ILP "Design" Edmodo

I designed an Edmodo page for a fifth grade special education class. It is a really good way to be safely connected with students and parents outside of school. Edmodo is really easy to follow and set up. It is secure with an access only code provided for the students so they can access their group and like, comment, and share announcements or assignments.  Edmodo allows students to collaborate in a safe environment online.  It helps students stay organized and on top of their assignments and grades.  I included an announcement, an assignment, and a quiz. I also included 2 folders which include one that has their daily schedule and another for some resources students could use to practice skills.

Code: 9dqc7a
Link: https://edmo.do/j/egtsrc

Post 10

As a teacher, I think I will use the data collection tools to survey students' understanding of certain lessons before testing and teaching instruction that they prefer.  It would help me get instant feedback so that I could improve how I teach my lessons to help them better understand things.  The survey is beneficial for both students and teachers as the students can voice their opinion and teachers take that into consideration. I could also use a survey at the beginning of the year to get to know my students better.

When reviewing classmates blogs, I enjoyed reading their experiences with creating our assignments like our website, powerpoints, and newsletters and how they all turned out. We all used different creative takes on designs and content on each of them.  I also liked all the different resources that they provided on their blogs like the websites for open sources and edtech updates.


For my next technology- related skill, I would really like to learn how to use smartboards and Promethean boards. I have never really used one myself and it would be really helpful to know how to operate and teach on one. I think smartboards and Promethean boards engage students in learning, so it would be a good interactive way of teaching. I would achieve my goal by scheduling an appointment at the Tech Sandbox at some point.

Post 9

The Flipped Classroom inverts traditional teaching methods of what happens in the class and what happens at home. Students watch video lectures online at home provided by the teachers before going into class. Then they engage in activities on what should have been learned by watching the videos and are able to get a better understanding of the topic from the teacher and peers. This type of method allows students to learn through activity instead of just traditional lectures alone. It also allows the teacher the time to explain in greater detail difficult concepts if the student already has some sort of prior knowledge by watching podcasts and videos.
http://www.watchknowlearn.org/


Open content are learning and instructional materials that teachers can download and use in the classroom. The content must be retained, revised, remixed, reused, or redistributed. It sort of works like a copyright because it gives instruction as to what you can and cannot do with the materials online. This allows teachers to share material because the creators give others permission to do so by using the 5 Rs.
https://opensource.com/ 

For the PowerPoint Information Dissemination assignment as well as the PowerPoint Interaction assignment a few new skills that I learned was how to hyperlink within the PowerPoint, how to navigate where things should go, and how to disable linear functions. Other than that I was pretty skilled in using PowerPoint. I knew how to change designs and layouts and to add animations and transitions. It was fun adding more interactive things in the presentation because in high school we normally just make Powerpoints information based without extra effort in making it seem fun. In the future I'll definitely make presentations more fun and interactive.

Post 8

One of the technologies introduced in the Sports Psych lab that I found would be beneficial in schools is the eye tracking device. The device would help both students and teachers. Teachers could use it to monitor where they are looking around the classroom, how long they are looking at a certain spot, and how frequently they are looking at certain areas. This would benefit teachers by improving their social interactions with the students and improving their attentiveness to the entire class. It could be used on students to track the same exact things like location, frequency, and duration on an area. This would benefit them because teachers would get the feedback to change their teaching strategy to help the student have a better learning quality.

PowerPoint is a great resource to enhance student learning through organized visuals. The Bloom's Taxonomy organizes objectives clearly for students to learn better. Powerpoint will be used to guide the remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create process of the Bloom taxonomy in a lesson about the novel The Catcher in the Rye. For "remember", I would begin with a slide that has the students list the characters out loud and then they would appear on the slide. Then for "understand" I would be to have the students describe the characters. A slide for "apply" would be that they have to predict how a character would react in several situations listed using the information they have about the character. For "analyze", I would have several of the themes that are found throughout the book and have students analyze the meaning of them. An "evaluate" slide in Powerpoint would include having the students justify why a character is the way he or she is. And for "create" I would have students create and design a visual that shows their evaluation of each character.

EdTech Focus on K-12 is a website that provides articles about technology and education issues. It has so many topics ranging from how and what educational technology works in the classroom to managing technology use. The website also offers webinars for teachers to optimize technology use and accommodate to the newest educational technology. It gives tips and tricks on managing, networking, and classroom use as well as reviews on different technology. The website is constantly updating with new articles about new educational technology that can be integrated in the classroom

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/

ILP "Participation"- Lynda.com Tutorial

I completed a Lynda.com tutorial about Google Apps for Educators by Aaron Quigley on October 16th.

3:30pm Began tutorial with "Getting Started with Google Apps for Educators.

It started with an explanation of Google Apps for education which is nothing different than a normal Google Apps account, but Google can certify an educational institution account. It's a collection of applications like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Drive, and Google sites which can help educators save time and deliver lessons. It explained how to setup the account for an educational institution, how to customize it, and add other users.

3:50pm Began “Using Gmail” section

The tutorial explains how to configure Gmail and customize our account. It explains mail delegation which allows other teachers to access others email boxes in the event that one is absent, so any work that might be in the mail box could be retrieved. An email whitelist is helpful because emails from specific IP addresses can be chosen to always appear in your inbox and never be sent to junk mail. Restrict delivery can be used so that students can only email each other and teachers. Gmail can be organized very efficiently. Archiving emails is really important for teachers in case of emergency to reference the principal, parents, other teachers, and students. Adding a signature to the end of each email makes it easy for contact information to be found.

4:15pm Began “Using Google Calendar”

Google Calendar is not only really helpful recording events and times, but it also gives teachers an opportunity to collaborate. It’s a way for the entire school to know what’s happening and when. Google Calendar allows you to have several calendars for different things such as a personal calendar, task calendar, and a school calendar. A schoolwide calendar would be beneficial and allow teachers access to edit it and add events. Google Calendar events also act as an invitation for people to respond to. It also provides reminder notifications for events.

4:30pm Began “Using Google Drive”

Google Drive is a network drive that allows us access to documents in various places such as at home and at school. We can upload documents, worksheets, spreadsheets, pictures videos to the server. It’s beneficial for teachers for collaboration. Teachers have access to edit documents with each other. We can also share documents with ourselves so we never have to forget materials at home because we can access it on our school computer using Google Drive.

4:38pm Began “Using Google Documents”

Google Docs is available to anyone who has access to Google. There several Google Docs such as documents that works like Microsoft Word, presentation that is like Powerpoint, and spreadsheets which is like Excel. All of these automatically save changes in Google Drive. These can be used to collaborate with teachers to work on projects because everyone can access them and have the ability to invite people to edit the documents.

4:50pm Began “Using Google Site”

Google sites is a great way to create a quick template-based website. As a teacher, one can create a school based collaborative website and edit it. Teachers can also create a google site for each class and upload student work like a digital bulletin board and include class calendars and other resources.

5:15pm Began “Google Apps in the Classroom”

Google Apps for Education allows teachers to link third party applications to accounts. Google has EDU apps for educational purposes to use in the classroom. Youtube can also be a very good educational tool to engage students as there are many educational channels. Google Scholar provides students with journal articles, conference papers, and newspaper articles.

5:25pm Began Conclusion

My learning experience with this tutorial for Google Apps for educators was good. It was easy to follow because of the mirrored screen that guided you where to go. I also appreciated the transcript that was provided to follow along if I missed something said and I did not have to rewind and rewatch it. I liked that it was an overview of how teachers could use Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Documents, and Google sites to collaborate, communicate, and create. The tutorial course has given me advanced tips and tricks that I can use now as a student as well as a future educator.

Post 2

As a student, I use Word for absolutely everything such as note taking, writing essays, outlines, and assignments, and making graphs, charts, and posters.  I highlight, bold, bullet and number, and insert pictures to make my notes easier to read and to organize my notes more efficiently. I’ve seen my teachers use it to create tests, quizzes, worksheets, syllabi, lesson plans, forms and permission slips, and newsletters to parents.       

My experience with copyright and fair use in school began with learning how to cite everything in MLA format including websites, books, and other peoples' written works. It was drilled into my head anything that isn't your own you need to cite. We were taught not to plagiarize and to give credit where credit is due. I had citation assignments, so that I knew how to do it without the help of a computer. I would deal with these concepts of copyright and fair use as a teacher to develop instructional materials by creating my own original materials and when I need it to use open resources and revise them. When addressing students, I would teach them the importance of siting resources of information in a grade appropriate way.

Some new skills I learned about using Twitter as a personal learning network is that it could be used to have an interactive chat through a hashtag. I normally just used Twitter to follow famous media stars, but now I could use it to follow updates about education, educational technology and so much more. Twitter allows students and teachers to be connected outside of the classroom. I can use Twitter to connect to other teachers in the area and around the world.

Post 1

Computers have become an essential part of the educational experience because they are useful tools to both student and teachers. Teachers use them to create lesson plans, worksheets, powerpoints, videos, and communicate. Students use them to complete assignments, create projects and videos, and to research information. Computers give the opportunity to both teachers and students to enhance their teaching and learning respectively.  Some critical concerns related to how teachers and students use computers is their access to the technology. Computers are expensive; some schools and students do not have the funding to purchase them.   It also takes time to learn how to use different programs for educational purposes and to start using them in the classroom environment for teaching.  Another concern related to how teachers and students use computers is cyber safety. As teachers we need to protect our students not only in the classroom community but also the cyber community.


One ISTE standard that I like for students is creativity and innovation. It allows students to explore technology they use presently and create new ways to improve upon it and develop better technology for the future. I find that young children have endless ideas for new inventions and innovative products.  As a teacher, I would encourage my students to learn more about technology and to be creative. I think it is really important not only to support and promote their concepts, but also to positively critique their process to complete a project.  Throughout high school, I took part in a science, technology, and innovative competition that challenges students to create and communicate new technology 20 years into the future to solve real world problems with present technology.  This experience has made me appreciate creativity, collaboration, innovation, research and the teachers who fostered it.  An ISTE standard that I feel is outside my current skill set would be customizing and personalizing learning activities for students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools because it takes time to learn students’ learning styles and creating new activities for each is difficult.     



I agree with the label “digital native” for today’s youth because we are so dependent of technology such as computers, cell phones, televisions, and radios. Students today grew up in a digital age and are typically exposed to some form of technology. A digital native is defined as a person who has grown up knowing technology and how to use it. The only difference that I have seen between digital natives and digital immigrants is how comfortable they are with using technology. Some natives are very equipped with the skills to use technology while some are not and the same goes for teachers. The teachers’ knowledge on how to use the technology has impacted my learning experience because I am a very visual learner and their use of projectors, smartboards, and powerpoints helps me learn better. Although sometimes when they do not know how to utilize them properly it delays quality teaching time, but I have come to understand that difficulty. A difference I anticipate between my future students and I in terms of technology use is that of being an early adopter. There will be new technology exposed to them that they will know how to use better than I do.  

Twitter handle

@shelle_marie143

Blog Set-up

My prior experience using technology began at age 8. When I was in school, we had a computers class starting at third grade and continued to eighth grade. I learned all about how computers worked and how to use Microsoft programs such as Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. In high school, we were given iPads to do all our school work on, so I have some knowledge about what apps are useful in education. I also took another computer skill class in high school to refresh what I already knew.

In this class I hope to learn how to efficiently use different types of technology in order to enhance my future teaching style. I would also like to learn how to improve the skills I already have with working with Microsoft programs. Another topic that I would like to learn is how to use other online platforms such as Blogger.

I have learned that I am more of a reflective learner and I do tend to write summaries of readings and my class notes and prefer to study alone. I'm more of a sensing learning and I learned that I understand information best if I can see how it applies to the real world. I am good with details and memorizing facts. I know that I am more of a visual learner than a verbal learner. I need diagrams, photos, and graphs to learn.  I learned that I am more of a sequential learner. I understand more with linear steps and how things lead to a conclusion and how things are connected.