Intro-
I thought my intro blog was really boring, but only because I am not a very exciting person. This could be useful to give parents a way to “meet” me before their child came into my classroom. It would also be useful to schools who are thinking about hiring a teacher to be able to see a video/blog entry like this so they get a preview of whom they might be interviewing, rather than blindly going into an interview where they find out that a random person with an awesome resume is actually an a girl who has fifteen face tattoos and twenty-five piercings. It gives them the chance to have a “heads up” even if they decide to interview her anyways (despite her tattoos and piercings). So, all though my intro blog was boring and I do not have fifteen face tattoos and twenty-five piercings, parents and schools would still appreciate having the opportunity to see who will be teaching their children and working for the school.
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers:
d. contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community.
Voki-
In class we created a Voki, which is an avatar. We created it to look however we wanted it to look and to say what we would want to say to our first class. When we started working on our Voki’s, I thought it would be a fun, easy waste of time. It started as fun, was not easy, but was definitely a waste of time. I enjoyed putting a Voki together that looked like Sarah Palin and trying to find a voice that would match the real Sarah Palin’s voice, so as far as the creation goes, I loved it! It was really difficult to put on my blog, though. I do not really see myself ever using Voki again. I would not use it to teach, nor would I use it as a class assignment. I will be teaching elementary-aged students, and I do not believe that children should be required to use electronics in a classroom until high school (that is an entirely different blog for an entirely different day). If I were going to use, though, I would use it for a beginning of the year high school assignment. I would get them to make a Voki that tells about them so that I can get to know each of their personalities a little during the first few days of the school year.
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:
a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
Web Resources: Twitter and Tumblr-
The class was split up into groups and told to research several items on our “Web 2.0” list that Dr. Beedle gave us. In my group, I researched Twitter and Tumblr. These are both GREAT resources for teachers! Twitter is a social networking website that allows people to share their thoughts in an incredible 140 character post. Since 140 characters do not give much room to actually communicate over, Twitter is great to post links to useful websites or links to informative articles and more. This is more of a way to direct people to useful information rather than actually provide the information itself. Tumblr, on the other hand, is like Twitter on steroids. You can do anything on Tumblr. It allows people to post ideas, articles, links to other websites, information from friends, etc. One of the most useful Tumblr accounts I found was “the-ironing-is-delicious.” This user posts a lot of things about, get this, bilingual special education. As if special education were not hard enough, she threw in a bilingual twist! Strangly enough, this is perfect for me because I am getting my degree in elementary and special education with an endorsement in Spanish. This will be an incredible resource as a bilingual special education teacher.
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers:
d. model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
XtraNormal-
XtraNormal was used in class to create public service announcements. This could be fun to use to make announcements at the beginning/end of the school day or to actually use it as a public service announcement at the school about something like fighting, verbal abuse, or cyber bullying. I can definitely see me using this for a presentation/announcement tool for school, but I will not require my elementary school students to use it.
1.Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
Inspiration-
Inspiration was an AWESOME tool used to create graphic organizers on the computer. I loved Inspiration. It was hard for me to get on my blog, which irritated me to no end, but I really like Inspiration. I used it to outline the seven churches in the book of the Bible, Revelations. Graphic organizers are great for children with things such as ADD, ADHD, and Asperger’s syndrome. Graphic organizers are actually good for all students, but especially help children with specific learning disabilities. For elementary students I would prefer drawing graphic organizers, but this is an incredible resource for high school students!
1.Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
c. promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
Windows Movie Maker-
In class, we used Windows Movie Maker to tell a story through pictures. We learned how to download pictures to the program and put them in a slideshow-type setup and how to add words in the slideshow to make a narrative. I used it to tell my story of going to New York with my sisters and mom. I cannot see myself using this when I begin teaching in the future. The only way I would use this is if I had a high school class and I asked them to create a presentation to go with a group project that had been assigned to them.
1.Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:
d. model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.
Google Website-
Near the end of the year, our class worked on making Google websites. This allowed us to teach a certain skill over the website. My website, though, is more like teaching how to teach piano. It shares what books are good for new learners, what books are good for advanced learners, and which pianos are best. This website would be really good to keep teachers and parents updated on anything going on in school. My ultimate goal is to open my own school, so this would be perfect for me to have a page for teachers and a page for parents.
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers:
c. communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.
Education Website-
One of our class assignments was to find a website on education news. I found the website, www.educationnews.org. It was very helpful because it tied in politics and education. This website showed me the education views of all of the GOP candidates for the upcoming presidential election. It also gives updates on education worldwide. Education News provides information on things such as school and the arts, school scholarships, teachers unions, parental involvement, etc. It was really useful to me as a future educator to become better informed on a huge range of issues!
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers:
d. contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community.
