Blog #10

Data Collection and reporting are essential tools for every teacher, regardless of subject matter and age, as it allows teachers to see where their students are at. For me specifically, wanting to teach high school math, this means recording students grades, not just for assignments and tests as a whole but on individual questions as well. This way I can see which questions are being the most consistently missed, by both the class as a whole and by individual students. Once I have this data, I can attempt to tailor the lessons better to each student.

My favorite part of looking at everyone's blogs is seeing all the different ways people think to apply the lessons we learned in class to our own teaching. An example of this is both in the question on Bloom's Taxonomy and the question prior to this. Every one of us has had different learning experiences and as thus have been affected differently in how we will teach. For example, when we had to come up wit the lesson for Bloom's Taxonomy, my mind went immediately to derivatives. However, when I later read other peoples posts, everyone had a different idea on how and when it could be directly implemented. Reading all of their thoughts gave me new ideas on how to improve what my lesson would have been.

The next technology-related skill I would like to learn would probably be how to use interactive whiteboards, such as SmartBoards. I feel like this would be a very useful to skill to have as they are being implemented more and more in schools everywhere. Thus, I find having this skill to be something important going forward. I definitely intend to go to the Tech Sandbox to learn about this as they are very knowledgeable about it and have boards there for me to practice with.

ILP "Participation" - VR

I went to the tech sandbox and received a lesson on potential VR use in the classroom. Then I got to use both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Using the Oculus Rift, I was shown a program called Tilt Brush that allows you to draw in 3D, as well as drawing with materials such as snow or lava. Then, I was moved to the HTC Vive where I was shown the program Universe Sandbox. This program allows you to see the universe and manipulate it by adding mass, altering orbits, and colliding objects. The final program I looked at was Edmersiv, a virtual museum with interactive exhibits on math, science, history, geography, and more. All of these can be easily utilized in an educational environment. Tilt Brush can be used in math to demonstrate 3D images and 3D graphing. Universe Sandbox has obvious applications to science classes. Finally, Edmersiv is particularly interesting for elementary students as it has basic knowledge in all of the areas.
https://www.tiltbrush.com/
http://universesandbox.com/
http://www.edmersiv.com/

Blog #9

Flipped Classrooms are a creative new instructional method where students do readings and watch lectures at home and then utilize their class period to work on projects, activities, and assignments with their teacher. This helps support students by allowing for more practice time in order to make sure the students really grasp the material. It also makes a class more interesting for your students because with this sort of classroom you can assign more creative group projects that they can work on in class. Khan Academy has instructional and educational videos for all of their lessons that could be used in such a flipped classroom.


I've done non-linear powerpoints before, as well as those for information dissemination, and didn't really learn anything new. My history with powerpoint is more of an exception than a rule. Something I didn't like was that powerpoint changed the color of the hyperlinks orange and would not let me change it to any other color. Something I would potentially change would be adding a black outline to the text in my Information Dissemination powerpoint as it could be a bit difficult to read.

Blog #8

You could use PowerPoint at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy for a variety of lessons, but for this example we will use the example of derivation in math. We would begin the powerpoint with a few slides doing example problems on exponents and limits to cover "knowledge". Then we would move on to breaking down derivation in the next few slides for "comprehension". Then, for "application", I would use the limit definition of a derivative to apply current knowledge to what we are learning with example problems and step by step solutions in the powerpoint. Then I would have a slide with some problems and have them try taking the derivative and using the limit definition and follow that up with slides of my own comparison for "analysis". Then, with these comparison slides still up, I would have a discussion with the class on the merits of both approaches and which they preferred to cover "synthesis". Finally, I would have them each write three problems of their own and pass it to the person on their right, and when that person was finished pass it to the right again and have the third person try the other method, and finally pass it to a fourth person on their right to compare the two results for "evaluation". While this method does not require powerpoint, having the problems worked out and organized in their slides makes the lesson much smoother.

There is an edtech subreddit that allows users to post questions, answer each other's questions, and post articles involving exclusively edtech. Users can them move posts up or down based on quality and relevance. This allows a circulation of up to date, curated information.

https://www.reddit.com/r/edtech/

Blog #7

Adaptive technologies are any form of technology that assist those with disabilities in their daily life. This can be anything from a simple screen magnifier to more complicated pens that record as you write. Any one of these technologies is tailored for specific disabilities, for example a person with  visual impairment could use a Braille Embosser but not a screen magnifier. I am, unfortunately, an eternal klutz. I have accidentally injured myself in a variety of ways that has led to all sorts of adaptive technology use, from mobility assisting devices after a leg injury to laptops in class following a wrist injury to screen magnifiers after losing my glasses. In all, after my experiences, I've found that most challenges using adaptive technology in the classroom come from a teacher's reluctance to adapt themselves.  An example of this is a teacher that won't make the aisles between desks wide enough for a wheel chair or person using crutches to pass, and instead forces them to sit in the back, because that "is how [their] classroom has been arranged for the past 10 years and nobody else has ever complained". As long as a teacher is willing to adapt and help their students, these sorts of challenges shouldn't arise or, at the very least, can be quickly resolved.

I had to learn HTML coding in middle school for a similar website creating project, and you would not believe the relief I felt when I realized Weebly didn't ask you to code a thing. That was the greatest part of this project. I honestly enjoyed completing it, beyond the fact that I didn't have to use HTML, for a variety of reasons - like being forced (note the sarcasm) to look through hours of comics to find the perfect ones... then spending a couple more hours on there to make sure they really were perfect. I also enjoyed doing it because I always imagined myself as the type of teacher that told their class information and if they weren't paying attention and missed it, tough luck. However, I could genuinely see myself having a class page as a teacher. There are some things I would change before then though, such as adding a password to certain pages private - like the homework blog where students are posting comments - to make sure people of dubious backgrounds aren't looking through it.

http://syeme2040.weebly.com/

I can see the uses in Diigo - the easy connectivity between students and teachers, the simplicity of group work, and the ease of its use for most. A teacher can create a class group and post articles that students need to read before the next class. In a group research project, group members can post what they've found, already annotated, for the other members to read over. As a teacher, I could have my own collection of relevant information that can be quickly referenced to double check information or share with the class. However, I don't believe it will be something I use often. As a math teacher, there aren't a lot of articles and the like that I could send a student that would be understandable to them in its raw form, and Diigo does not have a math annotation feature.

Blog #6

The school site I looked at was Palm Bay Magnet High schools. They have sites for every one of their classes, even those that have multiple classes on the same material each have their own site. This site is for one of the AP US government class consisting of 11th and 12th graders. Publically, the site has all of the homeworks, bell works, and powerpoints presented in class. There are also some links that are helpful to students and a calendar of due dates. As I went to this school, I know that when you log in you can see grades and more specific class and calendar information.
http://www.edline.net/pages/Palm_Bay_High_School/Classes/1617_21064205JV27

As a teacher, I definitely plan on having a class website that can be multipurpose. For example, Weebly has the option to add a password to your entire website or certain passwords to certain pages. I plan on having my own page, with its own password, as a part of the site where I can log on from any computer and access my lesson plans, any documents I plan on handing out or referring to in class, or enter my grades. By having this easy accessibility I remove a lot of the hassle of carrying around papers, organizing files on my computer, and carrying around a flash drive. Not only that but if I made a page with personal passwords for each of my students, I could post grades for them and their parents to check at any time with personalized comments on assignment.


All of the technologies in the sandbox can be used in the classroom, some directly and some you have to be more creative with. An example of something that can be used as is would be the SmartBoard. Many textbooks have interactive programs to be used with the board, so a math teacher can flip through the pages of the textbook on the SmartBoard and underline things, add notes in the margins, and solve problems by hand all at the same time. An example of a technology that may need to be thought in the more abstract is the 3D printer. While it may not seem entirely applicable, due to its flexibility it can definitely be useful. To continue the math example, there are a series of mathematical concepts that are provable conceptually but difficult to understand in reality, such as the möbius strip or the umbilic torus. With a 3D printer, a math teacher could prove these concepts on paper then print out and show their students these objects to better grasp the reality of it.

Blog #5

I believe that, though the podcast supported it, Twitter is not the best Web 2.0 technology to be used in the classroom. I agree that, as the podcast said, it is useful for keeping up to date and contacting people. However, the question of privacy is a very big one when it comes to minors. A Web 2.0 tool that I definitely support is Prezi. Most of you students will have to create presentations in the future, be it in higher education or in the workplace, and Prezi is a great way to make creative and interactive presentations that stand out from the typical MS Powerpoint presentation.

Something that I will definitely use when teaching is Google. This can come in a variety of forms, from the knowledgeable and peer-reviewed Scholar to the interactivity and ease of Google Drive, Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Google Scholar has been known to have advanced and current research in all of the pedagogical areas, from neuroscience to music theory. Meanwhile - Google Drive, Docs, Slides, and Sheets are all easily accessible to multiple people at once, making group projects painless as well as allow you to reopen your work from any device to allow you to easily switch computers. I would willingly assign my students a group project presentation reviewing any article that interests them from Scholar.

I believe online learning, in general, will become a very big part of education. From the rising popularity of MOOC to state mandated online classes to learning tutorials on YouTube, many students have taken to the ease of learning online. It allows students to find a variety of different teaching methods on the same subject until they arrive at the one that works best for them. As an educator, this could possibly be used by putting together an archive of helpful tutorials and pages to supplement each lesson and help students with homework.

Blog #4

I've never been a fan of Twitter, mostly due to the content that people put on there and the fact that it becomes public knowledge. When I first found out that I was going to have to regularly tweet, I expected it to be like pulling nails. I am glad to state that it has not been nearly that painful. I've enjoyed interacting with the students in the class, it was even though the #2040FSU tag that I got my idea for my ILP. I am concerned about using it as a future educator, Whilst it is a good way to keep parents up to date, it is also difficult to maintain student privacy in such a case.

The digital divide does not necessarily have to affect student success in schools. If the entire school is in a similar situation, such as a rural school, then the lack of internet and computers is established and technology related assignments are not expected. However, if there is a socio-economic divide within the school leading to some students having technology and some not, then the students without technology would definitively suffer. In either of these situations, as a teacher, I would do my best to provide accessible technology to any and all of my students without access. An example of this would be opening the computer lab for 30 minutes before and after school, as well as longer deadlines for assignments

It is my hope to teach middle and high school math, thus I will encourage my students to use tutoring and videos, such as Khan Academy, at home to enhance their lessons and help with homework. Not only that but it is my hope to make my classes interactive, instead of the traditional lecture, so I hope to include quiz games, like quizizz, and interactive lessons, like IXL. It is my hope that by including fun and interactive methods, my students will be much more willing to learn a traditionally boring subject like math. Not only that but in my lessons themselves, I imagine I will be using excel a lot to create graphics of what I am demonstrating.

ILP "Design" - InfoGraphic

When I was in high school I had to do a project on the effects of politics on pop culture in a timeline. I  enjoyed this project so much that, if given the opportunity, I would assign this project to my students as well. I made this InfoGraphic using one of Venngage's timeline features. I put in an interactive youtube video with my song of choice, uploaded creative commons images relating to the issues discussed, and adjusted the spacing to fit my information. This is not a complete timeline but was made to be more of a guideline for the students on one of the many possibilities of this project. 

https://infograph.venngage.com/p/227119/we-didnt-start-the-fire

Blog #3

The ELA technology standards I feel most prepared to teach with my existing knowledge are the "producing" standards due to the fact that I produce a much greater variety of media in an educational context than I have consumed. Most of the media I consume is either for entertainment or in scientific journal form. Thus, I'm not as confident about teaching the "consuming" standards, particularly the ones involving analysis, like section 5 of RL.7  “Multimedia:” Literature. However some of the "consuming" standards, such as RST.7  “Multimedia:” Science/Technical Subjects and RHST.7  “Multimedia:” History/Social Studies, I am more accustomed to and don't believe I'll have any problems with.
 
I intend to be working primarily with high school students in the math area. This means that we will be working with particularly advanced concepts that can often be abstract. Thus a lot of the software and applications that they will be working with will be visual to explain those abstract ideas in concrete graphs, symbols, images, etc. An example of this is using the graphing functions of JMP to demonstrate applied statistics in pictograph form. Something I will need to particularly address with my students is cheating and plagiarism. Due to the very nature of the programs, students will be invited to create their own hypothetical data then draw conclusions about the analysis of it. Many of my students will be inclined to collaborate on both their data and their analysis, defeating the purpose of thinking critically about math analysis.

I'd never worked with the column function of MS Word before and didn't quite know how to use it at first, but I found it very useful once I got used to it. The ability to create newsletters is very useful to a teacher due to the fact that keeping parents updated about what is happening in their class is very important. However, I am particularly proud of the fact that I managed to address both the parents and the students in my newsletter as, while keeping parents informed is important, so is giving your students a heads up of what is coming. In the future, I would like to use more graphics though.

Blog #2

In my own personal experience, I have done a lot of assignments using MS Word. I've done anything and everything in the spectrum, from pamphlets on made up countries to ISEF research papers. I think the reason most people consider MS Word so useful is because of its versatility and the variety of things that can be done with it. Many of my teachers have used MS Word to type up rubrics and assignment sheets. Some of the more up to date teachers have also used it to add notes and edits to our papers from within MS Word.

Almost every assignment in higher level education requires that students do outside research and have sources. As soon as you introduce this new element, you also introduce the question of what is yours and what is the sources. In my opinion, you should always automatically cite and remove any doubts of copyright even if you don't think you have. As a teacher, I think the best way to deal with these concepts is to stay on top of the laws using the http://www.creativecommons.org and http://www.copyright.gov sites and always cite to set an example for the students. As far as copyrighting your own work as a teacher, I find the concept conflicting. Education, and improvements to it, should be accessible to all. However, I also understand wanting to protect your hard work. For students copyrighting their materials, that is entirely up to them, but should they choose to, I would do my utmost to help them.

We live in a time and place where technology is seen everywhere, but that isn't true for everyone. There isn't always wifi in rural areas or computers in low SES areas. Thus one problem with implementing technology is that not everyone can go home to work on an online assignment. If you are going to give an assignment that requires computer use, you should also give in-class and after-school time for your students to work on it. Cyber-bullying is another major issue but is very difficult to control. The internet and anonymity go hand in hand and with anonymity comes the opportunity to insult and offend without consequence. With older students, I feel that the best way to limit it is to show them the possible consequences of their actions, such as the Amanda Todd video. With younger students, I would recommend talking about how such comments directed at them would make them feel. If I ever caught my students cyber-bullying someone, I would have them reprimanded in the same manner that they would have been if caught physically bullying. The final issue would be ensuring the privacy of my students. Anything they did in my classroom online would be tagged with a unique student ID instead of their names, this way I know who they are but the rest of the world does not. Any in-class computer usage should also be constantly and closely monitored to ensure that the students are not going outside the bounds of what is permissible in school.

My Twitter

https://twitter.com/SyEME2040

Blog #1

Teachers are often influenced by their own students to use technology in an attempt to meet the most recent generation in their current state of technological immersion in a manner that best enhances their learning. Meanwhile, students are often influenced by their own accustomation with technology in their daily life to use it in as many settings as possible, including educationally. The two are often directly linked, though, by the intention of enhancing learning. Students all have different learning styles, diverse forms of intelligence, and most importantly varied needs. By implementing technology teachers can target students' specific necessities with targeted educational technology programs.

Reading the ISTE standards for students, something that really cheered me up was in section 3 part b where they specifically state that the information must be used ethically. In recent times, information has not been subject to much ethics, particularly following this political cycle, so the specific emphasis on it gives me hope for an eventual change to our media. Something I believe I will have particular issues with is in the ISTE standards for teachers section 3 part a where they mention applying your knowledge and skills to new technology. Knowing how quickly technology can change and evolve, the concept of keeping on top of that is massively daunting.

A digital native is a person that has grown up surrounded by technology and often can't remember a time without the use of computers while digital immigrants are those that observed technology evolve and had to eventually adapted to utilize it. The difference between the use of technology of the two lies in the purpose of technology. Natives tend to see it as a part of their daily life and often take advantage of its accessibility. Immigrants see technology as a manner of improving their way of life and are often fearful of breaking it and as such seek structure in its use instead of just toying with it as most natives do. This has affected my learning in the fact that whenever immigrant teachers have problems with technology, the lessons tend to grind to a halt at the teachers hesitancy to proceed until a native student helps them. As I stated in the paragraph before, I fear I will be unable to keep up with the rapidly evolving technology and become one of those teachers that needs help from her students to operate the technology necessary to move on with the lesson.

Blog #0

I went to a Science, Technology, and Math Magnet school that had a corresponding Mac desktop or laptop per student in the program. While we did not use them much in certain classes - such as math and history, they were active parts of the science and research classes available. Thus began my career in 20 page papers.... Regardless of this, I'm not a big fan of technology; I don't use social media and the most of my internet activity is for educational purposes. And YouTube, so much YouTube.

Having had technology be an active part of my education, I know how much of an aid it can be in class. However, most of my use of it was exceedingly tedious and uninspiring. I would really like to learn how to incorporate technology into learning in a way that can be equally fun and educational for the students, in order to have them want to learn.

My learning style was Reflective, Intuitive, Verbal, and Global. While I certainly agree with the Verbal and Global scores as they are things I have observed from myself before, I find the Reflective and Intuitive results to be counter-intuitive. Reflective learners tend to think about things before acting upon them while Intuitive learners work fast and innovate, thus putting them together in the same learner doesn't seem very logical. How is one to think about a problem beforehand while innovating in the middle of it?