educational technology with smooth jazz

I learned about a bunch of new resources including #TagBoard and Ted Talks for Education. I really like #TagBoard because I think it's very important to stay up to date when it comes to education, especially education technology. I learned, through viewing my classmates bookmarks, that everyone is very into the forum format. It's a nicer way to share ideas and respond to your colleagues. Examples include Education Forums, Google Hangouts, and Diigo.

Using Twitter these past weeks has been interesting. It's been really cool seeing my classmates tweets on what they've gotten out of this course so far and I love being able to see their retweets on information about educational technology. Since I am an avid Twitter, it's been hard keeping track of my EME account and remembering to tweet from it. I still don't think I would use Twitter in this setting past this course. Maybe I'll follow some education technology accounts on my actual account that I use daily but I think there needs to be a separation from entertainment and business.  I have made websites in the past for other classes and I am excited to make one for my hypothetical class that I teach. I think the skills that will be different from the other websites I make is that this will have to serve a purpose to inform. I think websites are an excellent way to communicate to your students, parents, and fellow teachers what your class has been up to and what ...

For my first ILP, I decided to do the "Persuading Others" tutorial under the Business/Communication section. This is supposed to help those watching to hone in their persuading skills and how to use them in the workplace to their advantage. Dorie Clark wants to help the audience build credibility when meeting new people. It's a beginner level tutorial and it came with the option to upgrade your profile so you could get the exercise files and use them offline if wanted. I didn't because you had to pay extra past the free trial.                                         It was a very hands on experience, although not as much as I wanted. But then again it was a tutorial based on improving your people skills so the most effective practice would be to go out and actually meet new people. The tutorial gave us Chapter Quizzes after each section and it helped me remember what ...

Mrs. McMahon's 3rd Grade Class Website Contrast The contrast is good. The background is white and you can see the darker font in front of it easily. The blue links stand out against the lighter background and can be found quickly to access. They do not clash with the white background.  Repetition The same font is used throughout the web page. All the external links are blue and the same font, same with the tabs that guide you through the website: same color and font.  Alignment The simple alignment is found in the Quick Links, and also with the body of the post . Same with the tabs: they are aligned and are the same size so they match with each other.  Proximity The link, tabs, and body of the text under each tab are all grouped separately. You can find each separate element easily while being able to distinguish each element from each other. 

I visited Elizabeth Meyer's 5th Grade class website and it was really clean and simple website. Overall, the websites that I visited mostly contained in class updates on what the classroom did that day. Also, the website almost always contained a full about me section where the teacher went into depth about what she does, her background, and her current life status. Ms. Meyer's website shared class updates about what her students were learning, what activities they did, and her plans for the week. As a future educator, I can see myself using blogs, digital calendars, and hopefully iPads in my classroom. I like the idea of students posting discussions on blogs rather than turning in papers so often because I feel that it allows for a greater conversation flow and also for more creativity. Digital calendars seem like a good idea because this way the students and parents can look ahead and see what they missed and also can look ahead and see what the week will look like...

I think that both Diigo and blogs are super useful class resources that I discovered and learned more about in the Web 2.0 podcast. I really like the idea of students doing blogs for class and maybe using it more often than assigned papers. It gives the student an opportunity to be creative and feel like their work is actually being read over and not just checked for grammar and just for a grade. It's more of a conversation at that point. I am also glad I have become more familiar with Diigo because that is a resource I'd like to use more in the future. As a student, you're always asking your friends anyway about what sources they used for a class assignment so now it's all in one spot and you can see what they annotated. This will also be super useful when it comes to group projects and in class assignments. I personally don't like the idea of using Twitter in the classroom just because I see that more as a source for entertainment and I'd like to keep that sep...

     I personally only enjoy using Twitter for entertainment purposes. While I understand that many people tend to use Twitter to spread news and discover whats happening in their news circle, I think there are better ways. In relation to this class, I do like being more connected to the education world because I never really see that side in my social media. If I only used Twitter for business and class purpose, it might be easier to keep up with it. As of right now I use my "fun" twitter every single day, no joke. In my future career, I think it would be helpful to read those big headlines for education because you don't really see the advancements being made in today's news. Its been nice to see that many educators today are using technology in the classroom and its given me ideas on what to do when I am an educator.       The digital divide affects students because it literally divides the students into those who have computer and internet acces...

     When it comes to ELA standards, I feel like I still have a lot to learn and improve when it comes to being able to teach my students. As of right now, I feel like I am prepared enough to teach them about "Vocabulary: Use Context Clues". In high school, because I am a fluent Spanish speaker, I would help and tutor other students for their Spanish classes. Spanish tends to have a lot of similar words or even sometimes use the same words for different definitions so its super important to understand how to use and understand certain words in the context they are given. But I think that "Using Digital Media" needs more practice on my part. It's just hard sometimes incorporating digital media in some presentations and projects that I have to complete.        As of right now, I really like the idea of doing online discussion boards in the classroom and also online learning activities. I have taken three online courses here at FSU and I've always ...