Blog Post #6

I visited the school website for the school that I visit for EDF1005. I even found the page of the teacher that I shadow. I looked at Raa Middle school, and my teacher's sixth grade class. The teachers put the homework schedule online on their pages and even put up class updates. My teacher uploaded some study guides and links to readings and homeworks on there as well. Some teachers put up photos of themselves and their families along with a little bit of information about themselves. Some teachers had pages on the actual school website and some ran blogs on other domains. Here is a link to one of the pages: http://raa.kleach.com/

I see myself using grading technology for sure in my classroom. Not only is it incredibly efficient, but it is also required by most schools, or at least every school that I have attended. It can help reduce error that might occur if grades were calculated by hand, something really important for people like me who sometimes transpose numbers. There is also certain grading technology and websites such as Socratic that can show what questions were more commonly missed, and which more students got correct. This would help many teachers to know what students need to work on more. I also plan on using technology to communicate with parents and students. Parents and guardians can really help students with what teachers cannot so it is important to keep them updated with what is going on in the classroom. I want to send out emails every week with the agenda so that guardians stay int he loop.

I thought the digital whiteboards were really interesting. I've seen them used a bit in school, but I graduated before every single teacher had them in their classroom. I think that I will probably be using these a lot, as they become more common. I would especially use them for math. Some versions let multiple users write at the same time so I could have multiple students working on problems at the same time. There are also games, that I think would make the class more interesting and interactive. I would also use it to underline things in powerpoints and in readings. This could help students to understand how to efficiently annotate and how to find the main idea of a passage more easily.

ILP "Design" - Infographic

For my Independent Learning Project I created an Infographic. I used the tool Venngage which provided me with some templates which I edited for my project by shifting the margins and other format options, editing text, and uploading my own photos. I made a timeline outlining some important figures in black history's actions that have greatly impacted history. The timeline goes from early colonized American history until the present day. I have provided the link below:

https://infograph.venngage.com/publish/0490c729-fec3-4df5-85c1-d09620b6b769

blog post #5

Web 2.0 tools definitely aid many teachers in their endeavors. I have especially enjoyed using Diigo so far in class. The social bookmarking function is incredibly useful and I really do plan on using it in the future. Twitter is also great for fostering an online community in which ideas and resources are shared. Wikis are a tool that I'm not nearly as fond of. Anyone can post information to a wiki, so the information is not always reliable. I think any teacher that implements wikis into their classroom should use it as a teaching tool for teaching about credibility of sources online.

Scribd is an application that lets users read on any device, any place. All of the user's literature is saved to their scribd account so users do not lose their books or pdfs when they begin using a new device. You can access anything from sheet music, articles, or even books. There is a free trial available for anyone who is interested in using it and becoming familiar with the ins and outs of this technology. After that, there is a membership available for $8.99 a month. The membership probably would keep some teachers away from using this platform, but it is really useful for sharing articles and books and other educational resources with others. Here is a link if you are interested: https://www.scribd.com/

I believe that learner analytics is the technology advancement that has the most promise for the future of education because it can help teachers to interpret specific learning needs. Teachers can see what teaching strategies and techniques are most needed for student success. It can be used to predict a lesson's potential success based on analysis of certain data and calculations. It can save teachers a lot of time, something that first time teachers especially seem to lack. This program will help lessons to be more effective for more students as well. It does not just address the needs of the class as a whole but can analyze the needs of individual targeted students as well.

Blog post #4

So far on twitter I have managed to use original hashtags and class hashtags. I have retweeted and also replied. I had to use twitter for my ENC2135 class last semester so I'm not new to it or new to using it for classroom purposes. I have interacted with the EME2040 class twitter but I have not interacted much with other students, though I plan to in the future. I may continue to use twitter in my classes so it is definitely helpful to practice using it more. I also may use it to teach students about safety on the internet and how to keep personal information private so it will definitely be useful in that aspect.

The digital divide is "the gap between people who do and do not have access to technology." It is caused by some students not having access to technology or other resources at home. Some may not be able to get internet if they live in more rural areas. Some students' families may not have the resources or money to get a computer or device with internet access. This can affect a student's academic success since those with internet access and technology access are expected to perform better in school. This will effect how I teach because I will encounter students on each side of the divide. Special care must be taken to make sure that the students who are not exposed to technology do not fall behind students that do.

I expect to use certain softwares mentioned in chapter 8 such as presentation software or desktop software. Both of these can help me teach students regardless of their grade level. However, with some grade levels appropriate softwares may differ. Say for example I was working with 3rd graders, I would probably use more educational games to keep students engaged. I would not use these as much for high school students.  For higher grade levels I might use software such as simulations. They have more experience with technology usually and would get more from using the simulation. Younger students may struggle with the software or not garner as much use from it so it would be less appropriate for them.

Blog Post #3

I feel most prepared to satisfy very few of the technology standards outlined in the ELA standards. I just do not know how to use computers very well, but I am sure that will change as I get more experience and finish this class. I feel prepared to complete some of the tasks that just require typing and basic knowledge of Word and Powerpoint. Standards that just require teachers to use technology to better explain and emphasize main ideas are definitely in my skill set. However, things like making audio or visual recordings to reinforce knowledge are not things I am currently prepared to do. I can find audio and visual recordings that apply to the topics that I am teaching but I do not think I can make them on my own.

I would like my students to definitely learn how to use search engines. With all the information at our fingertips we are incredibly privileged to live in an age where students can find information about anything they may desire in an instant. I would teach this more for later elementary school and early middle school students. This can teach them how to navigate the web and they can learn how to discern which sources are legitimate, and use these sources in their academic projects. I would also like my students to make web blogs. They could use this to share information about the class and to post their projects. I would prefer this to to done by middle school students because it would be easier to manage since they have more experience online. This project would teach them how to keep personal information private online and would allow them to foster an online community and teach them how to handle online interactions in a polite manner

I learned a lot through the newsletter assignment. I had no idea how to make columns before. I also utilized the search images through the web option which was incredibly useful. The only thing I did not like about it was writing the articles. It wasn't that they were miserable to write, it was just difficult to write updates for a classroom that did not exist. I'm sure it will be much easier with an actual classroom. I will definitely utilize the skills I learned through this assignment in my future career. When I have to manage a classroom it will be good to send out occasional newsletters to keep the parents up to date with what is going on in the classroom.