#7 My Website!

          Americans With Disabilities Act is a law that makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone with a disability, and provides help for these people. Adaptive technology helps people with physical and learning disabilities use computer equipment and technology more effectively.
          People with physical disabilities don't know how to read, see a regular monitor, type, use mouse, etc. There are input and output alternatives to help students with physical disabilities learn how to navigate technology.
          Examples of alternative input devices are voice recognition, customizable keyboards, and joysticks, etc. while examples of alternative output devices are a magnified screen, braille printers, have someone read the text to these students, screen readers, etc.
          Students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia can have spell checkers or speech recognition software to help them better cope with technology. Computer based organizers also help them succeed in the classroom.
          Computer based learning isn't inheritable for all students.  Left to right screen layouts need to be obtained, as well as certain color schemes due to students who are colorblind, or have other types of learning disabilities. Teachers need to make learning materials easier to use for all students by following certain tips that they can find online.
          I do not know anybody personally who has had to use these adaptive technologies, and I have not had to use these technologies as well. I do work with a lot of kids back home who have autism, but they have never needed/used these adaptive technologies. There are definitely some challenges that teachers will come across while working with this adaptive technology.
          One challenge is the training not just the teachers need to master these adaptive technologies, but the students as well. It takes a great deal of time and effort to learn how to master these technologies, and it is not easy by any means. Also the tech staff at your school needs to learn how to use these technologies as well, in case they break or need updates or there is an issue that the teacher cannot solve.
          Another challenge is choosing which adaptive technology best fits your students that need them. There are so many options out there, and the teacher needs to be in contact with parents, doctors, school psychologists, etc. in order to pick the best technology for the disabled student to use. One last challenge is collaboration between students in the classroom who are disabled versus students who are not.
         If a teacher assigns a project, and the  disabled student is put in a group with a bunch of average students, it is going to be hard for them to work together because of the fact t hat they have different technological devices to use. This also could lead to bullying and other social issues in younger grades that could negatively impact the student with a disability.
         To add to that, not every computer in the school will be programmed with the software that disabled students need in order to use a computer effectively. This should be an easy fix for the school, as long as they are willing to download and purchase the software need for the disabled students to effectively use the computers.
          The web page design was something very cool, that I had a lot of fun creating. It definitely had its ups and down, but overall it taught me so much. It taught me how to think like a teacher, along with being organized and putting my data together in a way that is easy to understand, looks nice, and is organized. Most importantly it helped me deliver important information to my potential classroom of students. I liked the calendar feature.
          Tockify is a great calendar app that's easy to read for younger students as well as for parents. Also being able to supply links for resources to review and practice the curriculum on a website for my students gives them access to work 24/7, which is something that I value and think is really important in my classroom. I also learned how to use proper fonts for titles and proper fonts for actual articles. All sans fonts should be titles, while sans serif fonts should be used for the actual description or article you are writing.
          There's nothing that I disliked about the website creation process, however it was just frustrating at first learning how to navigate it and insert everything that I wanted to put in the website. As a future teacher, a classroom website is an important part to my teaching, and this taught me how to organize and create one that is not only easy for my student to understand and navigate, but for the parents as well.
          If there was anything I could imporve with my website for next time, it would be to figure out how to add and use more of the applications Weebly has to offer. Overall, I am really happy with how may website came out! Here is my website link and a screenshot of the "About Me" page!


My Website!

Teacher Productivity Tools through Diigo

           Through this activity, I learned that teacher productivity tools are very unique, efficient, and effective ways for teachers to plan out/create their everyday responsibilities in a very organized fashion. They can either do this individually, or collaborate with other teachers in their personal learning network. Teachers have so many incredible productivity tools at their disposal to help enhance the business aspect of teaching.

ILP #1

          For my first independent learning project, I chose to use Prezi for the first time to design a future presentation I would give to my students, 3rd graders in this case. My topic covers the CPALMS standard SS.3.A.1.1. (analyzing primary and secondary sources). Here is the link to my presentation!

Prezi

#6 Throwback Thursday & Wishing I had my own Tech Sandbox

          I decided for this blog post that I would go back to my old school district's website (Plainview Old Bethpage Central School District). Every single teacher that works in my school district in NY has a teacher website, where all students can access information needed to do well in the classroom, such as a course calendar, homework calendar, review sheets, educational websites, etc.
          Some teachers rely on this website more than others, meaning that some have taken a lot of time to develop and make a great website for their students to use to help them succeed academically, while other teachers have a blank page because they choose to wither use a different source of technology, or none at all to connect with their student throughout the school year.
          So I decided to click on my 7th grade math teacher's website. When you first open it, it welcomes all of her students as well as the parents of her students. She then has  different tabs for each class period that she teaches, because of the fact that they are learning different topics, or some classes may be ahead of others, or the fact that some are advanced classes and others are not.
          After you click on the period your class is, there is another link that takes you to that specific class website, which is actually on Schoolnotes 2.0 The only thing I can see without signing in is the homework log as well as the most recent worksheet that was worked on in class.
          You have access to much more if you sign in and are subscribed to the teachers page, such as the ability to contact the teacher, reviews for exams and quizzes, notes, etc.
Below is the link to my teacher's Schoolnotes 2.0 account, but we are only able to view a very small amount of content, as well as a screenshot of the Schoolmates 2.0 homepage.
Teacher page

          Professional development terms are used to describe lifelong learning teachers engage in. Life is always changing, and teachers need to adapt to that. Technology has changed this due to the fact that the traditional ways to develop teachers are becoming outdated. Traditional ways to develop teachers are when teachers attended conferences, meetings or classes to further sharpen their skills. 

          Now, those are still available, however developing teachers is available over online conferences, as well as building networks of teachers over social media. Teachers can bring peers and experts together at the click of a button with blogs, webinar, Diigo and Twitter. Blogs allow teachers to share their experiences of teaching to other teachers, creating a network. 

          New teachers can learn from these blogs by reading them to prepare for what life is like to become a teacher, as well as get ideas for classroom strategies, such as classroom management or new technologies to use in the classroom. Webinars focus on using software and hardware, such as ISTE webinar. these are free or at a very small fee. 

          Diigo is a social bookmarking tool to form groups with other teachers to share and comment on articles or blogs, as well as annotate on these resources. Twitter helps teachers follow professionals or educational pages to help them get ideas for their classrooms. 

          Teachers can also develop really large networks and contact professionals immediately to help them out with daily teaching issues, trying out new strategies, etc. Technology continues to develop allowing education to be refined in a very positive way for all teachers to use. 

          As a teacher, I plan on being apart of a network of teachers who have blogs, Twitters, Diigos, etc. to help me get through my first few years as a teacher, so I am aware of what to expect and I know how to approach certain scenarios. It would also be very important to me to be able to ask questions to a network of teachers regarding my specific encounters in the classroom that I need help finding the best possible solution to.

          As a teacher, there are many technology sources I can use to accomplish my professional responsibilities more efficiently and effectively. One type of source that I will definitely be using are presentation softwares. 

          These will help me to organize and enhance the delivery of my information when I am teaching a lesson, trying to run an activity, trying to get my students involved and engaged, etc. Presentations have always been effective when I was a student trying to learn material, so therefore I am going to attempt to use the newer types of presentation technology to create fun and engaging presentations for my students. 

          Presentations will help me organize my materials more efficiently and effectively, also allowing me to make my lesson plans more efficiently and effectively. Another type of technology I can use is word processing. Word processing will allow me to create handouts, rubrics, tables, etc. to help me become organized an get work done at a very fast and effective rate. 

          Word processing will also help me to create newsletters, permission slips, letters home to parents, etc. at very efficient rates, to make simple tasks not harder than they should be to complete. Both of these tools are great tools that I will also introduce my students to and highly encourage them to use. 

          The technology sandbox was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. So much of the most current up to date technology in one room is absolutely incredible. It just makes your mind spin a mile a minute when you think about which one of those amazing tools would suit my needs as a teacher the best. One that I 100% want to have in my classroom and know that I will have in my classroom is a SmartBoard. 

          I have been using these ever since I was in middle school, and I know that they still can be amazing tools to use in the classroom. What I didn't know it can do, however, was supply me with thousands of interactive presentations created by other teachers using the most advanced technology. I will totally take advantage of these presentations to help my students experience the most technologically advanced way of learning, while having fun doing it. 

          SmartBoards are also a great tool to help students review for exams, as well as get shy students involved. Every student loves to come up to the board and fill in the blank or write out the math solution. Another technology from the tech sandbox I will use in my classroom is the 3D printing, pending if I end up becoming a special education teacher. 

          I can use this printer to create products with braille, or objects that make it easier for students with disabilities to learn and understand concepts. On top of that, if i work with younger students, I will make sure that I create items to help the class learn concepts. If i want to teach younger students numbers, i can create numbers with the 3D printer and have the students play games with them. 

          The more they are involved and interact with me as the teacher, the more fun than will have and the easier it will be for them to learn. Honestly, I wish as a teacher I will be supplied with a large budget so I can purchase the entire tech sandbox, I would love all of the items in my future classroom!

Diigo #2

          During this activity, I learned that annotating an article through Diigo helps other teachers in your personal learning networks to understand the main idea of important articles that they can use to help better improve their teaching skills in the classroom. Annotating is also a great way to have teachers collaborate and create new ideas for the classroom with one another. This is definitely a unique feature that I can see myself using as a future teacher.

#5 The Technology of The Future

          The Web is an important teacher planning tool. There are 2 different generations of the web. Web 1.0 delivers static content to all of its users. Web 2.0 is more sophisticated and allows people to interact and communicate with each other on social media. Examples of Web 2.0 can be blogs, YouTube, etc. Many people use these tools, but teachers can use Web 2.0 in many effective ways in the classroom.
          Teachers can use YouTube to locate videos for educational purposes, or class blogs to keep everyone active in passive ways. There are 4 main Web 2.0 tools that teachers can use to enhance education for students. They are blogs, Wikis, Twitter, and Diigo. Blogs are student publishing platforms, allowing students to showcase their work.
          There are student safe blog sites in which the teacher can regulate who can see the blogs and who can comment, protecting the students' safety. Wikis engage students in collaborative writing or help them to develop a collaborative knowledge basis. With a Twitter account, students can follow authors, scientists, and other educational related pages or people.
          They can also reach out to the source and directly contact them, if they have any questions or want to know more information regarding that person and/or organization.  Diigo is a social bookmarking tool that can be used to share resources found online with other students or teachers in the classrooms. They can comment and ask questions right on the article.
          I feel that all of these tools are very useful for teaching, especially something like Diigo. Diigo not only requires collaboration within students and teachers, but it is a great way for students to team up and work together, helping each other succeed. Diigo creates a personal learning network, which I think is super important to establish once students are in appropriate grade levels to be using personal learning networks to help them enhance tier learning.
          However, Web 2.0 does bring up safety concerns. To keep students safe, teachers can use classroom accounts for all interactions that are teacher controlled/monitored. Having teachers monitor content and using password protected sites will also protect student safety. Interactive 2.0 tools can be regularly integrated in class as long as the teachers take part in extensive research to find websites with safety regulations.
          There are many interesting Web 2.0 tools out there for my disposal. As a future teacher, there are so many that can help me in the future to further elevate my teaching abilities. One Web 2.0 tool that I find very interesting that I will use when teaching is Teacher Planet. Teacher Planet makes lesson plan templates, as well as lesson plan worksheets that can be downloaded, and once filled in with your lesson, can be easily emailed/distributed to not only your teachers, but parents as well so they can stay on top of what their children are currently learning in class.
           I think this is a great resource, because not only does it keep teachers organized and allow them to format their presentations and worksheets and notes in ways that they want, but it also allows for parents and students to easily receive this information. Parents love to be involved, so this gives them that feeling of involvement, and this allows students to have an extra copy of notes and lessons so they can study at home with their parents.
          This tool also allows for teachers to electronically keep track of their grade books, creates rubrics for projects/essays teachers want to assign, and also helps create certificate to give to students based off of high level performance. Overall, this tool is an amazing Web 2.0 tool that I intend to seriously look into when I become a teacher. (http://www.teacherplanet.com)
          There are many technological advancements that have promise in the educational world. Some will go farther than others, and some will be proven more useful than others but with the advancement of technology comes new technological advancements in the field of education. Personally, I believe that certain technological advancements are more promising for certain grade levels than others.
          With that being said, I believe that Gamification has the most promise in the future of the educational world. Gamification is taking educational games, and adding new advanced elements to them. These elements increase motivation and interactivity, creativity, and allows students to more deeply understand curriculum. In a world where the attention span of children is drastically decreasing, and not only that but the fact that young toddlers are currently being introduced to technology, these advanced educational games is the perfect fit.
          Instead of students texting, tweeting, etc. all day long, swap out there phone for a device that is locked and only contains access to these educational games. Plan out your day as a teacher so that there are small periods of time where the students are taking notes learning, then turning to these tablets containing only Gamification  games.
          These games can be used to assess students instead of paper exams, be a good source of extra credit, great study tools, or even great ways to increase student participation in kids that are particularly shy, don't like to speak, but have no problem typing on this tablet to communicate.
          The example in the textbook that really warmed my heart was the World Peace Game, where 4th graders had to play a multilevel board game with their classmates in which students represent different countries and have to achieve world peace despite conflicting views, without military intervention.
          It's innovations like these that will bring teaching to a new level, making school exciting and fun for students to learn, and allowing students to want to engage in the curriculum they once thought was so boring that they could barely stay awake. There's not a doubt in my mind that Gamification is the next big thing in the teaching industry, and this will go as far as teachers allow it too. This product can and will revolutionize the way teachers teach.

Diigo Activity

         
          Through the Diigo activity, I learned about all the different types of academic software in a much more engaging way. Being able to look at other websites that are different types of academic software that my classmates have found allows me to expand on my knowledge regarding the different types of academic software and how beneficial they can be in the classroom.

Ecourse Review

       
            The content I learned in this Ecourse is very important to me currently as a student. This taught me easier ways to communicate with a group for a project. This Ecourse also taught me how to use new softwares and features that I have never even heard of before taking this course.
          Most importantly, in my opinion, I have learned how and where to find project management tools, to keep me on task with big or small projects. In my future career as a teacher, project management skills will be crucial, as well as being able to have video meetings with my colleagues to ask for advice or with my team members in order to coordinate schedules and testing for the students. I didn't have any ah ha moments during this course, but I did find it very interesting, informative, and helpful.
          When it came to the design, conceptually, it flowed perfectly, going from one topic to the next and they all were relevant to each other. I did encounter technical difficulties while using this. One of the lectures would not allow me to pause, causing me to have to rush on my notes for that section and it stressed me out.
          The graphic design was great and very organized. I also though that the activities were very helpful and were great reviews to see what we have learned from that lecture. Overall, the Ecourse was very useful, however I would much rather have a teacher in class teaching me.

#4 Twitter, Digital Divide, software usage

          When I first started using Twitter, I had my doubts. Coming from someone who has never used Twitter before, I felt it was unnecessary and something that I would not enjoy. However, after finally starting to use Twitter for the first time, I am actually really enjoying myself. Twitter has helped me interact with my classmates, which is something I think is really important.
          It's allowing me to communicate with my classmates in order to understand assignments whenever I am confused, educational websites that interest me are going straight to my Twitter feed, allowing me to have the ability to directly see everything that is of my interest from that particular website, and I also have the ability to interact with my professor on Twitter as well.
          Twitter has truly helped me make a small network with people who are trying to achieve the same goals as me, and  that is something that has been helping me since the first day I got a Twitter. In my future career, Twitter can help me to find a network of other teachers, as well as follow pages that have advice for teachers.
          In addition to that, I can follow my colleagues and we can continue to funds other people or pages that will help us become more successful in my career. The more people I meet, the great my network can become as a teacher, and that is very important to me. Twitter can also be used by my future students. I would help them create their own personal networks with each other, deepening on the age of my future students.
          The Digital Divide discusses the gap between people who have access to technology and people who do not have access to technology. Not everyone has computers, phones, or access to these things. Educational impact creates disparity among students. Students who have digital access at home are able to be more successful then students without digital access at home or ones that need to go to a library to access technology.
          Students who have technology at home are able to succeed in the classroom academically a lot more than students who do not have technology access at home. In areas where technology is scarce, teachers do not assign many projects, homework, etc. that require  technology.  The Digital Divide affects society because students with technology are able not only be  prepared  for using technology for a job setting or college setting, but have already mastered technology before they get to that point in their lives.
          On the other hand, students who do not have technology will have difficulties learning, and it will hinder their effects to be successful in the workforce as well as college. These people will need to receive more training or even take classes to master technology in order to have a successful career. More jobs are increasingly dependent on technology.
          Teachers should be sensitive to issues regarding this the Digital Divide. If students don't have access to technology, teachers should not assign homework or out of class projects that require technology. Teachers need to help develop student confidence in the classroom while technology is readily available and able to be used by the students who are not capable of using technology at hone because they do not have technology. For these students, the classroom is the only time they have to learn, become accustom to, and master technology.
          As a teacher in the future, I will have to modify my teaching strategies so that I will be able to accommodate the students who do not have access to technology and students who do have access do technology at the same time. I will provide my classroom with a class set of tablets so they will be able to learn how to navigate and hopefully master technology.
          For the students who don't have any access to technology, I will allow them to take their tablets home as well so they can use them as their new only source of technology. In addition to this, I would also provide additional lessons to the students who don't have access to technology at home in order to teach them how to master important technological skills that they will need not only in the classroom, but for college as well as their future careers.
          Assuming that I will be a 10th grade English teacher, there are certain student softwares that I will use more than others, because certain softwares are more valuable to me as a High School English teacher than others. The student softwares I would expect to use the most are Reference softwares and Academic softwares.
          Reference softwares provide resources in a digital form that are available for anyone to use online. As an English teacher, these types of software are crucial for making sure that students use the correct grammar, spelling, as well as the most advanced vocabulary possible when writing journal entries, papers, projects, etc. The types of reference softwares I would have my students use are dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, grammar tools, etc.
          Academic softwares are created for the sole intention of developing and promoting learning. These softwares are very valuable to teaching my students. These will help my students find research as well as research papers, to help them write research papers, or other essays requiring research that are required to be written in a high school English class.
          These will also teach my students how to master searching databases, that way they have the abilities to look at databases and know how to operate them for college and for their professional careers, if it is necessary for their careers. Academic databases are an example of this type of software, and I will spend a lot of time teaching my students how to master this software.
          It is a skill that is necessary for professional life, not just high school, so I want to make sure that my students master this skill, and never forget how to use it. I can also use drill and practice softwares to help my students practice exercises regarding grammar and reading comprehension, helping them gear for the SAT/ACT.
          On the other hand, one software that I will not use at all/ use the least to teach my students is educational games. Educational games software puts instructional content into a gem like simulation/ game like format. In a 10th grade English class, the importance of educational games really declines.
          Had I been teaching a math, science, or social studies class, then I would consider the possibility of using these softwares. Even if I was in a younger English class, I would consider using this type of software for vocabulary games. But because of the fact that a 10th grade English class focuses more on essays and research paper, there really is no value in me teaching my students with educational games software.