Blog Journal 6

FSUS's second-grade class homepage has a lot of information provided by the teacher to help the parents and the students as well. There is so much provided information about the teacher, resources such as textbooks, important dates for the calendar, and projects. All of this information is provided by the teacher and allows the parents to keep track and be informed of all things related to their student's education. It is a great way for the parents to stay involved in the student's school as well. It is also a great responsibility for the teacher to maintain a welcoming webpage for the parents and students to access. https://www.fsus.school/Domain/37
     Once I become a teacher I will definitely have a lot of responsibilities technologically like maintaining a webpage for my class and updating homework and resources and important dates to help my students and their parents. I see myself using lots of modern technology in my classroom like smartboards, webpage creators, online communication platforms and so much more. I want to be able to use technology to help my students connect with one another and help them learn from other sources not just from me teaching them. I also think it would be really interesting to incorporate certain technology in my classroom like Virtual Reality and 3D printing like we saw at the Tech Sandbox.
     One specific technology I would love to see in my future classroom would be the 3D printing pen. My students could use these pens to literally draw in the air and create something in seconds with just a pen. It could be incorporated into an art lesson. It would be really cool for the students to get to experience this kind of creativity in technology. Another really cool technology I would like to use is the VR or virtual reality because this can be so useful in a classroom for so many reasons. One thing we could definitely use the VR for would be virtual field trips. Using VR we could take a trip anywhere in the world. If we were learning about something in a museum we could take a trip to the museum using VR. There are endless possibilities for the new technologies in the classroom and it is really encouraging to see and makes me want to be a teacher even more so I can use these devices in my future classroom and show my students how awesome it all is. 

Blog Journal 5

• Diigo was originally quite confusing and difficult to navigate. I have never used Diigo before so I had to learn how to use it for this past assignment. I liked that the website had many pages and subpages that were all linked to one another so when you want to get to another page you can get to it with one click. I did not like that the website was so different than the other websites and tools I am familiar with because it made it hard to learn how to use it. 
• When first introduced to the blogger website I was not looking forward to it because I did not like the idea of writing on a platform that everyone could see what I was writing. However, after a short time, I got used to the idea and started to enjoy the blogger website. It was interesting to see what everyone else was saying in relation to what I was saying. I also liked that we could edit and decorate our blog pages to make it more fun and aesthetic. It also helps the class get to know one another and see who had stuff in common with them. I have learned that blogging is a great tool to use in a class to help students connect and have fun sharing their opinions and information they find. 
• Wikipedia is a nice web 2.0 tool that is somewhat controversial in school. Some teachers do not like their students to use Wikipedia as a source in academic papers because they argue the information may not be reliable. However, I think it is a great tool and I will most likely use it in my classroom someday. This tool allows many people to publish information on a very large genre of information. Just about anything you need information on can be found on Wikipedia that is why it is so useful especially in an academic setting. https://www.wikipedia.org/

blog journal 4

•  A paragraph about your early experiences using Twitter. With whom have you been interacting and how have you found it beneficial?  How might Twitter be helpful in your future career?
• At first, Twitter seemed boring and a bit confusing. After a while on Twitter, I have learned a lot of different things about education and heard what other people have to say. I have been interacting with a few different educational resources and elementary school-related accounts. These accounts post interesting information about updates in school and cool technology that is being implemented in classrooms. One that really stood out was a post about Virtual Reality used in classrooms. 
• A paragraph about the digital divide.  How does the digital divide affect student success in schools? What are some causes of the digital divide?  Reflect on what you may experience as a classroom teacher and how this will affect your teaching strategies.
• The digital divide is the gap between the people who can access and have the ability to use resources and technology and those who do not have that option. This can cause a lot of problems, especially in a classroom. All students need to have the same access to online resources and different materials in order to learn at the same pace and keep up. However, for many reasons like poverty and lack of trained teachers and different academic resources or administration, it is possible for a digital divide to cause issues in the classroom. If I were a teacher someday and there was a digital divide in my classroom it would be quite difficult to keep every student on the same level and give them resources they may need to succeed. It would be a lot more work to help every individual student succeed despite the resources available. 
• A paragraph about academic software for students.  Identify two software tools you would like to implement in your future classroom.  Describe the software tools and why you would like to use them with your future students. 
• Two of my favorite software tools that I would like to implement in my future classroom are coolmath.com and quizlet.com. Both of these academic software programs are used to help students learn while having fun. Coolmath has a lot of games that involve applying the student's math skills in order to do well or win the games. Quizlet is used to help students study. It has different tools like flashcards, practice quizzes, games, and much more. In order for students to do well, they have to be engaged in what they are learning and one way to do so is to provide fun interactive activities pertaining to the lessons and these two academic software tools do just that. 

ILP #1 Design- My StoryBook

      My project was My StoryBook. I learned how to create my own digital storybook. The online storybook creator had many tools like inserting character, pictures, art, text boxes, scenery, and much more. It seems like a really fun and interactive tool to help teachers engage their students in the lessons while also having fun with the material. It is also great to have an online storybook option because it is easier to access, edit, and share with many people. I had a lot of fun learning how to use this tool and as a future preschool teacher, I definitely plan on using this tool in my classroom.


My StoryBook:

https://voicethread.com/share/13658886/https://www.mystorybook.com/books/827649/

Blog Journal 3

The ELA technology standards for my desired grade level to teach are limited. I want to be a Kindergarten teacher if I can and the standard is to produce peer writing using a variety of digital tools while also having guidance from other adults and peers. The technology tools include a smartboard, online storybooks, and paint tools. I feel comfortable with most of these so I think I am somewhat prepared to implement this standard based on my current skill set. I highschool we used a lot of the technology tools listed for different projects and I’ve also had lots of experience working in groups with my peers to produce a final project I have also done group writing assignments with the use of online resources. One tool I really like in the CPALMS is the interactive activities or student resources provided. I found one mathematics resource for students at a kindergarten level and it seems to be interactive and very helpful for students to learn while being able to focus. It tells the story of a farmer and her animals while having the students help her count and write addition equations and use ten frames. It is helpful because the student is following along with a fun story so it is easier for them to pay attention and want to learn and help the farmer find her missing farm animals. I would want to use this resource in my classroom because it is so interactive and easy for students to engage in because it is fun and also educational. Students also seem to like animals and video lessons so putting the two together helps the students encouraged and excited to learn in class. The newsletter assignment was really beneficial for us future teachers because as a teacher I will need to produce assignments and newsletters and different projects that require formatting and visual aids and all that for my own class someday. In my future kindergarten classroom, I think it would be a great idea to have monthly newsletters and since it is for a young age group I will need to make the newsletter fun and decorative and easy to interact with. I will need to include all the tools we got familiar with using like inserting hyperlinks if a parent needs to email me. Fun borders to make it look fun for the young age group. Different lists like spelling and numbers that we will be learning each month. Links to resources that parents can do with their students to help them learn outside of the classroom and so much more. The newsletter assignment was very beneficial for getting me familiar with the tools I will need for my own class someday.