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Showing posts from October, 2017

Technology and Teacher Professional Development

Through my individual efforts I got a better understanding of what professional development was, and looked at Edutopia which has some really good resources for teachers to stay up to date on technology trends and teaches you how to implement them in the classroom. When I looked at other people's articles I learned about different conferences that teachers can attend to meet and share ideas.

Blog 8

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Adaptive technologies can be very useful in the classroom to make learning more enjoyable and understandable for all levels of students. Using tablets and smart boards can engage students with attention disabilities, and also keep gifted students from getting bored. When I worked at a summer school when I was 16, there were younger students who needed extra schooling in order to learn English as a second language. When they came to camp in the afternoon we would sometimes use translating apps to communicate with them. The challenges for using these technologies, are that not all schools may have access to them, and it may take a long time for teachers to fully understand how to correctly implement them in the classroom. If a classroom of Kindergarteners were learning about the planets they could use PowerPoint in many ways to enhance their understanding through the process of Bloom's Taxonomy. In order for them to remember all the plan...

Adaptive Technology GICA

Today through my individual efforts I learned the importance of adaptive technology for children at different levels, specifically how inversing the colors on a computer can make such a difference for someone that is visually impaired. When I annotated I read about how hands on technology such as smart boards can help students with learning disabilities stay on track with their classmates. Finally, in the group presentations I learned the different ways in which adaptive technology can benefit diverse students, especially those who are learning English.

Blog 7

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So far I have enjoyed using Twitter and being able to keep up with the academic community and my fellow classmates. I have learned a lot about education around the world from all the different networks I follow. I also can keep myself accountable by seeing where all my classmates are on their assignments and making sure I am staying on track. I am not someone who is very into social media, so the only issue I am experiencing is remembering to post, but the more often I go on, and the more I learn, the easier it is to remember. I have acquired some new skills through making this website, however I have made a website before so the skills I am learning are transitioning from a website for an assignment, to one I could use for my future class. I like the creative aspect of designing the website however I want, especially because I was very interested in art and digital design in high school. When I make a real website for m...

ILP #1 Design

For this independent learning project I created a web quest that can be used in an elementary classroom, primarily for kindergarten-second grade students. My web quest focused on the holiday of Thanksgiving, and it has the students go through various resources to learn about the first Thanksgiving, and connect it to how they celebrate the holiday with their families today. I remember doing many activities like this during holidays to break up the normal lessons with something more fun and festive.   http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=362337

Group Activity C.R.A.P.

pamsmithclasswebsite.weebly.com Andrew Woodle Contrast: Overall the contrast was well done on the website. The font color was very readable because it was white font on a dark red background or red on a light orange background. Repetition:  The website kept the theme constant. The entire website was themed to be a scroll with ink marks on it. All of the buttons on the website kept the same color scheme with white text on a Dark red background. Alignment: All of the elements on the website are in alignment. There is a banner at the top of each section, followed by resources that are formatted similarly. The alignments on each tab are constant throughout. Proximity:  This website did a poor job at proximity. There was a large black space on the home page, and at the bottom the email link was out of place by itself.

GICA Diigo Teacher Productivity

My article was on Unplag which is a newer plagiarism checking website. I thought it was interesting to see this, compared to what I am used to with Turnitin. When I read and commented on another classmate's article I read about GoogleDocs and the accessibility of a single assignment to various people in different locations.

Blog 6

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I looked at a class page from Dallin Elementary School in Mrs. Parker's kindergarten class. One tab she included was an "about me" page which I thought was a great idea for students and parents to learn a little about their teacher before the first day. There was also an orientation agenda which is nice for parents who might have to work during orientation. It gave some great tips and specific timelines of the day which is great for parents of Kindergarten students because they might not know exactly what to expect if it is their first kid. Lastly, I saw a calendar tab that included important dates such as picture day, field trips, and holidays so the parents can stay informed on what is going on. http://www.parkerpeople.info/   I envision myself using technology in many ways to take care of my responsibilities as a teacher. The first would be saving my lesson plans in different folders on my computer, whether they are handouts, or PowerPoints, they will be easily a...

Diigo GICA

I really enjoyed the use of Diigo in class especially with the article I read. I tend to skim when I read so when I saw sections highlighted by my classmates I was more inclined to read the sentence and their sticky note. I also enjoyed my article on the use of podcasts, such as Serial, in the classroom and learning how it benefited children in reading while still open their mind up to imagination in the storytelling process.

Blog 5

There are many different Web 2.0 tools that can be used in the classroom but two that I thought can be helpful in different ways are YouTube, and Twitter. YouTube is a great teacher recourse and can break up a dry lesson with a more interesting video; it also can be used to reiterate a topic that students are not understanding and presenting it in a new way. Twitter is becoming a more professional social media platform and by using it in the classroom it is getting students prepared to use it safely and in a way that benefits their education. I began seeing Twitter when I was a junior in high school, my psychology teacher would tweet review questions and give extra credit for the first right response. This was a fun way to review for our tests outside of the classroom and started a fun competition between classmates. I looked at the Web 2.0 tool scribd. I had never heard of this tool particularly but I can see it being very useful in the classroom. Textbo...

Twitter Post

Jana Honoski ( @janahonoski ) 10/3/17, 2:40 PM I loved the writing activity about penguins @JadeDGrassi thanks for sharing! #FSUEdTech