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.

New Experiences with Technology

     This was my first time using Diigo and I thought it was pretty cool. It was very simple to learn how it works. I think it's interesting you can share websites with big groups if you'd like. It would be very helpful to use in group projects and assignments. It was very convenient that you just bookmark the page and then it'd go straight to Diigo. It could be very helpful to just save websites but also be able organize them. I really like Diigo and will use it moving forward!

     Blogging honestly hasn't been as fun as I thought. Some of the prompts haven't interested me as much so it's been a little boring sometimes, but I still enjoy writing a blog. This has given me a feel of what'd it be like to keep a personal blog, something I've thought about. I think I would really enjoy keeping my own blog since I could talk about whatever I want. It's been nice looking at others' blogs and seeing their thoughts and opinions on the same topics. It's nice to see things from others' perspectives and seeing how similar or different we are.
      One Web 2.0 tool I'm new to is Wiki. I've never heard about it before or seen anyone use it, but starting my second assignment, it seems very helpful! You can create a webpage, but invite others in so you can all collaborate. This tool is very helpful getting others' opinions and input. It shows you who also worked on the webpage and what they did. People can comment to give feedback or even edit the page themselves. This tool's purpose is to help other collaborate and work together. The best outcomes occur when multiple people work together to serve a common goal and Wiki definitely helps with that. If you are interested in checking it, out here is the link to more information on Wiki, https://www.pbworks.com/wikis.html. 

Technology!

     At first i was very confused on how twitter for this class would work, but I've enjoyed it. I like seeing the updates from EME2040 and FSU Education, because they've informed me on interesting events going on in the Education building and reminded me of assignments we've done in class. Following other educational accounts has also informed me on what's going on in the education field nationally and some articles they've shared have been very informative. I normally don't watch the news or stay updated in politics so going on twitter has helped me get informed. Twitter also lets you interact globally for free, so you can see what's happening worldwide and interact with others from another country. This could be very helpful in my career to connect with other teachers worldwide and compare our standards and teaching techniques.
     Statistics have shown that digital divide is part of reason for some student's success over others. Students with more access to technology outside of the classroom and have grown up using technology have a greater advantage in being prepared for the workforce and assignments teachers assign with technology. The more technology a student is comfortable around the more confident they are in completely technology based assignments resulting in a higher pass rate. Digital divide could be caused by the lack of income people have. Some families can't afford internet access or computers so they have less experience with technology. It also depends on where you live, if you can get public access to computers and internet easily or not. As a teacher, I know I will have students with more access to technology than others. To try and help the problem I could use teaching time to do technology based learning assignments so each child is up to date on technology use and processing skills. This will also boost students confidence in their technological skills, especially the ones with little to no internet access. Another thing I could do to try and avoid digital divide is not assign homework or assignments that requires technology to complete.
     In my classroom I would teach my students how to use Office 365. Using Office 365 students will be able to learn how to create word documents, powerpoint  slides, and excel spread sheets. They can complete writing assignments using Word, presentations using PowerPoint, and graphs and spreadsheets using Excel. This software is used all throughout one's career and worldwide so teaching students how to use it and becoming familiar with it will be very beneficial for them. This could help them become more familiar with technology and more confident in completing assignments that involve technology. Another technology I would use is Kahoot! I used it a lot throughout middle and high school for test prep. It made learning fun and competitive. My peers and I wanted to be involved in Kahoot and learned our mistakes from it. It was something different we didn't get to do all the time, but always enjoyed when we did. I would use it for test and quiz prep with my students. They'll learn what they need to study while also having some fun. I would use it to give them a break from the regular book studying.