Blog Journal #9

 When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit the U.S., I, as well as many other students, were mandated to stay home and adapt to emergent remote learning. This hit me hard because I excelled when I was in person, and thought I would not be able to do the same at home. However, I learned to adapt to this new situation and I did my best to not fall behind on my academics. I liked being able to stay in the comfort of my home while I experienced distance learning. However, it also felt like I was locked up inside my house at times. Looking back, I'm glad I had this experience because it showed me to persevere through this unprecedented event and I am thankful that no one in my family was fatally affected by it. As a teacher, something I will do for distance learners is to check in with their academics, mental health, and whatever else they may need.

I see OER as a resource which a student can use to gain knowledge about a topic/subject. It is free and any educator can add information so more people can learn. However, I think the information might not always be accurate because anyone can edit it and they might add something that is false. An OER source I found is cK12, this resource is composed of subjects such as science, math, social studies, photography, and much more. I find it informational because it is like a tutoring center for Kinder to 12th grade. https://www.ck12.org/student/

Two new skills I acquired was learning how to record my voice to go along with lessons and how to link text/action buttons to slides. In my Assignment 4, it was new hearing my voice go along with the recordings. In my Assignment 5, it was so much fun creating a jeopardy game, especially because it was based on something I really love. Overall, I had a lot of fun working on both projects and I learned a lot of new skills that I will implement in projects later on in my academic and future career. 

Blog Journal #8

 As I have learned, there are multiple pieces of technology which can be used to assist diverse learners. I believe it is very important to incorporate this into the classroom and to ensure all learners get the same quality of education. As I learned from a previous class, it's pertinent to establish equity in the classroom, and assistive technology is one of the many ways an instructor can "level the playing field". As a future educator, I can implement this into my classroom by ensuring all my students have the adequate tools to succeed in my class, and the outside world. I would also schedule check-ins to guarantee my students success. 

Before this class, I had never used Diigo. At first, I was confused on how to navigate the site, because I had never done it before. However, after using it for some time, I find it helpful to bookmark sites, putting post-it notes, and linking it to my group. I've warmed up to using Diigo, which is nice because I did not think I would be accustomed to it. In my future class, I will try to implement this when I do discussions with my students so they can all participate and understand their peers ideas.

As technology evolves with time, the users of it can take advantage of it to make their lives easier and more effective. As a future educator, I understand I will have to evolve to keep up with technology in my classroom. As I read Jennifer Gonzalez's blog, I saw two new applications that really intrigued me. The first is called AhaSlides, which is making any presentation interactive and appealing to the users. It allows the students to interact with their teachers lesson by using their phones or devices. The second one was called TalkingPoints. This application allows for teachers and parents to message each other and communicate past their language barrier. For example, the teacher can send a message in English and the parents can respond in Spanish. Then, when the messages are sent, they are translated into the recipients preferred language.

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/6-ed-tech-tools-to-try-in-2023/

Blog Journal #7

When I was searching for teacher pages, I did not see many examples. Looking back at my high school, I also don't remember about my teachers mentioning they had their own website. When I found a teacher's web page, I saw an introduction to themselves, their contact information, classroom wish list, and other important links. Something I also noticed this teacher had on their page was a photo album which was nice to include! The link to this web page is: https://www.materacademybay.com/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1374589&type=u

As a future educator, I will keep in mind what technology might or might not be available to my students. I understand not every student's family can have enough to buy their student an iPad or laptop. However, I will make sure they are able to access tools they need for their education. In the future, I want to integrate Google such as Google calendar so all students can easily see important events. Another application I want to integrate into my classroom is Zoom, I want parents and students to easily be able to hop into a meeting and express questions or concerns.

A new skill I learn from working on the Web Design assignment was how to create a website on my own. At first, the idea seemed daunting because I had never done it before. Something I did not like about the assignment was how when I would link something to my website, the text would turn white instead of staying black or perhaps blue. In my future career, I now know how to create a website. I believe if I am to go into a marketing job, I will have the basic skills to create a website. The link to my website is https://msbriannas.weebly.com

Blog Post #6

 Using Diigo was a little confusing at first. The overall format of bookmarking and navigating the website took a while to get used to because its visual appearance. It looks like a website that might have been used in the 2000's which is why I wasn't accustomed to it! However, after using it, I was able to work through the website better than before.

I like the blogging assignments so far. It's nice to be able to express myself based on the prompts and I also enjoy browsing through my classmates posts as well. It's nice to see what others are thinking in the class and it can be used as a way to connect with people virtually, if someone has social anxiety. Although I do not physically interact with a lot of my classmates, I find it nice to see a small glimpse of them through these posts :)

An interesting Web 2.0 tool I might use when teaching is TikTok. I know it is very popular with adolescents, teens, adults, and even older individuals. Personally, I have seen myself learning new things on tiktok such as advice, self-care, education, hacks, study tips, etc. I have also seen tiktok accounts that are based on teaching their users education lessons such as studying for the SAT/ACT, college applications, lessons on subjects such as math or science, and much more. An account I can recall that is similar to this is user @mathlove.rre on Tiktok. This creator shows math tutorials in short clips, from all grade levels. Another positive attributte about this account is that their videos are short and to the point, many times when a student searches up a math YouTube video, the teacher takes what seems to be forever to get to what they're going to teach the audience. By using tiktok, this creator cuts that out completely and holds the attention of the user - something YouTube videos and also teachers can struggle with. The link to their account on TikTok is https://www.tiktok.com/@mathlove.rre?_t=8aACF75pqaE&_r=1

Blog Journal #5

I haven't been interacting with a lot of people, but I have been following back people that are also in EME 2040! I really like Twitter to see what current events are going on in the world. Another thing I like about Twitter is being able to connect with others on a social platform. I think Twitter will help me out in the future to make connections with others and see what my associates are up to. I also see it as a unformal social interaction, maybe it will allow me to make friends in the future.

I think the digital divide causes students who come from a poorer school district to not learn as efficiently as those who come from a school district with more resources. In return, it can result in one student being more academically advanced than another. It can also cause a less fortunate student to feel less than another who might be seen as better and cause imposter syndrome. I might experience this if I teach in a school that has less resources than the others which surround it. If this does happen to me, I know I will have to adapt my classroom strategies to try to level the playing field.

Working on Canvas was a little odd while I was doing Assignment 2. I'm not used to being in a group on Canvas and communicating with my group peers through this application. Someone from my group made a GroupMe which was helpful. I didn't like how I wasn't accustomed to using Canvas as a way to collaborate with others, I'm used to making a group on iMessage or GroupMe to communicate with others. With my future students, I will use Canvas to send announcements and also put their assignments online in case they miss a day from school. In addition to this, I think I will also invite their parents to a GroupMe so I can keep them updating on things that are going on in class.

Blog Journal #4

 The Florida Computer Science Standard I chose was Standard 1: Communication and collaboration. The benchmark code is SC.K2.CS-CC. 1.2. The goal for this standard is for students to understand how to communicate with teachers and their peers through applications such as email or text messages. I feel like I can implement this standard based on what I already know. I find it very simple to send one of my professors an email to communicate with them and I frequently text my friends as well which is why I feel confident in my abilities.

When I went to the CPALMS website, I chose the grade level kinder. From here, I went to the English Language Arts and chose the benchmark ELA.K.S.1.2. In this benchmark, there were several lesson plans about using stories to show students how to learn the separate parts of a story/book such as the illustrator, author, beginning, middle, and end. I think I could use these resources as a guide when creating my own activity for my students. For example, I could take the short story “The Bad Egg” and use it to teach my students the separate components of a book and teach them about the chronological order of the story.

I believe it’s important to know how to browse the web as an educator because there are vast resources which a teacher can use and implement into their classroom. For example, a teacher can use a website for educators to get an idea of a future lesson plan or use the help of a website to aid their students who need extra help. Out of all the internet searching skills we were introduced; I think the one I will use more frequently is being specific with what I search for. I understand that when Google interprets a word, it can see it as two completely different things. Due to this, I will be more particular with what I’m searching for. An internet skill I use sometimes is reverse image search. When I don’t know where a picture is from or what it is, I go to reverse image search and upload the photo. From there, it shows me where it is originally from if it can find it online!

Blog Journal #3

I see copyright as a way for a person to protect their property so someone else can't take credit for their work. In my eyes, fair use is being able to use something that is copyrighted as long as it passes the following standards: the purpose/character is educational, transformative, the nature of the work is factual, the amount of work is only a little, and the effect it can have when published will not harm the original creator of the copyrighted work. When dealing with these regulations, I will make sure to see what I can and cannot use in my classroom. I will also inform my students to make sure they understand the regulations as well.

An issue I see in the classroom and in myself is decreased productivity. A solution to this issue is to remind the student why their education is important and why it is crucial they try their best in all their submitted work. Another issue I've seen in the classroom is academic dishonesty. A solution to this can be to study properly to ensure the student knows the material well and to think about the effect it can have on the student if they are punished for it (academic probation).

When I was working on the newsletter assignment, I realized that making a newsletter takes a lot more work than one realizes. To improve my newsletter for the future, I will try to spend less time to make it but keep the quality of work because I feel like I spent a long time working on it. To be a more efficient teacher, I can learn how to use Word more effectively and spend less time on working on a newsletter. In my future career, I will be able to use Word to make a creative design for wherever I work. I think this will be useful because if I need to make a flyer or announcement on paper for my job, I will be able to do it!

Link to my Newsletter Assignment: https://fsu-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/bg22d_fsu_edu/ESV7KT3HjQ1BmGmwvCz_uQUBdZI3h3GgDRJFJew-mvtSsA?e=jx64qJ