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.