Blogfolio - 26

Introduction Video
1. NETS-T 3c: Teachers communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.
2. This assignment meets this standard because creating a YouTube video introducing ourselves is way for students, parents, and colleagues to get to know the teacher through a form of digital-age media.
3. I think this would be a great assignment to use in my classes for the future. It is a great first day activity. If I chose for my students to keep online journals or kid-friendly blogs of their own, I would definitely introduce this the first day as a means of me getting to know my students as well as the students getting to know each other.
4. I really enjoyed this assignment. It was our very first assignment for this class. We just had to make a video introducing ourselves and could take liberties with it. I liked that it gave me an opportunity to show my creative side. I loved creating the blog post in general because it allowed me to share my voice on why I want to go into teaching in a very creative format.

TED Videos
1. NETS-T 1b: Teachers engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
2. The TED videos usually have a person discussing an important political or educational topic. Showing these videos to a classroom can open the floor for discussions on the real-world issues discussed in the video.
3. The TED videos I watched were mainly directed towards educators, so I don't know if I would necessarily use them with my students as much as I would use with my colleagues (other teachers and administrators). I think the TED videos will be great for meetings. I think they would provide inspiration on how to address certain topics, issues, or situations in the school and classroom.
4. I had never heard of the TED Talk videos until this course. I wish I had because they are very informing and entertaining. They choose great people to come and speak at the TED seminars. I even went home and watched a few more on YouTube. I cannot remember the name of the first lady that we watched on the TED video, but she was just so inspirational. She was so passionate about helping students learn, and she was hilarious while delivering her speech. I really enjoyed watching them.

Concept Map
1. NETS-T 1c: Teachers promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
2. A concept map can be used to help teachers and students brainstorm and plan lessons, papers, projects, etc. Concept maps organize ideas to help us understand certain processes or main ideas.
3. I think concept maps are a great way for organizing ideas. I have had to do several concept maps in different courses this semester, and they have proved to be very useful and helpful. I would use them in my classroom to help students organize information before writing a paper. In Stacy Reeves' CIR 306 course, we were shown how students can use them to organize main ideas, supporting ideas, and examples before writing a paper. This will help them to focus on the most important part of what they will write. I thought it was a great tool.
4. The concept map activity was challenging but a lot of fun. I had a great time with it. It was challenging at first because I had never composed a lesson of my own, much less integrated another subject in that lesson. It was another opportunity for me to be creative, especially since it was getting closer to Halloween; that provided a lot of inspiration for my activity and lesson. I chose to do a lesson on writing and publishing a Halloween narrative using an online tool to publish the narrative. It was a great way to not only learn how to write a narrative and use online tools appropriately, it was a great way to incorporate learning about a holiday.

Do Not Track Me
1. NETS-T 4a: Teachers advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.
2. A teacher using the DoNotTrackMe software acts as an advocate for the software. They are modeling how to use the appropriate tools to protect one's self online.
3. I am not sure if I would use this with my classrooms. I think it's just because of my experience with it. I feel like it is important to educate my students on why this software is out there (because people are trying to get a hold of their personal information), but I think I could find something a little more computer and kid friendly to do so.
4. I had a little trouble at first with this software when installing it on my computer. It messed up several things that I had installed on my computer that were really important. I read about people who had success with the software, and from their experience, it seemed to be helpful as far as blocking hackers and people trying to track your "virtual footsteps" so to speak.

Augmented Reality
1. NETS-T 3d: Teachers model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
2. Using the augmented reality apps greatly enhances and facilitates a student's learning experience.
3. I would use this app in my class for field trips. I think it's a great tool to use when visiting places like a museum or art gallery. It enhances the student's learning experience and provides a fun way for them to learn while on a field trip.
4. I think augmented reality apps are a great tool. I have not had much experience with them; however, I had to do some extra credit for my science class at Lake Thoreau. I had to video record several classrooms walking through the nature trail at Lake Thoreau. Each of these groups had an iPad. On the iPad was an app that the students were using to tell them about the destination they were at on the trail. It was an augmented reality app. The children seemed to really enjoy it, and I could tell that using the app enhanced their learning experience.

Voki
1. NETS-T 3b: Teachers collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
2. Teachers can use the Voki avatar to communicate with parents to let them know what is going on in the classroom. The students can refer back to the avatar if they are unsure on due dates. This is a great tool for collaboration and communication with parents and students.
3. I would use the Voki in my class for students to create their own, personal avatar. I think it would motivate them to get on a classroom website more to check for information if they have something on there that is a reflection of who they are. It's also a great tool for teachers to use if they want to communicate with parents/guardians on what is going on in their classroom as well as inform them of events coming up.
4. I enjoyed creating my Voki. It was fun to tell a little about yourself through a cartoon. I am a little kid at heart, so it was something that definitely engaged me.

Web 2.0 Sites
1. NETS-T 3d: Teachers model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.
2. This assignment showcased a variety of new, inventive websites and tools that support the research and learning experience.
3. There are so many of these sites that I added to my favorites on my laptop. I especially loved the PearlTrees and Edmodo websites. PearlTrees, which was similar to Pinterest, would help students collect information on research projects. Edmodo was basically a Facebook for teachers. I think that would be a great way for teachers in the same school, more specifically teaching the same grade level, to connect and collaborate on ideas.
4. I liked watching all of the presentations because it gave me a lot of ideas for websites to keep in mind to use for when I start teaching. It was also a great assignment because we had to present the websites we were assigned. We became the "teacher" for the duration of our presentation and had to address certain students who may not have been paying attention or acting out. We were sort of put to the test on how we would handle these students if they were in our classroom.

Online Safety Website
1. NETS-T 4c: Teachers promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.
2. Creating an online safety website is way to use technology to inform students about how to responsible, digital citizens when using the Internet.
3. I think this assignment is perfect to use when teaching kids about online safety. My website was directed towards elementary students in the classroom. I used links to fun games that they can play all while being educated on what it means to be a good, digital citizen.
4. Once again, I enjoyed this assignment because it allowed for creativity. We had to create a website that was dedicated to online safety. It could be anything related to online safety (cyberbullying, digital citizenship, privacy, etc.). I had an array of subtopics for mine, which gave me a wide range of options. I liked doing this assignment because it taught me how to build a website. At first, I was overwhelmed because there were so many templates, tables, and other things that could be used and edited. Once I figured out how and what to use, it became a fun project.

Movie Maker
1. NETS-T 2a: Teachers design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
2. This assignment required us to use our ability to create a story, then publishing that story using the digital tool, Windows Movie Maker. It promoted creativity because we could create any story using a variety of music, transitions, and captions.
3. This is a fun assignment to use in the classroom. Depending on the age range, I would use it more with older students (6th grade to 12th grade). With younger students, I feel like it would be a little too complicated for them, but I would definitely find an alternate, kid-friendly website for them to use. I would use Movie Maker or another software like Movie Maker for my kids to tell a story, like we did in class. I think it is way more fun to teach the sequences of a story (beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion) as opposed to just have them writing all of the time.
4. This was my favorite assignment from this semester. I enjoy putting together projects like this. It was fun and not stressful because we could make the movie on whatever we wanted to do. It gave me the opportunity to create a video for pictures I had been meaning to put together, anyway. I enjoyed presenting my movie to the class. Overall, it was a great experience for a final project.

Course Reflection
There are so many things to take from this class and use during the rest of my academic and teaching career. I learned about different tools that I could use for future projects and assignments that I had never even heard of before taking the course. For example, I ended up using Inspiration 8.0 for a concept map that I had to do for my science lesson in SME 432. I learned how present and express my ideas and information through various forms of social media such as Blogger and Voki. I do not feel as if the assignments were pointless or "busy work". I learned something important from each assignment that has helped educate me more in the field of technology. My favorite part of the course was our classroom discussions. Even though this was a computer class, we had open discussions about different things concerning education and technology. I loved talking about important issues that teachers are facing today. For example, we would discuss our personal views on the Common Core State Standards. I loved hearing everyone's opinion on this matter. These discussions really forced me to listen to what people had to say because I was being informed on information that will affect me as a teacher in the future. There were things brought up in our discussions that I had never heard about, but after the discussion, I became well informed. Our classroom discussions helped everyone become comfortable with speaking to each other. It broke the ice, and our classroom, I felt, became close-knitted. My strong points for this class would have to be doing creative assignments. As I had mentioned above, I loved doing the introduction video and movie maker because it allowed me to express myself creatively. I was always thought that was sort of my forte. My weak points were keeping up to task with the blog posts. One of my biggest flaws is that I am a procrastinator. I put things off until the very last minute. Even though I get things done before the deadline, it makes me rush through my work. As a result, my final draft or project is not that great or there are careless mistakes. I plan on working on my procrastination skills before I actually enter the workforce. I know procrastination and bad quality work will not cut it when I become a teacher. I just need to discipline myself and start on things early, so I do not feel pressed for time and end up turning in bad-quality assignments. I definitely plan on integrating technology in my classroom. Like I said, I have saved the web addresses for various websites and tools that I plan on using. I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to websites and online resources to use in my classroom. I know one way I will use technology is for my students to use remedial game websites. I think the best way a student who is struggling with a particular subject is to play games that improve their skills in that subject area. For example, I found a math website, APlusMath, that has different games for children to play with that involve math skills. Overall, this course was a great experience for me. I learned a great deal without feeling overwhelmed. Dr. Beedle did a great job on sparking my interest in each of the assignments we did - mainly because he showed his passion for technology and teaching, and that is something every teacher should have - passion.

Beyond MOOCs: Is IT Creating a New, Connected Age? - 25

MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses. While MOOCs are a great way for delivering education to a large group across the world, they will probably not become the main source of delivering education in grand scheme of things. This is a great experiment for today's college students and 20 something year-olds because of how connected this demographic is to technology. College students are able to connect to their online courses with their smartphones. MOOCs are really reinnovating the typical, lecture styled classroom.

I think MOOCs can be very effective if structured carefully. I believe in the face-to-face lectures and classrooms because it helps me stay on task as opposed to procrastinating. I know there are some online courses that require you to be on the computer at the time of that course, but I still think it hinders the teacher-student professional relationship.

SAMR Model - 24

The SAMR Model or Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model is a model that shows how computer technology might impact teaching and learning. It also provides teachers of educational technology a progression they can follow as they progress through teaching and learning with technology.

LMS or Learning Management System is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of online education courses or training programs. (Definition from Wikipedia.org) I think the LMS system is a great way to help prepare and educate students for future jobs that will be dealing a lot more with online tools.

Interactive Whiteboards are a great tool, not just for a classroom use, but in other places as well. The article stated that more businesses are using interactive whiteboards in business meetings. It's such a great way to present ideas clearly and straight to the point. Like the article said, more people need to be trained in a model fashion on how to use these tools and how you want the tools used in the classroom or workplace.

I'm not sure how I would feel if my students brought all of their devices to school. Yes, I believe cellphones are necessary to have, and I see so many creative apps and tools that phones now have access to through the internet; however, I do not want my classroom to be fully dependent on technology. I want technology to be an aide, not a crutch, or main source.

A Conversation with a 'Bad' Teacher - 23

John Owens worked for thirty years in magazine publishing before he decided to go back to school to become a teacher. Little did Owens know, he was in for a rude awakening. He experienced the dark side of school administration and the American public education system. And only after a year of teaching, Owens quit. For good. In an interview with Hana Maruyama from Education Week Teacher, John Owens opens up about his all too real teaching experience. Owens accepted a position in an inner city school in the South Bronx. Perhaps the most heartbreaking thing Owens experienced during that year was the fact that the school district was not as concerned about helping their students succeed and become passionate learners as they were about just making sure they passed (for the school's benefit, not the students'). Owens wanted to instill a love of learning in these students, which made him the "bad teacher" on campus. Because Owens couldn't fix all of these students' problems or help them improve in their academics in a 46 minute school period, he was a "bad" teacher - according to his superiors. He talks about incidents where students were basically testifying to the awful things they have witnessed and experienced in their lives - things that should be addressed by social workers, counselors, and psychologists. Yet, administrators were all too quick to shoot down Owens when he relayed these issues to them. Owens said that it was a lose-lose situation when complying with his superiors. If he was doing something right, it was still wrong. If he went against them, he had no chance. He describes teachers as being scapegoats for everything that is wrong with the public education system in America. He gives an analogy that cops haven't been blamed for crime rates and nurses haven't been blamed for health problems; so why are teachers being blamed for America's failing education system? He says it's people's preconceived notions about teachers. Teachers have it too easy. They get summers and holidays off. Never will they have to work on a weekend. Owens was quick to say that out of the many, many jobs he has had in his lifetime, teaching was the hardest job he experienced.

After reading about Owens' experience, I really just wanted to curse and rant and bad mouth every terrible person that works in the education field. Not only is that too many people, it would make for an extremely long blog. And to me, those people are not worth it. They are just ignorant and selfish. They ended up in the wrong line of work. Bless their hearts. Reading about such experiences really make me question if my skin is thick enough to deal with these things. These harsh truths about our education system.

However, my favorite quote from John Owens' interview with Maruyama reminded me of why it is all worth it -

"I don't know what's going to be required of someone who graduates 12 years from today, but I do know that if they have a love of learning, and they have a sense of community and a good moral compass, they'll do just fine."

How true. Just... so, so true.

To me, that's what it's all about. If we can instill those sort of values in our students, then everything else like grades, passing, being ready for the future... those things will fall into place. If I have to lose or quit several jobs because I put my students' needs before the schools' -- well as scary as that sounds, so be it. As long as I have impacted my students to better themselves each and everyday, then it should all be worth it.

Kids Can't Compute -- And That's a Problem - 22

The problem and concern that Mike Elgan (Forbes) has with younger generations is not that they are incapable of knowing how to use computers, smartphones, tablets, and other technological devices (because it is very clear that most young people are very capable of showing you how Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. works) - it's that kids today have no skills or knowledge about how computers, networks, and software function. Scientists and inventors in the field of technology are constantly improving how we use computers with ease. It does not require much thinking or knowledge to open an app, take a picture, and post it for the whole World Wide Web to see. While younger people may be better at using and working apps and things like that, it does not mean they are no more skilled than older generations who may not be as good at using these apps. Elgan's bottom line is that, using a computer in today's world does not require much thinking or appreciation as it did several years ago. Kids do not have to know or care about writing software, building computers, or why/how certain computer things work certain ways. He said this is a problem because there is no deeper knowledge or skill-building required. This does not help prepare younger people for jobs that will require such skills.

In most every way, I agree with Mike Elgan, and I definitely see and sympathize with his concerns. I am very old-fashioned when it comes to education. This is probably due to the fact that I feel like I have to be as knowledgeable as possible before starting on a certain project. Especially starting a new job - I cannot just be thrown into the job without knowing why/how/what I need to know or do. That is a great way to learn by discovery and problem-solving, but I feel more comfortable being informed and knowing the background and ins and outs. I also empathize with Elgan because it is so easy to simply Google a question or problem, which does really require us to think at all. We are becoming co-dependent on technology to answer everything for us without understanding why we got a certain answers. There's no higher level thinking being challenged, and that is a problem. It makes us extremely lazy and ignorant.

I believe children need to have an appreciation for how computers are built and operated. Knowing things like that, for anything, always instills a greater appreciation for the people who give all their time and dedication to make our lives easier; it makes us more humble people. Also, it just makes us more educated and intelligent. You can never be "too educated." Knowledge is never-ending. We can always learn more. We should be educated on how things in the world work. It makes us competent individuals.

However, I do not feel like it just an absolutely terrible thing if not everyone is up to par with their computer knowledge and skills. The positive side of technology constantly improving is the simple fact that it DOES make our lives easier and it DOES help us with things that we may not have otherwise ever been able to do. For example, a child struggling with math or reading can use some simple gaming app or website to help them improve their understanding of certain concepts in those areas. As long as that child is able to explain why or how they got their answer for a certain math problem, it should not matter how they learned it. Not EVERY job requires this, though that may change in the future. I think companies and businesses should hire people that are proficient in such skills, but it is not always necessary.

Web 2.0 Sites - 21

Madison
1. MindMeister - Can be used to make a concept map; your concept map can then be turned into a slideshow presentation
2. SpiderScribe - Can be used to make a concept map; no slideshow feature; able to insert Word documents, images, Google map locations; geared more towards a business use

Erica
*3. Bubbl.us - Similar to Inspiration 8.0; used for making concept maps; able to import pictures; very simple and easy for kids to use; organizational tool
*4. Linoit.com - Can post notes; calendar, due dates, videos, Word docs on a bulletin board template; there is an app for smartphones to access events and notes that may be needed; change font, color, settings

Madeline
5. Photobucket - can upload photos/videos; people are able to like and comment; you can see what is trending; similar to Instagram;
6. QuinturaKids - Search engine for kids; not directed towards doing research

Callie
7. DontBubble - search engine tool; has a filter to keep information clean for kids;
8.GoGooligans -

Rebecca
9. Padlet - a blank wall where the teacher can type a thought or question and the students can go to the URL for the wall and type in their answer/comment and it will pop up on the wall as they enter it
10. Text2MindMap - can be used to create a concept map

Brittany
11. Stormboard - Create different boards on different subjects where students can go and comment/vote on various questions

Allie
12. Instagrok - mixture of a search engine and concept map; kids can type in a topic on the search engine and it will bring up concept maps that are related to that topic and provide detailed information when you hover over one of the bubbles on the map; very age-appropriate for elementary students
*13. Kidtopia - search engine for children developed by a school library; can search various subjects (science, social studies, arts, language arts, people, animals, games, countries, math); safe for younger students

Victoria
14. SlimeKids - search engine for kids; provides various topics on authors, books, etc
15. WikiSummarizer - search engine where you can search a specific topic and it narrows down the most important information (basically summarizes); all of the information comes from Wikipedia

Tommi
*16. PearlTrees - mixture of Pinterest and a concept map; collect ideas/thoughts in a "pearl tree"; by clicking on one of your "pearls" it will take you to a particular website related to your topic
*17. NetVibes - a dashboard where you can search a specific topic that divides up the information into certain categories (articles, social media, blogs, etc.); saves your information all in one place

Mary Kathryn
*18. Glogster - you can create online poster boards; you can use a template to enter information on a certain topic; include multimedia on the virtual poster board; teachers can use it to post assignments as opposed to having to keep up with a syllabus or rubric
19. Audacity - audio editor and recorder; able to record speeches, notes, songs, etc.; one of the best free/recording websites on the web

Lauren
20. Vimeo - similar to YouTube; you're able to search videos
21. WordPress - you can start a blog, search for blogs to read, follow your favorite blogs

Deanna
22. Evernote - search documents that you have uploaded; if you need to search for something specific in your documents, you can type in what you need to search, and it will bring up all the documents that pertain to what you're searching for

Nicole
23. Compfight - similar to Google Images; used for locating images for blogs, inspiration, and research; able to download different sized images
24. Diigo - multi tool for knowledge management

Brittneii
25. Animoto -
26. BookBuilder - you can create your own book

Jordan
27. Weebly -
28. Storyboard Generator -

Tiffany
29. Tagul - like Wordle
*30. Edmodo - Facebook for teachers

Jacqueline
*31. Socrative -

Jonathan
32. Podbean - Teacher can post lessons on here in case a student missed a day; teachers can podcast their lessons and upload them to Podbean
33. Pixton - create comic strips

Jennifer
34. iCloud -

Amanda
35. infogr.am - use for visual graphs

Movie Maker - 20

I do not own the copyrights to the song used in this video "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons. All rights go the artists.