Post #9

    The flipped classroom is an interesting technique to use in a school.  This is when the students do all of the viewings and lectures at home, by watching short videos explaining the material.  Then the students devote their class time to working on projects and other assignments or discussions.  When using this type of classroom setting, chat programs, discussion forums and other social media objects (like blogs and wikis) all come into play and play a huge role.  Students can access all of these items at home, where the flipped classroom setting takes place.
     Most web-based resources are official and scholarly sites that use accurate information to support your lesson plans.  As a teacher, I would hope to use sites such as PBS (if I do end up working with younger kids), or any valid sites that end in .org, which usually supply informational data that can be found accurate.
     After completing the PowerPoint project, I have learned the new skills of the hyperlink/action button tool.  This is a simple tool to use, and can be very useful if I need to make a quiz or a jeopardy game.  I liked this assignment, more so than some of the other assignments we've had to do in this class.  There wasn't really anything that I didn't like about the assignment.  In the future, maybe I can add more questions for my students to answer.

Post #8

     After reading Chapter 12, I believe 3D printing will be making a lot more appearances in schools as we see technology advance.  There are so many cool and useful things that the 3D printer can make.  I saw an article online that one boy 3D printed his own braces, only for the price of $60, which can really benefit schools, considering that is pretty cheap compared to the actual cost of braces.  I truly do believe that 3D printers are going to make a huge difference in the school system one day.
     The podcast we had to listen to discusses the digital divide.  I believe I am on the side with the most technology.  I do luckily have a lot of access to technology, such as television, phones and computers.  However, the other side isn't as economically and socially advanced to be a part of this side, and doesn't have access to as much technology as we do.  The digital divide can affect the future classroom I hopefully one day will teach in by displaying the different types of technology that the students have access to.  Some students will have a cell phone or a tablet/computer, while others may not.  Hopefully the school I teach in will have enough money to fund the students and provide laptops or computers for them to work on in class.
     After doing the PowerPoint project, I learned several new skills that can be useful for future projects and presentations such as making animations and inserting tables.  These skills can be used for my future lesson plans in a classroom.  I liked the project as a whole, it was very easy.  There wasn't really anything that I disliked about the project.

 

Post #7

     Powerpoint can be used to make many different types of presentations.  To use Powerpoint for representing each level of Bloom's Taxonomy can be simple.  One can put a picture of the entire taxonomy pyramid.  Then the person making the Powerpoint can go into each level on different slides, and explain them in a creative way.
     Adaptive technologies, or assistive technologies help aid in helping students or people with disabilities.  These can be very useful when dealing with someone who needs a specific type of equipment or technology to process the information being taught.  These types of technology can include things such as subtitles or closed captioning for a person who is deaf, or even a basic calculator to help aid in assistance to a person solving a problem.
     The web page design assignment was a pretty easy assignment.  I learned how to use the website "weebly", which I can hopefully use sometime in the future.  However, the website was not cooperative sometimes, for example when I tried to highlight the words and make them a different color, it took several tries for it to finally work.  I can improve my site next time by adding a little more information!  This can be used in my future career if I do pursue a career in teaching, I can make a teacher website for myself.
Link to website: msharnold.weebly.com

Post #6

     Because I know that my old high school has a website, I decided to visit it.  The school name is Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and is obviously grade levels 9-12.  Some of the information that is publicly available are the contact numbers for the school, news, information, sports, and even the school calendar year.  Things that require password are the grade-book to check test scores, graduation information, and other things such as lunch numbers.
     I do want to pursue a career in teaching.  To do this, technology will play a huge role.  I hope to use technology to teach my students things in the most creative way possible.  Hopefully, by the time I do become a teacher, there will be new technologies out that are more virtual and interactive.  Just like the Oculus Rift we observed at the Tech Sandbox, I hope to let my students take virtual tours and explore things in the future.
     After working on the new assignment, I now know how to use pbworks.  This can be very handy, although, I would prefer to use a different website next time.  This is because it locks people out when multiple people want to work on something.  I would prefer to edit something at the same time as someone else, because this saves a ton of time.  I hope to use a different type of website in the future for my career.

Post #5

     I believe Web 2.0 can be very important and useful for the future of technology.  Almost everyone nowadays is on social media, ranging from all ages.  The fact that Web 2.0 offers the ability to allow sharing, remixing and re-purposing information on the Web among others.  Web 2.0 requires an updated computer with all of the new sources provided.  Instead of the Britannica Online, it displays Wikipedia.  Everything is updated and more high-tech, involving more blogs, search engines, and email websites.
     One interesting tool used in Web 2.0 that might be useful for a classroom is Edmodo.  All throughout high school, my teachers used Edmodo to display information and homework for the class. It was an easy way to communicate with my teachers.  The teachers could post surveys online for us to take which was also a convenient tool.
     Edmodo is very useful as well when students did not write down the assignment.  Teachers would post the homework after school just in case a student forgot to write it down.  Edmodo also has an option that can send a student text or email notifications so a student does not always have to check the site.  The link to the website is here: https://www.edmodo.com/
     The concept mapping activity can be very useful when trying to make them in the future.  It was easy to use once I got the hang of it, and was even easier to read and understand.  There was not really anything that I disliked about the activity.  If I do decide to stick to the education and teaching field/career, then this concept mapping activity can be useful to my students, and will be easy for them to understand.

Post #4

     The standard I have chosen to discuss is the standard that falls under Social Studies.  The name of the standard is SS.912.A and it falls under the American History topic, specifically talking about causes and effects of the Civil War.  I found a website of a teacher that illustrates these causes and effects: http://mrnussbaum.com/civil-war/causes/.  Students can use both this standard and the website to learn just exactly how the Civil War started, and what the outcome of the war was.
     For as long as I've been using the computer, I've always found resources to be very useful, and have found almost exactly what I've been looking for.  Sometimes it takes a whole lot of digging for me to find the answer online.  Compared to the methods in the podcast, I usually just take the time to dig through Google pages until I find the answer.
     I never really used Google scholar to find informational articles until the Webhunt.  This is definitely a new skill I will use from now on.  There weren't really any surprises that I found going into and coming out of the Webhunt!  It was just a little time consuming.  Webhunt challenges I have created:
1.  You are teaching your students how to compare and contrast information.  Find a website that allows you to create Venn Diagrams.
2.  You are teaching your students on the history of the Civil War.  Find a website that shows a timeline of events of the Civil War.

Post #3

    After reading through the ELA Standards, I have a couple of points to make.  Because I would like to be a teacher for elementary school, I focused more on the standards that involve the lower grade levels.  Looking at the L.5 Section, "Vocabulary: Use Context Clues",  I've heard this so many times throughout grade school.  For the grade levels 2-3, the standards tell you to sound out the words, and define them using a glossary, which is something that we still use all the time today! For the standard titled "Use Technology", when I became a teacher one day, I will need to prepare to learn how to use then newest technologies used in the school systems at the time.
     When I read chapter 9, I came across a few types of technology that I would consider using with my students such as wikis, blogs, and videos to describe my lesson plans.  As for the digital citizenship concepts, I will use the guidelines that discuss copyright laws (to make sure my students do not get in any trouble), and that when using media to always protect their own personal information.  For the age group that will be using these guidelines, I hope to aim for students that are in elementary school, as I said previously!

     After doing the newsletter design, I learned how to use new skills such as making paragraphs into different columns and inserting clip art.  I liked how we could write the newsletter on anything, and really get creative with the project.  I can improve it next time by writing longer articles, maybe for an older grade level.  This newsletter project can be used in the future by people who want to be teachers like myself, to send home to parents or the students!