Blog 10

     I think using surveys in a classroom is a creative way to get students to participate. Ways I would do this is to ask students questions like "do you feel prepared for the exam?" or "what topics do you need me to review more" because I know some students are afraid to ask for help and this way the responses are all anonymous. This can be useful in high school classes from freshman to seniors and any course that takes exams could ask questions like the ones I listed above. I would also, if teaching a senior class, perform surveys to ask students what their favorite senior activities or class assignments they have completed so far.

    I have noticed a lot of my classmates have said similar things I have written in blog posts. Some things that have been surprising is some students have used a couple of the platforms introduced in this class that I have either never heard of before or never used. I thought it was interesting to see each person's different experiences in the classes and how they approached different assignments. I also found some students list features they either used in PLN or different projects so far that I did not know about or consider doing for my project.

    A technology tool I would like to use next is how to create practice quizzes for students.  I think this is an important tool because it allows students to practice for exams and gives them a study tool in order to see what kind of questions will be on the exam and receive a better grade. One way I could learn to do this is to use Kahoot or Quizlet and learn how to navigate across these websites. Then, I can see how to format different questions, include diagrams and have different choice answers like multiple choice, graphs, true and false, etc.

Blog 9

     Distant learning is so embedded in our lives during this pandemic and it has had both positive and negative outcomes. Honestly, I prefer to learn in class rather than remotely because it's hard to group projects remotely, asking questions over email can be difficult, and if I don't understand I can ask questions in class since it is easier to communicate. I find that I need to teach myself rather than being taught more in remote classes. I think it would be better for teachers to get straight to the point instead of getting off-topic since I have experienced classes where professors spent more time talking about unrelated material and less time about what we are learning and do not really offer time for students to ask questions. When teachers go off-topic I get distracted and for me, it's harder to piece together material depending on the class.

    Open educational resources are public resources that can be used by teachers, students, or anyone for education or resource purposes. The OER example I decided to use was on oercommons.org about mini-lessons regarding creative narrative. These mini-lessons are short so students pay attention longer and give tips about different writing techniques. I think these mini-lessons would be good to teach to an English class since it covers tips regarding character development, setting, dialogue, how to create strong endings, etc. and some of these tips can be used in non-creative writing classes.

    One skill I learned while completing the first Powerpoint project was how to use lecture notes and how to record a lecture. Since classes are online now I think this was an important tool to learn if interested in education since you can add your lecture to a class website and students can watch it remotely. I also learned in the second Powerpoint project how to add action buttons and create a nonlinear presentation. I struggled with adding hyperlinks because every time I added one and double-checked it worked, later I would go back to make sure again and it would say my file is corrupt and I could not figure out how to fix it. I have attached pictures below of my two projects.

Blog 8

     While designing my website, I learned the different ways to format the webpage while becoming more familiar with the platform. I also learned how a website should be structured while looking at examples of what makes a "bad" and "good" website. It took me a long time to figure out how to use the tools on Weebly and I had some issues when adding pictures since I could not move them wherever I wanted. This can help me in a future career (depending on what I decide to do for a living) by allowing me to create websites to promote my career and reach my targeted audience. The website I designed for this class can be found here.

    While working with Diijo, I learned how to annotate on separate websites and create sticky notes. I was completely unaware that you could even annotate on any website and people with the extension could see your work so I was surprised to see other student's annotations when searching for websites for different assignments. This application can be useful when conducting research for different projects because students can see what other classmates are using for their research to avoid using the same information. It will also allow me to see what students choose for their projects and allow me to determine if they are plagiarizing or not. This can help me in my profession because I can conduct research and annotate right on the page so if I ever need to go back it is easy to find.

    With technology constantly changing, it's important for teachers to continue adapting and adjusting their classrooms as well. The skills newer generations of students learn to help them succeed at different jobs later in life and allows them to become comfortable enough with learning new technology since it is always changing. If teachers did not utilize technology and different platforms in their classrooms students would be less likely to adapt or learn later in life. Any news website can keep people informed on new technology trends being used for education. I chose to use the New York Times, since it is my go-to news source when researching for school-related assignments.

Blog 7

    I decided to choose my high school English teacher Mrs. Fernandez at Miami Palmetto Senior High for this blog post. On our school's website, she discusses how students need to log in to several different platforms such as their school emails, student portal, and Microsoft teams for group work. Mrs. Fernandez lists instructions for how students can access and find different tools needed in order to succeed in the classroom. This information is publically posted so parents can also look and see how to get their children logged on to the appropriate platform.

    Techology is something that has shaped my generation and is woven into daily life and I know I will continue to use different forms of technology throughout my life and for future careers. I shall plan to check my emails more regularly, keep up with social marketing in order to reach my intended audience in my future career, as well as use tools such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs to complete different tasks with. Some teacher productivity tools I plan to continue using are Grammarly, Google Drive, and specifically Google Docs in order to succeed at my future career.

    Working with PBWorks has been rather frustrating for me, especially since only one person can work "at a time" and others need to steal the "editor" in order to work. It was frustrating since I am used to programs such as google docs where you can have more than one person typing at a time and everyone can watch as each person added to the document. I also was rather annoyed with the fact that it took longer than I think was necessary for me to figure out how to navigate the website. Besides that I think it was rather easy to use since it shared many similar features to both Microsoft Word and Google Docs. I do prefer completing group assignments in Google Docs though since it saves automatically, you can work from any device, and each person can watch other people add to the document.

Here is a screenshot of my old teacher's page on Miami Palmetto Senior High's school website.

Blog 6

    I think Diijo is very convenient and allows you to communicate with your class effectively however I do not like the layout of this website. It does take time to get used to however I think that the annotation tool is very helpful. Personally, I would rather use some other website like google doc however Diijo does have features that are not available in doc. I think if I used this website more and understand how to do different features I might like it more.

    So far I am enjoying blogging, I think it is a creative way to communicate with the class instead of over canvas's discussion board. I also enjoyed setting up my own page and learning how to create different layouts. I think it is interesting to be able to read other people's blogs and see their opinions about the same prompts I write about. It is also interesting to see how they designed their webpage and the kind of pictures they include.

    A web 2.0 tool I would use in my classroom would be Kahoot!. It is a game that quizzes students on different facts and everyone enjoys playing it. This tool allows students to learn while having fun and is perfect for quizzing students before an exam. The teacher gets to control the questions and answers and students join from mobile devices and click on what they think the answer is. This is an effective tool since students remember questions better by being quizzed on it.

    Here is a link to Kahoot! https://kahoot.com/

    Reasons why blogging is beneficial can be found at this website https://bit.ly/3kokRLw

Blog 5

     Before this class, I used twitter in my SPB business class in order to promote the products we created. I interacted the most with Strictly Panther Business, classmates, and our school's account. I was in charge of social media and fine art projects so I learned how to edit pictures, retweet, and how to access different features across the platform. Twitter might be beneficial to my future career by giving me a different way to reach people and tell them about my career, as well as spread news and important information.

    The digital divide is a term used to address the divide between people that have access to technology and the people that do not have access to technology. This affects students especially now because if students cannot afford the internet or computers, they will not be able to participate in online classes or complete homework assignments. As a teacher, I would try to assign laptops during class to the kids that cannot afford it and allow class time to work on assignments and papers so they do not need to worry about trying to find access to computers.

    Academic software is beneficial for students because there are multiple platforms where students can learn through tutorial videos or "games" that might help students understand more than their teachers explaining it. In my future classroom, I would utilize khan Academy and Reading Plus. Khan Academy helps students learn how to approach different math problems and provides examples and videos in case they do not understand the way their teacher taught. I would use Reading Plus because it helps kids practice answering questions based on reading passages while also helping to improve students reading and comprehension of texts.

Blog 4

    ELA analyzes a student's understanding and usage of the English language to determine how well someone can communicate thoughts and ideas. One standard set in place for fourth graders is that they have to be able to restate information given both visually in texts and orally. This important ability helps students later on when completing tasks such as writing essays or reports. I feel prepared to implement this standard because I have a lot of practice at paraphrasing and it can become a very useful tool.

    On CPALMS I chose the fourth grade standards toolkit. I decided to choose a visual art toolkit and picked the one about developing ideas from different resources in order to create a piece of artwork. I would use this in my classroom because it teaches kids to be original with their artwork, gets them thinking, and allows them to be as creative as they want. This is both a fun and educational learning tool because they can apply this to use their creativity in other subjects.

    It is important for teachers to be able to properly internet search because if they need to find material for class or google examples, it is helpful to be able to search fast and effectively instead of taking up class time searching for something. I think I will use advanced internet search the most since I am always on the internet or googling things for classes and research papers and I am left googling specific questions. I cannot think of an internet searching skill I use that was not mentioned. I was unaware that you could use an image to google search though, and learning about that was very interesting to me.