ILP #2 "Design" - InfoGraphic

For my Independent Learning Project #2, I designed an InfoGraphic on a website called Canva. I designed classroom rules that teachers can display and post in their classroom in order to provide groundrules to their students. This is important for teachers to keep their class in order and their students learning and behaving well.

Here is a link to my InfoGraphic and a picture of it:
https://www.canva.com/design/DACnUWhnqNo/-gVP3KXFyKPHOPgicKia3w/view?utm_content=DACnUWhnqNo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

Blog Journal 10

As a teacher, I can use data collection (surveys) to keep track of my students' learning needs. This can be used on any grade level, and it can be given to the students in worksheet format. The survey can ask questions about what I as the teacher can do to improve and help my students learn better, which ways they learn best (visual, auditory, hands-on), and etc. Excel can be used in any grade level classroom as well. Teachers can use it to keep track of each student's grades on every assignment by their first and last name. It can also be used to calculate the class average, maximum, minimum, etc.

The topic I found most interesting while reading my classmates' blogs was the Independent Learning Project. It was interesting to see what my classmates chose to create. I saw Prezis, PowerPoints, Glogsters, posters, and more. It was cool to see everyone's choice of topic and the way they designed it.

The technology-related skill I would like to learn next is how to work Excel. I know the basis of data entry, but I would like to learn in depth the details about it. I can achieve this goal this by watching YouTube tutorials.

Blog Journal 9

"The Flipped Classroom" is a classroom that utilizes videos as a primary source for students to learn from. It flips the way students spend their class time. Rather than listening to the teacher lecture and instruct during class and then going home to practice for homework, they are given an instructional video to watch for homework before class and the next day they practice with the teacher during class. Here is a link to educational videos for the classroom: https://www.ted.com/watch/ted-ed.

The "open" terms mentioned in the podcast include open education, open content, and open source. Open education refers to making educational experiences available to everyone. Opportunities for education are often times restricted to higher classes with higher socio-economic statuses. Open education strives to make more schooling opportunities available to everyone of all classes and diversities. Open content refers to sharing resources and materials online with other teachers. Reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute is the basis of how to use open content. This is often restricted by copyrighted material, which limits content usage. Open content gives teachers an advantage to network and share successful lesson plans with one another. Open source refers to using softwares that are accessible to everyone to guide education. Not all softwares are available to everyone, some require that you buy them. Open software gives opportunities to everyone and does not restrict any social group. Here is a link to a website that allows for open content: https://www.oercommons.org. This website lets teachers make and share resources and lesson plans with one another.

I acquired new skills from working on the PowerPoint assignment. Before working on this assignment, I had no idea how to record a voice over a PowerPoint or change the master slides. Now I know how to record myself perfectly to each slide and change the layout of the master slides. I liked this assignment and felt it was helpful because as a teacher I imagine I will have to make a lot of PowerPoints to guide my lessons. Next time I can improve by going more in depth on my slides and my speaking. Here is a screenshot of the beginning of my PowerPoint:

Blog Journal 8

Adaptive technologies are different kinds of technologies that can be used and adapted to students to support their different learning styles in the classroom. These could help students with disabilities by providing them with a piece of technology fit for them to learn from. I have seen concept mapping in the classroom. This adaptive technology helps students think by visually seeing how ideas are connected. It helps organize their thoughts for writing. A challenge that can come out of using adaptive technologies in the classroom could be that it separates students in a way. All students are using something adapted to their brains and learning styles, so it could be hard for a teacher to bring the class back together on the same page after.

It is possible to use a PowerPoint to support student learning at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy. The bottom level is knowledge. It is possible to make a PowerPoint to teach basic information. For example, if students are learning animal names, you could put a picture of the animal on each slide, labeled with its name. This way students can observe and recall the information. The next level of the taxonomy is comprehension. Comprehension can be used by creating a discussion based PowerPoint. For example, if you are teaching off a PowerPoint based on a book the students have to read for class, every few slides should contain discussion questions that allow for students to demonstrate they understand what is going on. Application is next going up the triangle and can be used in PowerPoint form by applying knowledge and using problem solving methods. For example, if students are learning how to count money it may be helpful to create a PowerPoint using real world problems. That way students can learn how they will apply their skills of counting money in the real world. This question could look like, "If I buy a shirt for $16 and I give the cashier a $20 bill, how much money will I get back?" Analysis is next on the taxonomy. A PowerPoint can be used to support taxonomy by identifying patters, organizing ideas, and recognizing trends. If a student is learning how to analyze a graph, a PowerPoint could be helpful in leading them in this. Teachers could display a PowerPoint with a graph and questions on the board to help the students better understand the data information. For example, teachers could ask if it is a positive or negative trend, and identify the pattern of how the independent variable affects the dependent on the graph. Higher up the taxonomy we come to synthesis. A PowerPoint could be used in synthesis by using older concepts to generate new ideas, design, imagine, and predict. A teacher could use a PowerPoint to guide students how to design an experiment, or predict the outcome of the experiment. Lastly, on the top of the taxonomy we have evaluation. A teacher could use a PowerPoint to solve, judge, evaluate outcomes, or compare ideas. For example, a PowerPoint could be formatted to compare different ideas. Say the class was looking to compare life and death, a column could be made for both and pros and cons could be listed to compare.

Below is a website teachers can use to keep up to date on technology trends. It gives tips and resources teachers can use to keep them updated.
https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/teachers-technology-trends

ILP “Design” - Glogster

For my first Independent Learning Project I chose to design an educational tool using Glogster. The online poster that I made could be used in pre-school and kindergarten classrooms to teach young students the main animals found on a farm. The Glog I made is colorful and will catch the attention of young eyes, includes pictures of the animals, as well as labels under each picture saying what each animal is.
Here is a link to it and a screenshot: http://edu.glogster.com/glog/animal-farm-59ebd5718ba04/2iu1jke0iqh/

Blog Journal 7

I am having a great experience with Twitter so far and I have not experienced any issues yet. I mainly interact with other students in the class as well as professional educator accounts. I have been reading articles these professional educators post, and retweeted them for my peers to see. Twitter has actually been a huge help for this class and has many benefits. The first benefit being that it makes it easy to communicate with other students in the class. We have been able to help each other with any confusion on assignments, as well as bond over interesting, educational posts. The Technology Sandbox class field trip sparked some great Twitter discussions within our class!

I have acquired many new skills from the Web Design Assignment. First of all, I learned how to create a website in order to inform the students and parents about my class. I learned how to create pages for different topics and purposes, as well as insert hyperlinks and calendars. I definitely liked this assignment and felt that this will help me in my future career as a teacher because I will already have the skills to create a website for my class.
Here is the link and a screenshot of the top of my home page: http://eg16c.weebly.com

Diigo is an extremely helpful tool and is effective to use as a student and a teacher. The new skills I have learned from it include how to easily highlight and annotate an article online. I have learned how to interact with other students on a specific article in a group on Diigo, as well as create tags for each article researched. In the classroom, this will be helpful for students to use to effectively read articles. Students will better comprehend the readings by highlighting and making notes about specific parts. It is a great tool for working with team members because you can create a group and share articles within it so everyone is granted access to read and annotate it together. In my professional, individual efforts this will help me by being a tool that will keep track of everything I may have to read or understand.

Blog Journal 6

Most schools require teachers to maintain a website with class information for parents and students. I looked up my 9th grade English teacher at Trumbull High School in my hometown Trumbull, CT to see what kinds of information she put on her page. I found a section about her explaining her schooling, why she loves being a teacher, and fun facts about her family and what she enjoys doing in her free time. I also found a section about her classroom goals and what she hopes to accomplish this year. Additionally, I found a section about when/where her extra help hours can be found. She has a page for each of the classes she teaches showing the syllabus and specific assignments. She also has a link to her classroom library, showing all the books she has in her classroom for students to take out. She also has a page that includes a list of the best books to read to encourage reading in her classroom.

Here is a link to the site and a screenshot of it: https://sites.google.com/a/trumbullps.net/englishkravecs/home

I definitely see myself using many different kinds of technology in the classroom to teach more effectively and efficiently. First off, I see myself using presentation softwares to convey information from a lesson to my students. Presentations like PowerPoint are an effective way of displaying material to the class. I also see myself using classroom management softwares in order to keep track of my students grades, behavior, and other reports. In addition, I know I will use word processing softwares. This is how all worksheets, tests, assignments, handouts, etc can be made and distributed to the class.

I loved visiting the Technology Sandbox last week. One piece of technology I experienced that could definitely be used in the classroom is a SmartBoard. This was an interactive display screen that could be used in multiple ways. There are tools on it to be able to draw and write on it, so teachers could show the class something or students could come up to the board and practice a problem. It can access the internet so articles or a website could be pulled up in front of the class. PowerPoints could be presented on it, it has tools to be able to draw shapes, play games, along with endless other uses.