Healthy self-image lesson

Along with being healthy, people should also have a realistic/healthy self-image. Because children watch so much t.v. and see so many advertisements directed at them, they need to critically evaluate those ads. At http://bam.gov/teachers/body_image_ad.html, you will find a lesson plan to help children evaluate ads and the message that is being sent. As the lesson plan explains, most women are 5'4" 140 pounds. However, female models in ads average 5'7" and 117 pounds. Children need to know that they are healthy even though they don't live up to the air-brushed, nearly impossible to attain, looks of these models. Teachers have been talking about teaching students to read critically for years. With all of the media exposure children take in, we must also teach them to evaluate these things critically. This lesson is a great way to do that.

Blogging and the Law

This was an article I read by Reid Goldsborough from Technology Today, August 1st, 2005. It was about following the law when you are blogging online. It talked about plagerism (hopefully I have adequately cited my source) and libel when blogging. I was most interested in the ideas about libel. There are limits to our freedom of speech. One of the things that makes me hesitant to accept/use blogs is the fact that people feel like they can just put down anything. They don't understand the accountability they have to what they are writing. It was bad enough when people could write a web page, but these blog pages are just so easy to make! I hope that people feel responsible to "speak the truth" on their blogs. I also hope that children learn to critically look at these blogs and not just believe everything that they read. I think for my class (4th grade), it is essential to discuss this with my students. It is certainly a higher order thinking skill, and is definatley an important one to develop. Anyway, the article does give several tips about blogging. It is basically a how-to not get sued for libel. I hope that bloggers take it one step further and hold themselves accountable to creating credible, reliable information.

Learning in the Digital Age

This was an article I read written by Carolyn Pool in Educational Leadership Dec. 2005/Jan. 2006. I found this article very interesting as it hit on several uses for technology in classrooms. It talked first about Wikipedia, which I had heard of, but not yet tried with my students. Check it out if you haven't yet! It is really cool! It also talked about a user-friendly search engine located at www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/blueweb. I was not familiar with this site, and was very impressed when I checked it out. I really like how they rate the websites, and found many helpful highly rated sites. I was most interested in two other topics in this article. The first was the topic of blogs. I think it is a fantastic idea, but am not yet totally sold on their usefulness. I was impressed by "Mr. Blake's Class Blog," but wonder how many blogs actually have useful information. Are they updated frequently by their creator? Is it safe for students to blog, or even read blogs that are out there? I know teachers are looking for ways to share ideas, and this is certainly a great platform!! I hope that it is used appropriately and can be helpful. I think you can see where my indecision comes form. Learning in the Digital Age also talks about podcasting. I have an ipod myself, and do listen to podcasts. However, I have struggled to find podcasts that I could use in my classroom. Hopefully through this blog, and through my graduate program, I can find answers to these questions. I found this article very interesting, and am always looking for new research and ideas about incorporating technology into my classroom.

Bacteria Activity

At http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/infection/ you can find a fun activity for students. They can learn whether a bacteria is helpful or not. It can be completed fairly quickly, and is a nice way to give students some basic background information on different kinds of bacteria.

Healthy living lesson

My first science unit of the year is a unit on the human body and healthy living. I think it is important for students to learn early on how to make smart choices about their diets. By going to www.mypyramid.gov, students can find what foods they should be eating and print a worksheet to help them keep track of what it is they are eating.