Digital Text

A blog can be similar to a digital news paper, in the sense that each day there can be different articles to read, past articles can be archived on the site, articles are dated so that readers know exactly when the posting happened, and it is not only a site for personal information. A Wiki can be thought of as more of an encyclopedia. People can access the history of changes that have been made on the Wiki, each time a page is created, an archived version of the page is also saved, and you can view who made the changes to the Wiki.

When a novice technological learner is working on a computer, the fewer the clicks the individual needs to make the better. Something that has far fewer clicks will likely be ingrained as a skill of the learner as opposed to something that has many clicks. Clicks matter!

Some browsers work better with blogs than others do. For example, Firefox and Google Chrome work well with blogs, and browsers like Internet Explorer are not as intuitive and sufficient for blogs.

The site: WordPress is, in my opinion, a far better site than Blogger. You can read others' blogs, favorite them to come back to, reblog them on your page, and search for a variety of blogs as well as post for yourself. It is more of a social media site; however, I think the benefits are great. I would consider using this in my classroom for students who want to research some of the mathematical concepts we are learning about that other people have posted information for.

Google Sites is a site that allows you to create your own website. You have the ability to add in a variety of different characteristics other than text, although I do not think it is the most intuitive and visually appealing site for a finished product. I would be more apt to use Weebly because its use is simplistic and aesthetically applealing. I would not use Google Sites, however, I would use Weebly in my classroom to either create my own website for them, or have them create an informational website for me about the content we are learning.

K12 Online Conference is a very cool site used by educators to communicate about new fronts made in the technological frontier. They stress the ultimate goal is that teachers are going to need to become more familliar with technology to better accommodate for their students--and they have it correct. I would certaily use this when I am a teacher because I always want to be up to date with the newest and most effective technology.

Show and Tell

A digital portfolio is a great resource for students to put together their information into a polished and accessible document. There are two really good, and free, sources that will allow you to create and upload a digital portfolio. They are Wikispaces and Google Sites. Most importantly, both sites are free, and students can use their one-to-one laptop ratio to work on their portfolios when they have time. I could have students continuously creating artifacts that will go into their portfolio throughout the term. At the end I could have them synthesize it into something that they could keep with them forever. It would be such a great way of showing all of their knowledge.

I learned that Facebook has the option to create a teacher page that can be used educationally. This would be a very powerful tool for students who are now living in the digital world and most all have a Facebook. The only problem is that there will be some students who do not have a Facebook, and I will need to make other accommodations for them which would be no problem. I could definitely see myself creating a teacher page on Facebook when I am a teacher to post assignments, articles, cool pictures, and videos. We know that students are going to be using it at home, so we might as well try and reach them where we know they will be.

Hosting a Digital Open House at least once a year is a great way to have students show not only their parents what they have completed, but the community and their peers. If the entire school gets a good understanding of the importance of technology in the classroom and how students can create a portfolio, students can really show all that they have accomplished. I will consider proposing this to my school that I work for because it really would be a great opportunity for the school to open their doors to the students' family, friends, as well as the community to view the progress of the students. Also, it will mean a lot to the students to show off what they have learned for the year and take it with them for later years.

Images

I learned that for PowerPoint presentations I should rely heavily on images rather than text. I should have a good understanding of the information--enough so that I can just look at a picture and know what I wanted to discuss on the slide. This goes along with teacher preparedness. This will be useful in my classroom because it will make presentations come alive if I am not reading off of the slide, or have too many words on it.

When putting images into presentations, to keep them proportional, press on the control button before grabbing the corner of the image. This will keep the dimensions of the image relative to when it gets re-sized. This is important because it will prevent the image from becoming distorted, thus keeping it more crisp and not pixelated. I could use this in my future classroom because when I make presentations and have graphics such as graphs or real life application pictures, I will want them to be as crisp and clear as possible, so this useful hint will assist with that.

It is crucial to always save the image's URL that you save, specifically the website that it came from. This is important so you can access the image at a later date, as well as the fact that you will need it for any work cited page or bibliography. Simply using the Google Image link will not do. It is essential to get the website that it actually came from! I will use this in my future classroom because my students will need to cite any pictures that they use for my projects, and I will need to do the same.

Wylio is a great resource to use when looking for images that are free to use and share. This saves some time instead of going to Google Images, going to the advanced search, and then selecting the search stipulation: "Free to use and share." With Wylio, I can just use the search box to find images immediately that I can use. I do not like the fact that they want you to agree to Wylio having access to your email, and that you need to be signed in to Google to use it.

Gimp is an awesome photo editing tool that I wish I would have discovered earlier! It is basically Photoshop, but free. It is going to take a little while to get acclimated with, although it is 10x better than the standard Paint that comes on Windows. I cannot wait to start working with more pictures and fiddling around with them.

Final Fires Reflection

Fires in the Classroom is a good resource for teachers because it gives students' perspectives of what teachers do and what they like. Especially for our practicum class, who are still in the developing process, it is helpful because we have not necessarily had a lot of opportunities to experience different encounters with students. Hearing from the students in the book is beneficial so we can start putting things together.

I feel like I have remained relatively consistent with my feelings throughout the course. After reading my blog posts, I still feel confident with what I wrote down. I am still learning and reflecting about things that I can do in my classroom. Making the classroom management kit will help me to continue my growth in classroom techniques.

Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Classroom

I am a firm believer that math should relate to the real world and that students should never ask when they will use it. Students need to get out of their seats and see how this math will be used!

To get students interested in math I will use a lot of real life exercises and try my best to get them outside. If they can visualize how something works and then bring it back to the classroom it will be so much more powerful than me presenting it on the board. I also want to connect my lessons to their other classes. My senior year of high school I was amazed how all of my classes related, and it was so cool; it made me more interested in learning the material.

Chapter 9: When Things go Wrong

As a future educator, reading this quote makes me want to do a little something for each and every student. "Students who don't feel noticed at school have a powerful temptation to stop going, especially if they think they can manage to pass their courses anyway" (pg. 165).

We need to make school seem interesting and important for students. We can do this by trying to relate to each student. By giving positive reinforcement to the student who rarely does something correct, it can give them motivation to do better, and give them a reason to stay in school. Keeping school interesting is important for some students who are on the verge of skipping. Reading this quote really reminds me of "Freedom Writers" and how Ms. Gruwell changed the culture of the classroom and made students interested in school.

Chapter 8: Teaching Teenagers who are still Learning English

On page 154, I disagree, for the most part, with the comment, " Don't worry about a noisy classroom--we need to talk!" This is acceptable sometimes, and other times inappropriate. It can be distracting to certain students while at the same time be productive to others--it is a tough situation to manage.

For teenagers who are still learning English they are going to want to talk a lot to their peers. There are sometimes when it is acceptable, although having a noisy classroom can be very distracting depending on the situation. If it is during a lesson, I do not want a noisy classroom. It is acceptable to have some students whispering as long as it is relevant to the lesson. Other times, such as class work time, may be an acceptable time to have a "noisy classroom" depending on what they are talking about and that it isn't bothering people.