Scenario

Throughout this semester I have learned multiple things about myself as an educator.  To begin, I have discovered my strengths as an educator.  These include my ability to be patient with the students, also I am a highly prepared educator who takes the time to think about all sorts of different scenarios that my lesson plans may encounter.  These personal attributes have helped me to discover who I want to become in the next 3-5 years.  I have thought about this and in 3-5 years I want to be an educator who implements the 21 Century Skills in my classroom.  This means that I will be following the standards given in the image below. 

These standards focus mainly on implementing real world situations into your classroom to help keep your students involved and interested.  I plan to get here by staying up on my technology education and understanding different tools that are out there for educators.  It is important for me to keep up with the technological world. This way I will be well equipped when I enter the educational world and will be able to teach my colleagues so our school can be as up to date as possible.  If I was to come across an application or website that I could not figure out how to manipulate, then I would begin searching for video tutorials on how to work the application or site on youtube. Youtube usually will have a tutorial and if this did not, I would continue to search the web until I came across a tutorial of some sort.  Technology can impact a classroom in multiple ways.  First, the applications and resources on the web help students stay interactive with their learning as well as it keeps them excited and interested in learning.  With technology, educators are able to implement multiple new lessons to create a more exciting learning environment.  Also, technology is beneficial because it can help students with disabilities.  The ways that this helps is there are resources out there (specifically on the Mac) that allow the written words to be read to the student who has trouble reading.  This way the students can hear the words and learn how to read just by following what the computer is saying and reading along.  Along the same lines, technology helps to teach to all learning types.  On the internet one can find lesson plans that are directed towards every learning type from the kinesthetic learners to the visual.  In my own education technology was not really a part of it until late high school and college.  We had time for computer lab in elementary school but we did not do too much on them.  In high school though I learned all about the Mac because I was on the Yearbook. Here I fell in love and learned so much and figured out how simple everything is with technology if you just take the time to understand it.  This course has helped me see how much there is out there for educators and how it really impacts the effectiveness of an educator when they understand technology.  In my future school I will make it my personal duty to try and influence my peers to use more technology by having them observe my classroom where we will be using the internet on all of the subjects.  This way they will see how valuable the computer or Ipad is to the classroom.  My students could then go into other classrooms and help the other students with learning the new technology.  This way all of the students could be interacting positively and productively.  From here I am confident that the technology bug would get spread around quickly until the entire school was excited about learning more about technology.  Some specific tools that I am highly confident in using are Wix, and animoto.
These two websites can be used in a multitude of manners in the classroom.  First, my students could each create their own websites to hold all of their student work so that when they go home and their parents ask what they did today, they will not say "nothing" because it will all be on the internet to show! Also, the homework excuse that they forgot to take it home would be completely eliminated because I would post their homework online so each student would be able to know exactly where their work was.  Next I would implement animoto into my classroom by beginning my subjects with a quick slide show demonstrating what we were about to learn.  Also, this tool would be a grand way to get student work and assess them in a new way.  I could have the students research a president or a historical topic and do an animoto to demonstrate what they learned.  There is just so much that students can do when they explore technology. So teachers must begin the search for helpful tools.  I know that I will continue to explore and write about my findings. 

My Wow Moment

Well to begin, ignore the three video on the post before this, some how the video just wanted to be there three times and I could not stop it. 
But regardless of that, here is my WOW moment.  I would have to say that my Wow moment was when I found Wix.  Before I found it I was confused and not understanding the google sites.  I was getting down on myself because I wanted to get a good grade in the class, so I thought that it was just me being not technologically savvy.  But it turned out that I was not the only one, so I when I heard about Wix, I knew that I needed to immediately test it out for myself.  And I have never looked back.  Wix allows the creator to do anything they want.  It is easy to understand plus if you ever have any questions Wix is right there with step-by-step instructions on video to ensure that you success.  Plus, wix allows your sites to look professionally done.  What more could someone want! This site allowed me to realize that I can be very successful with technology if I just take the time to explore all sort of options and find what works for me, and if I ever have questions there are most likely video tutorials on how to overcome any obstacle. 

Podcast Favorites

Throughout the semester, i have listened to multiple Podcasts.  In these podcasts, I learned so much about the free online resources out there for educators, as well as interesting tools that my computer has already that I had no clue about.  My favorite Podcast duo is I would have to say The Tech Chicks.  These two have a Podcast show that is absolutely filled with wonderful hints, tips and tools for educators.  I learned so many things about the online resources from these two.  Some of my favorite websites from them would have to be the little bird tales website.  Here the students are allowed to create their own stories by uploading their own images, and text.  From there, the next step is to record the student's own voice so they are telling their own stories.  Then lastly, the students get to email their stories out to their friends and family.  HOW COOL!  But I must say that the coolest thing I discovered while listening to the different Podcasts was The John Lennon Bus

The Lennon Bus is a bus that is a mobile recording studio.  This bus travels from city to city and school to school to find students with musical abilities.  These students then get to create and write and record their own song.  It was such an inspiring video that made me so excited.  When I was in high school I would have absolutely loved this, and it makes me happy to know that there are students out there who are getting to display their talents to the world through this wonderful opportunity. 

Semester Favorites

This semester we have created fantastic websites and learned about so many different FREE helpful tools and resources.  After reviewing the journey that I have taken in Education Technology, I found that there are two distinct tools that I have found myself using over and over again. I also have found myself using these tools in multiple different areas including my Core Teaching Course as well as just for fun.  The first tool is called WIX.  This is a website where anyone can crate their own website from scratch.  I have become completely obsessed with Wix, mostly because I had absolutely no idea how to create a website before this class.  I began this course using google sites but it was too complicated for me, so I took it upon myself to go searching for some different website creators.  Luckily, in class the next week Cyndi Danner-Kuhn (our teacher) told us about some options that she had found.  One she discussed was Wix.  From there, I was highly interested so I went home and began working with the website.  I quickly found how easy it was to manipulate the site.   Wix allows the user to have complete control over their site.  I was able to put images and text anywhere and I could insert images and videos with no difficulty.  From here I realized how simple website creating is and how you just need to know the beginnings, and from there it is a breeze discovering how to do anything from there.  Plus, Wix has a fantastic feature that is incredibly helpful.  Instead of having directions written out, the Wix creators have put all of their directions into videos.  The videos show you exactly step by step how to do anything when creating your website.  These step-by-step videos were a life saver.
The next website I became utterly obsessed with is animoto.  Here the creator is able to create fantastic slideshows that take about 5 min. to create from start to finish.  

At this website I created multiple slideshows to give a visual representation of my life.  Here is one of my own creations about my life.  Taylor's Life in a Nut Shell.
At this website, I was able to create simple yet powerful slide shows that help me give visuals to my lesson plans.  The beauty about this site is it is yet again a FREE resource.  But, this only allows you to create 30 second slide shows.  The great thing is that for educators, the website has discounts so that the teachers can use this resource at a lower cost and still receive all of the benefits of the resource.  This feature is such a blessing for teachers, because this way we will be able to use this website with our students and we could create an entire lesson plan including these slide shows. 
All in all, these two resources have been my all time favorites because they are so simple to manipulate and they are FREE!!

Challenge Based Learning Reflection

Drunk Driving on Prezi

This is my groups Prezi Presentation on Drunk Driving.  This Project was highly emotional because two girls in my group had family who had been affected by Drunk Driving.  One group member even had a sister become paralyzed due to the accident when she was 18.   This was such a deep experience that affected the entire room. This was an interesting project because we all learned something by researching these topics and by watching the presentations.  This was an important project that helped all students understand important topics like texting while driving as well as recycling plastic bottles.  This project was helpful to understand challenge based projects.  This was a challenge for each of us and it is important to remember to challenge your students.   

Podcast Reflection #12 Tech Chicks 0084

In this episode of the Tech Chicks, they discuss a FREE website by the name of littlebirdtales.com.  At this website educators can set up an account for their students.  From here the educators allow the students to create their own creative stories with images and text.  This is more geared for younger students.  There are also only three steps to create a story

From here the students can choose to put their stories in the gallery of public tales or only send them to their friends and family!

Podcast Reflection #11 Tech Chicks 0083

In this episode of the Tech Chicks they discussed four free easy ways to give short online presentations. Here are the four websites they discussed. 

 The First website discussed is bigmarker.com.  Here the educators can do a few different things.  First, you can
learn: browse thousands of conferences.
teach: teach a topic of your passion for free or bill your rate.
advertise: pay others to attend your conference.
interview: screen potential candidates online before interviewing them in person.

The next website discussed is ZipCast.com. This website is on the "cutting edge of technology outpacing the competition in building a multi-cultural national digital advertising network." The website says that it is
-reaching customers where they work, live and play
-lowering cost per CPM
-highly targeted audiences

This is a website that allows the educator to hold conferences online like using a white board in a building.  This website allows one to use multi-user whiteboards, live audio, image collaboration and text and chat.  This website is free for users and it allows everyone to be on the same page with out being in the same place.  This will save time and energy for all users and allow for exciting advances in the conference world. 

At this website called joinme.com an educator can again have a conference while being online in their own homes.  At this website the teachers could stay at home and work with one another's computer screens.  This website has two functions, to share your own screen and join some else screen.  This way multiple people can work on one project.  It is a wonderful way to ensure that a project gets completed if you cannot work together in the same area.   

Podcast #10 Tech Chicks 0082

YOUTUBE PLUS EPISODE!

In this episode of the Tech Chicks they discussed a website entitled embed plus.  This website is a fantastic way to incorporate youtube videos into your classroom.  This way the educators can use the youtube videos in their classroom and to do this the teachers can do a plethora of things.  To begin, the teachers can choose where the video will start and stop.  So if the first 30 seconds are unimportant, the teacher can edit the video to have it begin after the unimportant information.  From there the teacher can add annotations that add information in specific spots.  This way the teacher can add information for the teacher.  From there the teachers can add the videos into their websites with an embed code.  Also, in this website they can delete the comments from the original youtube website so that the student's cannot see the comments.  Another fantastic feature is the feature to zoom in on certain images on the video. 

Podcast Reflection #9 (Salman Khan:Let's use video to reinvent education)

In this podcast found here a man by the name of Salman Khan decided to put a few videos up about math for his cousin so he could help tutor him!  This was a very interesting way to think about tutoring.  In the past, people would sit in a classroom and get frustrated.  Then to make things worse there was always someone standing behind them asking them if they understood when they did not.  So Salman decided to put up more videos to help others who were struggling with calculus.  This way people can find help in the comfort of their own home and they do not need to feel guilty about being behind in class.  
Later on, he discusses how he has flipped the classroom.  At home, he has the students watch his videos and then come to class to do their homework. This way students are able to pause and rewind when they do not understand a topic.  "Teachers have used technology to humanize the classroom"   this means that when the students are in class they are able to communicate with others when they do not understand.  No more is there just a lecturing teacher and note taking students.  Now they can understand the concepts at home, then come to class to put their new learning's to the test.  This way, no child is stuck being confused and frustrated.  Every kid works at their own pace.  No more moving too fast for students. 

Comics in the Classroom

Hello again!  I know it has been an awfully long time since I last posted, so here we are again!  Well a few weeks ago (before Spring Break) we were working on using Comics in the classroom as a way of incorporating different means of teaching to reach different students.  we even got the chance to make our own comics, which is a lot harder than it looks.  So here is what I came up with from the website found here titled ToonDoo
I can see so many different ways that these could be used in a classroom today. Students really can relate to comics because they enjoy reading them on their own time.  So by teaching information in a way that can relate to the students lives is highly influential and successful.

Podcast, Wesite and Blog Mid-Term Critiques

Part 1: Podcast

I evaluated a fellow student's podcast, website and blog in class on Monday and gave the person a lot of feedback on her work.  In their podcast I had a few things to say and add.  First off, it was way too short for the amount of topics discussed.  They needed to go into more depth on the certain websites and resources that they were sharing.  Another thing was we had discussed all of the resources in class already so this podcast was more of a review then an actual resources learning moment.  The images used were also confusing and blurry at times.  I would have added more detail and different resources then the ones gone over in class.

Part 2: Website/Blog
Again, here I evaluated the same student's website and blog and this really helped me get to know what I find important to have on my own website.  It also helped me evaluate my own website.  On the student's that I evaluated, I wish they would have had more exciting images and videos.  It is important to hook your viewers in immediately. To do this one must have interactive images and items that will keep the attention of their viewers. 

Podcast Reflection #8: Podcast364: The ELL Bill of Rights

This podcast was from Moving at the Speed of Creativity, and in this episode he is interviewing Ruslana Westerlund.  She is an advocate for the ELL Bill of Rights and actually has a website in called ELL Bill of Rights.  Here she promotes the equality of students and makes sure that the teachers and students know the rights that are given to ELL students.  For those that do not know, ELL means English language learners.  Ruslana is from the Ukraine and believes firmly in her beliefs and I completely agree with her.  As teachers we need to make sure we are teaching the ELL students as much as possible in a way they can understand.  To promote her website she created t-shirts that she travels with to different conventions throughout the country.  This way she gets the word out about ELL students.  To purchase one visit her website!  

Classroom 2.0 Site Reflection

On this website teachers can connect and post discussion questions.  Another interesting aspect to this site is if a teacher has any kind of educational question they can post it, and within a matter of seconds it will be answered by a colleague from around the world.  This is such a great way to gain perspectives from around the world, and be able to grow as a multicultural educator.  Also, it is a great way to get your question answered quickly.  As of right now there are 53,651 members on this website and more joining everyday.

This site prides itself on being a social media network in education by holding discussions, event notifications and by being able to connect with colleagues going through the same things as you in their own classrooms. 

Edutecher Site Reflection

On this website there are fantastic resources and link to a community of different people who have links as well.  On this site you can click on the links tab and it directs you to a checklist asking you for the grade level you are interested in.  Then from there you can click different subjects ranging from ESL, software and math.  From there is gives you a list of different websites and links you can use to further your research on the topic. A neat feature about the checklist though is that you can click more than one item so you can cross subjects in a lesson plan or in the link they give you.  Another neat feature is that you can share information with colleagues and students by clicking a tap.  From there you can exchange link you find and offer up new ideas.  Lastly, you can download an application for you Mac devices.  Then you can use this website on your laptop, iphone, ipad and ipod.  HOW COOL!
To find this website click here

Podcast Reflection #7: 0003 Tech Chick Tips

In this episode of the Tech Chicks Podcast they discussed a multitude of different topics referring to education.  The first tip they gave was the website called citation machine here teachers and students alike can create citations to put in their bibliographies if they are working on a research paper.  This website it kid friendly and will help them create correct citations.  Also there is an application that allows one to choose APA or MLA format.  This is incredible because depending on the teacher one may prefer one over the other.

The tip of the week from the Tech Chicks was dealing with student safety.  They were discussing students being online and how they should not share their real names or addresses. To ensure this does not happen they said that they told their students to make up a DJ name for their projects and podcasts.  This way they cannot be tracked.  Also, if students post anything online and there is an email slot available have the students use your address as the email.  This way the teacher can be in charge of making sure no one is being inappropriate when contacting the students.  So the teacher is then in charge of distributing out the comments to the students. 
The last bit of information given was directed for the teachers for a get to know me idea.  They posed that the teacher create either a podcast about their life or an ilife movie about your classroom, and home life. Also, for meet the teacher night when parents are invited, bring a camera so you can get photos of the student and parents together.  This way you can have them do family projects with pictures included later on! 

Kan-ed Portal Site Reflection

This is a website for Kansas educators and student's alike.  There are multiple applications for the students that help in a number of ways.  First there is a link titled Heritage Quest, in this like students would be able to conduct true genealogical reports by using this website because it is a free site that helps anyone find their heritage.  Then there is another application that is titled the backpack.  This is a way for teachers to upload homework for the students.  This is a brilliant way to eliminate the student's common excuse of I forgot my homework in my locker...  There is no more excuses when you can download your homework straight from this website then upload your answers to it.  Also, there is a big list of online reference tools for students to use.  This list includes ProQuest and KidsInfoBits.  These sites are paid for by the state and allow students to find information for research at anytime. 
For teachers there are also many links that will be of great use. There is a link called thinkfinity  that works as a lesson planning archive.  This is incredibly helpful for teachers becuase it will spark their imagination to help inspire better lesson plans to keep the students engaged.  Also, there is a link on the site that is labeled "test builder" this link helps teachers create tests as well as allows tests to be tried by different educators in the district.  This is a great way to check for error in your tests to ensure maximum learning.  

Podcast Reflection #6: Podcast340: On Board the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus in Yukon, Oklahoma

This is a Podcast titled "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" created by Wesley Fryer. In this episode he is conducting an interview with a man named Ryan who is a volunteer on the John Lennon Bus. This bus tours the country going from school to school to promote musical talent of the students. When the bus comes to a school they have eight students collaborate and write lyrics and music that show off each child's talents. From there the students get to create their own music video that gets produced on the bus. This portable recording studio has even been used by the Black Eyed Peas and Natasha Beddingfield. This lets me know that this program is worth bringing to your school. It is an impressive program that highlights student's musical talents and hopefully will prove to the nay-sayers that the arts are important. Here is the link to the Lennon Bus

Podcast Reflection #5: 0020 Tech Chick Tips

In this podcast the Tech Chicks discussed a number of websites that will be very beneficial for educators. The first one is titled thinkquest . This is a website that works to inspire students in a competitive nature. Students group together and have an adult or teacher sponsor them and they create a website that works to help teach other students different topics including math, language arts, science and social studies. This is an annual global competition that includes students ranging in ages from 9-19.

This next website is titled litesum.com This is a website that works as a summarizing site for Wikipedia. When you come to the site, you can fill the search bar with anything and it will begin creating a summary for the entire Wikipedia entry. This will be helpful for students who need a quick explanation for a term that they do not understand fully. This site was created by Jake Jarvis while he was a freshman in high school. To find more of his sites go to jakejervis.com

Podcast Reflection #4: Teacher's Podcast Ep. 55

In this podcast, there are multiple people discussing teaching tools that educators can use to better their classrooms and enhance professionalism in the educational realm. In the beginning of this podcast they are discussing an online resource called Voice Thread. This is an online website that allows anyone to publicly publish their presentations. This way other people on the website can comment on your presentation. This is an effective way to get one's editing done by multiple different people. This is a cyber, communication and professional space online!

Their next topic was twitter and the ways they have used it in their professional lives. One of the announcers said she used it while giving a lecture and throughout the lecture she was videotaping it live online. This way, people in the audience, and online were able to pose questions by tweeting at her. It was a really interesting way to pose questions and get more dialogue from the audience and the person giving the lecture. The way she was able to see the tweets was she had a tweet deck displayed on the wall so every tweet that was directed at her was seen by the audience and she was able to answer and comment on them.

Podcast Reflection #3: 0024 Tech Chick Tips

The Tech Chicks are a fantastic duo to follow. They make listening to the technological podcasts interesting because they find interesting links and people to talk to. In this particular podcast they held a discussion with the technology integration specialist from an Ohio School District. This particular interviewee began as a teacher and then ventured out to begin his own website and podcast station. His website is ohiotreasurechest here you can find interactive and engaging websites and links for students. Here there are hands on activities that the students can log on to and do online! After he worked on his website for a while he decided to create a podcast. On it he has a show every two weeks and he presents four gems from his Ohio treasure chest that include math, science, social studies and language arts. Check it out!

Using Avatar's in the classroom

Today in class we discussed the positive effects using Avatars in the classroom can have.  First, they make the student's attention last longer because it is a new way to receive instruction.  Next, students can quickly and easily create their own avatars to add to their own blogs.  This would be a fun way to begin class in the mornings.  When I was in elementary school I remember using journals to begin class everyday.  In this day and age teacher and students are growing in their technological education and using blogs as a way to log student's written work. 
Here is my example of an avatar created with Voxi

Animoto in my Classroom

In class this past week we learned about an incredible tool that is free online.  This tool is called Animoto and it can be accessed here.  At this website one can create professional looking sideshows.  This will help educators in the classroom to keep the student's attention with better looking notes.  Also, this is a new and easy way to involve students in your classroom; a way that one could do this is by assigning a research project to each student.  Then they could find images and text that correlates with their topic and display their discoveries to the class in a new and interesting way.  The website is so easy to navigate that anyone can use it, also for teachers there are discounts if you need to make longer videos.  
Here is an example of my personal animoto

Using Twitter as an Educator

In the beginning of this academic year I was completely uninterested in Twitter.  I had no interest in the website because I believed it to be a silly concept only used by people who needed attention.  I did not gain an interest until a few months ago when many of my peers began using it to communicate in comical ways.  This was the reason that I began my twitter journey.  Since then I have become a twitter fiend.  It has become such an interesting way to communicate with all sorts of people from the people I see everyday to the bright and comical people who just want to make you laugh.  Those are my favorite tweets, the ones that are solely for entertainment.  Another group that I communicate with is the educational group that helps educators find resources by sharing their discoveries on twitter.  This has been a helpful resource when looking for lesson plans or any kind of advise in the field of education. 
Some of the resources that I have found through twitter are as follows:
Slide share this is a website I found on a teacher's twitter.  This website allows anyone to share slide shows, documents and videos over the internet for free!
The next resource I found is November Learning this website hosts multiple different websites to further the technology education for teacher's.
My other favorite resource that I discovered through twitter is cool tools for schools.  This is a Wiki that gives teachers interesting ideas and tools to keep their lesson plans interesting.  This website has everything from music tools to graphing suggestions to make your lessons more accessible.  
There are so many useful websites online for educators and twitter is an effective way to share information.  In order to successfully use twitter one must be willing to do some investigating and locate other educators. Twitter can also successfully be used in a school, in order to do this successfully all of the staff would need to get their tweets sent to their phones.  From there the staff could send important information back and forth.  
My personal twitter can be found here

Fun With Text

Today I decided to tackle some of my assignments and began working on my Wordle.  This is an online program that allows the creator to creatively make a list of words into a work of art.  This program can be used in a variety of ways in a classroom.  The first that came to mind was to present weekly vocabulary words.  This would make a usually boring activity more exciting and interesting. Second, it would be a great way to introduce a new subject; like beginning an english section on Literature.  Here is what you might put on the wordle to excite the students:

I really enjoyed using the Wordle program, and look forward to using it in my future classrooms.  To access this program just click HERE

Reflection #2: CDK's Education Technology

What a plethora of information!  I was instantly drawn to the Resources Wiki link found on the upper right hand corner of Cyndi Danner-Kuhn's website.  I honestly do not know much about Wiki's but I am looking forward to discovering and exploring much over the semester and beyond.

After watching the video on Celebrating Kansas Voices I was moved to want to explore more into the organization.  At the Celebrating Kansas Voices website I found a group of motivated people who are creating such an inspiring oral history for our beautiful state.  This project is in place to document our history in a manner that gives everyone a first-hand feel on the situations.

Watch for yourself!

Reflection #1 Technology Bits, Bytes & Nibbles

After reviewing Cyndi Danner-Kuhn's blog I was incredibly impressed.  I found a multitude of helpful ideas for my future classroom, and my favorite of all was The National Archives that allows anyone to access our Nations precious documents in a new way.  By having these videos on hand will allow the teaching of history to be more accessible to the masses.  

This is just one of the many examples of videos that can be accessed on this impressive playlist of videos.  Also you can access these videos through Itunes Teachers will be able to use these videos when discussing everything from WWII to more local things like their state's history.  

Another article that jumped out at me was the one about Ipads being the Textbook of the Future and how exciting this sounds.  I do not personally own an Ipad yet but when I was purchasing my books for this semester it was clear that the affordable option was the Nook/Kindle/Ipad version of the textbooks. In the Boston news article, D.C. Denison discusses how the Ipad applications can be used to teach entire lessons.  I cannot describe how anxious and excited it makes me to think that I will be entering the educational world at a time when such technological changes are occurring.