Blog Journal 6

School Teacher Page

On school websites, it is pretty common for teachers to have their own webpage to display and explain what goes on in their classroom. I looked into the class pages of the teaches at Western Ave. Elementary School in Geneva, IL. The school's main website has a list of all the teacher names and links to their individual pages attached to their names. A few webpages that stood out to me were Mrs. Brooke Helmlinger's Kindergarten class, Ms. Bethany Carrignan's first grade class, and Mrs. Karen Farley's second grade class. All of the webpages include basic information such as teacher background information, contact information, and classroom policies, and helpful links. However, they each go on to add cool and technology advanced features to their pages as well. Mrs. Helmlinger includes a Welcome video for students and a Welcome video parents, as well as videos and photos of her students and the class's fun activities and trips. Ms. Carrignan incorporates a Twitter sidebar thread that shows her tweets about what her classroom is currently participating in and what is coming up. Lastly, Mrs. Farley includes a current newsletter, homework, and educational game websites to keep parents and students up-to-date and on track. 

http://www.geneva304.org/TeacherWebpages_WAS.aspx

My Future Use of Technology

Regarding my future profession, I envision myself using technology to the fullest degree possible. I plan on having not only a webpage on my school's website, but also my own personal website that dives deeper into my background, what I have planned for my classroom/students, and constant updates of what is actually going on in class. I will make sure that all parents get the link to these sites through email in order to remain updated. I also would like to include an online binder for my teaching documents. This would be a more organized way to keep all of my documents in order and in one location, plus I would give my students' parents access to view the binder and leave comments so they have the opportunity to ask questions and express any concerns they may have regarding instructional material and lesson plans. I will also utilize online discipline programs such as ClassDojo to keep my students engaged and following classroom rules while also being able to instantly message parents when I am having an issue with their child. 

Technology Sandbox

The FSU Tech Sandbox is a great experience and resource for (future) educators. One technology that  I can definitely see myself using in my future classroom is the Microsoft Surface Studio. The Studio is like a large tablet that comes with several instructional applications. It can be used to display a skeleton and its parts, the solar system, and science experiments. All of these things give students the opportunity to interact with realistic examples of worldly phenomenons and procedures. I would also like to incorporate the Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies. These devices are head/eye pieces that individuals can pair with their electronic devices (phones, iPads, desktops, etc.) to immerse themselves in real-world settings and experiences. There are different cities, landscapes, movies, video games, and more that individuals can participate in. This can be extremely beneficial in classrooms because the teacher the ability to get their students as engaged and interested in the classroom as they would be on a field trip or when playing with their friends. 

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Blog Journal 5

I hope you enjoy my thoughts on Diigo, Blogging, and the Animaker Web 2.0 technology! Click here to head over to my Voice Thread.

Animaker link: https://www.animaker.com


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Blog Journal 4

VT on Twitter, Digital Divide, and Academic Software
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Blog Journal 3

ELA Technology

Of all of the technology standards presented in the ELA Standards and Technology Matrix (Grade 2) table, I would be most prepared to teach using the SmartBoard or Promethean. I have visited the Tech Sandbox a couple of times and learned how I can utilize various tools and features that the SmartBoard/Promethean have. However, I am most comfortable with the SmartBoard because the Promethean seems a little more outdated. I am also comfortable using the Wordsmyth when finding ways to explain and present different versions and meanings of words. The technology I need to familiarize myself with more is StoryJumper and MyStorybook.com. I have never used these before but I do see how they can be useful for things like presenting a specific text, creating an audio recording of a book, and creating visuals. I also need to learn more about pixlr. I do not know how often I would need to use something like this but, it does seem like a great tool and came come in handy with creating beautiful and useful graphics.

CPALMS Educator Toolkit

One CPALMS Educator resource I would use is the STEM Lessons - Model Eliciting Activity. With this resource comes a variety of activities and experiments the students can participate in that directly relate to them and encompass several subject areas in one. For example, the "Pop, Pop, Pop!" Lesson Plan allows the students to work both independently and collaboratively. With this lesson, the students will "utilize mathematical computation skills and knowledge of the effects of sugar and caffeine on their health to decide which soft drinks should be removed from vending machines to keep the school compliant with the Healthy School grant" (cpalms.org). It calls for the utilization of several technological devices/programs such as computers, interactive whiteboards, and Microsoft Office. It incorporates Science, Social Studies, Mathematics and Language Arts. It also is a great way to pin-point a specific issue that affects students on a local and national scale. This resource can alleviate so much stress from teachers and give them effective ways to implement STEM topics in the classroom.

Newsletter

Working on the newsletter was an eye-opening experience. It made me realize how much I am already familiar with on Microsoft Word. I liked using the Word Art, images, page color, and page border features. They all added some dimension to the newsletter. However, there were some things that were challenging. I struggled with getting the 2-column feature to work properly and finding where it would be most effective to use it. I also had some trouble incorporating the hyperlink and getting it to direct to the correct website. Next time I do something like this, I will make sure to utilize my space better. There were some places where I could of added more useful information instead of a graphic. I also think I could have been a little more creative with the layout of the newsletter. One major thing I learned was that it is not a good idea to create something on a Mac and then transfer it over to a PC. I ran into an issue with this because when I transferred it, the entire layout and format of the newsletter changed and I had to alter/fix almost everything on the pages. For my future in education, I have learned that implementing something like a newsletter can be very useful in the classroom. It is a creative and personalized way that I, as a teacher, can reach my students and their parents to let them know what is going on in the classroom.

References:

http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResourceLesson/Preview/73479

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