Blog 7!!

Hello!

    I searched for high schools that have teacher websites and Dale High School popped up. The teachers each have a webpage that is active or used to be active during the peak of COVID-19. The information that I was able to find on their websites included lesson plans, syllabi, daily schedules, student resources for in-class, photo albums, and information about the teacher. Some teachers even had portals that students could submit their homework in. As well as a place to find all the events or important information from the school as a whole. For example, information about prom or graduation.

    I envision myself using technology to share resources with my students and colleagues. I will also use it for communication purposes. An example of this is Canvas announcements. I will also use technology within my lesson plans to try to steer away from the typical lecturing and note-taking to help my students understand the material better. Some specific teacher productivity tools I will use include Grammarly, Google Drive, and Online Stopwatch. These tools will help with communication, sharing, and timing out specific parts of the day.

    My experience with PB Works wasn't the best. This is because I didn't really enjoy the platform, especially for group work. At first, it was pretty confusing to get started. Then only one person could edit a page at a time so we couldn't all work on the evaluation form or the write-up on the front page. Then the program was down for the weekend it was due, but when it came back up it reverted back to what it was like before the program went down. I did like that once we got a hang of how it worked, it was much easier to use and navigate. For my future K-12 students I could use a wiki to spark creativity in the classroom/lesson plan and make the students feel like they are in control of their learning. A lesson plan I would like to use it for is maybe describing a specific topic.

Blog 6!!

     I liked using Diigo. I have never used it before so this was my first experience with it. It went pretty smoothly as it was user-friendly in the sense that the layout was very organized and very easy to use. I thought it was easy to view what others in the class had posted as well as make a post myself. I really enjoy the annotation feature. It made it very easy to highlight important phrases as well as make notes with the sticky note feature.

    I have always really enjoyed blogging in classes. For assignments, I blogged while in English class senior year using different vocab words and topics, so this wasn't new to me. I enjoy it because it gives a different take on doing an assignment. I honestly don't feel like I am doing an assignment when I am writing these blogs. Also, the websites I have used have been very organized and easy to use. Whether that is in terms of posting, customizing your blog page, or looking at other classmates' posts.

    An interesting Web 2.0 tool that we have not covered yet and that I would like to incorporate into my classroom is ClassDojo. It is a very easy tool to use in the classroom and has had great success with limiting disruptions in the classroom. The tool allows teachers to connect with parents very easily through messaging, pictures, videos, and more. It also allows the students to contact the teacher. It also is used to update the student's behavior. Students are able to look at the assignments that are due and contact the teacher if needed. Students can also post pictures and videos to their profile which gives them a voice. I believe ClassDojo is an important tool to introduce to the classroom. Link: https://www.classdojo.com/ 

Blog 4!

    I chose the standard LAFS.5.W.2.6 which is in grade 5. It essentially states that students will be able to use technology to create writing pieces and work together. Students should also show that they have improved their typing or use of keyboarding skills as well as be able to type two pages of writing content in one sitting. I do feel prepared to implement this standard based on my current skill set because I have been using technology to collaborate and write since I was in elementary school, but I have gotten much better over time. Especially since the shift to technology assignments or websites such as Canvas and Google Classroom and the use of Chromebooks in school happened while I was in middle school. However, I do believe it is odd to have a standard that states that a student in 5th grade should be able to type a MINIMUM of two pages in one sitting. I think that is a little overboard. I definitely didn't have that attention span in 5th grade especially when it came to writing. I barely type two pages in one sitting now because I get burnt out from writing very easily so I have to portion my assignments out over a couple days or so.

    I chose to look at 5th-grade mathematics tool kits. One that I found very interesting was virtual manipulatives. They are replicating handheld manipulatives such as coins, 10 blocks, fraction pieces, and clocks online. I would definitely use these in my classroom from time to time. I am sure they have been very helpful over the course of this pandemic because they avoided parents having to buy them or buy a class set and send them to each student. Hopefully, by the time I might become a teacher, I won't have to worry about that though. I would use these tools in my classroom in the event that I don't have enough for everyone to have their own set. I would also use this because some students feel more comfortable with technology than with hands-on items. Technology also activates a different part of the brain. Students could also think that using technology in this sense is fun. These all are reasons I would implement virtual manipulatives in my classroom because it would tailor the assignment to different students and help them learn the material in a different way to get a better understanding of the concept.

    It is important to be a proficient internet searcher as a teacher because they need to be able to find resources and materials that will work best for their pool of students. Different years of students may find resources unhelpful that other years thought were helpful. So it is almost like you are needing to tailor your findings to how your students learn best and what they struggle with every year. Of the internet skills that were introduced this week, I think I will be using Google Advanced Search more often to find resources to help me out with my geology courses. I am not sure if this tool is considered a skill, but I enjoy using Google Scholars for my geologic papers and references. Most of the resources that come up with your search are peer-reviewed and it has been really helpful during my college career.