CRICKET!!!!!!

Well since I am procrastinating I figured I could tell ya'll about Cricket...she is up for adoption at the Humane Society of Clark County.  Cricket is a 2 year old female black lab mix who is pure muscle!! Whenever I take her out I make sure I'm wearing clothes to run in because that's what she LOVES to do.  I love this dog so much, whenever I go into the dog yard (where all of the big dogs are kept) I yell her name and she howls back at me, it is the funniest thing ever.  She knows if I'm calling her she is about to get out of her cage. When I let her out she puts her paws on my waist and gives me a hug...I know what you're thinking, how can a dog hug? Well I will just have to take a picture and show ya'll when I get back. Anyway that's enough about Cricket and I should probably get back to doing my school work.  Bye for now :)

Web 2.0 Tools

The Web 2.0 tools I have listed below are examples of educational websites that I can use in my classroom when I become a teacher.

Bookr
This Web 2.0 tool makes digital books.  With this tool you can type text at the bottom of the page, and also insert a picture.  This tool is very easy to use.  I would use this tool in my classroom because most children love to tell stories. I could use this tool to get the students to open up about themselves.

Word It Out
This tool displays the words you type in a neat "cloud".  When you make your "cloud" you can change the color, and also the positions of the words you have typed.  This tool is very similar to another tool called Wordle.  I think that this tool can be used very effectively in any classroom.  If I used it I would tell the students to think of words that describe them, and have them make a "cloud".

Typing Web
I absolutely love this tool.  This tool teaches people how to type.  I like the fact that it actually shows fingers on the keyboard, calculates your wpm, calculates your accuracy, and gives you little pop ups teaching you what fingers to use.  I would use this tool as a home work assignment.  Everyone needs to know how to type on computers.  Technology is progressing, and typing is just a mandatory skill that needs to be learned.

Memidex
Memidex is basically an online dictionary.  This tool also has a thesaurus.  I think that this tool can be very useful in the classroom.  Many schools have ipads, and this webpage can be saved to the favorites of the web browser so students can use it.  We as teachers are going to have to face the fact that most children cannot use dictionaries, but they can type the word in as they see it into a search engine.

Bubblus
This tool helps you make organizational charts.  The charts made on this website look like brainstorming bubbles.  These charts are very easy to figure out.  I would use this website in my classroom when making the children write small papers.  I think that the children enjoy working on ipads instead of just paper.

Proprofs Quiz School
This tool is used for making quizzes or tests.  You can make the tests a variety of ways.  I liked the multiple choice best.  I would make the quiz at home, and have the children take the quizzes in class. I would personally rather grade the tests at home, but I could also do some in class tests using technology.

What2Learn
What2Learn is basically a website with educational games.  The games on this website are very easy to play.  All of the games I played had clear instructions.  I think that the students can play these games when they have completed all other work that needs to be done.  I think this would be a positive influence in the classroom.

Kidblog
Kidblog is a great tool that is designed for K-12 teachers who want to provide each student with an individual blog. This tool makes sure that each student has a secure blog.  I feel as though this tool would be great for the classroom because each students gets to have an individual blog to talk about what went on in their lives. I would probably make the student write on their blogs every week and  occasionally I would have them do prompts like, if I could go anywhere in the world I would go....

Fotopedia
This web 2.0 tool is basically what its name says.  This is a photo encyclopedia.  I looked up a couple topics and found breath taking photos.  This could definitely be used in a classroom to show students different pictures, and the pictures have little blurbs about them.

Songza
Songza is a Web 2.0 tool that plays music.  The tool is very easy to navigate, and you can play any kind of music you like.  This tool even allows you to play music based on your mood or what you are doing.  I would use this in my classroom by playing classical music while the students are reading or writing.

Gracee

This poor puppy was brought into the Humane Society today.  She was thrown out of a truck in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  I do not understand how someone could throw any animal out of a moving vehicle where they could get run over.  There are places for you to drop off animals if you do not want them (The Humane Society) hint hint.  It just makes me so mad that someone could do something like that. Even though that person threw her out of their vehicle, she still lets people hold her and pet her.  I love that animals forgive faster than humans do.

Social Networking

In one of my Education classes called Intro to Technology we were given a topic to blog about.  The topic we were given to talk about was social networking. Each student had to find two links or blogs that talked about social networking… because I am who I am I could not figure out how to mention other blogs so I will be referring to links.

 The first article is on this website called "Teens and the Media: http://www.pamf.org/teen/life/bodyimage/media.html. This article says that social media affects school, obesity, commercials, stereotypes, violence, and sexuality.  A couple things from this article really caught my attention, for example, according to this article children who watch a lot of TV will do poorly in school, and they do not read as well as the children who do not watch very much TV.  The other thing that caught my attention was that this article said that if a four year old sees violent video games then they are more likely to be a bully.  I think this article is very biased.  I feel like everything that was said about social media was negative. One of the only things I agreed with were the points about the children becoming sexually active at a younger age. If you look back at the generations that did not have internet or had very little television there was not as much sexual activity at younger ages.  Today children are experiencing sexual activities as young as 12 years old.

The second article I researched was “Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Society”: http://www.techbead.com/positive-and-negative-effects-of-social-media-on-society/. I really enjoyed this article because it talked about negative and positive aspects of the social media.  I agree that the social media can become addicting because before I go to bed every night I check my instagram account to see who all has posted pictures.

I think that the social media plays a huge role on how young people behave.  I also think that social media can have positive and negative effects on people.  Social media can positively influence people by helping them gain the skills needed to have conversations with people, but it can also have negative impacts, for example, a big negative impact of social media is bullying. I think that how social media  affects a specific person is up to them…you can let it affect you negatively, or you can choose not to be negativity influenced.

WELCOME :)

Welcome to Kids, Paws, and Education.  You may be wondering why my blog is called Kids, Paws, and Education, well I want to teach third grade (kids), I also love animals (paws), and I am currently in college (education).  In this blog I will mostly focus on my experiences in different classrooms that I observe, the animals at the humane society, and I will also write about my journey through the Education Program.

My name is Patience Walker and I am 20 years old.  I am currently a sophomore attending Henderson State University in Arkadelphia Arkansas.  My major is Early Childhood Education.  I chose to major in Education because I like to help people.  I love seeing the look on children’s faces when they finally understand what you are trying to teach them.

I was born in Frankfurt, Germany but I do not know how to speak German.  My dad is in the military so I have moved around for most of my life.  I have lived in Lawton Oklahoma, Ft. Leavenworth Kansas, Ft. Riley Kansas, White Hall Arkansas, Arkadelphia Arkansas, and now my home is Ft. Sill Oklahoma when I am not at Henderson State.  I have a total of 5 people in my immediate family and my parents have been married for over 20 years.  I have two younger brothers named Tommie and Elias.  My brother Tommie is 15 and Elias is 14.  We also have two dogs named Myah and Shadow.

During my free time I LOVE to read books.  I love to read because it is like an escape from reality, some people watch TV but I like to read…I do not even have a TV.  My favorite genre to read is Romance because the novels are always really cute.  I also volunteer at the Humane Society of Clark County every day.  I love helping animals, and I love helping people find the perfect pet for their family.  Most of the pictures on this blog will be of the animals at the Humane Society.