Addressing the Digital Divide

Addressing the Digital Divide

The Digital Divide is the gap between people with access to digital technology and those who don’t. There has been an increase in the use of computer technology over the last ten years. In my classroom I want to make sure each student learns how to use the internet for finding resource sites and how to use Microsoft Office. A also want to bring in other technology sources for our teachers to use in their classroom. In my class I will teach students to respect others on the internet and to be safe. They will learn how to find access to technology and find resources for technology.
With the technology today almost all disabilities can be put aside and children can learn to communicate, work, and learn with little trouble. I want to use these technologies in my class so every student will have the same opportunity to learn.

Internet Safety

First Grade Internet Safety





Protect yourself from

• Cyber bullying



• Online Predators



• Cyber Crime

Cyber Bullying is when a student is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.

Signs of at risk children for online predators are

• Large amounts of time on-line



• Pornography on your child’s computer



• Quickly turns off monitor when you enter



• Becomes withdrawn

Forms of cyber crime are illegal use of computers, spreading viruses, fraud, gambling, and identity theft.

Ways you can counteract Cyber Dangers

• Responsible Cyber Citizenship and Ethics



• Acceptable use policies



• Internet Safety Guidelines



• Netiquette Guidelines



• Firewalls



• Filtering Software

Netiquette Guidelines

• Treat others as you wish to be treated, including people you talk to on the internet.


• Do not download anything without a teacher or parent's consent.


• Don't write any personal information about yourself or anyone else on any site or in an email. ei. your adress, your full name, your birthday.


• Remember that everything you say can be read by numerous people, think about what you write before sending it. Ask yourself if this is something you want everyone to know.


• Never visit sites that are not assigned by your teacher or approved by your parents.


• Never respond to an email from someone you do not know.

Citations: Cyber Dangers PPT,

StopCyberBullying.Org
Microsoft Online Predators
Cyber Citizenship
NBC Internet Safety

Proper Netiquette

on

Proper Netiquette

for Miss Boone's first grade class

1. Treat others as you wish to be treated, including people you talk to on the internet.




2. Do not download anything without a teacher or parent's consent.




3. Don't write any personal information about yourself or anyone else on any site or in an email. ei. your adress, your full name, your birthday.




4. Remember that everything you say can be read by numerous people, think about what you write before sending it. Ask yourself if this is something you want everyone to know.




5. Never visit sites that are not assigned by your teacher or approved by your parents.




6. Never respond to an email from someone you do not know.

Jigsaw Classroom

The Jigsaw learning method is easy for teachers to learn and easy to implement. You put the children in groups of five or six and have a child from each group learn about a specific dimension of what the lesson is about that day. All the children who are learning about the same specific idea can discuss ideas and share their knowledge for the others to take back to their jigsaw groups. They then go back to their jigsaw group and teach the rest of the group what they learned. After each group member has gone around and taught the other students what they learned you can quiz them on the material.
The problems of domination, boredom, competition or a slower learner can all be resolved without embarrassment or argument with this technique. For example, the teacher can assign a leader for each group, and no one can speak unless the leader gives them permission. The leader could be alternated each session giving everyone a chance to be in charge rather than the louder more outgoing children.
Also, each child would be teaching a group of children what they learned. Reversing the role of learner to teacher gives them an excitement and experience in the role. Also, teaching is one of the most effective ways of learning, and it will give students incentive to learn as much as possible to pass on to the other students.
A problem of the jigsaw method could be holes in the learning. If a student only researches a specific area and is not involved, or ignores the other students when they are teaching they have not learned the big picture of an event but just a small portion, and considering the subject completed, the teacher never goes back to it, leaving a large hole in the child's understanding of the material. Also, with classes where there are very few students this method is essentially pointless.



Citations:

http://www.illinoisloop.org/jigsaw.html

http://www.jigsaw.org/tips.htm

Assistive/adaptive technology

There is no limit to how much money you should spend to increase a child's standard of living. The money spent on assistive learning would be more than worth it if one child's life was changed. A disability should not slow a child down just because the environment around him/her does not support their disability. With the technology today almost all disabilities can be put aside and children can learn to communicate, work, and learn with little trouble. Blind people don't have a disability if they have the proper tools around them, but if the tools are not provided they are starting out way behind. Braille embossers can alter text on the computer into embossed Braille. They can completely erase the fact of blindness in the sense that the kid would then have equal opportunity to read and write and see what was being done in the classroom.

All in all I don't think the question is how do you justify spending money on adaptive/assistive technology, I think the question is how can you justify NOT. The possibilities for assistive technology are almost limitless and each child's individual learning style can be addressed with a new device designed just for their style or even with just a tweak of an existing program.

CITATIONS:

Types of Assistive Technology Products; http://www.microsoft.com/enable/at/types.aspx

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES http://dakotalink.tie.net/content/library/atiniepguide.htm#ATfor%20Students

http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=109

Technology in Schools

I think that technology in schools is important to help teachers teach by keeping children's attention with the colors, movies, and games they can play. The programs can also help teachers when a subject is not their area of expertise or they just need a hand to explain an idea or concept. Also, technology is everywhere in our society today and kids are already learning to use it when they are young and so you aer teaching with something they can understand and relate to.

Computers can also hold a lot of data in a small space and an efficient order, like grades, papers, or attendance records. They are great for teachers because they save space in the classroom, which doesn't have much storage for stuff anyway, and it is much quicker and easier to find something with a mouse than digging through boxes and boxes of papers.