The Story

Out of the skills we have learned this semester, I am most excited to use my Excel and survey skills as a teacher. With the data collection tools that we learned in class, I already knew a little bit about surveys and Qualtrics because I had made some in the past. What was the most interesting, however, was the way that it interacted with Excel. I had no idea that a CSV file was translated into a spreadsheet, and I was even more surprised and grateful to learn about the different formula functions that I could do with the data. Specifically, I think that being able to find averages and percents will be the most helpful for me as a teacher, and I will not have to input it by hand. For example, I plan to teach the second grade, so I could create surveys for parents to fill out about the level of difficulty of the homework, how they feel the year is going, etc., and then move the data to excel t...

For my design ILP, I chose to create a class in Class Dojo. I wanted to work on this website because in a classroom that I observe, the teacher uses Dojo every day. It looked like a vital tool, so I wanted to get acquainted with the website and all the features it encompasses. For the purpose of this project, I dabbled with the point system, the group system, and the class "tweets," which I think will really help increase and streamline parent-teacher communication. Overall, this ILP let me get familiar with the tools of Class Dojo, and I am positive that I will use it in my career as a teacher. My VoiceThread Link can be found here . My Class Dojo can be found here ; however, you can only see the class when I am logged in (if you would like to see it, comment your email, and I can add you as a co-teacher!). Here is a screenshot instead! Disclaimer: I am sick, so my voice is really scratchy!

I created a five question survey about the days of the week. It can be found here . This survey is a mix of multiple choice questions and fill in the blank. Thank you for taking the time to fill it out!

The flipped classroom is exactly what it sounds like: a classroom that is completely backwards. In a flipped classroom, the learning is at home. Students get instructional resources where they learn new information. For example, the resources might be an interactive lesson plan, a video from the teacher, or a written lecture. The students do the learning at home, and then they come to school for reinforcement with worksheets, games, and other methods that help to reinforce information and smooth out any misconceptions of the information. Therefore, where a traditional classroom has students learning in school and practicing their skills at home, the students now are flipping that method with learning at home and practicing at school.  Open educational resources are resources that teachers can use, usually found on the internet. With OERs, teachers can take information from other lesson pl...

Diigo has shown me how internet collaboration can be streamlined to be more effective than ever before. With Diigo, I now know how to annotate texts thoroughly and build upon other people's annotations. Also, Diigo has shown me how to share a resource with others that isn't out of the blue; the tags and descriptions show why that text is important, which is vital for effective collaboration. In my classroom, I can see my students using Diigo as part of a group project with one group working together to annotate something and then me, as the teacher, going in and evaluating whether they got the main point and most important details from their work. With my team members, I can easily use Diigo to share resources that I think are relevant, and vice versa, so that we can build upon each other's resources to be the most effective teacher we can be. Finally, In my individual professional efforts, I can use Diigo for professional development by tagging what sources go with whic...

With Twitter, my experiences are getting more and more positive and effective as the semester has moved on. I keep retweeting and commenting on posts from popular education sites, and some of them have actually responded, saying that they are happy someone in school is following what they are saying and how they hope that I continue to follow their tweets. With this interaction, I felt like Twitter was more than just a classroom assignment; I am actually networking with other educators, so I hope that this experience will be effective so much that it will help me with my career later on. Furthermore, using Twitter has taught me how to network in unusual places. I was not expecting to ever get a response from these famous accounts, but by them responding to me, I have learned that networking can happen where we least expect it. I've even gotten into contact with the principal of Hillsborough High School, a school in my c...

For teacher websites, I looked at FSUS, a school that I am currently observing. With the second grade classes, I noticed that they all have an "About the Teacher" tab that is available to everyone. On this site, it includes the teacher's history both in their K12 education and their career. For the teacher I am observing, Mrs. Wilson, she was in the military for a couple of years, and then came back and got her degree at Flagler College. She has been at FSUS for the past seven years. Also, all of the websites had a class schedule. I'm assuming this information is given for parents so that they know where and what their kids are doing during the school day. Finally, in multiple class websites there are tabs for upcoming events such as field trips, book fairs, and there are links for newsletters and curriculum so that teachers can stay up to date with their child's education.  In my future as an...

For my project, I did a Lynda.com course on Keynote for Educators. It went through why teachers should use Keynote if they have an IOS product, like I do, and how to use action buttons for an interactive tool. Also, it went over how to use Keynote for a flipped classroom, or teaching outside classroom hours and reinforcing activities during class time, with the feature of being able to record yourself over slides to create a short video. Finally, the video went over how students can use Keynote, with using it to assess students through presentations or having them create a flipped classroom lesson themselves. Overall, this course taught me some features Keynote that I can use on my laptop as a future educator and why it is an effective educational tool. The VoiceThread summary can be found here .

Initially, Diigo seems like the best resource for collaboration and research. When learning how to save the social bookmarking website in class, I was surprised that there were different groups that you could share information with. Knowing that Diigo is a good tool to use, I am excited for future assignments, both in class and out, that require collaboration on different websites. Also, I like how it keeps track of who has commented and when people post the same website. It keeps an organization level that is really appealing, so I will definitely use it more often. Furthermore, I am especially intrigued by the feature that allows you to annotate  the resources that you have found. I am looking forward to this feature because in my past experiences of researching, it can be very hard to remember what every source you read was about, so I had annotations everywhere within my computer. All in all, I like t...

With these first few weeks of using Twitter, especially it being the first time I have ever had a twitter account, I can honestly say that I am enjoying all the information that is available to me. I have followed many, many educators that have first-hand experience with their teaching classrooms, and politicians who are very informed with educational policy. I am learning about different aspects of my chosen profession that I didn't even knew existed. Mostly, I have been interacting with Vicki Davis, a woman who has her own blog called "Cool Cat Teacher." I haven't had direct interaction with her, but I have retweeted some of her things because they are just so insightful. For example, she blogged about the idea of being childlike instead of childish, which was very interesting to me because I had never tried to separate the two ideas before, but she gave an excellent description and used her experiences in the classroom to help her case. Also, she tweets about oth...

For a second grade class, I feel most prepared for standard LAFS.2.L.3.4. This standard states that technology must be known for finding the meaning of unknown words; in a sense, it is the knowing how to use technology as a dictionary. Furthermore, this standard also ensures that students know how to change words from their root, but that they also know it is still, essentially, the same word. I feel very prepared for this standard because ever sense technology was implemented into my elementary classroom, this is something that my peers and I have been doing for a very long time. I can easily give my students the resources they need to use the internet as both a dictionary and thesaurus and give them practice worksheets of looking up words, defining them, and finding root words. Another standard that I feel comfortable with is standard LAFS.2.W.2.6. This standard uses digital ...

As a student, Word was heavily focused on for learning how to use it in my technology classes. When I was younger, I would use it to print out pictures or practice paragraphs. As I grew up, Word grew up with me by becoming more accessible, more technologically advanced, and provided more tools to create more than just an essay document. I have used Word to write papers, to create activity sheets, to make flyers, and to make checklists. Moreover, I have seen my teachers use word mostly to create tests and quizzes. Word allows an educator to keep a very organized structure, and teachers can change a part of the document with ease, so most of my teachers have used Word as the go-to software. Also, my earlier teachers used Word to create worksheets for the elementary class setting. Again, the software supports a structured document, and it is relatively easy to use. Being the editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook, I ran into a lot of copyright issues when trying to add graphics to p...

For ISTE standard four, Innovative Designer, I focused on resources that will help with the brainstorming process, a key element in innovation. I found this website, Stormboard , that allows students and teachers to collaborate on ideas. It is free for educators, and through the educator it is also free for students. I think that this website will help students be Innovative Designers because it creates an easy atmosphere for students to put ideas down, and the class can look at the thought process as a whole and comment on each others work with ideas of their own. Furthermore, I think that this tool would be ideal in a high school setting because it does require an email and is a little advanced, but other grades could use it if the teacher thinks it fits into the class.

Using technology in the classroom is becoming more of a norm as the years continue on. As technology becomes more accessible to the common citizen, I believe that its availability influences teachers and students to use it in the classroom. Students are learning how to use a vital tool that will help them in whatever career path they choose, and teachers can use it to make the content more interesting for students and hold their attention for longer periods of time. Also, technology can fill gaps that teachers may have. Students always have questions that teachers do not know the answer to, and technology makes answers to those questions easy to come by. The ISTE standards for students and teachers are very realistic when relating it back to today's society. The standards are reachable for both groups, but they're not too easy to achieve. Each standard provokes thought and desire in people to want to absorb all that technology can teach them. Specifically, I find the teacher ...

My name is Elizabeth, and yes, I use my whole whopping name. Who I am begins with my name; I am someone who always goes full out, who sticks with projects until the very end, and who always will persevere until I am happy with the results just like my name. I am a first year at Florida State University, majoring in Elementary Education. I have always wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl, setting my stuffed animals up and teaching them what I learned in school that day. So, being here is somewhat of a dream come true. Also, I have danced pre-professional ballet for sixteen years, but what I love to do now is curl up in my hammock and read a good, jaw-dropping book. As far as educational technology goes, I am pretty well versed with the standard Microsoft software, but I thrived in high school with using InDesign and Photoshop while being a member of the school's yearbook. I have a knack for creating flyers and posters, and it is one of my joys to be able to do so. W...