Blog Post #6

The website I was able to find is from Miss Aimee Mullins from Redwater High School. She teaches 11th grade English. There was a lot of useful information on her school page(which is located in the schools website). She includes her daily schedule so students know when she's in class, when she has conferences, and when she's free for tutoring. She has three syllabus in place: one for each of her classes. She includes links to lists of supplies that the students will need for SAT/ACT and for her class. She gives the course descriptions and has links to assignments that will be due in class. Overall, it is a good website, but I find that there is a lack of creativity.

I envision myself using technology in my classroom in a really fun way! Since I do want to teach high school English, my students do need to have a very clear understanding of how Microsoft Word works! I think I'll also use Diigo in my classroom, just because it has been super beneficial to me so far writing my research paper! I think as a teacher I'll have a really nice balance of fun technological activities and serious activities. Kahoot! for fun times and Diigo for when they're on the grind. 

I'll say it again the tech sandbox was just so much fun! I think I'll definitely use the Smartboard or Promethean board(depending which one my school district provides) daily in the classroom! I can have students correct sentences on the board when teaching grammar. Or I can have students give presentations and find a way to incorporate the board. For high school students thats the only technology that I can see being used efficiently in the classroom.

ILP "Participation"-Tech Sandbox

For my first ILP I will be discussing our classes trip to the Tech Sandbox last Tuesday.

First of all, it was so much fun! In all honesty I had never heard of the Tech Sandbox till that day. It was so interesting when we got walked through all the fun technology they have in their office. My highlight would be the 3D pen, just because it has always astounded me that something as ordinary as a pen could make a 3D figure. We got to experience the Promethean board and the Smart board. I think if I were wanting to teach younger students I would go for the Promethean board, just because it prevents little kids from coming and touching the board. Since I plan on teaching high school I think I'm indifferent to the two. Although, it was super cool when he could rotate the anatomy of an ear on the boards! 

I didn't get to use the Oculus or the Google glasses, I look forward to that in the future. I also think its interesting how the Sandbox also has products that went through testing to be mass produced, but just never got launched, like the Google glasses and the 3D TV.

I definitely look forward to spending some more time in the Sandbox and making my very own 3D printed dragon! Hope you guys enjoy the pictures that I captured!

Blog Post #5

First off, I understand why Web 2.0 devices aren't optional. The Web 2.0 is so much more advanced and interactive than the original 'World Wide Web". I think one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools is Twitter. Just because I have never had such a great experience with it in the classroom. I can definitely see many students getting into suing Twitter as an educational tool.I think the Web 2.0 I might like least is Wikipedia. I say that just because any one can make an account and edit pages. Which sometimes is great, but if you're writing a research paper it wouldn't be the best source to use. 

A Web 2.0 tool that I use and love is Kahoot! The link for you guys too see Kahoot! will be at the end of the post. I really like this because it allows students to make up fun games to test themselves or their classmates on confusing subjects. It is very interactive. All you do is just make a quiz and have everyone use their phones or computers to sign in with your personalized code. They will have access to the quiz and it even keeps tabs of who's scoring the best, games with a competitive edge are my favorite.

The technological advancement that I think holds the greatest promise is learner analytics. Its crazy and a bit creepy that things like Amazon and Netflix can learn about you and give you suggestions suited for you best. I think if this were used from a more educational standpoint the results would be ground breaking. I think if there could be a way electronically to track the way a student learns it could open the door for a really personalized approach in learning. One thing that is scary about this thought though is that if the computer is doing all the teaching then what will the teacher do? I would love to hear comments on this idea. Is it too out there?

Blog Post #4

Hi guys!

In this post I'll be discussing my previous interactions with Twitter. I'd like to think that I grew up in the prime age of Twitter, when it was really starting to become popular. My first twitter account was filled with followers that went to my school and I primarily followed my friends and celebrity accounts. I would rarely tweet and just repost funny things I saw. Now I use Twitter in class and I find it a lot more helpful than when I was younger. I like interacting with my classmates and my instructor in this way. It makes things fun, but educational. I think later in life I can use Twitter as a platform to help and inform students as well as other potential teachers. I also want to pursue writing in my career so I feel that Twitter will help get my book out.

The digital divide describes the gap between peoples' use of technology. I believe the digital divide affects students success in schools because I believe that it makes it seem as though the students' with more technology have a greater chance for success, but not everyone has the easy ability to pick up technological concepts. Some people for example grow up to be so good with technology, while some people(like me) don't really catch on quickly. Additionally not every student is fortunate enough to have the same access to technology. Some causes of the digital dive are age. For example I can say that I have seen one of my teachers struggle to maximize a Youtube video, even though we kept telling her where to click. I think almost every student can attest to a period of time when they tried helping their teacher with technology in the classroom. It makes sense it is in no way the teachers' fault. Another divide, sadly, is a families financial situation.They didn't grow up like we did with technology everywhere. I think in my classroom I might experience students from different areas and different financial spectrums I think this might affect my teaching strategy because I may be extra careful when stressing that in now way are those students with easy access to technology at a greater educational level. I think the chances of success depend on the student.

When I graduate I hope to teach High School level English Literature. I think the types of educational tools I would use would be fun grammar games that the students could really get into. As an English Education major I am not ashamed to admit that grammar can be tedious and difficult at times. I thin putting this into a game of sorts will have the kids learning with enthusiasm. I don't think I'll use any tools like Excel because I don't see how that would pertain to a Literature class. Hopefully I would frame my classroom in a way that we would have technology days and reading days. So half the time we'll be dissecting literature and doing grammar work and the other half would be spent with technology, trying to show the students how to find proper sources and how to cite things properly.

That will be all for today! Can't wait to see you guys next week.
Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

Blog Post #3

Hey guys,
Finally after three terrible weeks of feeling sick I'm finally cured. Yay!

I am going to start of the post by talking about which ELA technology standards I feel most comfortable as of now teaching. I feel most comfortable with "multimedia" literature, specifically how to connect text of a story to an oral and visual presentation. I feel best with this skill because I enjoy being creative while making presentations. I like talking context from a story or a play and creating a visual presentation which makes the subject easier to learn. One of the ELA standards I feel I need more work on before I feel comfortable teaching it is "multimedia" science and technical subjects. I am not very good making graphs, charts, diagrams, or tables. I feel like most of these need Excel to make and be successful at. I feel my weakest Microsoft program is Excel.

Based on chapter nine I feel like the technology application/software I would use with my students would be maybe a literature blog. My overall goal is to teach English Lit on the high school level. I believe that creating a blog site for my students will help them learn more about technology while giving analysis about their reading. I may steer away from social networks depending on how my students act. I feel like setting up a class twitter, like this class, will help my students learn how to use technology is a safe creative way, but I can see how some students might abuse that social media assignment. I also don't know if a high school teacher is technically allowed to set up a twitter for their students.
Due to the age range of the students I want to teach( 14-18) I feel like the most important digital citizenship guideline would be to "communicate clearly and precisely without rudeness and inappropriate interaction". I believe in this new age of technology some people use social media to spread hate. I want my students to learn not to spread hate. I want them to learn how to have a light hearted debate and keep it civil. I believe technology should be used for the purpose of spreading information and positive thinking; not hate.

I learned a lot of new things from doing the Newsletter assignment. Now nobody laugh okay, but Taehyeong taught me how to double click on my Mac. I know it's not an amazing skill, but it is something I never knew how to do before. Another skill I learned was how to set up the two column set up on Word. I learned how to adjust the text and shapes through "wrap text" key. I really enjoyed how creative I got to be for this assignment. I definitely think there are a lot of techniques in this assignment that I can improve at. Like the column alignment and how to make everything fit perfectly on the page. I definitely think that this assignment will come in handy for my future career. I am excited to see how I can use these skills in my own classroom. Below you will find my newsletter, I made it a permission slip for an expedition day! Its not the best, but I am proud of my work.
Till Tuesday,
Bella Alvarez