made disasters but I believe that it is also our responsibility as a community to help assure that those with disabilities are taken care of.

Advantage:An assessment of "Enabling Dreams"

The video showed numerous people with disabilities that used laptops and other forms of computer related devices to do their school work or to communicate with people that did not need help communicating at all. One girl even said in the video that she would not be where she was without the type of special technology that she uses for school. What she uses technology for is she records her voice for her college courses even though she can still type. This enables her to keep up with college students as she is a sophomore in college. Another person who had a disability used a laptop to do his work in high school. Although laptops are very uncommon in high schools (especially in Guam), this student takes four advanced placement courses and is also the president of a student organization. One of the most remarkable stories about this video was about a student that had a disability that caused stiffness in his limbs. What is remarkable about this student is that he plays an instrument using a joy stick. As the story was being told about the student, there was an unfortunate incident that occurred where his instrument was stolen. However, by the help of the community the family was able to raise over $6,000 and buy a more efficient model of the same instrument.This is exactly the type of approach we need to take to address the needs of students with disabilities not only at the United States of America but everywhere else, including here on Guam. Guam is unique in itself in that I believe that students with disabilities do not get the same attention and therefore do not exactly have the same opportunities as people with disabilities do in the U.S.A. From what I have seen in the public schools on Guam is that there are no assistive technological devices to aid students with disabilities. There are barely even any computers for classrooms for students without disabilities. I think that once students with disabilities in the public schools on Guam can use the same type of devices as those students with disabilities in the U.S.A, then the students with disabilities here can achieve the same goals.

"Ending the Silence" by Diane Nelson Bryen, Ph.D.

The lecture today was about crimes against people with developmental disabilities. Dr. Bryen emphasized about the problem about the silence of crimes against people with disabilities. She showed that the biggest difference between a normal person being raped and a person with disabilities being raped is that when the person with disabilities is raped, it ends up going silent. She showed that this happens because many cannot report their offenders. She also stated that the alleged offenders are often tried and found not guilty. This really gave me a new view as to how difficult it is to live with a disability. What was more sad about this was the story that Dr. Bryen had told us. It was a story about a girl with a disability who was raped. It took a year for the parents to discover that their daughter had been raped because the girl herself did not even know what rape was. When the girl was being questioned and the offender was caught, he was given a lighter sentence because the police said that the family of the victim was leading her. Dr. Bryen pointed out that crimes against victims with disabilities is silent because of issues like communities covering it up or emphasis on other crimes. The shocking aspect of this lecture was the data that said that people with developmental disabilities are at four to ten times higher of a risk of becoming crime victims. She also showed that the offenders are often the caregivers themselves.
Dr. Bryen then talked about how we can "end the silence." One of those ways was to help people with developmental disabilities protect themselves by providing training with self-defense, a better vocabulary for those with disabilities, and more. We should also form some sort of partnership with the police and the justice system. People that are the victims themselves could help end the silence by telling their own stories.
Dr. Bryen then showed us a video about six people with disabilities that were sexually and physically abused. It was extremely depressing to hear these people talk about how they were abused by other people. One person was talking about how he had been abused at the age of ten and still at the age of forty-nine, he is still haunted by what happened.
After the video Dr. Bryen got into a discussion with us about how each of us can help "end this silence." We came up with seven ways being: 1. Educate future educators of this issue 2. Observe behaviors and find ways to "tell" it 3. Infuse this issue into training programs for counselors, therapist, and protective services. 4. Equal justice (crimes are crimes) 5. Improve access to the criminal justice system 6. Increase awareness 7. Incorporate, if needed, into self advocacy training.
I thought that this special lecture was one of the most informative and very well presented lectures that I have ever been to. Hopefully that there can be more lectures like this so that the silence can forever be ended.

The Civil War’s top ten costliest battles using the ASSURE model

Using the ASSURE model for my first digital spreadsheet lesson plan was a really interesting and enjoyable experience. I learned a lot about how to use the ASSURE model and loved how it guided me to make a lesson plan for the first time. The topic that I wanted to focus on was the Civil War’s top ten costliest battles. Therefore, by using the ASSURE model I was able to develop a concrete lesson plan that I hope to use when I become a teacher.

One standard from the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers that I feel could be applied to this assignment is standard 1a. NETS*T standard 1a is promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. I feel that this lesson plan would help the students be creative in analyzing each battle and will describe what happened. This standard would also apply to this lesson plan because it promotes students to be creative when they use their Civil War data and graph it.

There are numerous things that I learned about lesson planning activities. The first would be that lesson planning takes time. Every time that I was typing anything that the students were supposed to be doing I had to sit back and look at it as if I was the student. I even tried setting up the graph with all the information I was instructing the students to take down in the lesson plan. The second thing that I learned about lesson planning activities is that I figured that I would have to make this fun and interesting. This is because if the lesson plan activity is boring, then my students will be bored as well. What I think would be the interesting factor about this lesson plan is for the students to wonder why so many soldiers were engaged during each battle and why so many had died. The third comes from a book that I read during my Adolescent Psychology course. According to John W. Santrock, Cognitive constructivist approaches emphasize the child’s active, cognitive construction of knowledge and understanding. They also state that it is the teacher’s role us to provide support for students to explore their world and develop understanding (Santrock, 2007). I believe this is truw for anyone who wants to become a teacher. With this lesson plan, I believe it will help students understand the world that they live in and the history of it. Once they learn about the mistakes of the past they can be prepared not to make the same or similar mistakes for the future. That is the power of history that I want my students to learn. The point of learning history is so they we do not repeat the same mistakes.

The new technology tool that I used to complete this assignment was Microsoft Excel 2007. Previous Microsoft Excel versions are able to do almost the same exact things as the 2007 version of Microsoft Excel. However, the difference with the past versions and the 2007 version is that the 2007 version is heavily more user friendly. I was so amazed at how easy it was to find things like inserting a chart or deleting a cell in Microsoft Excel 2007. Therefore, I believed it to be a must do to include Microsoft Excel 2007 into my lesson plan.

There is not much that I liked least about this assignment because it was a very enjoyable experience. This was enjoyable because I was seeing myself as a student and doing the assignment and thought it was an interesting idea. However, the only thing that I liked least about this assignment was that it took quite a while to come up with. I wanted to make this lesson plan fun and interesting for the students. Therefore, I had to be careful when I was drafting what it is I was expecting the students to do and what they were to learn.

What I liked the most of this assignment was that I was able to use technology and apply it to the Civil War which not that much students would consider interesting. I believe that students will have fun with this assignment and learn a great deal about the Civil War as well. This assignment has not only given me a great deal of insight of using Microsoft Excel in my lesson plan, but to include other programs as well. I plan to include not only Microsoft Excel in future lesson plans but also Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint.

When I was a student throughout middle school and high school we never did this type of lesson activity. However, we are in an era that requires us as students and teachers to be technologically literate. Therefore, by doing this lesson plan I have learned to use my technology skills and apply it to a lesson plan to help my students learn the fun way.

References

Santrock, J. (2007). Schools: Approaches to educating students. In Adolescence

(pp. 345). New York: McGraw-Hill

Hafa Adai!!!

Hafa Adai,

Well USC is off to a great start but I'm more mad about how Virginia Tech lost in their season opener.