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.

Blog 3

     Copyright is a law that protects both published and unpublished work from being used by someone other than the author. Different types of work can be protected under the Copyright Law such as music, writing, dances, plays, etc. and gives the rights to the creator to stop unwanted distribution. Fair use allows others to use someone else's work up until a certain point while citing the original author. If I was a teacher, I would teach my students how to effectively use fair use before it became copyright infringement and show them how to properly cite the author, even if they just use another persons ideas.

    A way to protect students against cyberbullying for my students to use programs like Edmodo so I have full access to see what everyone is commenting or who students are talking to. I would also try to make my students comfortable with talking to me so they understand they can talk to me if being bullied online. I would handle academic dishonesty by having students submit their work to TurnItIn so I know if they copy from another student. I will also create a questions board in the class so if students do not understand something but do not feel comfortable asking in front of the class, they could answer there and it can be anonymous. This helps because if students understand how to complete the assignments I create then they would not feel the need to cheat.

    While completing the Newsletter assignment, I learned how to create a permission slip and adjust margins. I have never had to create an assignment without using a template so being able to adjust everything myself was interesting. In the future I think I will find a way to minimize white space or maybe add a non-distracting background image in order for my newsletter to appear more complete. I think I will also look at how to create more interesting column formats so it looks more like an article from a newspaper.

Blog 2

     Microsoft Word, a software everyone uses at one point or another in their lives. At first I felt super uncomfortable using it because there are so many features connected along with settings, I still do not even know all of them, that could be helpful when using it to type up a document. This program is relatively simple and straightforward however I think I could definitely learn more about some of its features, especially if they are triggered by certain keys since it has made me frustrated in the past due to the fact that I do not know how to make them disappear and I end up starting over in a new document. I prefer to use Microsoft Word most of the time however if I know I am going to want to work on a different device, Google Docs works better for me-I also like that it automatically saves because there has been multiple instances where I will be using Word and forget to save, my laptop will die, or it decides to restart and what I was working on doesn't appear in "recent documents".

    The ISTE Standards for Education that is the most meaningful for K-12 to me is leadership. Students will follow examples led by teachers more than most adult figure they know. Teachers help kids learn what is right and wrong as well as how one should and should not act with others. Its more likely that if a teacher uses leadership in their classroom, the students will succeed more and they will be more successful with creating a strong learning environment.

    I agree withe the term "digital native" to identify younger generations who are more computer savvy than "digital immigrants". Even though we have to be taught how to use some technology, we can figure out a lot of it ourselves and "self teach" basics like different features on a phone or computer. It is easiest for younger generations to be introduced to newer technology since we have grown up with it and can piece together how it works on our own whereas older generations have more difficulty since they are used to electronics and our digital world keeps changing. I think that over time, as technology progresses the "digital natives" will become "digital immigrants" and that it is a constant cycle that goes around with new technology. Eventually we will not be able to understand or self teach new tech to ourselves unlike the new generations that will be able to figure it out themselves.

Blog 1

     Hello, my name is Jessica Willis and am a sophomore at Florida State University. I spent my time during this pandemic training my dog I rescued last year. I have also been binging shows on Netflix, drawing, and sitting in my friends driveways in order to maintain social distancing. As of recently I have been reading more as well as playing on my PlayStation. It has been hard finding things to keep me entertained since I hate performing repetitive tasks however having to stay in my house and quarantine has not been as bad as I thought it would, although I do miss going out and traveling.

    Before this class, I have hardly used technology related to education. Some platforms I have used in the past for school related activities are websites such as TurnItIn and Edmodo, an app similar to Facebook which allows students and teachers to post information and communicate outside the classroom. I have also used Microsoft PowerPoint and Word to complete projects and essays. I have also used the website Prezi in order to both watch presentations created by my teachers or classmates, as well as create my own presentations. Each platform was challenging to get used to and discover all the features however the more I used them the more comfortable I became with them.

    Personal learning networks I normally use are friends with common interests, Zoom, Canvas, and google. If I have a question or do not understand something, whether it's class related or in general, I can use these tools to help me understand better. I also use social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat that allows me to discover what is going on in the world through posts and videos. I am in several group chats with fellow classmates that also allow me to discuss things that may confuse me as well as expand on ideas or thoughts about an assignment.

"Dog Training - Jan 2009" by airwaves1 is licensed under CC BY 2.0