ILP 2 Design Google Classroom

In another class I take, I've observed a third grade class and the teacher uses Google Classroom. I've never seen it or heard about it before, but it's a great resource for students. She uses it for extra study material for the students. It has so many uses though. You can create basically discussion boards and students can reply to each other. You can also assign quizzes or tests for students to take. You can organize the material by topics and attach any documents, videos, links, etc. It would be super easy for students to stay up to date if they were absent and it organizes material for them. They can also see a calendar with upcoming events to organize themselves. You can create mini study games for students as well. This is a great resource to use and it's super easy to navigate. I had no idea what it was, but it was easy create. I would definitely use this in my classroom!

Blog 10

     For Elementary aged kids, I would use surveys for getting their opinions on different activities we do. Get their feedback to see if they enjoyed it and were able to stay focused. I would use Excel spreadsheets to calculate averages on their grades and create graphs to show them. Or in lessons that deal with graphing do mini surveys on their preferences and put their answers in a spreadsheet and show them graphs of their answers compared to the class as a whole. I could use Excel to show them the different graphs and the purposes of different graphs.
     When looking at my classmate's blogs I like reading their reflections on the different assignments. It seems that a lot of us struggled on the same aspects of each project. I also learned from reading their reflections how they solved their problems. I also liked reading the first blog. The introduction blogged when each person described themselves because those were the most original and different for each person. A lot of us are in the class for similar reasons, but also what to do different levels of teaching.
   One technology I would like to learn how to use is Excel. I feel like I just know the basics and haven't really worked with it before. It will be useful in classrooms to organize test data or just splitting up kids in groups. I think it would be useful in also sharing data and portraying it in charts. I think these assignments will help expand my knowledge on how to use Excel and just doing projects or working with the program I know I'll learn more and more.

Blog 9

     A new strategy teachers are staring to use is a Flipped Classroom. This strategy is basically the opposite of the traditional classroom design. Instead of teachers giving instruction during class and assigning homework for students to do at home, they post lectures online for students to listen to and basically teach themselves while during class they work on assignments that would normally be homework.  I think this strategy as pros and cons. Some pros would being allowed to really asses students during class to see what areas they struggle in and what they've mastered. During class all you focus on is answering questions students have, it's more student centered. The negatives to a flipped classroom would be most students probably wouldn't listen or read the lessons so when they get to class they'll be lost. Then you'd have to waste class time teaching so there's no point to posting lectures. Also, some students need the guidance of a teacher to help learn lessons and a powerpoint isn't enough. Students might have trouble keeping up.
     Open Educational Resources are very beneficial for teachers. It's a way teachers can create their own teaching material but share with other teachers to use while still getting credit for their own work. Teachers can choose what parts of their work to share with others and also view other teacher's work for some extra guidance on their own lesson plans. It gives teachers tools to help create their lessons or materials they need to teach for no cost. They help other teachers by sharing their own work and also get help from other teachers when they post their work. In Merlot's blog they talk about how they created a KEEP Toolkit for the Carnegie Foundation. KEEP is a web application many teachers used to create web-based teaching and learning materials. This blog talks about the progress it's made and the impact it's had on many educators that use it. You can check out the blog here! https://blog.merlot.org/category/open-education-resource-oer/
     I've learned so much creating these past two PowerPoint assignments. At first I thought I knew how to work PowerPoint by just completing assignments in the past but these two assignments have helped me learn outside the basic features. I've learned how to hyperlink buttons to go to certain slides, I've learned how to record a presentation, and I've learned how to create a jeopardy game! It was very challenging at first learning how to create everything, but it turned out to be very helpful for future projects. I can improve on making it more geared to a certain age group and add more graphics to make in more interesting instead of just words. I can make certain things pop more and stand out.

Blog 8

     I learned how to use Diigo in general. I've also learned how to annotate articles electronically. Diigo is great to use for group work. It's an easy way for each person to do their individual work but also being able to see what others find and their perspectives. It's an easy way to collaboratively work and share ideas. This can help classrooms by sharing different articles with the class in a quick way and being able to individually annotate the article. Team members can use this this to get others input and ideas on the same articles or each pst their own and others can get ideas from articles their teammates post. I would even use Diigo for my own individual work. Its any easy way to bookmark articles that I've annotated that I might need at a later time. This also could help me organize my work, tagging articles with different terms or just screenshooting a specific part of an article.

     I can use PowerPoint to teach students energy conservation. At the Knowledge level, I would start the PowerPoint by defining Newton's three laws of motion. I can use Smart Art to create a graphic to help them memorize all three laws. At the Comprehension level, students would be able to recite Newton's three laws in their own words. I could insert graphics to help them just describe what they see in each law. At the Application level, students would be able to calculate the kinetic energy of a projectile. I would model an example on the powerpoint and students will solve the problem to show their understanding. At the Analysis level, students would be able to differentiate between potential and kinetic energy. I could insert or creating a graphic in PowerPoint to compare the two and use the projectile to show where kinetic energy and potential energy takes place. At the Synthesis level, students would be able to create their own dynamics problem using conservation of energy. I would show them an example of a graphic and they would have to write their own equation for the problem. At the  Evaluation level, students would be able to determine if using conservation of energy is appropriate for solving a dynamics problem. I would give them a scenario on the powerpoint and they would individually evaluate the problem and support why or why not they would use conservation of energy to solve the problem. 

     Teachers and technology development can be inversely or directly related. I have teachers that know way more about technology than I do, but I also have teachers that barley know how to use Canvas. I think younger teachers have a better advantage in technology knowledge, older teachers don't really know how use technology as efficiently. It is thrown teachers to use the most up-to-date and efficient software, so they do need to be aware of up and coming technologies. Some teachers are creating new and more efficient ways to grade papers or display things in class that other teachers will be using. Teachers effect other teachers in that aspect. One website written for teachers gives practical advice on how to stay up-to-date on new arising technologies. This website shows different resources teachers can use and says to check out what the your school has available and to get support from you school. Check it out here! https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/teachers-technology-trends 

Journal 7

     Twitter has been really easy and convenient to use. I've used twitter personally before so it's very easy for me. Following educational accounts has been interesting. I've learned so many things in the educational world. Seeing some articles help me think about how I want to teach students, and seeing new results on showing how students learn have been intriguing. I've also been able to learn about events the School of Education are hosting by following the FSU account. I've also been able to see classmate's posts and interact with them. The only downside is that I really only follow a couple classmates when I should try to follow the whole class. Twitter has been very informational for me. I use Twitter more to learn about things going on globally rather than communicating with classmates, even though it could be used for both.
     Working on the web page was honestly crazy. At first I was very overwhelmed and confused. Trying to align and edit text took a little getting used to. The hardest part was figuring out how to use the website and formatting. It would've been easier if I had past experience but this was my first time. After finishing I did feel accomplished. I like how my page turned out and put a lot of effort into it. Making webpages in the future will now be a lot easier. I wish I would've realized how much time it would take so I could've planned better, but I think it turned out well. I have attached a screenshot of the home page, but you can check out the full webpage at http://eme2040ellie.weebly.com/
      The Americans with Disabilities Act basically makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone who has a disability, physical or learning, and requires everyone with a disability to be given accommodations.  Those with physical disabilities could use a joystick instead of a mouse or use brail printers to learn. Those with learning disabilities have the option to use spell checker or computer organizers to help them stay organized. My sister has grown up with special accommodations, because she has a learning disability. She's be given extra time to take tests and quizzes and it's helped her tremendously. I think the hardest challenge is finding the correct accommodation for each student because each student learns differently and needs different things.

Journal 6

     On the Julington Creek Elementary school website they have a home page for all of second grade, then all the teachers have links to their individual websites on the bottom of the page. On the home page they show upcoming events and field trips. They also give a supply list and different websites for students to use to help study. On a teacher's personal page, she posted upcoming events for her class and helpful homework links. She also has different pages for subject based learning for students. She has a newsletter and gives the class schedule. She also gives parents their own page to check out. She has multiple opportunities for parents to come and be involved in her classroom. She gives parents a lot of information so they are fully aware of what type of classroom their child is in daily. Here is a link to Ms. Adams awesome website! https://teachers.stjohns.k12.fl.us/adams-a/
     When I'm a teacher I plan on using my website a lot. I will use my website to post lesson plans for the parent's to help keep them informed on what is going on in the classroom on a weekly basis. I will also set up a calendar on my website. I will post all test/quiz dates, any important events coming up, and when projects are due. This will hopefully help students plan their weeks and schedules accordingly knowing what they have on the weeks ahead. I will also post daily/weekly schedules on my website to inform parents what the kids do daily so parents are aware. I will mainly use my website to help keep parent's involved in the classroom.

     The 3D printer was very interesting. I always thought that you would use that for medical purposes, but it can be used very effectively in teaching. It could helps students learn visually and give them something to hold and feel to help sensor they're learning. It gives a model of an object right in front of them. For example, if an anatomy student was learning the brain they could print a 3D model of it to really visualize and learn from a hands on perspective, not just flat out of a book. They can see and feel the whole thing all at once and put pieces together in their minds by seeing the object as a whole. Also, this could be used for visual disability students. They can print objects with brail like a periodic table so those students can learn. This would make teaching and learning easier for both the teacher and student. It would take forever to order or find a brail periodic table, but the 3D printer could make multiple in short amounts of time. Below is an example the 3D printer made of a rubber duck.

IPL Participation COE Technology Showcase

In September I went to the College of Educations' Technology Showcase to learn about all the new technology FSU is starting to implement in the classrooms. I was very interesting to see how much technology is improving and effecting how teachers teach and students learn. I was able to walk around and view many different thing. One of my favorite things was the light board. The teacher is able to stand behind the glass and solve a problem so the students can see the whole problem without the teacher getting in the way. The camera is pointed towards a glass surface which reverses the image of the problem and the instructor to the students. This lets the students view the problem as the instructor would on the other side of the glass. I also used the Sphero. It's like a sphere that kids can be rolled around or turned in different directions that will show the pattern or art you draw on the app. It can be very useful in learning precision. It helps nurture students' imaginative ideas and opens them up to learning code. Another cool thing I got to try was a 3D art pen. This lets students draw things out to learn. This could help visual learners see topics in different ways and let students bring out their creative sides. As pictured below, I used the 3D pen to write my name.