Blog Journal 7

 As far as I know, teacher pages are where parents or students can go to read about teachers and get their school contact information. Teacher pages tend to be very simple and to the point, with very little information on the teachers. The ones that I have seen are typically alphabetical lists of all faculty at a school with each teachers subject of teaching and their email. These pages were very useful to me in high school for finding and contacting my teachers about assignments and missing classes. 

I have learned about a lot of useful technology while taking this class and I hope to use most of it in my career. I believe many of the tools will help me be more efficient in my work. I definitely see myself using more Web 2.0 tools to connect with other educators in order to make lesson planning simpler. Things like Twitter can be so useful for finding others in the same field as you and sharing experiences. I also hope to use Canva to create content for myself in the classroom. I have already used it to create a personalized planner that helps me stay motivated and on track.

Working on a wiki platform was definitely a new experience for me. The layout of PB Works is somewhat confusing when you first open it. At first I wasn't sure how to set up a page and organize everything, but my group worked together to figure it out. After figuring out how to use it, it was very simple. I liked using the platform to share information we had learned in class with others and hope I have a reason to use it again.

Blog Post 6

 Using Diigo was definitely an interesting experience for me in the beginning. The site is pretty easy to navigate. I like being able to engage in discussions with my peers and see how everyone feels about certain topics. I feel like it is a very useful tool and could be used for students to discuss readings required outside of class. The only thing I don't like about Diigo is how bland it looks. The site is just not appealing to me and I believe it wouldn't be useful for students younger than middle school age.

So far, I have enjoyed blogging about my experiences with technology. I feel it is a way to keep track of everything I have learned and I like being able to look back on the milestones. I have learned a little bit about blogging from doing it for class. I have learned how to edit my blog to make it appealing to any viewers it might have. I have also learned to use blogging as a tool for myself as well as others. I can use my blog for my own benefit but others can also look at what I've posted and learn from my experiences.

A Web 2.0 tool that I know about and have used is Google Classroom. I used this during high school to keep in touch with teachers and classmates about certain assignments. I really like Google Classroom because it allows conversation between students and also keeps all assignments in one place. I believe that I will try to implement this tool in the future, especially if I am teaching elementary school. This could allow parents to keep track of what their child is learning in class and give them an easy way to contact me with concerns. 

Link to Google Classroom: https://edu.google.com/products/classroom/

Blog Post 4

 One of the technology standards is LAFS.K.W.2.6. This basically states that you must be able to use online or digital resources to create and/or publish works. I feel like an example of this would be creating a newsletter or blog to reach the parents of your students. Currently, I do feel capable of achieving this standard thanks to the few assignments we have done in this class. I have used digital design tools and word to create a newsletter. I also am able to use Twitter and a blog to publish things to whoever needs to see them.

I found a resource for Kindergarten classrooms in the CPALMS Educator Toolkit. This resource is a video teaching students to wash their hands and count to twenty. It first reviews counting with examples and a picture of students on a bus. I think this would be very useful in a classroom especially after what we’ve experienced with this pandemic. I would like to be able to use this resource to help my students wash their hands effectively while also practicing counting. Hopefully by using this resource or something similar, I will be able to prevent the spread of germs and sickness in my classroom. It is especially important for children to learn how to stop the spread at a young age so that it becomes a habit they perform daily.

As a student, Internet searching has become more and more important to succeed in classes. I have learned to find a useful article in a small amount of time just from doing research papers. I believe that as a teacher, I will have to know how to Internet search in order to learn the best ways to teach certain topics in my classroom. Having the Internet as a resource will make my planning easier as a teacher as I will be able to view the many different methods for teaching each subject. I believe using a reverse image search can become a very useful tool in certain classroom scenarios. I think during a science class, reverse image search can be used to find the species of different animals easier than typing the physical characteristics. I think another important skill to use when Internet searching is learning to search exact phrases and exclude certain results. This is something I do often because I’m looking for a very specific answer. For example, I’m trying to search a specific dog, I don’t know what it is but I know it’s not a Dalmatian. I am able to use the internet to search for a dog with spots that is not a Dalmatian; this allows me to narrow my results and get closer to the correct answer.

Blog Post 3

 Copyright is a person's legal right to make copies of something, whether it be art, a movie, or a paper. For example, when we get pictures taken, we have to get the copyright for it in order to remove the watermark and print more photos. Fair use is the idea that certain things may be copied directly with permission from the creator. This is what allows us to cite words from other authors in our research papers and presentations in college. As a teacher, I believe it will be very important to discuss these topics with my students. I would define the words for my students and explain to them that copyright infringement is a serious legal issue. When creating instructional materials, I will hopefully get help from my coworkers to create new assignments or purchase worksheets from a reliable source. 

There are many problems with using technology in schools and I believe the two biggest ones are academic dishonesty and cyberbullying. I hope to combat academic dishonesty by ensuring my students are able to learn and understand the material that I am teaching; this should pull them away from the need to cheat on tests in class. I also plan to have many open-book or open-note tests in my classes to allow my students to use the resources available. In my experience, I have retained more knowledge from open-book tests than from tests where I was required to memorize just about everything in the chapter. As far as cyberbullying, I hope to create a safe space for my students. I would like them to know that they can come to me with any issues they may be having. This way cyberbullying between my own students can be handled in the classroom before it goes too far.

Working on the Newsletter Design assignment was a really fun task for me. I've used Canva before but it was years ago and now the site is so much easier to navigate. I was able to use my graphic design skills and play with all of the different options that Canva gives you. After completing the assignment, I actually went on to create a personalized planner for myself since many planners don't have everything one person may need. I could improve my newsletter by adding more color and better fonts. I believe my newsletter was to the point but not very visually appealing. I noticed on Canva they have templates for just about anything, including lesson plans. Hopefully, I can use this to my advantage and use Canva to develop the most effective lesson planning method for myself.

Blog 2

 My personal experience with Microsoft Word probably started in around 4th grade and I have been using it ever since. I have mainly used Microsoft Word for writing essays, making tables and graphs, and taking notes. In college, I mainly use it to write papers for classes. I do prefer Google Docs over Word due to the accessibility of Docs. With Docs, I am able to access the same document on any device and all of my devices support it. MS Word does not work very well on an iPad which is my primary tool for my classes.

The ISTE Standards for Educators are important guidelines to help teachers become better for their students. The most meaningful standard to me is the Analyst standard. This includes going over the results of your students to determine how well they are learning and which materials they struggle with. I see this as important because as educators, we need to be able to analyze and change our methods. Many teachers I have had in the past kept using the same teaching methods that didn’t work and students were suffering from it. I think it is extremely necessary to check our own practices and change what isn’t working for our students.

I do agree with the label of “digital native” for the youth. These kids were born into a world with the latest technology and are more likely to understand how to work it. As a child, I had access to a computer and a phone and because I grew up around technology, I believe I am more well-versed in using and understanding it. There are many differences between how I use technology and how my parents use it. I have a smart phone that can do pretty much anything I need it to and I see it as a necessity whereas my parents have phones that only text and call and they don’t feel the need to bring it everywhere they go. In the future, I believe there will be new technology that my students will have better understandings of. While I may understand my iPhone and computer now, who’s to say I’ll understand the current technology twenty years from now. I think I will struggle with new technology one day just as my parents and teachers have.

     Hi! My name is Delanie and I am a sophomore majoring in elementary education. I’m from a small town in Florida by the beach and have lived there my whole life. Growing up, I always had a fascination for cops and doctors and anyone who helped others. At a young age, I decided I wanted to help people when I grew up. As I got older, I realized I wanted to find a career working with children. At first, I wanted to be a pediatric nurse until I finally figured out education was the right path for me. Now, I’m slowly learning how to be the best educator I can and hoping to help kids learn and have the best schooling experience they can.    

    My prior experience with technology mainly includes using Microsoft programs for school projects. I am comfortable with using word and powerpoint mostly. I am not the best with Excel, but with help I can usually figure out how to work it. Besides Microsoft programs, I am also capable of using Adobe Photoshop to create designs and edit photos. 

    My learning networks are currently very limited. As far as offline resources go, I look to my roommates and friends in similar classes to navigate college classes. We work together to find resources and methods to study and learn the best we can. Online I mainly find help in class group chats. The group chats are a great way for a whole class of students to determine what they’re supposed to be doing when it’s difficult to understand parts of the course.