Blog Journal #8- diigo, Powerpoint & Teacher Professional Development

Happy Tuesday! We recently completed our last GICA with Diigo so, I'd like to discuss Diigo one last time. Before this class, I had not known about or been exposed to Diigo. Now, I would say I am well-versed with it. The new skills I have learned from Diigo are screenshotting a PDF, adding a sticky note to a PDF and posting an annotation in the group. I could use this application as a teacher in many ways. I could use it to read personal material I enjoy and leave notes on my favorite parts. I could also use to for coworkers when we have a meeting using an online document.

The next thing I'd like to discuss is how we can use Power Point in the classroom, specifically with Bloom's Taxonomy. The levels of this are remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create. Power Point can be used to help students learn that are each of these levels. For example, let's pretend we are teaching a class about adding numbers. Students that are trying to remember and understand addition can use images in a Power Point to stimulate their memory and comprehension of addition. For student trying to apply addition, we could use a slide with "2 + 2" for them to give the answer. To analyze and evaluate, we can put a wrong answer and have the student write in why this is incorrect. Finally, a student could create their own slide with an original addition problem.

Lastly, just like we've learned about Diigo and Power Point, teachers must learn and keep up with all technologies for their own professional benefit. This helps them create good lesson plans, educate their students and innovate new technologies. A website that helps to do this is Twitter. Twitter is a social media platform we have used in class! It can be used for this purpose because it specifically focuses on what is trending, as shown in the picture below.

Link: Twitter 

ILP #2- PLN

Hello! Today is a special blog about my ILP #2. For my second ILP, I was expected to join a PLN, or a personal learning network. I joined a Facebook Group to do this. The group was for elementary school teachers and was comprised of educators from all different backgrounds. In the VoiceThread linked below, I analyze how this group could be considered a PLN. Enjoy!

https://voicethread.com/share/13764185/

Blog Journal #7- Twitter, Web Design and Adaptive/Assistive Technology

Welcome back! Today I'd like to discuss a few different things, starting with Twitter. The Twitter account I made for this class is the first active Twitter account I've had. So far, I have found it to be interesting, especially the way it helps you interact with others. I have learned how to maintain a professional presence on social media from the different things I have posted on Twitter. I have also found it to be beneficial when you want to keep up with current news, trends and stories. The only issues I've had with Twitter is wanting to see an archive on my page of things I have posted, retweeted and commented.

Another thing we have been working on is learning how to design a web page. We specifically did this for our "Assignment #3- Web Design". For this assignment, we had to create a web page for our "classroom" using the platform "Weebly". Before this assignment, I had little to no knowledge about how to create a web page. Some skills I gained from this web design are inserting hyperlinks, copying and inserting embed codes, formatting and choosing a theme for the website. However, Weebly was sometimes hard to work with and could be improved. I can improve my web design skills for the future by continuously practicing web design. This will greatly help me create an actual classroom website when I become a teacher. A link to and screenshot of my web design is posted below.


Finally, it is my pleasure to talk about adaptive and assistive technologies. These technologies support learners, especially those with disabilities. These assist learners by almost filling in the gaps that are missing either because of impairment or challenge with the material. An example of an assistive technology that could fill in the gap would be a spelling check tool helping a student to correct grammar if they do not understand it by themselves. A younger family member of mine has a disability. An example of an assistive technology they use is different apps on their iPad to help them practice things they learned at school. A challenge I could say I might have with these types of technologies is having access to them for my own students. Unfortunately, sometimes teachers don't have access to everything they need to accommodate their students due to money, policy and administartion.

Thanks for reading!



http://msmccabessecondgrade.weebly.com/

Blog Journal #6- School Website & Tech Sandbox

Hello again! Today I want to discuss class websites. Class websites are usually created by teachers through their school website or a separate domain. One class website I found was through my alma mater, Chiles High School. I found a teacher website under the English department for a teacher named Megan Abbott. On her website, she has a welcome page, meet the teacher page, and three other pages for each class she teaches. Things like assignment links, online resources and pictures are displayed to the public. Her students are mostly juniors and seniors. At the bottom of this post, I attached a link to the website and a screenshot of the page.

Creating a classroom website is a one way to efficiently and effectively accomplish your professional responsibilities. As a teacher, organization and time management are important and creating a website is one way to tackles these things. As a student, there are already many ways I try to use technology to accomplish my responsibilities. These include but are not limited to keeping up with Facebook groups and groupmes, creating google docs for assignments and setting limits on how much technology I can use when I'm not using it for my education.

Finally, I would like to introduce you to a place called the Tech Sandbox. The Tech Sandbox is located in the education building and contains innovative technology that can be used in education. These resources are presented by staff to help students to engage and learn more about current technology. One thing we were exposed to during our visit to the Tech Sandbox was a 3D printer. I had seen one before but, not in motion. We saw it use high heat to create a 3D image in only 30 minutes. If a school had the money for this, teachers could use 3D printers to show 3D diagrams of things they are teaching their students about such as an organ during an anatomy class. I have also attached an image of what the 3D printer created at the bottom of this post.


 https://www.leonschools.net/Page/35791

Blog Journal #5- Diigo, Blogs & Web 2.0

Hello again. Today, we will be discussing Diigo, blogs and Web 2.0. To start, what is Diigo? Diigo is an online educational tool used to annotate, share and discuss websites and readings. I have never heard of Diigo before this class. However, I did enjoy using and learning about Diigo. It was somewhat confusing learning how to navigate the different tools but, it was quick to learn and easy to use. I do like how Diigo can be an easy way to share your opinions and analyses of online sources. This could be an easy way to collaborate with coworkers and students, as a teacher. One thing I don't like about Diigo is having to add it to Chrome as a tool, every time we use it.

By far, one of the most enjoyable things about this class has been learning how to blog. I have always loved to write and am starting to rekindle this passion of mine. Learning how to create, navigate, design and edit my own blog in EME2040 has been very useful for inside and outside of my education. I do like the amount of creativity possible with blogging. I do not like sometimes how much time it takes to blog and the limitations of Blogger. I have learned to adapt my writing of each individual blog to the overall feel and format of my main blog page. This helps for everything to be coherent and appealing.

Lastly, what is Web 2.0? Web 2.0 refers to the second wave of technology that we are currently in. One Web 2.0 tool is YouTube. I have seen this used countless times in and outside of my education. YouTube is a tool that has a vast amount of information and possibilities for teachers to use in the classroom. As a teacher, I could specifically use it to explain something during a lecture in a more engaging way. One disadvantage of YouTube is that it can sometimes have inappropriate content. I have inserted a link to YouTube at the bottom of this page.

https://www.youtube.com/

Blog Journal #4-Twitter, the Digital Divide and Software

Hello! Welcome back to my blog! Do you have a Twitter? I didn't have an active Twitter account until this year! When I was 16, my friend made me a Twitter account but, I never used it. Overall, I've liked Twitter and the way it is formatted and helps us communicate with others. I have mostly been communicating and interacting with my classmates on Twitter. It has been beneficial to communicate with them because they help me learn more about educational technology. Twitter could be helpful in my future career by being able to communicate and learn from people in the same way but, with people in my field instead.

Another thing I'd like to talk about is the digital divide. The digital divide is the gap that exists between older generations and younger generations because of their technological abilities. This gap can especially exist in education when the teachers are of an older generation but the students are very well-versed in technology. The cause of the digital divide is simply that the older generation is not as well-versed with technology as the younger generation. This digital divide affects education by making it harder for teachers to adjust to certain technology being used in education. I may experience this very issue as a teacher. However, I would adjust my lesson plans to give myself time to adjust to these new technologies.

Even though there can be a digital divide in education, there can also be parts where technology bridges the gap in the classroom. We can do this by implementing software in the classroom. One software tool I would implement in future classroom would be iMovie. iMovie is a video creation software that could help me create engaging presentations for my students to learn during lectures. Another software tool I could implement would be VoiceThread. I really liked getting to use this tool that helps you record your voice over powerpoint presentations. It could be helpful to use when students are behind on material.

"ILP#1 Design – iMovie

Hello! For this blog post, I will be showcasing what I created for my ILP #1. For my ILP #1, I used the application "iMovie" to create, edit and produce a video interview with my friend Ashley about her own personal experience and opinion of educational technology, educational policy and how education is and should be used in the classroom and beyond. I have attached the links to my voice thread explaining this project as well as, the actual iMovie itself. Enjoy!

VoiceThread: https://voicethread.com/share/13651253/

iMovie: https: //www.icloud.com/photos/#0A4R0aL3XAE8djK_Wq48aQxoA