ILP #2 - Lynda Course

For my second independent learning project, I decided to complete a Lynda course.
I chose a course entitled "Blended Learning Fundamentals."
The course talked about how to effectively mix a face-to-face classroom with an online classroom
in order to increase student engagement and ownership in their learning. 

It talked about the 4 Ps of pedagogical framework as a way to integrate collaboration, flexibility, creativity, and motivation into the classroom.
Here are my notes on the 4 Ps. I really loved the idea of creating a community of inquiry in your classroom.

Another thing that I loved from this course, was an analogy the leader used comparing a student's investment in learning to renting a home vs. owning a home. When one is renting something, it is only a short term commitment, but when they own something they are deeply invested in it for the long term. He compared this to a writing assignment where you can ask a student to give you a 500 word paper (this is renting. students are only invested in the content for a short period of time. they write the paper for their teacher to get a grade and be done with it.), or you can ask them to create a blog post about what they've learned (this is owning. the students are now more invested in the assignment because it will be displayed publicly on a blog that is theirs, rather than just being turned in to a teacher. they have more flexibility in the format of their writing, so they will be more creative and enjoy it more. 

The Lynda course discussed ways to implement all of the Google Apps into the classroom (Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Forms). This is something I've become familiar with through using them in our class throughout the semester. It was nice to get even more information and ideas on how they can be implemented into work and instruction for a class. He brought up an example of using Google Forms to create a way that students can add data to a collective spreadsheet without having the ability to change other peoples' data. Using the survey format of Google Forms, create questions that prompt students to add their data, then automatically export those results to a Google Sheets spreadsheet. 

How to blend the classroom using mobile devices was also discussed. This is something that applies much more to high school, and especially college classrooms and not something I think I'll use much with elementary students. It was very interesting to think about nonetheless. He talked a lot about screen sharing, and one very cool thing that he brought up was using a tablet as a digital whiteboard; there are apps that will record what you are writing/drawing on the screen as well as what you're saying and then save it as a video. I think this would be especially helpful for math classes because the teacher could then upload lessons to their class sites so students could return to specific examples from class fro help. He also gave some tips on how to record audio/video and then share those videos so a teacher could implement video lectures into their blended classroom. 

Twitter Survey

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0VeVX3G2eZnTsyN

Blog9 - Flipped Classroom, Professional Development, and Interactive PowerPoint

The Flipped Classroom
The concept of a "flipped classroom" is very interesting. It is bred out of the blended delivery system for learning, which is a blend of face-to-face learning between teacher and student and online learning between student and technology. A flipped concept takes the elements of the blended delivery system and uses them to set up a classroom environment that is basically the opposite of what would be a "normal" classroom. That being said, a student in a flipped classroom would watch prerecorded lectures at home to familiarize themselves with the lesson content and then go to school the next day and work on practice assignments with the teacher there to guide them through the actual work. The textbook describes this as "The students’ role during their classroom time changes from passive receivers of content to active learners engaged in exploration and discovery..." I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this idea. I do think it sounds good on paper, but I wonder how it would play out in real life. The biggest variable I think would be whether or not the students actually do the homework portion, but I suppose that's something that teachers already deal with in traditional classrooms anyway. I also think that this method would only be affective for later middle school and high school students. I can't see it working very well with elementary students, which the age group I plan on teaching. 
Here's an example of a video lesson for a science class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I95NwUlaHck

Web-Based Professional Development
I started out by google searching "professional development for teachers online" which brought me a lot of results that seemed really good...except for the fact that they were at least $50 and/or required preregistration for a scheduled webinar. Though I couldn't try out the actual professional development modules right now (because of the $$), I found that PBS TeacherLine had a large library of self-paced courses that seem very useful! This resource is something I will definitely keep on the back burner for when I am an actual teacher and can justify spending $50 for a 3-hour online course. The PBS TeacherLine catalog can be accessed here: http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/catalog/

Interactive PowerPoint
I worked on this assignment with Savanah. We decided to use a template for the game Family Feud because it was a game that neither of us had seen translated into a PowerPoint before. My only exposure to interactive PowerPoint games has been Jeopardy. The template we found was so well designed. I was very impressed! I think Family Feud would be really fun to play in the classroom, but maybe I'm just biased because that game show is a personal guilty pleasure. I don't think that it's something you could use in any lesson, though, because it was kind of hard to think of a lot of questions with multi-part answers. So I think it'd just be up to the teacher to wait for the right lesson to come along to use this particular game format.

Blog8 - Technology Advancements, Digital Divide, and PowerPoint

Technology Advancements 
There were two technologies in Chapter 12 that sound really exciting to me. The first was the Handheld Augmented Reality Project (HARP), because I'm familiar with a couple of augmented reality video games that are coming out, but I had no idea about games being developed for educational purposes. I've seen a trailer for an augmented reality horror survival game called Night Terrors, which analyzes the surroundings of your home and then makes crazy/terrifying things happen as you look at your surroundings through your smart phone while trying to survive while there's some sort of paranormal thing coming after you in your house. Obviously this is not appropriate for schools, but seeing the possibilities of handheld augmented reality games is so cool! It's completely immersive and looks so real. I think the possibility of combining math, language, and critical thinking skills into an augmented reality game would be so cool for a classroom. It allows the students to be up and moving and interacting with something, which is a great break from sitting at a desk all day, and it allows them to truly immerse themselves in a lesson. Incorporating this kind of game into a school day will further a child's comprehension of different concepts because they're practicing the lesson in something that feels like real life. The other piece of technology that I loved was the electronic paper. I had no idea this was being developed and when I first saw it, my jaw dropped. It's another eco-friendly alternative to books and printed handouts, just like e-books on tablets, but it can be folded, rolled, etc. and is apparently unbreakable. This sounds great for elementary students who are prone to playing with and dropping things. Electronic paper is cloud based, so you can just change what handout is appearing on each students piece of electronic paper instead of printing hundreds of different pieces of paper throughout the year. I was also blown away by the fact that the price is set to be under $100 once electronic paper hits the market. I hope that doesn't mean its $99.99, because I think this would be awesome technology to have available for each student in a classroom.

Digital Divide
[I was unable to listen to the podcast because CAS was down when I was working on my blog post.]

PowerPoint for Information Dissemination 
I've been working with PowerPoint since I was in third grade, so I consider myself pretty well-acquainted with it. One thing I learned through this assignment and that I'm very glad to know, is how to edit the template within the Slide Master. That was something I'd never done before and it's so helpful to know now. I'm sure that I'll use PowerPoint countless times throughout my career as a teacher. I'm very excited to work on the PowerPoint for interaction assignment that's coming up because that's something I haven't learned how to do with PowerPoint so far.

Blog7 - Bloom's Taxonomy, Adaptive Technologies, Teacher Web Page

Bloom's Taxonomy 
Bloom's Taxonomy is something that has been discussed in many of my classes throughout my time in school. It's a ladder of educational goals with six levels. The first level is "remember," and it climbs to "understand," "apply," "analyze," "evaluate," and finally "create" at the top of the ladder. PowerPoint can be a useful tool to help students excel at each step of the ladder. For the first step (remember), you could create a power point with key terms from a lesson. Each term could have its own slide so that you can focus on the terms one by one and have the students repeat the term back to you a couple times/write it down the term & definition for themselves to memorize each one. For the second step (understand), you can use PowerPoint to display how the key terms fit into the lesson material (i.e. if your key terms are egg, larva, chrysalis, and butterfly, you can show where they all fit into the life cycle of a butterfly). I'll go ahead and continue with this butterfly life cycle example. The next step (apply), can benefit from using PowerPoint by embedding a video of a butterfly life cycle being carried out so students can observe a real life application of the lesson material; a time lapse video would be great because all the steps will be shown and the video will be short enough for students to watch the whole thing without drifting off. Then you could have the students relay the order of the life cycle to you, revealing the steps on your presentation once a student gives the correct answer. For the fourth step (analyze), you could implement a compare/contrast chart into your presentation and fill it in as students describe what they saw in the video as each step was happening, explaining the similarities and differences between what each part of the life cycle looks like. For the next step (evaluate), you could create a series of slides with statements/photos about each step of the life cycle with information mixed up in some of them, so students will then have to analyze each statement to tell you if it's true or false, then use their knowledge to correct the statement if it is false. For the final step (create), you could break the students into teams and assign each team a step of the butterfly cycle. The students would collaborate to design a slide about their step, including pictures and a bulleted list of facts they know about that part of the life cycle. Then put all the slides together into one presentation and have each group present their slide to the class as a review session at the end of the lesson.

Adaptive Technologies 
The world of adaptive technologies to help students with exceptionalities is extensive, and grows as improvements are made to existing technologies and new technologies are created. The podcast mentioned using joysticks for those students whose motor skills prevent them from navigating a computer using a standard mouse. This was something I'd never considered before and I think it's a very interesting solution! Another thing that came up in this lesson that I never considered before was having a braille printer on hand at the school. I've always thought that creating braille was a much more difficult process than just printing it out, so I think it's very cool that creating braille prints for students is something that could happen within the school. The only adaptive technology that I've ever really dealt with first-hand is voice recognition technology. I sometimes use it to text when I don't feel like typing on my phone, so I guess I'm kind of taking something fro granted since it's just a convenience for me, but a necessity for others. One problem that I anticipate with using adaptive technologies in the classroom is having to separate the students who need to use voice recognition in place of typing or text-to-speech instead of reading from the students who are not using those technologies. I worry that it would make the students feel isolated, but they would need somewhere quiet to have the most accurate results from the voice recognition software, and them talking out loud would probably be distracting to other students.

Web Page Design w/ Weebly
I really enjoyed this assignment! Customizing a webpage template is something that I've been doing since the days of MySpace (hahaha) so I felt pretty comfortable with that aspect of this assignment. A couple parts of it were difficult, though. First, having to find decent looking pictures that had the proper licensing for us to use on a public webpage was really frustrating for me. Since this is something I was never really aware of previous to this class, I never knew how limited my options would be for trying to find images that were not privately owned/copyrighted. The other difficult part about this assignment is something that I've run into across most assignments for this course -- coming up with content about a classroom that doesn't really exist! Hopefully having to be creative with that in this course will help me to write amazing blurbs about my classroom once it's real. I also believe that the skills I practiced with this assignment will be very beneficial in my career because I will always need to have a place to keep information for my students' parents, and of course I'll want it to look pretty. I think the aesthetics of a teacher website are becoming increasingly more important as teachers are expected to be more and more computer literate, so I want my parents to look at my website and think I'm a real 21st century teacher!

My site: novaleneb.weebly.com

ILP #1 - Edmodo

My original idea for this ILP was to use Blabberize to make a fun video about Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately, the website stopped working for me when I was in the middle of saving what I had recorded and it would not reload. So instead of trying to fight with the website, I decided to scrap that idea and give Edmodo a shot. I added a chunk of information that was also on the Weebly I created so I could compare the formats of these two options for class websites. I think I prefer Weebly in a lot of ways, mostly in that it's more customizable so I can create my own look and feel for my class site. A feature I do really enjoy about Edmodo, though, is the ability to post a poll. I think that can be useful in a lot of different applications! I also like that it is a more interactive place, which would be better demonstrated if I actually had parents signed up as a part of my group. I think the ability to comment back and forth on announcements about events, homework, etc. would be really beneficial. I also think that I would like Edmodo a lot more having the opportunity to use it consistently over the course of a school year, rather than trying to fill it with posts in a short period of time.

https://www.edmodo.com/home#/group?id=20071925

group code: rycvm2

Slide Share!

Creative Presentation Slides Design Making from Peter Zvirinsky


I loved the tips in this slide show because it shares some good ideas for getting away from making a run of the mill PowerPoint presentations. One of the very first points it makes is to not use cliche images! I think this is something that might seem obvious once someone tells it to you, but many people don't think about it when they're searching for photos or clip art to put in their presentations! Don't use something that's one of the first five results because more than enough people have used that image already. I also really loved that it said to use a non-traditional background for your slides. I think a lot of people (myself included) never think about this because it sounds like a kind of risky thing to do. I loved the suggested of using an image of a blackboard as your slide background; I thought that was very cute!

Blog6 - Class Websites, Teacher Task Technologies, and Wiki

Class Websites
I honestly kind of had a hard time finding class specific websites. I first tried visiting the websites for the elementary and middle schools that I attended, but I couldn't find any links that brought me to teacher websites, only links to teachers' emails. So then I just started searching Google and found a directory of teacher websites for an elementary school in Georgia. I found that most of the sites only had a teacher bio, but I did find one that stood out amongst the rest.
http://myschooldesk.net/clayton/teachersite.aspx#site.3794_pid.14432_mid.23482

This website features the exact information that I was expecting to find on a public teacher website. It has an uplifting message from the teacher to the parents, the teacher's biography, a tidbit about the school, the school calendar, links for sites where kids can study math concepts in fun and interactive ways, and a syllabus for the class. The website is simple and well organized. I think this teacher did a great job creating a website from the template he and the rest of the teachers were given. He definitely went above and beyond the work of almost all of his colleagues.

Teacher Task Technologies
Of the software mentioned in the podcast, I'm sure the one I will use most is Microsoft Office. I already use Word and Powerpoint very often, and I'm sure that won't change once I transition from being a student to a teacher. I don't use Excel much currently, but I anticipate that I'll become more familiar with spreadsheets in my career. I imagine that e-mail will be a very close second to Microsoft Office as my most-used technological tool. Whether I'm using it to communicate with parents, administrators, or other teachers, it will be a main component of my teaching. The podcast also mentioned Diigo, which is a tool that I don't fully understand how to use yet since I haven't spent much time with it. The podcast gave a good description of it though, so I want to get more familiar with using this tool.
The book mentions Microsoft Access as a tool for managing databases. This is a program that I've actually never heard of before. It looks similar to Microsoft Excel, but I guess spreadsheet software is different than database management software. (I just looked up exactly what a spreadsheet is, and apparently it's defined as being used specifically for calculations -- I didn't realize this!) The book introduced me to the fact that there are specific softwares that are for classroom management responsibilities such as creating a roll and seating chart. I always assumed that teachers just did this in Word or something like that, but these programs sounds much more efficient! The book shows a program called ThinkWave, but also includes a "Teacher Task Software Evaluation Sheet" which I think will be very useful to download and keep. A handful of online tools and apps are mentioned in the book.  Standards Toolbox and the 4Teachers Family of Tools are ones that I want to remember. The book brought up something called Appitics which I wanted to check out, but the site doesn't exist anymore. You now have to access that information through the iTunes Store in "Apple Distinguished Educators."

Web Evaluation Wiki Assignment
I enjoyed putting together a rubric for how to decide if a website is appropriate to present to your students (in my case, third graders), but I didn't really enjoy the part of the assignment where we had to set up a Wiki. The rubric my group and I came up with is something that I think I'll keep with me through my journey to becoming a teacher because I think we gathered a good list of things to look out for on various websites. As for the Wiki, I don't think that's something I would personally use again, especially not with my students since I'm aiming to teach younger kids and the site wasn't too simple to use. I also think the site was lacking aesthetically.

Blog5 - Web 2.0

Web 2.0 In The Classroom
First of all, I didn't know that there were distinctions between websites called "Web 1.0" and "Web 2.0," so that was interesting to learn. For use within the classroom, I really like the idea of class blogs. The podcast mentioned a site called 21Classes that seems really neat. Within that site, the teacher is able to create accounts for each of their students and set up the parameters in which their students' blogs can operate. I think the opportunity to learn how to participate in an online community within a closed and safely controlled environment is very neat. I also like the idea of Twitters being used in an educational setting. I've really enjoyed using it for our class so far. As an educator, I think it would be great to maintain a Twitter account to use for connecting with other educators, communicating with parents (I want to teach early elementary school so I think that's who I'd be communicating with more directly than students), and having a platform for your students' parents to connect with each other! I thought it was interesting that the podcast brought up using Wikis for classroom collaboration. Since I'm thinking in the mindset of someone teaching young kids, I don't think Wikis would be useful for my classroom because they seem rather advanced and are very public. They might be more useful for someone teaching high school, though.
To utilize Web 2.0 sites in a classroom, you must obviously have some sort of computer. The computer needs to have up-to-date software to ensure compatibility with basic things such as Java and Flash Player. They also need to have sufficient core processors and RAM capacities. I'm sure this isn't as much of a problem anymore, but when I was in late elementary and middle school, some school computers were hopeless. All computers need a keyboard and a mouse, and probably headphones if students are going to be working with interactive learning activities. Some "peripherals" that are basic but very useful, are flash drives or external hard drives so that teachers are able to back up all of their own work as well as their students' work so that nothing is accidentally lost. Schools must ensure that they have functioning networks so that all of the computers within the school can operate together and all have the correct software/programs throughout the classrooms.

Web 2.0 - LiveBinders
I wanted to find a new website that I hadn't heard of before to use for this section, so I googled "Web 2.0 tools for teachers" and I found a website with a list of some really cool websites. Just about every one of them you had to sign up and pay for to even find out anything about how it works, but I found a really cool website call LiveBinders. LiveBinders.com is a website that allows you to compile "binders" that are more than just words, like in traditional binders. You can compile digital resources like youtube videos, twitter feeds, etc. LiveBinder gives you the ability to neatly organize all of your digital materials in one place. It's extremely helpful that LiveBinder could be accessed from anywhere as long as you have your computer with you, so you don't have to worry about carrying around a ton of binders, or forgetting a certain one.
LiveBinder is also sharable which makes it an even better tool. You can use it to collaborate with other teachers to build lesson plans and/or compile resources that your students' parents can use with them at home. You can use it for professional development and constantly update your toolbox with new things you find and learn. The website even mentioned the idea of using it as a place to keep all the information a substitute teacher would need for your classroom -- the instant sharing capabilities would be extremely useful in the case of being absent for an emergency. I'm so glad I found this website, and I will definitely keep it on the back burner for when I have a classroom of my own. In fact, it might even be useful to start keeping a LiveBinder now with all of the tips we're learning in this class!

Concept Map
I have a pretty split opinion on the website that we used to create the concept map. I think Webspiration gave us all a lot of problems with not being able to log in to the accounts we just created, and requiring us to make a new password two or three times before we successfully got into our accounts for the first time. In theory, I like Webspiration's collaboration possibilities, but I don't think the website has a particularly user-friendly interface. I actually had a lot of trouble in the beginning figuring out how to use the site to create a concept map. Even when I figured most of it out, I didn't particularly enjoy using it. If I use it again, I don't think I'll run into as many hiccups (hopefully), but I'm not really sure if I will use it again. I would like to seek out a website that has the same concept but a better design in the future. I also think that concept maps should be used for subjects with a smaller amount of ideas because I was pretty frustrated with how cluttered my concept map was getting. I think less is more with concept maps because the less information you need to include, the cleaner your map will look and the easier it will be to read and study.

Blog4 - Education and the World Wide Web

CPALMs Standard + Online Tool
I chose a standard from the science category for 2nd grade. The standard I chose is SC.2.P.8 and it deals with properties of matter. The standard says "A. All objects and substances in the world are made of matter. Matter has two fundamental properties: matter takes up space and matter has mass.B. Objects and substances can be classified by their physical and chemical properties.

Mass is the amount of matter (or "stuff") in an object. Weight, on the other hand, is the measure of force of attraction (gravitational force) between an object and Earth." Some of the access points for this standard discuss identifying matter as solids, liquids, or gases, so I decided to find an online activity involving this topic. I found an interactive lesson with an assessment game at the end here: http://www.abcya.com/states_of_matter.htm. I would use this site after my initial lesson so the students have a fun and more individually engaging way of reinforcing the material in the lesson. I enjoy the assessment at the end because the students get to interact with a webpage to drag and drop the different examples into their correct category instead of simply circling a multiple choice answer. I imagine that students will enjoy this version of an assessment because of the positive feedback they get visually and audibly from the website when they get an answer right. This online activity falls under the category of 'academic software,' and more specifically 'educational games.'

from abcya.com

Experience with Internet-based Resources
Throughout my educational career, especially in middle school and beyond, navigating the internet on my own to find resources became a central point of my work. When looking for news articles, the first thing I do is look for a website name I recognize as a reputable source (i.e. New York Times, Huffington Post, etc.). When I'm looking for information that isn't necessarily from a news source, I always pay attention to the layout of a website before reading further into its information. A website that is poorly designed and hard to read is a red flag for me because I feel like any place with high quality information will have a team member (or the ability to hire someone) who can create a well-designed web page. The ABCDT acronym from the podcast is something that brought more great tools for evaluation to my attention. 'A' stands for author and the podcast brings up the point "Can you contact the author if you have questions?" which I have never thought about when looking at online sources before. 'B' stands for bias which isn't something that I always pay attention to, but when I've worked on persuasive essays in the past I looked for biased articles on both sides of the issue for supporting my own side and having a good counterargument, as well as making sure I have neutral resources for understanding the issue. 'C' stands for content and the podcast mentions looking for content with correct grammar and spelling and content that is current. These are both things that I always look for. 'D' stands for design, which is something I definitely pay attention to, as I mentioned in the beginning. 'T' stands for technical elements which I believe ties in to my comment at the beginning about a well-designed site. I website that is well designed will have functioning links and an easily navigable layout. The podcast also brings up the importance of making sure a URL matches the type of site you're looking to visit, For example, if you're looking to end up on the website of a government group, make you type or click the address including .gov, because sometimes the same URL name with a different domain extension could be something very different than what you're looking for!
The one thing that stood out to me while working on the Webhunt assignment was the Google search tool of being able to set a custom range of publishing dates for the results that show up. That's something I've never noticed on Google before, but is very useful to know about!
1. You want to find an interactive lesson about volcanoes for your students. Can you find a website that will provide this?

Webhunt

My Webhunt Challenge

2. Find an article about the cultural effects of the Harry Potter franchise. 

3. You want your students to find a piece of news about the effects of global warming. 

Blog3 - Standards, Software, Skills

ELA Technology Standards
While reading the ELA technology standards, I realized that most of the standards are geared toward grades beyond the level of school I aim to teach. I feel pretty confident in my ability to teach those standards that are meant for kindergarten to third grade students, because they are, of course, rather basic concepts. The standards for 11-12 under W/WHST.8 "Use Multiple Sources" are something I feel I would need more preparation with before teaching them to students. These standards are for building the ability to "assess the strengths and limitations of sources in terms of task, purpose, and audience; avoid over-reliance on any one source." I find that I sometimes have a hard trouble following these standards in my own schoolwork, so I wouldn't feel confident teaching these habits to students without more guidance first. The podcast for this week provided a good tool to keep in mind for judging the strengths and weaknesses of an online source. The acronym ABCDT stands for Author, Bias, Content, Design, and Technical Elements, which are all important things to consider before using a website as an academic resource.

Classroom Software/Applications and Digital Citizenship 
I was honestly surprised by the amount of websites/applications that I found in the book -- I've gotten in the habit of not expecting much relevant information from a textbook. The application that jumped out at me most was ClassDojo. I loved finding that in the book because the elementary school classroom that I mentored in last semester utilized this program and I'd forgotten the name of it. I think ClassDojo is an awesome way to keep students' behavior in line because the visual and auditory elements of the point system involved give students incentive for staying on task. The teacher I worked with last semester created a reward system with ClassDojo where students who earned a certain amount of points by the end of the grading period got to participate in a small party (we all know kids go crazy for a party). I also liked the idea of using the programs Edmodo and Kidblog. Edmodo sounds like a great way to keep up a network with all of your students' parents. The ability to house digital homework, calendars, and announcements all in one place is very helpful! I think that Kidblog sounds extremely cool because it creates a place for students to journal or practice creative writing, while also giving teachers a place to teach "netiquette" to their students. If the students are commenting on each other's posts, you can teach them how to be respectful and polite in an online community. Kidblog could be used to teach many other aspects of digital citizenship as well, such as teaching students to credit any pictures they want to include in the journal post, reminding them to "think before posting," and helping them learn how to navigate the web. I think perhaps the most useful part of using Kidblog would be the opportunity to help students learn how to create a safe online presence (i.e. not giving out any personal information) within a closed network.

Newsletter Design Skills
This assignment definitely allowed me to become better acquainted with aspects of MS Word that I rarely use. It also reinforced my detest for some of the ways MS Word functions. Some things are really made more difficult than they should be. Nevertheless, all of the trial and error I went through with formatting different parts of my newsletter was a great learning experience and now I should be able to do it quicker and easier the next time I create one. I really don't like the fact that it won't let you simply format columns within a text box; that was frustrating, but I found a way around it. I also don't like that it won't give you the option to wrap text around an inserted photo in a text box, but I found a way around that as well. I was annoyed, but not defeated by Word. Getting through this assignment will help my in the future because, when I need to make a newsletter for my actual classroom, I will have undergone the necessary practice for creating an aesthetically pleasing newsletter.

Blog2 - Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Something Old, Microsoft Word
In my time as a student, I've used Microsoft Word more times than I can count. Most of my time with Word has been used to simply write essays and research papers, but I've utilized its other features as well. I've had projects in the past where I've had to create trifold pamphlets, so I'm thankful for Microsoft Word's brochure template. I've created a couple mock newsletters as well. In high school, I used Word quite a bit to create artistic and professional resumes. In my EDF1005 class I had to create a lesson plan for the first time, and I used Word for that as well. I'm only just now finding out that under the "miscellaneous" template tab, Word has a lesson plan template -- that would've been nice to find two semesters ago...
I've received many a document from teachers over the years that I assume were made with Microsoft Word. All of the newsletters I've been sent home with, all of the tests I've taken, and all of the instructional sheets I've been handed were created with Microsoft Word. As far as college professors' relationships with Word, all of the syllabi I've read so far have been neatly typed with Word. From .doc to .docx, I'd say Microsoft Word has always been an extension of myself in my educational career.

Something Borrowed, Copyright and Fair Use 
So there's a lot of jargon involving this concept that I'm not really following. I think what it's saying is simply that if you are using copyrighted material within a closed classroom, you can't be penalized for using it without explicit permission from the creator.(?) As a student, I've always been taught that any time you're using a copyrighted photo or piece of text in your paper, powerpoint, etc., you must properly cite it. I've had the fear of plagiarism deeply instilled in me.
As I make my way into the teaching profession, I'm thinking I'll need to seek out some seminar where a person more well-versed in these concepts can explain it all to me so some men in suits don't break into my classroom to take me away to copyright infringement jail someday. Once I am familiar with all of these concepts I will do my best to translate it to my little digital natives so the develop a sense of good digital citizenship from an early age.
It was interesting looking at this topic from the standpoint of a teacher creating their own instructional materials because I feel like every teacher I've had has said "Excuse this typo, I didn't make this test" or "Don't worry about this slide, I wouldn't have put this information in here if I made this presentation myself" at one time or another.

Something New and Something Blue, Twitter
I think the hardest skill to learn when using Twitter is how to convey an idea in 140 characters or less. I love the concept of creating a network through Twitter where you can connect with teachers, parents, and students (depending on the age) at any time. The most exciting part of it is the practically limitless wealth of information you can gain from other educators and organizations! Just in the past week I've found and favorited many profiles and links that I might save forever so I can utilize those specific technologies and project ideas in my own classroom someday. I find that the most creative/innovative educators are the ones sharing their ideas on Twitter, and those are the educators I want to connect with. From my experience as a student, I can say that being able to communicate with a teacher via Twitter is super beneficial and makes students a lot more invested in the class. My AP Psychology teacher in high school had a course Twitter that he used to remind us of tests and assignment due dates. He would also post articles or TEDTalks that he thought we would find interesting. Sometimes students would even tweet him asking what he though their weird dreams might mean and he would interpret the dream as best he could. It was hilarious. He was a great teacher and I think his investment in communicating with his students was a really huge part of that.

Blog1 - Technology Standards in the Classroom

Computers in the Educational Experience 
I think the #1 reason that computers are such an important part of classrooms nowadays is because they are an even more important part of the everyday lives of most people. Technology has become so accessible in recent years that it has become necessary for educational environments to follow its development. For example, the book references the fact that the "3Rs" (reading, writing, and arithmetic) are no longer sufficient for fostering a well-rounded education in the 21st century -- teachers must also incorporate the 4Cs of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity from the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. These are the broader reasons that technology is vital in the classroom, but there's a very individualistic side to its benefits as well. Creating a lesson that gets through to each student's own learning style is a struggle for educators. Children can be visual, verbal, or kinesthetic learners, so addressing just one of those styles in a lesson wouldn't be wholly effective, but addressing all three styles would take time that is simply not available in most cases. Utilizing the multitude of educational tools found online is an extremely beneficial way for students to get one-on-one time with material working at their own pace and in their own learning style.
Of course, there are concerns when it comes to integrating new technologies into classrooms. Funding is probably the most prevalent concerns that educators and administrators have -- how can we provide the proper amount of computers with up to date software? I believe that spending the money on school computers will be a money-saver in the long run. Having computers or tablets in the classroom can eliminate the need for physical textbooks (a cheaper and more environmentally conscious option). Having computers can also open up the possibility for performing science experiments that have many expensive materials, because the experiments can be performed virtually instead. Another issue for many educators, is the fact that they don't possess the skill set needed for fusing these new teaching styles with the traditional ones they've been used to for decades. Teaching the teachers is very important! Many workshops are at their disposal; those who may refuse to acquire these new skills will end up being replaced by technologically inclined teachers.

ISTE Standards
The ISTE Standard that resonates with me most is 2c under the Student Standards which reads, "Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures." I think it is so important to be culturally aware, and I think it's a great idea to start fostering that awareness in students at a young age. The internet is a great tool for this because facts, photos, videos, etc. about any country or city are at the tips of our fingers. The internet is truly a window to the world. The ability to communicate with people around the world via chat rooms or discussion board threads is an incredible way to get first hand accounts of what other cultures are like. Awareness of other cultures is the first step to understanding and acceptance.
I suppose that the ISTE Standard that I feel goes beyond my current skill set is number 5 in the Teacher Standards. The points listed in number 5 go beyond the walls of your classroom and seem a bit intimidating for someone who is not yet an experienced educator. I consider myself very comfortable with technology and am excited by the possibilities it brings to a classroom, but "contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession..."sounds like big shoes to fill.

Digital Natives

Someone that is considered a "digital native" has a natural comfort with technology because it has been around for most, if not all, of what they can remember of their lives. I think that this is an accurate term for describing today's youth. Having been born in 1995 and practically developing alongside the internet and modern communication/information technologies, I am a digital native and identify rather proudly with that term. I think technology is great! I'd say there is a glaring difference in the way and most of the teachers I've had use technology, mostly in speed and creativity. Because most of my teachers had already been well-versed in other teaching methods by the time technology came around, it was harder for them to adjust to integrating them into their lessons. A lot of my older teachers would navigate their computers at an almost painful pace. They weren't familiar with any hotkeys or used the "hunt and poke" one-finger method for typing (and even thought they had to include "http://www." in every web address they typed out). You could also see a clear difference in the level of creativity in a PowerPoint made a teacher and one made by a student. Teachers generally used the standard template and that was all, whereas students would change colors and fonts, add pictures, transitions, and even animations to different components of each slide. While I don't anticipate the gap in knowledge being quite as big between my future self and students, I'm sure there will be things they'll be more familiar with than I am. I think the gap will be closer though because my growing up with the evolution of technology has made my interested in each new step in the evolution so I think I will always keep up with what is new and I'll have the years of knowledge that will help me to quickly acquaint myself with new technologies.

Blog0 - Introductory Post

Technology In My Life
First of all,  I am an Apple girl through and through.I consider myself to have a pretty advanced grip on creative technology. I love both digital and film photography. I was in TV production for six years and while I was an anchor/reporter for some, I spent a lot of my time working behind the scenes. I have a good handle on how to use Photoshop, I spent countless hours in summer ITV  workshops learning how to use Final Cut Pro, Motion, Photoshop, etc. After I quit TV production to do musical theatre, I didn't spend any time continuing to use FCP or Motion, but I've always kept Photoshop on my computer and thoroughly enjoy using it. Last semester I held the position of Creative Development in my service sorority, so I designed all of our tshirts for the semester which was a lot of fun. Of course other technologies are a part of my everyday life, as is the case for most millennials. I use Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook to keep up with friends far and near and with domestic/global current events. I've used Word and Powerpoint through all of my educational career, but I've never learned much about Excel or anything else in the Office world.

My Hopes For This Class
I do think that most of the topics in this class will be a bit of a breeze, but I'm excited for having assignments that are all pretty creative in how each of us will execute it. The whole atmosphere of the course seems like it will be enjoyable. I am interested to learn how to create a webpage because that's something I haven't really done before. I'm also looking forward to seeing how all of these technologies that I've become comfortable with using in my everyday and educational life will translate into my prospective career.

Learning Style
I was not surprised to see that I am much more of a visual leaner than verbal learner. I've always preferred working hands on and with graphics because they are much more digestible to me. I was sort of shocked to see that I was so in the middle of all of the other learning style spectrums.