Farewell!

Hey guys! This is the last post of the semester so I'm feeling very bittersweet.

I have always found Excel very useful. I think I would use Excel in the classroom by using it as a survey or reporting tool. I love the idea of this because it can make the classroom as inclusive as possible. I can give out the surveys to my students on whatever topic, what they wanna learn more, how can I help them be more successful or how am I failing them, and keep it unanimous. By keeping it unanimous it helps make the students feel more comfortable in trying to be more truthful without feeling like they'll receive any repercussions.

After reading about The Flipped Classroom I think it's a good idea. The idea behind the flipped classroom is that the learning happens outside of the classroom and then the classroom becomes a reinforcement to what was taught outside of the classroom. The material is taught through online methods. I like this idea because it allows more time for questions in the classroom and time to actually do the classwork. As a bilingual student, when I first came to the states it was very very hard for me because my mother didn't know how to help me with my homework because it was in a whole other language. This would have been very beneficial for me in my academic career.

I would like to learn how to code. I love the idea of coding because then I can make things exceptionally personal to me and my classroom. Coding can work towards websites or apps. I will learn this new skill by taking online courses, especially during this pandemic, with so much downtime on my hands I can't think of a better skill to learn and perfect.

The topics I found most interesting from the instructor's blog post was definitely the recaps such as the technology website section or the Instructional Design model section. It was a nice and efficient recap of what everyone wrote and the websites found. It's nice to look at a recap because it makes it easier to grow as an individual academically and personally because it allows for an environment where one can grow from others.

I commented on Hayley and Mallory's post.

Technology and Teacher Development

Hey guys! I hope you guys had a great Spring Break.

My absolute favorite website to stay updated with technology trends is https://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/educational_technology/ They constantly update their website with new and upcoming technology trends that will specifically be beneficial to teachers. This website also allows teachers to post their articles, lesson plans, methods and theories, and even newsletter. This website has multiple functions and has a whole section on teaching technology. It is a great way to grow within the teacher community. 

Powerpoint 2:  I feel like the second PowerPoint was super fun to make. I had fun designing this for my "students" it literally took like 10 minutes.
Skill Check PowerPoint: This PowerPoint was also very fun to make, although, I don't think visual storytelling is my strong suit.

I loved reading the instructor's post because it was a nice recap of the semester so far because let's be honest, I haven't had the time to read everyone's post. I know other students haven't either. The topics I found most interesting from reviewing the instructor's blog post were ELA standards and the academic software tools that certain students would use as teachers. I especially liked the tools session because it allowed me to look at them and find new tools to use for my students. A nice way of allowing us to grow and collab due to a post that served as a medium for us (students) to look at.

I commented on Malyce's (on canvas) and Hayley's blog post. 

Universal Design

Assistive and adaptive technologies are used to support learners by allowing students to complete their tasks even though they may be unable to type or see things. I think its a great tool but it is very specific to certain students. I feel like typically students that may be impaired are all put in a special needs class which may be easier to use these tools in the whole class as opposed to pointing certain students out and causing a "divide" in the classroom. I feel like that would make the student's who need assistive and adaptive technologies a bit worse.

The key principles of Universal Design are important to address the larger issues of usability because they question everything needed for it to be accessible to everyone by asking "Why? What? and How?" The Universal Design key principals are set in place in order to give extra support to the teacher so their students may learn the most they can.

Two academic software tools that I would like to implement in my future classroom would be Ted-Ed and Kahoot! I loved Kahoot in school because I am so competitive. I feel like if you give students something to be really excited about like possibly a pizza party to the group with the most wins or the top 5 students with the most wins get a treat of some sort would motivate the students to actually do better. Personally, I love Ted-Ed the videos are so educational and keep you intrigued the entire time. I can't think of two better academic software tools.

I honestly love the blogging process. I have always wanted to make my own "lifestyle" blogs anyway so this has been a nice trial run to see how the process works. I like the fact that blogging allows me to express my feelings on a subject and read other classmates' thoughts on the subject as well. I feel like it's a really good way to collab and grow. I think the most important thing I've learned is to keep your blog post short and simple but spice it up as well.

I commented on Olivia and Hannah's blog post.

Dynamic Instructional Design model

Hey guys! Almost done with the semester!!

I have decided to evaluate the lesson plan "Getting to the Root of it: Plant Dissection and Root Systems." https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/getting-root-it-plant-dissection-and-root-systems/ 
This lesson plan follows the Dynamic Instructional Design model because it knows the learners. This is depicted in the section Supporting All Learners. The objectives can be found under Preinstructional Planning. The learning environment is established under lesson directions step 1 and materials. The teaching and learning strategies are identified in lesson directions and under supporting all learners. I don't feel like it is necessary for this lesson plan to identify and select technologies but if they were going to I feel like it would be under the home connections part. Last but not least, this lesson plan evaluates the students under the post instructional section. 


I would use PowerPoint to support student learning at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy in a particular lesson by having a slide to see if my students can recognize or recall things about the topic. Then I would add more slides adding new information and have a "check-in" slide to see if my students can properly explain this new information. Then I would add slides filled with questions to see how well they are applying this new and old knowledge, analyzing, and evaluating it. The final slide would be giving the students a task where they have to create some type of content to show that they have learned the material.

The WebQuest assignment was so much fun. I actually feel like it is very beneficial, as a teacher one can keep a Q&A area for parents or students. I feel like a lot of people tend to have the same questions and as a teacher, it can get annoying repeating myself over and over again. Next time I can improve it by adding more content for the month as opposed to just having the content of one assignment.
http://8thgradealphas.weebly.com/


I commented on Alina and Mallory's.

Course Websites

Hey yall, Happy 8th week of the semester!

At first, I did not think course websites for teachers were important or worth the effort. I personally did not find that much important information on the course website I found. After looking at the course websites everyone else has found my opinion changed. I now do believe that course websites for teachers are important and worth the time. Some parents are very busy on the go, the ability to be able to access your child's upcoming important events at the touch of a fingertip wherever you are in the world is ideal to me. Course websites are very eco-friendly and that is my favorite thing about it.

I envision myself using technology in a lot of ways. The main way I'd use technology as a teacher would be with the Calendar feature. I think it is a great feature, you can update it at any time, access it from your phone, and send out an invite, for example, parent-teacher conferences. The calendar feature will also remind you of your tasks up to one day before.

I have not had the time to complete the web evaluation due to illness. I can't wait to update this post once it's done!

I commented on Erika's and Liz's blogpost.

Technology In The Classroom

For some reason, it was kind of hard for me to find class pages. I never even had one in K-12. I finally find one from the St. Brendan School in Bronx, New York. I chose to look at the PreK-1 grade after the 8th-grade class page basically had one sentence. What both of these class pages had in common was a "Contact Us" section. In the PreK-1 class page, there are a lot of weekly updates. I think the teacher updates the page as the weeks go by in order to keep parents or anyone updated for their child's events, assignments, and important reminders for the week. https://stbrendanschoolbronx.org/prek-1

The idea of the Digital Divide is the difference between those who have technology and wifi accessible and others who don't. I believe the Digital Divide affects a student's success in school. Often times we forget that wifi and technology is a commodity that not everyone may have consistently or at such easy access. The main cause of the Digital Divide is money. Some parents struggle to pay rent, the last thing on their mind is "I have to pay my wifi so my child can have access to his class page and assignments." As a future teacher, I feel like it is very important to be mindful and always give students the option to be able to do it on paper or have a physical copy if needed for whatever the reason may be.

Looking back at my course experience through Twitter, I find Twitter has been very beneficial because I have noticed that a lot of us students have the same questions. It is very easy and time-saving when I can just get on twitter and check how my other classmates did with the same question I had. Twitter might be beneficial in my future career because it helps me keep connected with people from all different places. This means they may have different ways to do things and bounce ideas off of each other so we could grow in our perspective careers.

I commented on Noelle and Morgan's blog posts.

English Language Arts

Welcome back to my blog! It is week 5 already and I simply can't believe it. 

For this assignment, I have chosen to review the English Language Arts standard for grades 11-12. LAFS.1112.RH.3.7 is basically a way for students to be measured on what they have learned by using media such as excel for example. I personally feel very prepared to implement this standard in my classroom because I was required to take a computer competency class in college which addressed programs such as excel. Ever since that class, I have been using programs like excel to better manage my life. I believe these programs are key to budgeting, saving, and planning things out. It is one of those things that I would be happy to teach my students because I know they would have use for it in the future. 

A really awesome tool I found on CPALMS was the ability to find lesson plans or tips based on the subject you are teaching and grade. This ranges from Dance to English Language Arts and Gifted students. I found this really cool because it allows teachers to come to one place and get ideas to strengthen their lesson plans or make it more interactive or engaging. 

I have chosen to write about Instagram as the Web 2.0 tool. Instagram has become a place for business, teaching, and social networking. With Instagram, one can find educational accounts and even network with other companies and get paid to post. I feel like Instagram is one of the most versatile web tools and let's be honest, kids are on it all the time! https://www.instagram.com/

I replied to Noelle and Mallory's post.

Open Educational Resources

This post is a bit late because I was sick but I am very happy to be back!

I feel like I have had a lot of prior experience with online learning. Ever since elementary school, we were expected to take AR tests online and so forth. I feel like as technology evolved our learning experience evolved with it too. I cannot remember using one specific learning management system but I do specifically remember that most of my online learning experience was synchronous. I personally loved online learning because it broke off from every day to day routines that were established. For me, online learning was always sort of a treat that we would get if we behaved well or something along those lines.

Open Educational Resources are resources such as text, media, and other digital properties that are free, accessible, useful for teaching and learning. According to Open Colleges, the top ten examples of open educational resources are MIT OCW, Lumen Learning, Khan Academy, Merlot, OER Commons, Open Stax, Academic Earth, Learningpod, Open Culture, and Open Learning Initiative. This blog post provides a little summary of all of these websites by highlighting their top features. I feel like as a teacher this would be a great website to compare what works best for my students. https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/10-open-educational-resources-know/


I definitely learned a lot from the Newsletter Design assignment. Obviously, I have used Microsoft products before but this assignment was a little bit frustrating. I guess what was the most frustrating is that Microsoft word already had a set code and structure for what their newsletter design was supposed to look like so changing it was the only frustrating part. Obviously, I had never made my own newsletter so I feel like with anything else one you do it more than once it starts to become like muscle memory.

Academic Dishonesty and Cyberbullying

Technology has been incorporated into my learning experience now more in college. In high school, they made it a requirement that we take one online class in order to be able to graduate. Now in college, it seems as if everything is online. We are given discussion posts, resources, quizzes, and even tests online. We are also allowed to use our computers to take notes which is awesome. I feel like the most technology I used in elementary and middle school was for AR tests and the smartboards.

Copyright and fair use is huge when it comes to the technology world. It is really hard sometimes because everything is on the internet. Making citations a requirement allows us to use websites and pictures while still crediting the source. There have also been websites developed to detect copyright issues which helps prevent misuse. Personally, I use these websites all the time, especially when writing a paper so I know I have cited everything correctly. 

The two main technology implementation issues I have chosen are academic dishonesty and cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a big problem because anyone can post things anonymously or through a fake page, anyone can say anything. Another thing is you can't really hold people accountable for things they say online. To tackle cyberbullying I would make sure my students know that anything said in our classroom websites will be reported to me and taken up with the principal and if any foul comments have been made it will be followed by in-school suspension. Academic dishonesty is also a huge issue because you can look anything up online while taking a test or a quiz. Ultimately cheating is easier for students when dealing with technology. To tackle academic dishonesty I would use turnitin.com to make sure my students are not copying each others work or someone's past work. 


I commented on Kemory and Noelle's post.

Technology In The Classroom!

I think there are a lot of influences on teachers and students to use technology in the classroom. I feel like the main thing that influences teachers and students to use technology in the classroom is that it's all around us. It's kind of hard to teach now without some type of technology. If the students are already going to try and be sneaky by using their phones, teachers might as well find a way to properly engage students with technology.

As I reflect on the ISTE Standards for Educators, the main standard that is meaningful to me is the learner one. I think it is important for teachers to consider themselves as students as well and always be willing to learn the new and upcoming technology and the new skills technology offers. One standard that is outside of my current skill set would definitely have to be the facilitator. It is out of my current skill set because I know how to find the data but I don't know how to properly use it in my classroom if I was a teacher.

Personally, I agree with the term digital native. To be a digital native means to be someone who grew up with or using the technology that is all around them. Today's youth literally has grown up playing with iPods and iPads of some sort. I feel like digital native teachers are more excited to use technology and aren't as afraid as digital immigrant teachers to use technology. My learning experience with teachers that are digital natives has been heightened as opposed to my learning experience with digital immigrants. I hope that as I get older I don't become a digital immigrant and always stay updated with the latest form of technology so I could teach my students better.

Welcome!

Hey Guys!

Welcome to my blog, I am so excited to start this semester! I have a pretty wide background with technology. I have been using technology since I was like 8. I went to tech school to be a filmmaker/vlogger therefore I am certified with all adobe products.  I also tried to make my own blog and keep up with it but I just completely failed because I had nothing to really write about or post about.

I hope to learn a lot in this class, specifically how to incorporate technology into my classroom. We are gonna be teaching a generation of students that literally grew up using technology. Technology is now being incorporated in many schools. I feel like technology is a good way to capture students' attention in an innovative way but I hope this class teaches me how to keep the students' attention and keep them interacting with me using technology. 

My results taught me quite a lot about myself. As you can see I got a 1 in the active category, 7 in intuitive, and 3 in visual and sequential. I am fairly intuitive but I'm flexible with the other categories. I  always knew I leaned more towards the visual side of learning because I like how pictures, graphs, and charts explain things as opposed to words. I did not really consider myself intuitive which is nice to learn so I can better use that as a strength.