Social Bookmarking - NETS V

1. National Archives - I chose the Designs for Democracy page which depicts many different drawings and original plans for influential and American history objects. This would be very interesting to use in a classroom setting because it could be inspiring for several different aspirations that students may be developing - architecture, art, etc. It is also a valuable primary resource tool because since the drawings and designs are genuine, there is less chance of the material you are presenting in the classroom setting to be fake or tampered with.

2. National Education Association - According to this website, racial and ethnic minorities, english language learners, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families are at risk for experiencing achievement gaps.

• Engage school staff in discussions and activities that offer an opportunity to explore attitudes, beliefs, and values related to cultural diversity and cultural competence.

This is the first area that I chose to fit my teaching style because although I am not very comfortable in participating in open discussions or activities, I know that I learn a great deal from other people when I do and so most people could probably stand to benefit from this.

• Gather and organize resource materials related to culturally diverse groups for use by school staff.
  

This is the second area I chose because from reading other websites in this assignment, I've already seen online resources related to cultural diversity for every type of class, even math and science. I think it would be very easy and beneficial to to use these types of resource materials.

• Determine the diverse groups served by your school. Consider cultural, linguistic, racial, and ethnic diversity. Find out the degree to which families and students in these groups are accessing available school services.

This is my third choice and is recommended by Ogbu (google him if you haven't heard of him in another education class yet) as a prime method to targeting achievement gaps. Although this can put a tremendous amount of responsibility on the teacher, it might add a personal sympathy and understanding between student and teacher.

3. Stop Cyber Bullying - I took the score and thankfully received the lowest level of cyber-bullying. To be honest, I learned a great deal while simply taking the quiz. Before I started I didn't think I had any idea what cyber bullying really was and during the quiz I realized that it includes much more than blatant rude behavior towards others, it includes simply emailing or sending material that is, in reality, optional to the receiver to view but still rude in one way or another (crude humor, bashing another person, etc.). I also didn't know there were programs that record instant messages. That would be something useful for children outside of the classroom setting as well.

4. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - The area under Teacher Helpers that I chose was the slide shows. Powerpoints can take a long time to create and some of the material, like her slide show titled ABC's of Web Site Evaluation contains universal material that should be taught (and re-taught) to every classroom starting at an early grade. I would definitely use quite a few of her slide shows in class since they can also be a very effective way of communicating material. The area under Subject Access that I chose was the science and technology then the general science tab, and I loved just about ever link I saw! Having access to sites where students can ask their own science questions, the Bill Nye site, a site about gem science, etc. There's a site for just about every area of general science and then there's extra links to interesting and quirky sites that might be fun and different to teach up on a projection screen or have students explore themselves in the classroom as a break from "textbook" science.

5. Multiple Intelligences - My top three learning styles are: Naturalistic, Intrapersonal, and Logical-Mathematics. I definitely agree with these although at first I questioned the naturalistic style being at the top of the list until I read more into it and found out how scientifically involved it is. I learned that schools with multiple intelligence influence in their teaching styles will help teach kids skills that they might never learn at a public school without those influences, for example, the video focused on the musical intelligence and showed kids having fun while developing their musical skills. They also commented on NCLB and how "when you're testing, you can't be teaching" and I really agree with this statement.

6. Teaching Tolerance - I chose upper grades, math and science, and all topics. I chose a math exercise that deals with functions and having the students try to find a property that is unique to multiple functions (nearly impossible) and how this can be related to stereotyping or "objectifying." I think this would be a great ice-breaker activity for the beginning of any school semester or school year and would really set the tone for cultural diversity and acceptance in the classroom.

7. Multicultural Education and Equity Awareness - The first question that I found very interesting was that the United States and the U.K. are at the bottom of the list for the treatment of their children. I hear in the news or in common conversation how "looked down upon" other countries social behaviors are and it's shocking that the U.S. would be viewed as worst treatment for children when so many laws and efforts are made to protect and advance the well-being of our children. The second question that I found rather appaling was the statistic of 52% of physicians witnessing colleagues giving gays, lesbians, or bisexuals reduced care or refusing care at all. I can't believe that someone with that much education would still make such a poor choice and it's really embarrassing.

8. Netiquette Guidelines - My score for the quiz was 100%. =^D Netiquette should be taught in classrooms because it can help a student be safer online, teach them newer things that they may not have heard of yet, prevent embarrassment, and help them create better impressions of themselves with others that they interact with online.

Out-Of-Town

My name is Valerie Maureen Nichols and I was born in Escondido, CA in December 1986. When I was three, my family moved to Aguanga, CA so that my younger sister and I would have lots of room run around. Some people might recognize Anza instead of Aguanga, but they are back to back about 20 miles northeast of Temecula, CA… in the middle of nowhere. J I went to Cottonwood in Aguanga for k – 8 then to Hamilton in Anza for high school. After that I entered Cal State San Marcos as a freshman chemistry major and was lucky enough to thoroughly enjoy my major ever since. I have plans to go to grad school for my doctorate in chemistry after I start m family, since pregos are discouraged in chem labs (and no I’m not pregnant, I want to spend 6-8 years in grad school but don’t want to start my family when I’m 30+). So in the meantime, I’m going to teach high school science and math!

I guess I am definitely a part of the technology-native generation! While it may take my mom or grandma a month to figure out a cell phone, my sister and I know to play around and explore it to find out everything it can do. I am currently very much so a PC person and Macs used to frustrate me but I’m getting much better. I depend on technology very much, even too much. I feel weird without my cell phone in plain view and am upset when I’m out of service. J I think that’s something that a lot of people my age experience and it may not be the best for us. Since I have a PC I use the newer version of Office and it does cause endless problems in most of my classrooms with compatibility between myself and the professor or other students. I’ve witnessed frustration among some of my professors first hand with the transition. I think I can tell that I’m getting older since I have to take a little time adjusting to the newest trends in technology when I’m comfortable with something else, for example, my sister and I prefer myspace over facebook. Oh well!

When reading the COE Mission Statement, the segment about life-long learning and innovative research is what stands out the most to me because I truly believe that the more educated an individual is, the more understanding and capable they are of exemplifying diversity and social justice. Science is, to me (not to some older folks in the scientific community) very diverse and even without language to discriminate. You can’t change the meaning of a number or a symbol and people of all sorts and sizes make incredible discoveries enjoyed by the scientific community as a whole, and usually without too much bias.