#6 Blog

The school website I visited was Riley Elementary here in Tallahassee, FL. It is a Pre-K through 5th grade school. The website is very interactive, with upcoming events, contact information, each individual teacher website, and even a tab for employment opportunities. There is a "Parent Portal" for the student's parents to look at grades and possible problems that are going on in the classroom.

Listed from the podcast, I plan on using Twitter as a way to stay up-to-date on current technology and different ways to teach in the classroom. Even after a few weeks, I have learned so much from different accounts that I am following on Twitter, from giving me ideas on PowerPoints to providing me with websites for mathematics help. With technology at our fingertips, it is much easier for people to communicate with one another, rather than having to sit through weekly meetings and seminars to go over all the information. Electronic spreadsheets is a type of technology that needs to be learned before going into almost any workforce. This is particularly helpful in education because I can make tables and charts for math problems, administrator for a high school club that needs to keep track of attendance and money, or creating data from surveys. There are so many different technology opportunities to accomplish professional responsibilities.

One of the technology items that stood out the most to me was the SmartBoard. I have been taught in elementary through high school on a SmartBoard, so I was accustomed to it already, but I did not know how many different features it came with. I hope that I will have a SmartBoard in my future classroom because there are so many different ways to make learning more entertaining, especially for young children with the interactive pictures. One of the techniques they showed us was how to move a picture on the screen around with a dice under a projector. The picture of an ear would be great for older students who are in science classes learning about body parts because now they can see from every angle, not just one angle that the textbook provides.

ILP "Design" - Edmodo

The Edmodo account is used for myself and teachers to find different ways to educate our students, specifically first grade. I have found some great websites from browsing on this site for mathematic and reading help. I also provided a quiz for my students on addition and subtraction. The group code for my Edmodo account is 4935iw. 

#5 Blog

Paragraph 1:

Web 2.0 tools are the newer version of Web 1.0, which now includes social media (Twitter), blogs, wikis, and Diigo. I believe it is hard to tell which Web 2.0 technologies will work the best because each grade level is different. As a future kindergarten teacher, I believe Youtube will be my best option because I could make interactive videos for my class to participate together, such as making math videos for counting items on the screen. For a high school level, I believe class blogs would be the best option because students will be able to feed off of one another and get feedback from their peers, not just a teacher. For a teacher, I believe Twitter will keep me up-to-date on new technology ideas and to become more professional, instead of having to constantly attend seminars to stay current. 

Paragraph 2:
An interesting web 2.0 tool that I might consider when teaching is Pinterest. This is a website or app that is used to pin millions of items, such as decorating rooms, mathematics problems, or even workout routines. This will help me in the future with different ideas on how to better my teaching skills through helpful tips and blogs from other teachers. Also, as an elementary education teacher, they have great ideas for different projects that help with learning things such as math or history. Many people post educational quotes or the top books of the month, so this can be very beneficial for future and current teachers. This website is very easy to access through a phone or a computer. This is the link to the website: https://www.pinterest.com

Paragraph 3:
From the technology advancements in chapter 12, I believe gamification holds the biggest promise for education. This is because educational directors and teachers are always trying to find better ways to keep their students engaged and interested in the topic at hand. Games and interactive videos are going to help students learn more about the subject than the typical lecture. Games can be for almost any subject and grade, such as naming states of the United States or a mathematic adding and subtracting game. In kindergarten, I will use games for counting things, learning the alphabet, or even for reading help. Animated videos can also be used for history and science lessons for information, such as timelines or processes. With these gamification tools, education will become more beneficial for all students because there will be more ways for teachers to help students succeed in the classroom. 

#4 Blog

Paragraph 1:
I have been a part of Twitter for a few years now. I go in phases when it comes to Twitter and how often I go on it. I typically just use it for local and national news reports, such as following Fox13 Tampa Bay or NBC News. These help me stay current on the events going on around me, since it is hard for me to sit and watch the televised news on a daily basis. I also follow my hometown's school district, Hillsborough County School District, for updates on sports and events going on throughout each week. These Twitter accounts have been very beneficial, in order for me to know what is going on around me. Twitter will be helpful in my future career because there are so many different accounts that will keep me up-to-date on new technology and events.

Paragraph 2:
The digital divide is discussing students that do and do not have access to technology. The active learning software is "a diverse collection of academic software that can be used to enrich teaching and learning for both teachers and students." Within the active learning software, there are many categories, such as graphics, desktop publishing, etc. Many school assignments or projects require technology, so it is hard for the students without access to complete these tasks. An example of this is presentation software. Presentations in the middle school and high school levels are very common, but it is hard for students that have never used this particular software. Another downfall to not having access to technology is when teachers put up powerpoints or lectures on a website, which often help with upcoming test. Within the academic software, there are categories: tutorials, drill-and-practice, educational games, simulations, problem-solving software, brainstorming/concept-mapping tools, academic databases, authoring software, and content-specific software. These are different ways to incorporate learning in the classroom without the boring, old lectures.

Paragraph 3:
There are five points when evaluating a website:
-A: author (credentials, can you contact the author?)
-B: bias (is the resource neutral or biased toward the topic?)
-C: content (is it accurate with spelling and grammar? Is it appropriate for student-aged viewers?)
-D: design (is it visibly pleasing? Are the images clear?)
-T: technical elements (is it easy to navigate? Are all parts functioning? Is it a quick load?)

Another point that I personally consider when deciding whether a website is good or not is by the URL. I specifically look for ".edu, .gov, or .org." When researching for a class, I typically go to the FSU library website, which has many different databases to choose from with tons of topics, such as JSTOR or Academic Search Complete. These are all important points because I want to be able to have the most credible information for the topic that I am presenting.

#3 Blog

Paragraph 1:
The ELA technology standard I feel most prepared to teach with my existing knowledge is W/WHST.6 "Use Technology- Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others." This tool is a great thing for collaboration, which is a main point that I want to emphasize in my classrooms for young children. The earlier they learn to collaborate with technology, the more advanced they will become with the constantly new technology. RHST.7 "Multimedia: History/Social Studies" is the ELA technology standard that I would require more preparation on. I have never been strong in this subject area, so it would be hard for me to teach this specific standard to my students.

Paragraph 2:
There are certain technology softwares that I plan to use with my future students. These include the Internet, videos, and a specific website called GoNoodle. GoNoodle specifically is a website that gives young students the opportunity to learn in a fun way, such as dancing while spelling words. These technology softwares need to be age appropriate and helpful toward each student's learning skills. Because I plan on teaching kindergarten through second grade, it is harder to teach these students about digital citizen concepts. Although they are young, I will still make sure they know the basics toward copyrighting and why they should be careful.

Paragraph 3:
After designing my Newsletter, I have realized many different techniques on Word that I did not know even existed. I loved being able to individually work out some of my problems I experienced while creating this, such as borders and columns. I personally did not like that there was not much instruction on how to do certain things and the instructions were not very specific. I could improve my newsletter if I had the opportunity to learn more techniques that are given in Word. This assignment helped me struggle through problems and also it was helpful to see what Word really can do and how I can make my own newsletters for my future classroom.

#2 Blog

Paragraph 1:

I have used MS Word since I was a young student. This system has been my best friend, from making "menus" with friends to writing papers. Even when I received my Macbook Air, I went ahead and downloaded MS Word because I am so accustomed to the way things work on there, compared to Pages. MS Word also helped me create different projects, such as calendars, brochures, and flyers. My teachers have used it to create tests and quizzes, calendars of the academic schedule for the class, and even posters of inspirational quotes. 

Paragraph 2:

My teachers have always been very strict when it comes to papers and copyrighting. I think it should be mandatory that students start at a young age with citing the sources, in order for it to be easier when they get to high school and college and they have papers with a large number of sources. Middle school teachers should teach their students about how to correctly cite information and further explain the consequences for plagiarizing someone's work because college punishments are extreme. From the podcast, the lady talked about what copyright does for a specific work. As an elementary education major, it would be hard for me to teach first grade students what copyright means, but I will make it clear that cheating is not allowed. With testing mostly on the computers now, I will make sure to be constantly walking around the room to make sure students are not looking at each others monitors for answers. 

Paragraph 3:

After the presentation on Twitter and PLNs, I have realized how many different educational accounts post different techniques for future and current teachers to try in the classroom. I did not realize how helpful these accounts can be, since social media usually receives negative reputations. These PLNs can be used in my future to show students the positives of social media and how I can stay up-to-date with the most recent teaching techniques. 

#1 Blog

Paragraph 1:
Computers are the new norm for the educational system, giving the teachers and staff easy access to  the standards they must meet for that particular grade in the local, state, and national educational systems. One of the main concerns for teachers and technology is that the children in neighborhoods in poverty are not as experienced in technology, so teachers need to have backup plans, in order to teach students in other ways besides using technology. Another main concern for teachers is that technology is taking over teachers, in that students are having a hard time not having the one-on-one personal interactions with teachers anymore. I do agree with the issues raised in the first two chapters because it is a hard transition for both teachers and students to become more technologically advanced. With the educational systems changing, we, as future educators, need to be able to constantly be up-to-date with the new technology and be able to teach it to our students in a timely manner.

Paragraph 2:
The ISTE standard that gladdens my heart is "Design and Development Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments." This standard really stood out to me because it gives each individual student a way to set their own educational goals and be able to see their progress throughout the school year. The standard that seems to be outside my current skill set is "Model Digital Age Work and Learning." Because of my current skill level, I do not believe I have learned enough about the different techniques to communicate with the parents, besides the typical email. I observed a teacher last year that used a system that sent certain results directly to the parents, which I would love to learn for easy access to the parents.

Paragraph 3:
The label "digital native", a person born with technology easily accessible, can be processed as being positive or negative towards today's youth. I do agree with the label because, like the podcast said, the K-12 students rely heavily on technology in the educational system and they honestly do not know other ways of learning in today's technologically advanced society. I have seen differences in the educational systems with some of my more "digital immigrant" teachers, such as using chalk boards and white boards instead of SmartBoards or insisting that students still handwrite notes instead of typing them. Even though SmartBoards are the new technology, I still enjoyed when my teachers used white boards because there were never any technical problems. Also, projectors were used in elementary school, which was great because teachers were able to write straight on the paper and we would be able to see every step. A difference I anticipate between myself and my future students is trying to make sure I am informed in the best technology that will help my students stay focused and wanting to learn.