Post #6

I decided to look up a class website from my Elementary school. This is a 5th grade class at Timberlin Creek Elementary.  On the site it includes homework expectations along with upcoming due dates and the student's vocabulary schedule. There are a lot of links available for students and parents to hit on the side bar. This includes the class calendar along with helpful sites for individual subjects such as language arts and math.

I think I will be able to use technology to accomplish my professional responsibilities because I can effectively create a website for my students that will be easy to navigate. I will have the chance to make my website mine since most things in the classroom are not always up to you. I will be able to create and use technology to implement a successful website that includes creativity, contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.

While working on the web evaluation wiki, I was able to better understand how to evaluate a website to see if it is credible. Some websites should not be used in a classroom because they do not contain the right information or not enough. I liked that we got to work in groups but I thought using Wiki was a little complicated. Maybe if I got more time using it, it might not be as bad. But I thought it was too confusing and not the most accessible website to use. So in the future I can improve on my formatting and getting to know my website more before I just jump into an assignment. In the future I can use these skills from this assignment to be able to pick the best and most efficient website for my students to use in the classroom.

Blog #5

Web 2.0 includes social media, blogs twitter, and YouTube which are all helpful and useful for classroom use. These help you collaborate with others which supports professional teacher development. Like the podcast said, blogs for the classroom are more of a passive approach which may not be the most useful for the purpose of individual student involvement. Any computer/laptop includes web 2.0 features and tools.

A web 2.0 tool that I might use when teaching would be Edmodo. Edmodo allows classes to connect and collaborate. It is not as publicly available as twitter, so it is pretty secure. I think you have to be part of a school to even get a code to register.

With Edmodo, you can virtually have a class online. You can post your notes, discussions, PowerPoints all on there. It’s a really nice tool to be able to have and utilize in the classroom. https://www.edmodo.com/

With the concept mapping assignment, I learned how to create study guides and organize ideas by grouping them. I liked how you were able to customize it to your own liking but the website would mess up sometimes and it was a bit confusing at times. I had to redo my bubbles multiple times. Next time I will try to customize it more but this time around I was just trying to get use to the program. In my future career, I can use these tools to make concept maps for my students as study guides or just as a guiding tool. It will be a helpful tool for any subject in my classroom. A concept map can be applied to anything really.

Blog #4

The science standard for 2^nd grade I chose is SC.2.P.8.2  which is to identify objects and materials as solid, liquid, or gas. It can be found at http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewStandard/Preview/1611. The classification tool to remember this standard would be a properties concept map. I could put how to identify objects in the middle bubble and then have the branches of solid, liquid, and gas in smaller bubbles. Branching from those three would be their properties that make them identifiable as that.  

I have had some teachers in the past who were really strict on how credible our sources were such as not using Wikipedia. But I have also had teachers who would accept Wikipedia. I was told in the past that if the author could not be found or if the website ended in .com it probably was not reliable enough. According to the podcast, open content is anything available for modification, use and redistribution. This is not the most reliable way of receiving information because anyone can edit it. Wikipedia falls underneath this category and is not so reliable.

With the web hunt, I learned how to use google scholar and google advanced video search. I also learned how to only search key words to get results on the content you are looking for. I had a hard time figuring out which standards went with what I was finding though. I also had trouble picking the right website to take my information from since there were so many. I do not think I found the most reliable/credible sites that I could have.

Blog #3

I can teach how to evaluate and integrate multimedia. I also think I would be able to teach how to use sources and teach how adding videos and pictures can get your message across better. I would need to get more preparation on multimedia in social studies/history though. I also could work on the standard involving "text structure", RI.5.

With my class, I will want to use Microsoft Word. Word has so much to offer and it is convenient for multiple reasons. For the elementary level, I feel as if it is the easiest to understand under Microsoft Office programs. Kids these days are getting into social media younger and younger. So the digital citizenship topic I should address is how to be safe online. They need to learn at an early age to be careful about what they post because it could be there for a very long time, possibly their whole lives. These kids are most likely 6-10 and they need to know now so they do not make mistakes when they get to their teenage years.

From the newsletter design assignment, I was able to learn how to properly format a newsletter for a classroom. I used features I had never used in Word before. It showed me that Word has so many elements other than the features just for typing essays. I liked that we could make it however we liked, with whatever border and colors. But, I did struggle with the formatting when I first started the assignment. Next time I will plan it out before I jump right into it. In the future, I can use these skills to make my actual class newsletters to send out to parents.

Blog #2

 

   As a student, I have used Microsoft Word for classes to type essays along with using it for lab reports. My teacher would normally attach Word documents to emails where I could then read it. These Word documents were of newsletters or study guides usually.

Through school and in an educational environment, I have learned that you cannot just use anything you find on the internet for school. Some things are for online use only and may not be copied, such as textbooks. Teachers have to be careful and cite or give credit to the pictures and words they put into their lessons for copyright reasons.

Twitter is a way to connect with people. After following the different education pages through this personal learning networks, I can see that you can gain more knowledge on a subject that you were not so clear on before. There is new information coming your way every day. This has helped me communicate my thoughts and communicate with others who share common interests. I can use these skills for future use by applying them to my future class. Creating a class blog for students may help them communicate effectively between each other.