ILP 2 "Design"- WebQuest

     For my second independent learning project I chose to make a WebQuest. At the beginning of the semester we had to do a WebQuest as an assignment. I think WebQuest assignments are a good idea because it helps students with learning the course content as well as how to search the internet to find good sources and answers to the questions asked. I found that the lesson that went along with my technology class, about how different words can control the results you get, was very helpful. I definitely would modify it and only go over a few of the options with my students. Giving them this tool could really help them on their WebQuest's. I was unable to figure out how to attach the document to the blog so I copied and pasted what was in my document.

Ms. Sultzer’s Second Grade Social Studies Webquest

SS.2.A.American History

Instructions: For this assignment you will choose a search engine like google or Bing and use it to find answers to each question. Make sure to put in an answer for every question. This assignment is meant to not only help with understanding of American History but also help with how to search the internet to find good sources.

Question	Website and key words used	Answer to question
1.       Where there more Native American Tribes on the East coast or the West coast?
2.       Find a primary source from the civil war. What makes this a primary source?
3.        What is a prominent Native American tribe on the East coast? What states were they found in?
4.       What happened to the Native Americans when the immigrants began to arrive?
5.        Find a secondary source from immigration to Ellis Island. Why is this a secondary source? How can you tell?
6.       What is immigration and what caused immigration to the United States?
7.       How did immigration affect the cultures in the Unites States?
8.       What was colonial America like?
9.       Do we still have immigration today?
10.   Find a picture from immigration to Ellis Island? When was it taken? Is this a primary or secondary source?

ILP "Design" - Edmodo

     For my first independent learning project I created a group for my kindergarten classroom on Edmodo. I believe Edmodo would be good for any grade level but would be easier for students in second grade and above to use alone. Students any younger than second grade may have issues reading or understanding what is to be expected of them without help from an adult. I am not sure if I would use it if I taught kindergarten or first grade only because I believe that it would require a lot of involvement from families and the schools where I am from have a very hard time with parent involvement.

     There were some things I really liked about Edmodo and others that I believe could be fixed. I really liked that they offered the ability to create polls, quizzes, assignments, and snapshots. I created a poll, and assignment, and a quiz for my students to take all on a recent book that we read in class. The objective of the assignment was to get the parents or adult in the student's life to help them create a show and tell project from them to show the class. The quiz was just a short little quiz to test student's knowledge of the stories main characters and what they did. The poll was just to ask students what they wanted to look into next. Asking them what they want to read next would help them feel like they have a say in the class. It also gives me a look at which book interests them more.

     The issues I encountered with Edmodo were that I wanted to try and do a snapshot but the youngest grade available was third grade which would be way about my students level. I also had issues with finding a URL that took you to a page that actually showed my kindergarten group page. The URL given under the settings took me to a page with an error message. I know this would be different with a class because each student would have their own account but it was still frustrating with trying to get everything set up and ready to go. Another issue I had was that we made an Edmodo account for our EME2040 class so when I went to create one strictly for my class I was unable to because it recognized my email address. This caused me to work from the Edmodo account that I already had and I created a group for my kindergarten class.

Click here to go to my kindergarten class edmodo page.
Group code: cra3fh

10 Power point, data collection, and blogs

     This weeks assignment was to create an interactive power point. I chose to make  a game for my future kindergarten class. The game I made would allow them to review the basics on adding and subtracting. I enjoyed making this power point because I have played similar games in my classes in high school and even in college. The only thing is that I never knew how they were made. I always just assumed that the teacher or professor just had an application where they put in the information and it automatically generated a jeopardy game. I didn't know that they had to go through and edit an entire power point for a review. I found this assignment really fun. Power point does not give me issues with formatting like word does. When I run into formatting problems in word it always makes me feel discouraged and frustrated. If that occurs then I end up just mentally giving up on an assignment because I know it will not be as good as I know it could be. I definitely could see using this in my future career. I find it fun to make and I am sure my students would find it fun to do. It would get them interacting with each other. I could even put them into teams. That way they would have to collaborate and discuss their answers with each other then finally decide as a group what they think the correct answer should be.

    



     Data collection can be used in many different jobs. In education it is extremely helpful with keeping track of grades. I believe I would use excel to keep track of my grades. I would be using this for my kindergarten class. With teaching kindergarten it means that I would have to have grades for all subject areas. That is a lot of grades for a class of 18-22, but with excel I could have one document with different sheets. Each sheet of my document would be a different subject. Of course I would still keep a paper copy of my grades because I would be paranoid that my computer would crash and I'd end up losing all of my grades or that I would make a mistake entering them in the computer.
     I really like that we started taking time to read others blogs during class. If we did not do that I probably would not have the time to go and read them. Usually I just click on whoever had their blog done for class that day and read their blogs but today was different. Today we went to each others blogs to take surveys and gather data from one another. In this process I enjoyed seeing everyone's home pages. Everyone had customized the background of their blogs. Reading each others blogs shows how everyone would take the specific blog criteria and put their own spin on it, but looking at the backgrounds of everyone's blogs showed everyone's individuality. Another time I really enjoyed looking at the blogs was when we all chose different videos to show proper power point techniques. I specifically liked Jessica's mainly because of how she named it. After looking at it I enjoyed it even more because it helped me with an aspect of power point that I struggle with. I always feel like I should be conservative with animation because I do not want it to look cheesy buy without I figured it looked boring. Here post about "Getting Steamy" helped me see different techniques to give a new look to my power points.
     There really is not any technology that I would like to learn about next. I really would just like to take what we have talked about, read about, and used and continue to learn more and use it more. That way I feel confident in my abilities with it. I really would enjoy going more in depth in learning about blogs and class websites because I really would enjoy using them in my class. When it comes to technology sometimes it does not work the same from a mac to a PC. I would like to learn about everything on both a PC and a mac that way I would feel confident no matter what kind of computer I am on.
     I would achieve my future technology related goals by looking into more technology classes or by showing more interest in technology that I don't know how to use and watching videos on YouTube or webinars and learning how to use it rather than just ignoring it or learning just what I need to know to get by.

Survey: Parking

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6RwQpak7PXYBJSB

9 Flipped classroom, professional development and a series of unfortunate events

     A flipped classroom  is a model used in not in K-12 but also in secondary education. The students in these classrooms have there students listen to videos about there homework before they come to class, what used be done in class and is now done at home. The idea of doing what used to be done in class now taking place at home is how the idea gets its name as being a flipped classroom. This website shows different resources that are available for a flipped classroom as well as instructions on becoming a flipped classroom.

     A great web based resource for professional development in education would be a blog. Blogs are a great source for teachers to use with professional development because other teachers can get input from other schools and see how each school handles professional development. That way they could use different tools and activities to make theirs better.

     This blog is for teachers and is supposed to be on different professional development ideas. The teachers respond back to the different topics and stories posted giving their take and how they handle them in their own schools.

     This week our assignment was to create a power point on a lesson we would teach for class. I chose to do a lesson for kindergarten on the beginnings of economics. Of course they would not completely understand the idea of economics and how our country uses it but its just a small overview of the things they already know, trying to have them make the connections between the two. I really enjoyed this assignment. I did not seem to have problems with figuring out all the parts that needed to be in the power point I did on the other hand have problems with my computer. My plan was to start my project during the week and finish it on the bus ride to Clemson. This part of the plan did happen. The part that did not was that on Sunday we were headed back from the trip and it was pouring rain. Around 20 minutes into the trip the roof began leaking, not just a little drop here and there, a steady stream of water. This happened the entire five hour trip back. Needless to say I enjoy power point but I will never plan to work on it on the bus ride ever again.

8 technology advancements

     I believe that the biggest advancement in technology that will greatly affect education in schools is 3-D printing. After going into the digital sandbox last week with the class and reading about it in chapter twelve I believe that it will change the way things are done not only in the younger grades but also in the upper grades. Being able to have kids learn about three dimensional shapes can be a hassle but if classrooms had 3-D printers then it would allow teachers to have their students get online and create cubes, cylinders, pyramids etc. that were perfect; rather than having them try and cut, fold and glue paper to make 3-D shapes. In older classrooms the teachers could have students create artifacts that they were talking about during their history lessons. the options with 3-D printing are endless.

     A future technology that I think would help class rooms would to have the tables of desks be a tablet that the teacher could control and monitor. Teachers would have to have control of them so that the students would not be on them all the time during class. Having the top of the desks be tablets would allow all students to have access to the internet without the class having to go to the library or having students take their phones out (not all students have phones).This would really allow the classroom to be very involved with technology because the internet would literally be right at their finger tips.

     The digital divide is something that is very prominent right now. It is the gap between those who have access and knowledge of technology and those who do not. If it is possible I believe I fall on both sides of the digital divide. I have access to the technology and i have access to learning about it but I do not utilize the access to knowledge of technology as much as I should. I struggle with the technology that I am given, but since I am given it I guess that I am on the side of this digital gap that has the technology and access even though I do not really know what to do with it. I believe that in my classroom the digital divide will be smaller than it is now. I won't be in the classroom for another three years so by then I believe many people will get on the side of the gap that has technology. I do not believe that the digital divide will be completely gone though. No matter how advanced we get with technology there will always be people who financially are unable to afford it. For students in my classroom who do not have the access to technology at home like the other students I will try and get them a tablet that they are able to check out and take home with them so that they are not put at a disadvantage compared to the other students.

7 Bloom, Adaptive technology and New skills

     Blooms taxonomy has six different levels: create, evaluate, analyze, apply, understand, and remember. These concepts and the order they go in can be hard to remember. Using PowerPoint I believe it would be helpful to go in order and gradually build the idea up as a pyramid. So start out with an empty pyramid with just the words blooms taxonomy. As you progress through the slides add in each idea. An example would be to start with remembering because it is at the top of the pyramid. After you add it into the pyramid discuss the important facts like that this step is for recalling facts and basic concepts. The next slide would then show the next layer of the pyramid understanding and like with remembering we would talk about what this level is supposed to be about, explaining ideas and concepts. I would do this until I filled in the entire pyramid and finished with the top of it which is create.

     Adaptive technologies are specifically used for students with disabilities but also can be used for students who do not have disabilities. These technologies include, speech recognition software's and audio books as mentioned in the podcast. These two technologies are helpful to both disabled and non disabled. Students can use speech recognition software if they struggle with dyslexia or have problems with writing. The computer hears what they say then puts it into words. Audio books can be used by everyone. They are incredibly helpful for students because it allows them to look at books that can be above their reading level without having to have an adult there to read it to them. I know many people who use audio books while they drive because they enjoy books but do not necessarily have time to read them on their own. Like anything technology based I would worry that there would be technology malfunctions with the input or out out parts of the adaptive technology and being someone who is just coming around to understanding technology I would worry that it would break on me.

     New skills that I learned from this assignment was basically the whole assignment. I never thought that making a website could be so easy. I enjoyed getting to play around with the different pictures and try to imagine what it would be like for me to actually be creating my classroom website. They only part that I did not like about the website was that I had to publish it. I was uneasy about doing that so for peace of mind just in case someone stumbled across it that was not in our EME class I added that it was a class assignment. This link will take you to my web design assignment. http://bridgeteme2040.weebly.com/

Animation Ninja

How to become a PowerPoint animation expert from a ninja.

This slide show helps give good ideas to how to put the right amount of animation for a PowerPoint

How To Be a PowerPoint Animation Ninja from BrightCarbon

6 Classroom Webpages and resource evaluations

     I decided to look at the school pages from the county that I went to school in. It turns out that many of the schools there either don't require their teachers to have a class page on the school on the school website or they just do not make them keep up with it. I ended up finding some kindergarten teachers at Sorento Elementary school kept their pages pretty much up to date. On their pages they all had links to the the grading system that the school system uses. ESembler is similar to blackboard but it is something you need a password to get to the information regarding your child. many also had online reading like raz-kids, and links to their reading eseries website, but these also needed a password to get to. The only places on the class pages that did not require a password were the tabs for the supply list, high frequency words, announcements and the calendar.
     As mentioned in the podcast I would definitely use Microsoft office tools like word and excel to keep up with plans and make setting charts. Another teacher productivity tool talked about in the podcast that I would utilize is email. I believe that email can sometimes be better than calling. I can get email on my phone and quickly respond rather than playing phone tag with a parent or other teacher trying to answer a simple question. Something I saw in chapter 7 that I found interesting and could see myself using is Office 2 HD and Godocs. These are apps that allow teachers to use Microsoft office and google docs on their mobile devices. I know at this time I do not have a laptop that I would want to carry everywhere with me but I do think it would be helpful to be able to have these documents on my phone or tablet so that I could work on them if I was on a long car ride.
     While working on this web evaluation I was at first skeptical. I have never had good luck with group projects especially ones where the professor or teacher chose the groups, but for the first time it all worked out. I enjoyed working with my group. The other two girls were very helpful and I wasn't stressed about getting the assignment done and turned in. We had some struggles in the beginning with trying to get a layout. At first we clicked on a pre-made template but when we tried to customize it to what we wanted it was a disaster. The text box's went all over the place and we eventually could not even figure out how to delete it. Finally we ended up making a new one and with that one we did not try anything fancy because we did not want to have any problems with it. Here is the link to our website evaluation https://sites.google.com/site/civicsandgoveme2040/  . Though this assignment I learned how to use google sites, which at times was very confusing but it got easier. I could see using this in a high school social studies or science class and having the students make a page explaining a certain period of time or a specific topic in science.

5 Web 2.0 and New skills

     Web 2.0 tools are a great thing for a classroom. In the podcast they talked about how diigo can be used so that multiple students can read and make interactive notes at the same time. This would be great to use during stations time. This would allow students to make notes on the computer and collaborate. Not only Do web 2.0 tools allow students to collaborate but they can also allow teachers to collaborate. There are many blogs, wiki's, and twitter accounts that can help teachers with activities and lesson plans in their classrooms. Computers work on on networks. Some run off of wireless  or WiFi-networks while others run off of servers. A computer needs either WiFi or a server to get onto the internet and since web 2.0 are online. So these are very important parts for a computer to have with using web 2.0 tools.

     A web 2.0 tool that I would want to use in the classroom would be a SMART board. I think a smart board would be incredibly helpful when working with kindergarten students because it would allow them to be involved with the lesson. When students are involved the retain more information.
I have used Smart boards with classes that I volunteered with and it helped the classroom run very smoothly. The students were more engaged and that made transitions between subjects very good. It gave the students very little time to get off task and to get into mischief or any trouble.

     I can't apply the Web 2.0 tool that I want to use in my classroom to my blog because it is more used in a classroom setting while being hooked up to the internet rather than a way to communicate and connect with other students and teachers. Eventually it would be cool to do a tutorial or video on how to use a smart board and then post it to my blog. To find out more about SMART boards you can visit: http://education.smarttech.com/

     Working on the concept map allowed me to use a new website to create almost and outline to help with remembering the details of World War I. I could see myself using this website in my class and because I think it would help students remember the material. Giving students different parts of the war and then having them mix all the maps up and having them put them in chronological order would be a great study tool when it cam time to review for a test. I actually enjoyed this assignment I thought it was fun and definitely could see using it in my class room or just for me to use to study myself.

4 Standards and the internet

• http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewStandard/Preview/5301 
• Standard:  MAFS.K.G.1.1
• The web based resource can be found under resources. I chose the Video/Audio/Animation resource because it would allow the child to learn about describing objects in the environment but in a fun upbeat way as well as tie into chapter 8 and Animation and 3D Programs.
• The Tools that I would use would be Animation and 3D programs as well as educational games. I believe that both of these would offer the students an interesting way to learn since children are now growing up with video games and animation all around them, Why not use it and make them think that they are not learning when they really are. 
• Students could play the educational games together so that they would learn problem solving not only from working by themselves but also through working with a group. I believe that the teaching strategies or presentation and reinforcement are used with educational games. I is presented to the students in a way that is familiar to them and gives reinforcement to skills they are learning through the standards. 

I strongly support the idea of using the internet to support student research. I research on the internet almost on a daily basis whether for articles for classes or for a current event that I wanted to know more about. Though I personally use the internet for my research everyday sometimes I wish i had the skills to know how to do research without it. With the generation I am in coming through school we were getting all the new technology so there was a big demand for us to learn how to use it. I feel like we learned more on how to do it all of our searches through the internet instead of the old fashioned way. I do not believe that there is a right time and a wrong time to use the internet for student research but i do believe that students should be taught and know how to collect research the 'old fashioned way' because I do not and I wish that I did.

In the past I would always just pull up a search engine and type in my question word for word. I never gave it much thought to how the database would use all of the words that I gave it. I honestly did not know any of the short cuts when searching google until the past two weeks. Not only has my Educational Technology class been talking about how to search for stuff and what to type in but also in my English class we went to the library and had a lecture on how to search the library database for our research paper. I never understood this much about searching for topics or doing research. I have taken online classes where the teachers utilized open content and had everything that we needed to download on a website for free.

I learned new skills with the web hunt. It interesting typing in different combinations of words trying to get the search result I wanted or websites that I needed. It was frustrating at times when i would try so many different options and still never really got a website that I really wanted. I knew there were better ones but just couldn't think of the right way to type it in to google to find it.

Web Hunt Challenge:
1. Find a website that would give an audio to a children's book. What Anchor standard does this address?
2. Your class wants to connect with other classes not at their school. Is there a website that would allow them to? What Standard would this be?

3 Sometimes it is not the design but the user

     It is hard for me to fairly evaluate a website. This is not necessarily because of the design of the website but the fact that i struggle with navigating websites. Lets take what someone would consider a simple website by design http://www.fsu.edu/. I was given explicit instructions on how to navigate this page yet I still found it difficult. I personally am I  a visual learner so for me having the most detailed instructions on a very simple to navigate site does not do much. Other aspects of the website I can critique would be whether it is credibly or not. When looking at websites I often am not on them to explore them but to get information for research papers. A website must have certain features for me to consider it credible enough to get background information off of it. I look to see if it has an author, what the ending of the URL is and when it was last accessed. These are all small things to look for that could save a lot of time in the long run because the source could always turn out to be not very good.
     As we get further into this class I begin to realize how much of a need technology really is in education. After spending time in my mothers classroom I believe I would like to to use Skype with my class. I took an education class last year and we learned about how classrooms all over the world were connecting with one another via Skype. The classes would talk to each other and discuss the differences between their educations. Along with that I would also use Classdojo. I think Classdojo is a beneficial way to promote good behavior. Many of the classes I have been in use it and the kids get to the point where they are in competition with one another and try and see who can be on the extremely best behavior and get more points. The age range I am looking at teaching is kindergarten. With this age group I feel like it would be hard to have the students use glogster or a type of social media due to their age. Maybe as a class we could have a glogster or twitter so that their families could see what the class was up to.
     New skills I learned from the Newsletter Design Assignment were all the different ways you could format it. I had already had some of the basic knowledge of how to use Word but the times when I would just play around with word art, shading, and shapes was a long time ago. This assignment was kind of relaxing because it allowed you to be creative but then at the same time it was a pain. I kept running into problems with the columns. They would work and everything would be good then next thing you know all of my pictures are off of the paper and there is writing where there should not be. I feel like my Newsletter is not exactly how I wanted it to be because of formatting issues with word.

2 Word, Copyright, and New Skills

     Microsoft word is one thing that I have had experience throughout the time in school. Most of the time it was only when we had to write papers or do assignments for class.  I do remember back in late elementary school and early middle school getting on Microsoft Word and just messing around figuring out what you could do with a picture or trying out every kind of word art there was. Way back then we got on Microsoft Word for fun. Now I dread having to open it up because more often than not it means I have to write a five page paper. Until I got to high school and into my first year of college my teachers never really used Microsoft word. During this time they would use it for typing up notes as we went along with class, to type up our syllabus and make revisions to it, and to give in class assignments.

     Until listening to the pod cast, reading the article for class and being in class for the power point today I never have really known much about copyright or fair use. After learning so much about it today I wish I would have been taught about it sooner. There are probably many times that I have violated this solely because I had no idea I was doing anything wrong. What we were always taught was as long as you gave credit to the originally person everything was fine. After today I see that is definitely not the case and that there are many more things to look at to see how you can use materials correctly. As a teacher I would want to be taught what I can use in my classroom. I want to also teach my students that in the classroom certain things in fair use are okay because of the educational purpose but once they are no longer in school the same things are not always aloud. I believe it is important to teach kids young what is and is not aloud with copyrighted material. Until today I had never heard of the Four Factors Test or even the TEACH Act. I think power points like the one we were shown in class should be part of a mandatory workshop in every country. That way teachers will know what they are allowed to do as well as know what to teach their students to do.

     With my life as busy as it is I never wanted a Twitter. I still don't. So I am not going to lie having a Twitter has been stressful. I don't know what to post on it and am constantly realizing that I forgot to post on it. Out of the entire class I feel like I am the only one struggling with that. Most people my age would be thrilled that they are being graded on posting to a social media account. Me? I would choose just about any other assignment. I see how a Glogster or other semi private account that is more focused for school could be used in the classroom. Maybe in high school's a twitter assignment would be a good way to get the students interested but I am looking to teaching kindergarten and do not really see how my twitter page could be used with kindergartners. 

 

1 A new standard with technology

Technology is something that we can use to our advantage. There has been an increased concern with students knowing how to use technology and being proficient in it by a certain grade. I understand the need from ISTE's NETS project to create technology standard in the school system. I personally believe this is just another stress that some students face. Some students struggle with reading or math and others struggle with technology but, some may struggle with all of them. I agree that we need to integrate technology into schools and classrooms but I am not sure to what extent. As a student who never really understood technology, adding one more concept to grasp and study would have been a crazy amount of stress. I know I could have at least gone home and practiced technology skills but not all of the students I went to school with had that luxury. Having a teacher that understands technology automatically helped me understand it better so I believe that is where it starts. I completely support schools doing work shops with teachers to help them understand technology. Going through grade school and even my first year of college it would aggravate not only me but the entire class when our teacher or professor would spend nearly half of our class time trying to figure out how to pull up a power point. That may be somewhat exaggerated but it is the idea that if the teachers do not know what they are doing how do you expect the kids to.

In my classroom I hope to not really incorporate computers as much as I want to incorporate using a Smart Board. I want to someday teach kindergarten or first grade and believe that social skills are the most important. There have been times that I have volunteered in classrooms and the teachers are mandated how much time each child spends on the computer a week. It is a ridiculous amount of time that they are secluded from the class. I think working on their social skills by utilizing technology that can be used by the group would be a better idea than having them work on computers. Off course they will have to spend sometime on the computer so that they are able to log on and know where the letters are. I just do not believe it should be a priority for students at such a young age to do so much work on a computer. In this class I hope to learn of ways to make the learning in my classroom more interactive. I feel like working on technology as a group is better than being on a computer by yourself. I hope to learn of programs to put on Ipad's that my class could use as a whole. 

I have conflicting feelings on the term "digital native". It is usually associated with the younger generations but isn't always necessarily true. I am a part of this group but, I very much feel like a digital immigrant.  Being a digital native would mean that you understand technology. You have grown up around it and it is just part of your daily life. There has been many teachers and professors who were digital immigrants and didn't do anything about it to try and catch up to the growing technology that was being used. It was frustrating when some of the simplest things caused the teachers so much problems and took away from class time. With the teachers that were digital immigrants, class got to the point where I almost wished they would not even try to use technology during class. I think there will be a huge difference between my technology and my students by the time I get into the classroom. I can already see a difference with the way I use technology and the way my 6 and 10 year old nephews use it. Technology is something that will forever keep expanding. The only thing we can do is try and keep up with it to some extent.

0 A failure with technology

Technology and I just don't get along. I will forever have applications and stuff on my computer that I have absolutely no idea how to use. It is to the point where my ten year old nephew knows more about how to use my iPhone than I do. I blame my parents for my struggles with technology. I was not aloud to have any electronic devices as a child. No video games, computers, or cell phones. 

Being in this class I hope that I can learn about how to use technology so that when I get into the classroom my students do not know more than I do about technology. Not only do I need help with working with technology but both of my parents are teachers and neither of them use technology how they could. I know that when I volunteer in their classrooms their students look very bored and not engaged. 

My learning style results were all over the place. In the first category I had a moderate preference, the next I had a strong preference and the final two I was balanced. The one category which I had a strong preference was being a sensing learner. I feel that out of all of the other category's that were analyzed in the learning style quiz  being a sensing learner is the only one I really saw myself as. Some time I think I will take the quiz again to compare my scores with what I got this time.