Summer Vacation Concept Map

Summer Vacation

I.       Beach

A beach is a landform along a shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake or river. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, pebbles or cobblestones. Our local beaches on the coast consist of sand. This is a great way to spend the day with the family and inexpensive as well!

A.    Salt Water

B.    Fresh Water

II.   Camping

Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. It may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motor home, cabin or no shelter at all. Camping as a recreational event became popular in the early 20th century. This is frequently done at national or state parks and privately owned campgrounds.

A.    Cabin

B.    Tent

III.    Museums

A museum is a building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited for public view. Most large museums are located in major cities and more local ones exist in smaller cities. This can be a fun summer trip for the family and educational for the children as well.

A.    Object-Centered

B.    Narrative

IV.    Amusement Parks

An amusement park consist of a large outdoor area that could include fairground rides, water rides, refreshments, games and other types of entertainment. An amusement park is more elaborate than a simple city park or playground. These amusement parks usually provide attractions meant to cater specifically to certain age groups, as well as some that are aimed towards all ages. This a great way to spend the day as a family because everyone will be able to find something they will enjoy!

A.    Water Parks

1.    Gulf Islands Waterpark

2.    Rapids Water Park 

B. Theme Parks

V.     Cruise

A cruise is a trip that is taken for pleasure in a large ship over any ocean, river or lake over a period of time. Luxury cruises are typically taken by couples. Themed cruises are more of the family cruise. One of the best known themed cruise is the Disney Cruise.

A.    Themed

B.    Luxury

Voki Teacher Intro

Post Nine: "Safe Social Networking Tailored for K-12 Schools"

This article describes social networks that are used for educational purposes. Classes set up online networking sources to chat within the classes or with different historical figures or celebrities. This allows higher levels of discussions from students.

I think this article is very neat. This is a great way to allow students to use social networking for positive things. Using different historical people and celebrities allows the students to enjoy what they are learning!

Post Eight: "Digital Citizenship"

This article discusses how to use technology appropriately. It names nine themes of digital citizenship.
1) Digital Access - full electronic participation in society
2) Digital Commerce - electronic buying and selling of goods
3) Digital Communication - electronic exchange of information
4) Digital Literacy - process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology
5) Digital Etiquette - electronic standards of conduct or procedure
6) Digital Law - electronic responsibility for actions and deeds
7) Digital Rights & Responsibilities - those freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world
8) Digital Health & Wellness - physical and psychological well-being in a digital technology world
9) Digital Security (self-protection) - electronic precautions to guarantee safety

This article is very informative and expresses the correct use of online resources. 

Post Seven: "Children's Internet Protection Act"

This article discusses the CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act). CIPA is a federal law enacted by Congress to address concerns about access to offensive content over the Internet on school and library computers. This article also discusses the new CIPA deadline. By July 1 of this year, it is going to become mandatory that teachers begin teaching about online safety and cyber bullying.

I think the CIPA is a great law. I understand that teachers should monitor what the students are doing online but, they can't watch every student at every second. This is where the CIPA comes in to play.
I also like the new CIPA deadline. I think that if students were more educated about online safety, the rate of cyber bullying and online predators being able to take advantage of younger children.

Post Six: "A Future Full of Badges"

This article discusses digital badges. MacArthur foundation says it's "a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest,". The Davis badge system is described a different way.  The Davis badge system is based on the sustainable-agriculture program's core competencies- "systems thinking," for example. 

Honestly, I don't really understand the badge the system from this article.  I would like a little more detail about it to better understand it. 

Post Five: "7 Things You Should Know About Gamification"

I think the use of gamification is a wonderful idea. Students seem to become more involved and more interested when they are doing something they enjoy doing and almost every child loves to play games. There are so many different types of games that could be used simultaneously within the lessons being taught in a classroom. Learning should be fun for the students and teaching should be fun for the teacher as well. Students learn so much more when they enjoy what they are being taught or how they are being taught.

Post Four: "The Virtues of Blogging"

I agree with Martin. Blogging is a very important aspect of our world today. It is something that people enjoy doing and it also can be very informative to others, depending on the topic. Blogging allows us to connect with the virtual world in a way that we could not connect if these same things we were blogging were being published as articles in a magazine or such. You're able to have instant feedback and carry on conversations with so many different people with so many different opinions. Yes, it's hard to say if blogging should be considered "scholarly" work because of the way it is displayed to the virtual world but, that is something that we'll figure out with time.

Post Three: "A Vision of K-12 Students Today" (My Thoughts & Surprising Stats)

    I found this video very informative and interesting. One of the first statements I saw that stuck in my mind was, "Students need to learn "how" to study." I totally agree with this statement. This seems to be one of the hardest things to teach and one of the hardest things for students to learn how to do. If the student is able to study in a way that is beneficial to them, it makes all the difference in the world.
    It also stated that, "Students love technology." and this could not be more true. Students these days enjoy learning so much more when technology is involved. Technology makes learning fun for students. "8-18 year-olds spend 10 hours per day with entertainment media." This statement demonstrates just how much students enjoy technology. If we, as educators and future educators, can find the way to submerge the the two together, learning and technology, students would enjoy filling their brain with new information.
    I also thought that the stats of test scores that were shown throughout this video were very surprising. You would think that the U.S. would have higher test scores than some other countries. Those stats were very surprising to me. That just goes to show that something needs to change. The graduation rate in the U.S. did not really surprise me. I actually thought it would be lower than what the video stated. I'm not saying that it's a good thing, but it's not surprising. We should find a way to change that percentage of graduates though and I think involving technology more would help. Engaging students in the use of technology to help the learning process and teaching students how to use technology correctly is something that should be pushed more in schools today.

Post Two: Article Reflection

I think this article is very informative and shows the very reason why web literacy should be taught in school. The Internet has become the most used source for EVERYTHING these days. Students should be taught how to use it correctly in order to find creditable information. 
As a teacher, I hope that I will able to teach some sort of web literacy to my students. I plan to work with special needs students but, even the simple things needs to be taught because they will be using computers at times as well.
Web literacy is very important and should be taught throughout school, beginning in the early elementary grades. Children these days are smarter than we give them credit for and they learn so much from the Internet. Some things we wish they didn't learn from the Internet as well. This is why web literacy is very important to include in today's educational planning.