Article H: Internet Safety

Crais, S. (2005). “Internet Safety at School and at Home”. Education World. Received Nov. 15, 2010,         from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech218.shtml

                Today I read the article “Internet Safety at School and at Home”, by Stewart Crais.  In this article, Stewart talks about how parents can keep their children safe online.  Parents are concerned about what sites their child is going on.  Most common websites are social networking websites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.  These websites allow people to keep in touch of friends or other people such and celebrities.  Parents are also concerned with who their child is talking to.  There’s always that possibility of a random person contacting their child.  Their child may spend a lot of time in chat rooms talking to strangers.  This can lead to internet stalking and arranged meetings. 

                Committees are being formed to discuss how to monitor their child.  It really comes down to the parents talking with their child.  Parents have to drill awareness in their child’s head.  They have to tell them the dangers of talking to random people online, sending emails, and using profanity.  Parents should also have keep up to date with their internet software and parental controls.

                Honestly, I don’t think this topic is that big of a deal.  I personally have only heard one story of an “arranged meeting”.  This was back when I was in middle school.  There was this girl that was chatting with some guy that she didn’t know and got to know him pretty well.  For some stupid reason she “arranged” a meeting with him at some place.  He came and she got creeped out and then it became a legal issue.  Her excuse was that she didn’t think he’d actually come. 

                Now-a-days, I think kids need to be educated about the dangers of socializing online, but not that strict.  I believe kids have the smarts to know who to talk to and who not to talk to.  I don’t hear about any instances of internet stalking being a huge, consistent problem.  It may just be me, but I just don’t think it’s as major of a problem that it sounds like.

Article D: Electronic Whiteboards

Anonymous. eHow. “How Are Smart Boards Used in the Classroom?”. Retrieved Nov. 15, 2010, from                http://www.ehow.com/about_5101358_smart-boards-used-classroom.html

I read the article, “How Are Smart Boards Used in the Classroom?”, by an anonymous author.  After reading this, I think to myself, how awesome are smart boards?  A smart board would be a great device to use in the classroom.   There are so many things that someone one is able to perform on a smart board.  Its multi-purpose accessibility does nothing but benefit the teacher and students as well.  It’s also a fun device to use in the classroom for both the students and teacher.

Smart boards are fun for all students.  This means elementary and high school students.  Elementary students would love to draw on the smart board using the multi-colored magic pen.  Learning to write in cursive or spell words would be appealing to them as well.  High school students like the smart board just as much or even more than younger students.  I’ll admit that I always found myself messing around on the smart board.  I’d always draw my shadow on the board and then fill in the face and clothing. 

Besides messing around on the smart board though, the smart bored can be very beneficial to high school students.  The smart board can obviously replace a chalk board or white board.  What’s neat about the smart board that could really benefit high school students is the ability to use the internet on the smart board.  You can get facts on the internet straight from the smart board.  Also, a cool feature that the smart board has is that you can navigate back and forth from the internet back to a blank screen.  This feature can be utilized to both the students and teachers advantage in the classroom.

Article F

Lisante, J (2005). Spark Action “Cyber Bullying: No Muscles Needed”. Retrieved Nov 1, 2010 from,

                http://sparkaction.org/content/cyber-bullying-no-muscles-needed

I read the article, “Cyber bullying: No Muscles Needed” by Joan E. Lisante.  She talks about what cyber bullying is, how it affects schools, and how to prevent cyber bullying.  She started off by telling a story.  It was about a seventh grader named Chad.  His ex-girlfriend was dissing his new one and Chad got mad.  He went online and told his friends that he was going to kill his ex.  Some of his friends were actually scared and told their parents.  Those parents told the school and the school told the police.  Chad was forced to go to a different middle school.

Cyber bullying can happen anywhere at any time to anyone.  It’s has become a pretty big deal, especially in the schools.  Students abuse the internet and use it to harm others verbally and sometimes visually.  Students’ cyber bully by talk bad about someone to friends online, posting negative polls, and posting pictures.  The victims of such abuse find out and don’t want to show themselves again because they’re scared and embarrassed.

Today, people are trying to put an end to cyber bullying.  Washington state has sponsored a bill to crack down on cyber bullying.  The internet itself is taking measures in trying to prevent cyber bullying.  Websites can sense inappropriate texts and not allow it.  Some programs require parent verification so that the parents stay more involved in what their child is doing online.  Parents and schools together are trying to spread awareness.  Schools are having cyber police come in and talk about the effects and consequences cyber bullying has in store.  As much as cyber bullying is out there, the notion to put an end to cyber bullying is just as great.  Thus prevention shouldn’t be too hard to achieve.