Journal 6

I decided to look at my old middle school's website. I specifically decided to look at the website of 8th grade teachers at RJ Murray Middle School.  Most of the teachers websites have yet to be set up. However, from the websites that are set up, I noticed that the teachers included a list of classes that they teach as well as a brief introduction to what those classes will entail. The teachers also provided links that would help their students study at home and clarify information. On these websites, the teachers included a list of supplies that the students would need for that particular class. Also, each website has a link to Schoology which is how the teachers communicate with their students. Work sheets and notes are also posted on these websites.

Although I would not want to be completely reliant on technology as a teacher, I would definitely use some form of online communication with my students outside of emailing to make me more accessible to the students outside of the classroom. Something like Schoology is ideal because not only can the students easily communicate with the teacher but they can communicate with their peers as well which could foster a better classroom environment. You can also quiz students on Schoology and they earn badges which is a good form of positive reinforcement. Kahoot is also a good way to review with students and it also fun for them. No matter the technology I would use its purpose would be to make everything more efficient for not only me but the students as well.

I was introduced to many different kind of technologies while at the Tech Sandbox. I particularly liked the 3-D printer. If I were to teach History this could be useful because I could replicate artifacts through the 3-D printer to add a more hands on dynamic to the classroom. Also when, teaching about geography I could us 3-D printed pieces of countries to test my students on where the countries belong. The virtual reality headsets could also be used well in a history classroom. Sometimes it can be hard to picture or imagine how certain events in history happened so the virtual reality software could be used to help students picture real time conditions of historic events. Of course nothing extremely graphic or detrimental would be displayed through this. Lastly, the Promethean ActivBoard would be very useful in the classroom. This board doubled as a projector and it also had built in games for all subjects. My favorite thing about it is that it is more accessible than a SmartBoard because it can be wheeled around and the height is adjustable.

Journal 5

Diigo is something that I feel like I would use outside of EME2040. Since I am a history major, we have to do a lot of research and annotate a lot of articles. I personally like to highlight and leave comments so I would be forced to print all of the articles that I wanted to incorporate into my essays. With Diigo, I would not have to print the articles out because it allows you to highlight, leave comments, and even share with groups. The only thing that I do not like about Diigo is that you have to reinstall the extension every time you want to annotate something.

I have always been interested in starting a blog of my own because it is almost like an online diary in a sense. Although I am not using this blog to speak about personal issues I do enjoy it more than just completing discussion posts on Canvas. I like how you can choose your own layout and theme for the blog because it makes it more personalized to me. I also enjoy how you can view others peoples posts and comment on them. Since the blogs are open to the public there is a possibility that you could connect with people all over the world and share ideas with them. The only thing I do not like about about this blogging software specifically is that there are not as many choices of how to set the blog up. My favorite thing I learned from blogging is how to copyright your blog so that people can not steal your words and thoughts. 

One Web 2.0 tool that I would like to incorporate into my classroom is instagram. By the time I would have become a teacher, the students would have grown up with this app and almost if not all of them would have experience using this app. I feel like through using it in the classroom, you could teach the importance of watching what you post online. Through instagram I could interact with my students and they could also interact with me to create discussions. Teachers have routinely been straying away from social media apps for privacy reasons but I feel as though appealing to something that students are already interested in would only improve the classroom. 

Instagram Link

Journal 4

I used twitter daily before taking this class so my experience has been a smooth one. I am familiar with all of the concepts that the app has. I think it is very cool how twitter connects you with people from all over the world who have similar views as you. I know that other social media apps can do this as well but the platform and layout of twitter makes it more accessible to me. I have been interacting with classmates, current teachers, and advocates for better funding in schools. By interacting with all of these people I have been introduced to a bunch of information that I had no idea about pertaining to public schools as well as ways in which we can make the lives of teachers and students better. I hope to become a civil rights attorney in the future. Twitter could help me keep the public updated on injustices occurring in our society as well as inform me on these as well. I could also collaborate with other attorneys through Twitter.

The digital divide is one problem that we will have to face in the future when it comes to students using technology in the classroom. For one, some students simply do not have access to technology when they are home which can make it incredibly difficult for them to succeed in classes that heavily depend on technology. I believe that ending the digital divide starts with more school funding. Every school needs several computer labs so that students can conduct research while at school if the assignment calls for that. I also think that there should be sets of portable computers that can travel from class to class. It is important that when teachers assign work that has technology involved, they give the students enough time to complete those assignments in class just in case they do not have access to technology at home otherwise they are put at a disadvantage.

Two educational software programs that I am interested in using in my future classroom (if I were a teacher) would be Class Dojo and Kahoot. Class Dojo is used to track the behavior of students. When you add or takeaway points in the app the parents are automatically notified. There are also learning opportunities within Class Dojo as well. Especially with younger kids, Class Dojo is a good way to ensure that the students are always behaving. Kahoot can be used to assess students on their knowledge of topics being taught in class. I have never met anyone who does not enjoy playing Kahoot. The competitive edge to the software makes it more fun for students to participate.

ILP Design #1 - iMovie

I used iMovie to create a history lesson for the Tulsa Race Riot in the Greenwood District of Ohio. Check out the YouTube link for that video. Check out the VoiceThread link to see how I constructed the iMovie, other ways iMovie can be used in the classroom, as well as the pros and cons of using iMovie in the classroom.

https://voicethread.com/share/13659272/
https://youtu.be/i5cQQe0Ixjg

Journal 3

The standard that I have chosen pertains to grades six through eight. Standard LAFS.68.WHST.2.6 basically says that the students should be able to use technology such as the internet to come to conclusions about relationships that they have researched as well as present new ideas that they have found through the internet. As of now I feel comfortable implementing this standard especially after completing the word formatting check and the newsletter assignment. Word and Google Docs are the two most common applications that students use in order to present new information, usually in the form of an essay. In order to get them comfortable with using more than just basic word functions I would teach them to use the insert table and flow chart functions. These features are better at displaying relationship based information.

I would probably use the Instructional Resources took from CPALMS the most in my classroom. I find this tool very helpful because it provides you with lesson plans for any grade level and academic subject that you are looking to teach in your classroom. These lesson plans include learning goals for the students as well as key words and an estimated instructional time. I find the instructional time most important because teachers are constantly trying to follow a strict timeline in order to cover all material before end of the year exams arrive. By including the estimated instructional time, teachers could plan their months out easier and actually stick to it.

My favorite skills learned from the Newsletter Design assignment were the border function and the column function. As a teacher especially, letters home to parents usually have some kind of artistic value to them and I think adding even just a simple border gives those letters a livelier look. The same can be said for the column function, it gives the letters more dimension and makes it more pleasing to the eye to read. Otherwise, the letters would look like time consuming essays that the parents have to read. WordArt was also a fun skill that I learned more about. I did not know that you could bend or flip the letters by using WordArt. To improve my newsletter I would construct it on a non-apple computer so that the structure of the newsletter is not lost when you export it.