ILP #2

Interview with my sister, a first grade teacher at Westgate Elementary - Ms. Tringali

Question 1: What kind of educational technologies do you use in your classroom?
Aside from the typical technology seen in the classroom - an over head projector, and computers - Westgate Elementary uses Class Dojo. This is an application where students can earn Dojo points to earn rewards or get Dojo points taken away when they misbehave. I can also communicate with parents through this app through a messenger. 

Question 2: Do you think they are helpful and/or make your job easier?
Having a form of incentive defiantly helps my students with their behavior. Whenever they hear the noise that someone has lost a Dojo point they automatically quiet down because they are afraid it could be them. Using an overhead projector during lessons also makes explaining things much easier, and I am able to project exactly what they class is working on. 

Question 3: Do the technologies help with communicating with the parents?
Parents are able to see how their students Dojo is doing through the application so this defiantly helps with communication. Many of my students parents are hispanic so communicating in other ways can be difficult but they can see how many points their student has at all times. 

Question 4: If you could change the technologies that you use in your classroom how would you and why?
I wish that Class Dojo had more to the application. I wish there could be a calendar aspect of it or it could send reminders to parents about homework due. I wish that there was a way to allow my students parents to write in Class Dojo in Spanish and then have it translate to English so they could better communicate with me. 

Question 5: If you could get one free piece of educational technology what would it be and why?
I have always wanted a smart board for my classroom! I think they are super helpful and can be utilized in so many different ways. When a piece of technology is both cool and helpful more students would want to participate in the lesson so that they can interact with the technology. 

Interview taken on Monday April 16th and 7:15pm 

Blog #10

I think as a teacher I can use surveys to get an anonymous opinion on how the year is going from my students and parents. I think it is important to understand how your students are reacting to your teaching  so that if it is not going as well as it should you are able to alter it and better the students. I can also use a survey prior to teaching a lesson such as U.S history to see how much prior knowledge my students have on the subject. 

I really enjoyed reviewing my classmates blogs and seeing their newsletter assignment. You could really see different levels of creativity in each students assignments. I enjoy web design so seeing these different creative layouts was very interesting to me.

Next, I would like to learn more about website design and creation. Although I did the assignment through weebly there was so much more that website had to offer that I did not know how to use. I think having a classroom website where teachers and parents can interact and see homework posted or reminders is super helpful. To achieve my goal I will try to spend more time on this site and play around with the different tools in figuring out what they do exactly. 

Blog Post #9

The flipped classroom takes on a different method to teach. It is a method where students learn the content prior to coming to class through online lectures or videos and then in class they talk about what they learned, ask questions or work on assignments. I have never been in a flipped classroom and I do not think if I would really like it. There have been studies showing the benefits of the flipped classroom and how it can help students, so I think it would be very interesting to try it.

More about the flipped classroom: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/ 

The podcast discussed different "open terms" including open source and open content. one term mentioned in the podcast is "open source". The definition for this term is software that is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified.Open source can be a type of  software with a source code that anyone can change, inspect, and enhance. Open source seems like a really great way to allow more students to learn and get educated. Many students cannot afford textbooks or software for their classes and this closes that financial gap. 

More about open source: https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source

While I was working on the PowerPoint assignment I had to use many skills. One skill that I acquired was how to make the nonlinear PowerPoint. I had always seen my teachers make fun jeopardy games but I had no idea how to make them. After this assignment I can see myself creating fun games like this for my future classroom. I also enjoyed making the trivia about a show that I really enjoy. Adding the narrations was a fun feature that I have never used either. I think this will come in handy if I ever have to post an online lecture for students to watch.

Assignment 6

Assignment 5

PLN

Pinterest

Pinterest is a PLN that teachers can use to share ideas and lesson plans they have used through pinning them on designated, organized boards. Teachers can follow other teachers boards to get different ideas on anything from lesson ideas to how to decorate their classroom. Teachers can search "classroom themes" and tons of photos will pop up with inspiration about that topic. Pinterest gives teachers the ability to communicate and share ideas in a simple way. 

https://www.pinterest.com

YouTube

YouTube is a website that allows users to post videos for other people to see. If an teacher posts an online lecture on YouTube about a certain topic other teachers can pull from that and implement those tools into their classroom. YouTube is a big place for teachers to watch webinars to learn about different technologies in the classroom or learning techniques. Teachers can also watch things like Ted Talks on YouTube to get inspired in their teaching. They can also use YouTube videos about topics they are teaching about to help their students better understand the lesson being presented. 

https://www.youtube.com

Blog Post #8

Adaptive technologies allow every student to learn the same content regardless of any disabilities that can possibly hold them back. Everyone is a different type of learner and require different tools to absorb the content being presented. Adaptive technologies allow everyone to get the most out of the lesson. When I was in fourth grade there was a student in my class that was from Japan. He did not speak English so he used a small translator to understand what was going on in class. I was in charge of helping him type in the content in English to then be translated into Japanese. 

Adaptive technologies can be expensive and hard to come by. Depending on what school you teach at or where it is located can determine whether someone has access to adaptive technologies. A small rural school in a low income area is less likely to have access to these different technologies. These technologies can also be confusing. Although teachers are expected to know about many different types of technology it is impossible to be completely proficient in every form of adaptive technology. This can become challenging when a teacher does not know has to use an adaptive technology and has to take extra time to learn how to use it. 

Engadget is a website about all things technology. It has articles and videos about the newest forms of technology and how it is constantly changing. 

https://www.engadget.com

Blog Post #7

I have really enjoyed using twitter so far this semester. I think it is very helpful with interacting with my classmates as well as learning about educational news throughout the world. I have learned that news can be spread very fast via twitter and the internet and it allows so many different people to communicate. Some benefits of twitter is that it is short and sweet information that is straightforward. It is also very easy to use and user friendly. I am not experiencing any issues with Twitter. 

Some of the skills I have acquired while working on my web page include becoming more aware of design characteristics. I also realized that sometimes computers do not work in the way I want it do and it can be frustrating. However, I have really enjoyed making a classroom website. I thought it was a really fun assignment and that it was very helpful in my future career as a teacher. In the future I would like to play more with weebly to see all the different things that the website offers. Weebly had a bunch of different functions that I could add into my website that I was not sure about so I would like to learn more about those. In the future, I can take the skills I acquired and make a user friendly website for my classroom. 

Link: http://arielleeme2040.weebly.com/

Working with Diigo has allowed me to better understand the CRAAP elements of a website when looking for a quality site. I know how to decide if a website is worth bookmarking and sharing for other people to see. I think Diigo will be very useful in the future. There are so many websites that are designed for teachers that go unnoticed. Diigo can help teachers learn more about those helpful websites and spread the word. Some of the websites that I found through Diigo I can see myself using in the future. 

Blog Post #6

After looking at a few different school websites I found the best school website to be FSUS - Florida State University Schools. It is very easy to find information on the website the way it is laid out. There are links to the departments, activities and clubs, a staff directory and admissions. There is a school calendar with bell schedules and times. Under the departments tab you are able to click on elementary, middle or high school then find your teacher which will lead to their specific website. On each class website there is information about the teacher, classroom information, curriculum maps, pupil progression plans, newsletter, homework and lesson resources. However each teacher has different information on their website. 

https://www.fsus.school/Domain/33

.

I see myself utilizing technology to better my sense of communication between myself and future parents. I think that setting up classroom websites or creating a weekly newsletter will really help this sense of communication.This is ensure that parents are well aware of everything that is going on in the classroom such as future tests or field trips. I will want the parents to know that reaching out to me will never be a problem. 

 

One piece of technology that stuck out to me in the tech sandbox that I can see myself using is the smart board. The smart board has so many different ways that students can interact with the information being presented. There are games teachers can download to help students better understand the lesson. This makes learning fun and students will be more likely to pay attention and enjoy it. The smart board gives students and teachers the opportunity to interact with the content they are learning in a different, more complex way. Being able to manipulate 3 dimensional objects will give students a totally different perspective when learning new topics. 

ILP #1

For my first ILP I made a Prezi presentation all about the country of Brazil. I researched a lot about the country with different educational websites. My presentation includes information on the country's culture, geography and demographics. It is something that can be used in a social studies class. 

http://prezi.com/xhbj_hcdqefg/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Blog Post 5

Web 2.0 allows internet users to interact with one another and take using the world wide web to the next level. Some technologies that I think are useful in the classroom include websites that are useful for teaching. Some of these include YouTube or Diigo. Both these websites have educational tools that can benefit the person using the website. YouTube is a site that shares videos, it has an endless number of educational videos that would compliment a lesson. Diigo, allows teachers to find online sources to help them become an even better teacher. Every teacher can use impressive websites to improve their classroom. Some that are not useful include more social media based sites such as Facebook. If I have nothing to do I go on Facebook and can get lost in my news feed for hours. I think that implementing Facebook in the classroom can bring on a lot of distractions to students and lead to students watching cooking videos or taking Buzzfeed quizzes. 

Pinterest is an interesting Web  2.0 tool. It is a good way to get organized as teachers in creating lesson plans. Teachers can find arts and crafts that go along with their lessons and different ways they can even decorate their classrooms. Students can create their own board for lessons. For example; if you are teaching your students about a country in Africa, they can create a board about that country and then find cultural aspects of that country to pin to their board. This will allow students to research and learn more about the country (or lesson) and organize the information easily. Other students can also look at his or her classmates boards to learn more about their country.

www.pinterest.com  

 

I think the development of smart boards holds a lot of advancement in the educational world. I remember when my 5th grade teacher implemented our document camera for the first time and that was a huge advancement over the overhead projector. I think that the implementation of smart boards over dry erase boards will be similar. Smart boards allow teachers to do so much more with their lessons and with their students. It can allow students to interact with the lessons as well as bring the lessons to life. The abilities a smart board has are incredible it will really take teaching as well as learning to the next level. 

Website Evaluation

These websites would work best for a fourth grade social studies lesson

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/globaltrek/

This websites allows students to plan a trip to another country then gives them facts about the destination they chose.

Currency - all the links work, it also has current information on the countries based on the landscape or current lifestyle of its inhabitants.  
Relevance - Everything on this website is very easy to find, you just put in the country you want to"visit" and a new window pops up with information as well as an option for a question and answer with someone that lives there. All of the content seemed to be grammatically correct and I did not see any spelling mistakes. 
Authority - this website is a part of Scholastic.com which is a pretty well known website for teachers that releases a lot of educational content. Although it is a .com website I still believe that it is a reliable site because it is backed by scholastic. 
Accuracy - The history facts that are written about each country are all backed up and seem to align with one another. They also post further sites at the bottom of the window with other websites that can help students further research the country.  
Purpose - The information is presented as factual in a secondary origin because the author is re explaining the history and facts of each country. There is no evidence of any sponsorship nor extreme language. The obvious purpose of this website is to educate. It is provided on scholastic.com under "Teacher Activity Guide"  so its therefore meant for teachers to use in his or her classroom. 

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/index.html

Currency - This site was created in 2000, all of the links work. The information is all about history of other states or presidents so the information is not current but it is not meant to be.
Relevance - This website is very easy to use. The homepage is very clean and has 5 options to click on: Meet amazing Americans, Jump back in time, explore the states, etc. It is tailored for young students to read and the vocabulary is not confusing. I did not notice any mistakes and the topics have to do with different history topics.  
Authority - This website was created by the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., the largest library in the United States. At the bottom of the site there is an "about this site" where it further explains the purpose, legal notices, and site credits. There is a spot on the site where you can contact a librarian that takes you to an online reference service. The domain of the website is .gov. 
Accuracy - The website states that all of the information is backed by the sources in at the Library of Congress. Everything seems well researched and there is no evidence of any grey area. This site has many historical documents, photographs and even recordings as resources that are from accurate other federal agencies websites. 
Purpose - the information presented is factual in secondary origin. The website even has a disclaimer that states "any linking does not constitute the Library's endorsement of the content of their Web sites of their policies or products." further showing it is not sponsored. The purpose of the website is to educate. It is to provide history information to children in a presentable, easy to read manner. They take the information presented in historical documents and explain it in easy vocabulary for children to understand.  

Blog Post #4

I have really enjoyed using twitter for this course. I think it is interesting to read other students tweets and thoughts on things we learn about in class. When I can relate things that I learn in class to things out of class I feel like it is beneficial. I have been interacting with a bunch other students in our class. In my future career, twitter could become an even bigger social media platform and lead to more students using it. It is also a good way to show students how fast words can travel through the internet and how things can be spread throughout the world. 

I think the digital divide can really affect students success in schools. If you grow up in a family where your parents are not all knowing about technology you are less likely to grow up with the same resources as a students with parents that are digital natives. Some causes of the digital divide can be finances. Some families do not have the funding to pay for newer technologies. Some parents are also too stubborn to learn new technologies and may just not understand how to use them at all. My grandparents do not have internet or a cell phone, this makes communicating with them more difficult. As a future teacher interacting with parents who do not know how to use something simple like email or another form of technology can affect your ability to communicate with parents easily. 

I hope to teach elementary school so I think that the software I am more likely to use is Microsoft Word or Powerpoint. Elementary school students do a lot of worksheets to get practice for each of the lessons. As a teacher I can use Microsoft Word to create these worksheets. I can also use powerpoint to create easy lessons for my students to follow. I probably will not use Microsoft Excel very much. I might use it for things like grades or keeping certain things organized but I think that I will use it the least in the classroom.