6-Web Evaluation Wiki

Class Web Page

I found my elementary school’s website online, Crawfordville Elementary School. I clicked to first grade and it showed me a lot of information. However, some information is hidden unless the user has a log in and password. So I did not find a specific class page, but I was able to access first grade’s page. This page provided information about spelling words, class textbooks, homework, parent night information, and kindergarten skills. This information is very useful for parents and students with internet access.

Professional Responsibilities
Anyone working with children holds an abundance of professional responsibilities. Teachers are required to communicate with students, parents, and faculty members. Using technology can really make a difference in effectively communicating with all of these individuals. E-mail, social networking sites (such as Edmodo), and class web pages are important tools that a teacher must be comfortable using. I envision myself dedicating specific time frames in my day to use all of these tools so that I don’t push it to the side and forget about it. After reading the textbook and taking this course, I realize the difference technology can make in being a successful teacher. Presentation software is also necessary in being a good, effective teacher. To engage my students in lectures I will need to use this technology often. In my PowerPoint presentations I need to use a lot of multimedia to keep students interested. Also, using themes within PowerPoint can make my presentations run smoothly and prevent students from getting distracted by tacky color schemes or unrelated themes. Printing my slides and giving them to my students to take notes on can be extremely useful in keeping students on task. They can use the printed slides to follow along and take notes during the presentation. These are only a few of the ways I envision myself using technology to accomplish my professional responsibilities as a teacher.


Web Evaluation Wiki

I really enjoyed this group assignment. A new skill that I learned while working on this assignment was how to create a webpage. I have never done this before but I have always wanted to. I think this can be really helpful in my future career as a school speech therapist. Having a wiki full of information about my students, different speech exercises, accomplishments, and other useful information can really help me connect with the parents of my students. I think meeting up with my group members really helped us collaborate and successfully complete and awesome wiki. I am excited to use this program more often in the future. I think this site is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. I also learned a lot from creating the actual web evaluation form. I never realized how important it was to evaluate web pages before you share them with students. This is extremely important. I am very grateful that the Internet has so many resources and sample web evaluation forms to help me determine what web pages I will allow my students to use in the classroom.

5-Web 2.0 and Concept Mapping

Web 2.0 includes social networking tools, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, and wikis (according to the podcast on Web 2.0). Many of these elements are essential in the classroom and even for teacher development.

YouTube videos are extremely helpful in the classroom, based on my experience as a student. In lectures, when a teacher shows a video it gets me back into the topic and usually helps me understand the topic more clearly. To effectively use these tools, a classroom must have connection to the Internet. As the chapter discusses, there are many different ways for schools to connect to the Internet. Some are wired together from the ceiling and others are using wireless technology, WiFi network.

Blogs are also an important element that should be used in the classroom. This course is the first to use blogs that I have taken. I really think that blogs are useful because it gives students a way to reflect on textbook chapters, lectures, and podcasts. It is also useful when reading other students blogs to see their perspective of the material. Blogs can be helpful when studying for tests or quizzes because it gives multiple viewpoints on a specific topic. To access blogs, an Internet connection is also necessary. 21classes.com gives teacher access to all of their students’ blogs so they can ensure they are being safe and appropriate. They can also control the publicity of their blogs to ensure student safety.

Twitter is also an important tool to use in the classroom. For example, students can reach out to scientists, astronauts, or doctors to ask them questions about certain topics. This gets students excited about learning because they are communicating with a main source. An Internet connection is also imperative for using Twitter.

As a teacher, it is important to not only use Web 2.0 tools in your classroom but to also allow students to engage in the use of these elements. For example, rather than showing YouTube videos in the classroom, a teacher could also teach their students how to create videos and share them through YouTube. This is probably one of the biggest lessons I have learned about educational technology so far in this course.

            Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/about “Read like you own every book in the world.” This web 2.0 tool is a membership book service. Scribd has a virtual library of approximately one million books, including audio books, music sheets, and comics. Not only does Scribd house tons of books, it also allows people to share various documents. As of now, Scribd has shared over 60 million documents from their users.

This tool can be extremely helpful in a classroom. Elementary students can use this to read books without having to go to a library. If a students’ parents cannot take them to the library, Scribd can somewhat take its place. Within the classroom, students can read while having computer time. This tool can also be accessed through the Internet on iPads or tablets which can be useful if students have access to these devices. Because this web 2.0 tool also allows academic articles to be shared, older students can use it to do research on certain topics being discussed in the classroom. Students can also share their documents and Scribd will give them the feeling of sharing with a virtual audience. This can get students excited about research which is important for teaching.

Using Webspiration turned out to be quite fun. At first, it was kind of difficult to get the program working the way we needed it to. Once my partner and I got into the program and successfully shared it with one another, it was much easier than we expected. I really liked this assignment because it is something I have never used before. The only complaint I have about this assignment is the difficulty logging in at first. Next time, I think I would meet up with my partner to complete the assignment or use some sort of video chat to connect with her while collaborating and completing the assignment. In my current “career” as a college student, I think I can use concept mapping as a tool for studying. Creating the concept, alone, was helpful in remembering facts and making connections that will stick in my long-term memory. In my future career as a school speech therapist, concept mapping can also be used. Because I am not in the program for speech therapy yet, I do not have a real specific idea of how I can utilize concept maps in my career. However, I think I could use them to communicate with parents of my students/patients. In the field of communication disorders, a lot of people do not fully understand the diagnoses or the tools needed to improve certain speech impediments. A concept map related to the specific diagnosis and all of the factors associated with it can be extremely helpful in teaching not only my students/patients, but also giving their relatives or caregivers a better understanding of what is going on.

4-Web Hunt

MAFS.3.G.1.1 Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories.

https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/classify-quadrilaterals

This website contains drill-and-practice software for third graders and classifying quadrilaterals. Drill-and-practice is important for reinforcing already known material and it gives immediate feedback about a student’s progress/understanding in a certain area. Drill-and-practice is also essential in learning because it can target specific weak areas based on each student’s performance. As the teacher, I would have my students use this tool often. This can give me an idea of who understands the concept the most and who needs extra help. I would use this as a supplement to my teaching and in-class activities. This website would be shared with my students’ parents so they could work on it at home. A lot of kids enjoy using computers at home and this would give them that opportunity. I would also use this website in centers during class time. For example, I would have 3-5 stations set up relating to classifying quadrilaterals. At one station, the students would sit at computers and do the online practice given on this website. This is a really simple way to incorporate technology in the classroom and it would also interest my students much more than doing math problems on a sheet of paper would.

In the past, my research has included typing key words of a topic or question into the Google search bar. Then I usually open multiple links in new tabs and skim through each of them to decide which I will use. This is much like open content. In my previous research I have come across articles or lectures from other colleges or universities. This is very obviously a method of open education. Seeing that information or research comes from an accredited university makes me trust that the information is accurate. I have recently become exposed to open source with one of my course textbooks. The entire textbook is online for anyone to use. The content is well researched and extremely interesting. Plus, as a broke college student, I am EXTREMELY thankful for a free textbook. Open source, open education, and open content are all very useful methods of research. The problem is that a lot of people will not take the time to utilize them.

Most of the skills I used to complete the Web Hunt assignment were skills that I already had. However, I think the most interesting was finding the interactive field trip online. At first, I thought this was simply a YouTube video that showed clips of a certain place. I found out that there are websites online that provide an interactive AND virtual field trip experience for students. This really amazed me. It gave me ideas for working in Title 1 schools that cannot afford field trips for their students. Giving a virtual field trip would be a great experience for any student.

Question	1. Answer 2. Which ELA anchor standard are you addressing? (except where included)	Search Strategy (e.g. searched Google using search string "green dog")	URL where you found the answer (copy and paste from browser)
You want your students to have an idea of what their field trip to the Tallahassee Museum will be like. Find four photos that show the main activities at the museum.
You want to show your students statistics about the community they live in (Tallahassee). Find a website with the main statistics.
You want to find an audio book to share with your kindergarten students. Find a website that has one for free.

3-Digital Literacy and Newsletter

I feel most prepared to teach the “Multimedia:” Literature ELA standard. I plan to use a lot of presentations in my future classroom along with audio and video components. Throughout grade school, students learn a ton of information. In my experience, the information that I collected and prepared a presentation on was the most memorable. To this day, I can remember just about every presentation I had to do in front of my classroom. I feel very prepared and excited to teach using this standard. I also feel prepared to show videos in my classroom. This is a simple tool that can engage an abundance of students who may not remember as well if they are only reading a book or listening to a lecture. In college, I get excited about watching videos in class that relate to the topic my professor is lecturing on. These videos help me remember and apply the information I am studying. “Use Technology” is another standard that I feel confident in. Being a digital native and growing up in a world full of technology I have a ton of experience with it. Connecting and collaborating with other students and teachers across the globe is something that I know will be used frequently in my future classroom. “Evaluate Speaker’s Point of View” is a standard that I wish I was more prepared to teach. English was always a difficult subject for me so I need a lot of help with this standard if I want to teach it to my students. However, I am confident that I will be able to do this because of the amazing resources available on the Internet. Interacting with teachers who are more confident and prepared with this standard will surely help me apply it in my classroom.

I plan to work with 3^rd grade students in the future. I would like to use social networking sites with my students to engage them in learning. This tool will allow my students to connect with multiple students across the world so that they can have an insight on what they are learning. Wiki is another tool I would like to incorporate in my 3^rd grade classroom. Before reading the textbook, I had no idea the opportunities that come with using Wiki. This tool will excite my students and help them focus on a specific subject area. For example, if I am teaching my students about The Holocaust, they could use Wiki to share multiple resources and facts that they have found on their own. I think that 3^rd graders will LOVE this feeling of contributing to a lesson and sharing it with the entire class. While incorporating this technology in my classroom, I will also teach my students about digital citizenship. The textbook gives a useful list of what 21^st century educators need to teach their students. This includes things such as communicating clearly with respect and good manners, letting me know if they suspect another student is behaving inappropriately, recognize intellectual property and understand the rules about when it can be used, and ask appropriate questions related to their subject when searching for information online.

The Newsletter Design assignment was more time consuming than I expected but I had a lot of fun creating it. It kind of gave me the feeling of being a teacher which was exciting! For improvements next time, I will set aside more time to work and hopefully arrange a time with Ms. Cates to go over a few questions I had. I am looking forward to creating more newsletters in my future career! Although I want to be a Speech Therapist, I still want to work at a school. Creating a newsletter to send home with the students I work with will provide an easy way to communicate information to their parents. I will include things such as what we worked on throughout the month, what techniques helped, what the parents can do to help their child, and many other insightful updates. I never thought about doing an electronic newsletter so this was a new idea for me. I think it is helpful, especially with the ability to include a link to my e-mail and other hyperlinks that can give parents an insight to what we are doing in the classroom. I loved this assignment and almost everything about it. I am looking forward to seeing everyone else’s newsletters in class today and to hopefully share some ideas.