Post #6

I googled “school website class page” and chose one of the first few links that brought me to Stevenson School’s online site. It is a PK-8 school. On this school’s website there are sub-sections for parents and students. The parent section includes an FAQ link, forms, schedules, emergency procedures, grades, payment methods, parent-teacher conference scheduling, and many other sources of information a parent would like to access for/about their child. The student section includes a link to the bookstore, class login, grades, the school newspaper, school policies, and activities. Many of these categories overlap between the student and parent sections because they are valuable for both.

http://www.stevensonschool.org/community/parents/classPK8/index.aspx

In my own classroom I will use technology to make all tasks more efficient. Contacting parents will be much easier using email than sending physical newsletters and notes home with the students. Communication with parents is key to keeping students on top of assignments and homework. I will also have a class website/blog to keep my students updated on upcoming assignments, current lessons and slides, and homework help links. The students will be able to communicate with each other and with me about all things class related, and it will of course be monitored for inappropriate content by myself.

I think this assignment is really useful for any person, not just educators. Resource evaluation is necessary for all topics because it is important to know if your source is credible and accurate before you rely on its information as true. I liked that we were able to create our own categories, but the ones listed in your example were all critical to evaluations. In order to teach something to your students you must make sure it is fully credible, accurate, and current so you do not give them false information. Next time I would be a little more specific in each question asked, and make sure I included a couple more questions per category.

http://millerhayden95.pbworks.com/w/page/105413355/Blank%20Evaluation%20Form

Post #5

Web 1.0 technologies are no longer useful in the classroom because they only have static content. Web 2.0 technologies are more sophisticated, and allow users to interact and share with each other. YouTube is a really useful Web 2.0 technology because it can be used to show students visual content related to the current topic. YouTube houses videos from countless different topics. Teachers can find and share videos for any type of lesson, and for every age level. A computer, internet connection, and projector equipment are necessary to be able to show the entire class the content.

Diigo is an extremely useful Web 2.0 technology that can easily be incorporated into the classroom. I had not heard of it until listening to the podcast for this lesson. The instructor can have their students all make accounts on the site. Diigo is a social bookmarking and annotation tool. It can be used to share resources found online. Students can collectively take notes directly on an article. Students (and teachers) can all post on an article individually with questions and comments. This can be used to foster conversation between students and the teacher. It is a great resource for the classroom, I would use it for grades 6 and up.

https://www.diigo.com/

I really enjoyed this concept mapping assignment. I have never used a software that creates maps and charts. I found it really easy to use, and definitely applicable to the classroom setting. A study guide shouldn’t have a word for word description of the topic, but rather an outline for easy reading. A flow chart is perfect for legibility and memorization. Quick facts are easier to remember than paragraphs of information, and my study guide would be a good resource for my students to study with. If I were to improve my submission, I would include more images to make it more visually appealing. 

Post #4

I chose standard SC.5.E.5.3, distinguish among the following objects of the Solar System -- Sun, planets, moons, asteroids, comets -- and identify Earth's position in it. My resource is a quiz game about the solar system, located on NASA’s website. It asks questions about all the different objects in the solar system, so it would be good to use in the classroom. I could have the students pair up to work on the quiz game together. It would keep the students entertained as well as learning the standard. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/games/levelfive/KC_Solar_System.html#.Vr88TfkrLIV

I usually use the FSU online library to do my research for classes. Now that I know about google scholar it will be easier to find good peer reviewed articles. Before I would simply google my topic and search for articles, and I would never really know if the articles were peer reviewed or acceptable for use in my school assignments. Now I have a much more efficient way to search for and cite my sources. I also now acquire smarter searching skills that will allow me to find articles relating to my topic much quicker and easier.

This web hunt assignment taught me all of the ways to conduct a better google search. Before I always simply type in what I want to search for, word for word. Now I have the power to make my searches much more specific, therefore saving time and energy searching for the right article. Using the + and – really helps narrow the search results to everything relevant to my topic. The quotation marks around string can also help retrieve better search results. I used them around names and certain phrases. It surprised me how different search results could be with slight modifications to what I searched. 

Post #3

I feel comfortable with most of the ELA standards. I am an ICT major so I have been working with these technologies for years, but this class is really helping me understand how to use these technology skills in a classroom setting. Multimedia literature is one I’m the most comfortable with. This is the incorporation of graphics, videos, and audio into the text to facilitate a better understanding of the information. I am quite knowledgeable in the science and technology subjects, but I could use a better understanding of language arts and history.

In my own classroom I hope to incorporate a lot of different technologies into the lessons. One would be the Smart Board because it’s a great tool to add interest to the information and keep the students engaged. I would definitely have my students use Microsoft word and PowerPoint for assignments and creating presentations. I would use google plus to keep in contact with all my students. I would have a Google + community for each class, for students to post questions and share any course related information. The students must be well informed on digital citizenship in order to communicate effectively on these online platforms. Everything posted will be monitored by me, and cannot ever be inappropriate or offensive. This can be used with grades middle school and up.

I really enjoyed the newsletter assignment. Before completing it, I would have always thought of a take home parent newsletter in a physical form. With all of the technology we possess in this age it would be much simpler and more effective to either email all of the parents this newsletter, or even set up a class blog that the students and parents could have access to. This would allow me to include an email link to my personal email, and provide links to any other information related to the class. MY assignment would have been more detailed if this was in an actual classroom setting because I would have real content for a real class.