Blog 6- Teacher Websites and Technology Sandbox

For memory's sake, I decided to look at the website for my old high school, Leonardtown High School and see what is going on over there. When viewing the list of staff, there is a chart with information about each person and one of the columns says "contact/website". Very few of the teachers actually have a website listed, it just has an email. I am guessing that most of the teachers either don't use a website, or just don't post it publicly for anyone to see, which makes perfect sense. One of my old science teachers did have a website listed, so I decided to take a look at her website. She teaches 4 different types of science and they are all linked under the one website. # of the 4 classes don't seem to have much on them, however one of the classes has a ton of links to all of the modules and things. I don't recall this teacher using a website hardly ever, so this isn't too surprising to me. 

I am completely certain that I will be using technology frequently in the education field in order to accomplish things more efficiently and effectively. I already do this in my academic life with things like Google Calendar, so I am confident I will continue those habits. There are so many tools to help keep us organized. I am a big user of reminders from Google Calendar in order to keep track of when I need to do things. Along with maintaining organization in my classroom, I will likely use a website in order to provide others with access to needed things, and to keep everything in one place for myself.

I really enjoyed having the opportunity to visit the Tech Sandbox. I spent the most time using the 3D printing. At first I only thought it seemed like something fun, but I couldn't quite see the educational benefit to it. Then I started playing with the 3D pen and I could totally see how it could be a great tool for my young students if I have access to that technology. I imagine it being good for practicing dexterity as well as a way for younger students to become familiar with shapes, depth, and volume. I got to look at some pieces created by the impressive 3D printing machine that creates much more intricate pieces and one of the creations was a fish with the braille letters for "fish" on it to help learn how to spell it in a unique way. See the image of it below. It was so cool that a student at FSU wanted to make that to help someone. 3D printing is so cool because it can be used for all ages. 

Blog 5- Diigo, Blogging, and Web 2.0

We used Diigo in class and I really did not like it. I don't think I quite understand what it is for or when a good time to use it would be. I suppose that it is a way to share websites and put annotations and other remarks on it, which is a unique feature/ability that I have never seen before. However, it felt really annoying to figure out. I'm sure if I spent more time on it, I could find better use for it. The concept is pretty interesting though. 

So far I have actually kind of liked blogging. I know people who have personal blogs which I didn't think seemed enjoyable to have. However now that I have this class blog, I understand why some people would like it. I like how you can customize the colors, layouts, and so many other things. Every blog in our class looks different which is really cool. I like that it is a way to share larger pieces of information with people (or small too). It can be used for work, school, or a business. I could potentially see myself using this as a teacher as a way to stay in touch with my students families as well as my students if they are old enough.

I think as an elementary school teacher, a web 2.0 tool I would end up using is Class Dojo. It is a great way to connect with students and parents. This is a website/app intended for communication geared towards younger students. It can track the progress and other information about the students. It can help bridge that disconnect between the school and home. https://www.classdojo.com/about/ 

Blog 4- Twitter and the Digital Divide

Besides for the purposes of this class, I have not really ever used Twitter. I have a personal account but I only used it to follow FSU related groups and events. As far as this class goes, I think I could be a bit more engaged in what is available to me on Twitter. Personally I think it is hard to find people and tags to interact with that would be useful to me because I don't know what to search or how to find them. I want there to be like suggested things to follow. One thing I have liked though is that I have a friend in the online version of this class, so I have been able to see her tweets and compare what her class is doing to what we are. I suppose that Twitter could be helpful to my future career if I can find the right resources on it. I am a big instagram user and I have found a lot of useful education related accounts. A unique aspect of Twitter is that it seems to be more collaborative/interactive though, so that could be very useful in learning from my fellow educators.

The digital divide is a very real problem, especially in lower-income areas. This is referring to when not everyone has the same access to technology. This can affect students because if they are given assignments that require using technology outside of the classroom, not everyone may be able to have access to what they need for the assignment. Although technology access is becoming increasingly more common, as an educator, especially depending on where I am teaching, I may still encounter students that can't access the things they need. In order to address this, if we are doing assignments that require technology, if possible I would try to find time during the school day for all of the students to use technology. 

I'm a little unsure as to what qualifies as academic software for students. When I think of software I think of super advanced programs that not the average person uses. Assuming that this qualifies, I would use Class Dojo as a way to keep track of behaviors and things in the classroom. I would also be really big on using educational games, which is a form of academic software according to my quick google search. I intend on teaching at the elementary level so academic games are an excellent way to keep your students engaged and learning at the same time. My goal as a teacher is to always stay up to date with ways to teach my students and I expect that to involve many kinds of academic software as technology advances. 

ILP #1 Design- Canva

For my independent learning project, I used a website called Canva that I heard about from a friend. I used it to create an infographic for a second grade science class. My infographic teaches about water in its 3 forms, solid, liquid, and gas. I am very proud of how it turned out! Below you will find my VoiceThread where I tell you more about Canva and my project, as well as a link to my actual infographic.
VoiceThread!
Infographic!

Blog 3- Online Teacher Resources and Newsletter

I chose to look at the ELA standards for 3rd grade because I might actually teach 3rd grade. One of the standards is using technology to create and share writings. That would mean learning how to type, how to type on different programs, and how to share that material. This is a very important lesson for students because this is a skill they will need for their entire life, especially in education. I do feel prepared to teach them how to do this to some extent, especially at a more basic level. However, I do not type “properly” with my fingers on the home keys so I would have a hard time teaching that. Besides that, I have enough experience with creating and sharing typed content that I could teach them the foundation of what they need to know.

The CPALMS Educator Toolkit appears to be an incredible resource! Again, I chose to look at 3rd grade and I was amazed by how many subjects are covered. There was even stuff like dance, theater and foreign language- subjects I never learned in 3rd grade. For each subject, there is a link to learning objectives as well as a handful of free to use materials for the subject. This seems like an excellent source to use if I am ever in a pinch and need either some fresh ideas or supplemental material. This tool is excellent because it didn't require an login information, it was just easy access for anyone who wants to use it. I think there needs to be more stuff like this- easy to access resources for all grades and subjects. We want everyone to learn, so why make materials exclusive?

In class we made a newsletter as if we were a teacher and I think I enjoyed that assignment way too much. I love being to make something informational in a creative way. I kept forgetting that it wasn't for a real class, so the actual information I put on it didn't have to be perfect. It was all about learning to use word. I think I can improve by learning how to be faster at using the features on Word. It was a little tricky using the newsletter format because sometimes I couldn't immediately position text and things they way I wanted to. I had to learn when was best to use a text box, or what would happen when I switched to columns, just some trial and error things. I will absolutely get to use these skills in the future as I make things for my future class. I always thought of Publisher to be the program to use for those kinds of thing, and it might still be what I use for things like newsletters, however, it was nice to learn that Word isn't as rigid as I once thought it was. I have attached my class assignment newsletter for you to see! I was happy with how it turned out!