Reflections

I think the Textbook itself was the main thing I disliked about this course. I'm a much more hands-on person so I enjoyed the other assignments that were based around web research. I felt the book was very bland opposed to the videos and modules. I felt that I learned more investing myself in the websites and other web 2.0 tools. I feel like my lack of interest in the textbook made me lose interest in the blog as you can see by the low amount of blog responses.

With that being said, I enjoyed the webpage project the most which restored my feelings on blogs and I have decided to start one this summer based on the philosophy I presented on my webpage. The webpage really offered me an opportunity to reflect upon my work and where to go from here. I feel like it also gave me the opportunity to reaffirm that going into education is what I really want to do, but after the webquest I decided to change what grade I want to teach.

During the Webpage project I had the chance to reconnect with an old teacher and she gave me a few of her websites she works with for her English Honors class at Estero High school. I used Lexile to come up with a list of potential books for my blog and for lesson plans further along in my courses. I also used PBS quite a lot throughout the course. I enjoyed the discussion post but I wish it was on a more interactive forum like maybe Google Hangout. Even though I had the chance to read others opinions once I wrote my post I was onto the next module and the canvas site is sometimes challenging when it comes to discussions so I didn’t really go back and read what others said in response to mine until I went back to reread them for the webpage.

Overall I felt we hit every point that we were supposed to learn this course. I personally would have rather taken this in class to have a more one on one learning experience with Professor Coleman so I could have understood some assignments better. For Example, I had too many questions on the Web quest but I was too embarrassed to ask questions because of all the resources and examples we had. But thank you for answering any and all questions throughout the course you made yourself very available and I wish I had taken more advantage of it.

One of the other sites I really enjoyed was TED talk. I had previously used TED talks for other classes but if you just google TED talk and education you’ll be amazed how many of these speakers talk about education like Bill Gates.This is just one of his lectures. And as he says in the video although he may be a college dropout he can still recognize greatness. It is so important that we show our students that even some of the most financially successful people want students in our classrooms. They want us to offer the best of the best for our students. Take a look at this video that talks about what makes a great teacher.

D. (2012). Bill Gates on Education and Good Teachers. Retrieved May 03, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q80XpChrYSM

Caissie, J. (2016, April 26). Jenniferdcaissie. Retrieved May 03, 2016, from http://jenkc1993.wix.com/jenniferdcaissie

Lexile. (2016). Matching Readers with Texts. Retrieved May 03, 2016, from https://www.lexile.com/

PBS. (2016)Homepage. Retrieved May 03, 2016, from http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/

Digital Post #F

Virtual School, Blended Learning, and Goodreads

I think it’s only fitting to write about virtual school when technically I am in a virtual form of school. I’m currently enrolled in Florida Southwestern but all of my classes are online. While I was in high school a large majority of my peers were in Florida Virtual School in order to make up classes and/or graduate early. Most of the students who had difficult passing classes took a different version called Education 2020 which is essentially a form of blended learning. Senior year that I enrolled in FLVS and Education 2020. Below is a map of the United States and it says as of 2011; 259,928 students are enrolled in some form of Virtual School in Florida. Which makes it the most enrollment of all 50 states.

Virtual School

                In my senior year high school took away honors programs to try to motivate Honors students to either take Advanced Placement classes or Dual Enroll at FSW. This plan back fired for the school because about 30% of honors students dropped out of dual enrollment or AP classes due to difficulty and work load. In my case they put me in a regular English class and I lacked motivation. My advisor suggested I take English 3 Honors through FLVS. My teacher organized the class in such a way that really helped me stay engrossed in learning. She made fun and inventive ways to help me improve my writing. Most of the books in the class I had read already so at first I thought the class would be a joke but after the assignments and her weekly phone calls with my mom and myself it made me really feel like by teacher cared compared to some of my teachers in public school. Granted my virtual school teacher could also teach from anywhere in her PJ's so what teacher wouldn’t be happy as a clam teaching from home or another country?

Blended Learning

                Most students in my high school who were in blended learning were usually who had difficulty in a normal classroom setting or were super seniors. I ran out of academic classes that I felt I could benefit from and I didn’t want to be one of those seniors taking 3 Physical Education classes so my adviser suggested taking E2020 to bring up my GPA. So I took 3 classes in a matter of a month. I wish I had taken E2020 over the summer throughout high school so I could have graduated sooner and graduated with a better GPA.  The class was divided very similar to a regular class but it lacked creativity. You read the chapter, watched a little video, answered a little review and then took a test once you finished every section. It was the most simplistic way to get through the information, but I learned nothing. I just improved my GPA. I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about biology and Algebra which has been made apparent now that I’ve proceeded to take Biology and Algebra in college. So all though blended learning was effective when it came to teaching me enough to get through high school I didn’t take much from the course besides how to write a paper while listening to music. While virtual school I learned how to actually improve my writing and research.

Goodreads

                Interestingly enough I signed up for this site about a year ago to read a Star Wars Novel and never understood the concept of this site. Besides the description in the book I took it upon myself to stop researching sites on my phone. Essentially the site is a form of social media for you to Research books you want to read and review books you have read in order to form a wider form of a book club. Instead of going to your nerd friends about reading Harry Potter series for the 3^rd time you could find a series you are interested based on all the books you’ve ever read and what you liked or disliked about them. My only issue I had with the site is that it has a list of books and where they can be purchase but I’m a cheapskate and I like to find my books in free PDF form online. I would like it more if users could submit PDF files of the books they’ve read so others can read them. Of course this brings up the debate of the price of print. If books are free how to authors receive the money they deserve for the popularity of their series. But the major pro for this site is you could offer recommendations for students if they like the books or stories we read in class. They’ll also be given the opportunity to have their opinion heard by people around the world. 


Attributions
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Good Reads. (n.d.). Goodreads. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from https://www.goodreads.com/

Digital Post #B

One of the first things that caught my attention in Chapter 3 was the table on page 51. You'll notice it breaks down Teacher- Centered Approaches and Student- Centered approaches. As Defined in the Glossary:

Teacher-Centered Teaching: Instructional methods that organize instruction on a teacher decided goals and objectives.

Student- Centered Teaching: Instructional methods that organize academic instruction around student interests and learning progress.

Now that all sounded like mumbo jumbo to me until, I read the table above it. I couldn't scan the image in for my blog but I found this great slide show. On page 4, It divulges more on teacher centered and student centered. I really enjoyed the break down of these chart and it gave me a better understand of the concept.

The other section I enjoyed was the Constructivism page on the modules. Something that I have an extremely difficult time with is construction. It was interesting to find that some people actually benefit from this. I think I need to work on how I take constructive criticism to learn how to give it to my students later on. I think its very important that I pay more attention the criticisms of my elders, employers and teachers to in turn off knowledge that is helpful not hurtful. I learned after my last discussion that although I think my opinion is important it is not academic or resourceful and could be considered hurtful if I do not learn how to construct it in a positive manner like offering academic backing.

The last section I was interested was the section about group work. Group work strikes fear in my heart when a professor even mentions it. There's the cons of everyone's busy lives, a lazy partner, lack of communication, or worse multiple leaders. There's always the pros of there being at least one leader, one organized person, and one creative person. This person may be one person but its important when working on a group project or assigning groups to keep the strengths in mind. Its also extremely important to set deadlines among everyone in the group to keep everyone accountable and on task. Our lives become busy but if we keep deadlines it will allow for everyone's section of the assignment to come together smoothly. I felt it was extremely important that I research this further for when we have our group assignment later in the semester.


Group PRojects by jenkc1993 - ToonDoo - World's fastest way to create cartoons! (2016, February 06). Retrieved February 06, 2016, from http://www.toondoo.com/View.toon?param=9707639

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

T&l lo1. (n.d.). Retrieved February 06, 2016, from http://www.slideshare.net/obepsp/tl-lo1

Digital Blog Post #A

In Chapter one there is a section about tech tools. It goes in depth with each electronic that our students are using or have at some point come in contact with. Throughout this class I’d like to learn new ways to incorporate smart phones and tablets such as iPod touches in my future lesson plans. On January 20, 2016 I sat down and spoke with Jason Caissie of Dunbar High School about some apps and or ideas; Kahoot, Google Classroom, Canvas, Microsoft Office, Learn Key and Online Expert are just a few ways to expand learning on a smart phone or tablet. He then sent me a youtube link which is right below the paragraph to further explain what google classroom is and how it works. From my understanding it is a major tool in the Lee County School District. So if you’ve never heard of this I would check it out. If you’d also like to read the opinions of the students on how they feel about incorporating cellphones click HERE.

Essentially what I’d like to learn and develop further is my Technology based Learning Environment. I feel that my classroom will probably be technology based for two reasons; one of them being because the technology program at Dunbar High School interests me and the second being because I was raised in a more tech friendly home. I think seeing as how I myself am so submerged in technology between my online classes and my own social media life. It will offer me an opportunity to be on their level without seeming like their peer. By expanding this portion of my knowledge I feel I will be playing on my biggest strength being my knowledge of technology and after developing my knowledge of the tools above I can only offer the students more ways to learn. It will allow my students who are readers to dig deeper and my student who are hands-on will be able to divulge in the lesson plan further than just reading the chapter.

Another Concept I’m interested in Digital Identity. After reading this section multiple times it still sort of baffled me. I mean I have social media, an email and I know how to use multiple mediums of technology isn’t my identity pretty evident? Absolutely not! Every day we research more and divulge more into the world of the World Wide Web and even download that new app we are developing our identity that much further. Interestingly enough there are dozens of sites to help you see a map out or as Cat Coode refers to it as our Binary Tattoo. Most importantly what this helped me realize is. Less is more. When I want to post about my personal life I need to remember that my future students may see that. Those pictures from the party last night? Yes, they may find that, but besides students finding those possible employers could find it too. It’s so important for my generation teachers or not to realize this concept before it’s too late. I think by understanding this concept I will realize how important it is to keep my personal life private but also teach my students that the only real information that should be shared is their knowledge at least until they can grasp the concept of telling need to know information and gossip or rants.

Essentially I feel all these will be steps I want to take to reach a closer bond with my students without becoming the “friend”. I’ll be able to use my gifts such as type a whole blog on my iPhone to good use and teach them how to apply their Microsoft office skills to their smartphones but also be able to test their knowledge with websites like Kahoot. I want to explain to them that these little devices in their hands were made for so much more than snapchatting their best friend. I want to show them what I learned growing up. Although a majority of my adolescences we had some form of social media I was only allowed to use the computer at home for education purposes i.e. educational games or research. I with social media being said I want to explain this less is more concept so I may save them from the lesson I’ve had to learn and show them how social media can be positive and safe.

 

Technology In the Classroon [Personal interview]. (2016, January 20).

Coode, C. (2015). Binary Tattoo. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from http://www.binarytattoo.com/about-us/

Mayer, A. (2014, September 05). Getting Started with Google Classroom. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIfXzJMLsMQ

Nagel, D. (2013, May 08). Report: Students Use Smart Phones and Tablets for School, Want More -- THE Journal. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/05/08/report-students-use-smart-phones-and-tablets-for-school-want-more.asp

Pinette, B. (2014, September 08). New Study Reveals U.S. Students Believe Tablets Are Game Changers in Learning and Student Engagement. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from http://www.pearsoned.com/news/new-study-reveals-u-s-students-believe-tablets-are-game-changers-in-learning-and-student-engagement/