Blog Journal #8

 The most useful skill I acquired from working with the web design page was the embedding feature. I feel like everything else I used was more basic figuring it out or I had used it before. The embedded feature was something new I had to learn and probably could not figure out alone. This feature will be helpful in the future to create class calendars to keep parents up to date with classroom events. https://sites.google.com/view/ms-aldridges-3rd-grade/home 

New skills I learned from using Diigo include the ability to mark up a text with annotations. This includes the highlighting and sticky note feature Diigo offers. This can be useful in my classroom becasue it can foster collaboration with coworkers and students. I can post an article and see what others have to say about it which is beneficial to all parties' learning. 

Technology and teacher professional development are important factors in a good teacher. A teacher staying informed on technological advancements through trainings can serve as professional development. This benefits learning because the more information the teacher knows the more they can teach students. Technology is a big field in today's world, so it is important teachers stay up to date for the best outcomes in preparing students for the real world. https://twitter.com/home is a website that can help teachers stay up to date with trends of technology in education because it can bring together a lot of knowledgable people to one centralized hub who can learn from each other through live videos, tweeted articles, and more. 

Blog Journal #7

When looking for a teacher run page on a school website it was super hard to find a page run by individual teachers. Instead, I was only able to find broad information about upcoming activities and school wide announcements. I was able to find game schedules, letters from admin, attendance information, and the student code of conduct. All of these are useful tools, however there is no evidence of classroom pages run by teachers, which may have given viewers a better idea of day to day life in the classroom at TCHS.

https://timbercreekhs.ocps.net/

In the future, I see myself using technology heavily to accomplish professional responsibilities. I can use technology to keep families up to date with classroom activities, and also keep my classroom organized with set time dedicated toward technological work. This will make my work more efficient because technology often makes things easier or faster, so dedicating time to use will allow me to use my time wisely. This is effective because taking time to interact with students and their families allows me to create relationships with them which ultimately makes learning better. Specifically, I will use Canvas, a website, newsletters, twitter, TPT, and online learning resources.

Usually, I can navigate canvas very easily. However when completing assignment 2 i found myself struggling to navigate the pages and group work and got very frustrated with it. I did not like how disorganized it was and how much the usage differs from when usually using canvas. In the future, I will probably not use canvas for group work in regards to my students but I do like the other more navigable parts of canvas and will use those.

Blog Journal #6

 This was my first time using Diigo, so i was unfamiliar with it when starting. After playing around with it, I found that I liked that Diigo was fairly easy to figure out on my own. It was clear and straightforward which made using it easy and user friendly. However I did not like the layout of Diigo, it felt straining and was not calm. The layout felt hectic and outdated, but the actual usage of the website was good the aesthetics were the only issue. 

So far my experience with blogging has been good. The blogger website is easy to use and the layout makes blogging simple and easy. I also like being able to answer these questions in more a laid back way as oppose to paragraphs. It is also cool to see my classmates posts in one central website and be able to comment on their ideas too. Overall I am glad we use this tool in class and I have had no bad experiences so far, this is something i will use later in life. 

A web 2.0 tool I may use when teaching later on is Tik Tok. I think this would be a good resource for students because a lot of students already use Tik Tok so they are familiar with how the application works. Tik Tok also has super short videos which ensures students are not zoning out, and can pay attention for 1 min to get the information of the video, then watch another short video with a different layout and still be enaged. A lot of teachers are on Tik tok already which makes it a good tool for students who may need different types of teaching styles, ensuring they can find at least 1 person to learn from. Tik Tok can also be a way for students to complete projects and assignments while viewing the work as fun since they get to be creative and use social media, which most students already enjoy doing in every day life. 

Blog Post #5

 I have been using twitter to interact with people in regards of news and new things to learn. For example, prior to this class i used twitter to learn ab AP exams and saw government officials post about current events. During this course, i have been able to learn about educational twitter through account regarding educational government like the Board of Education. Twitter may helpful in my future career because it can help me connect with other teachers and also see things my district is posting to keep up to date.

The digital divide affects students success in school because it causes a difference in access to resources needed for schooling. Some students lack access to technology which may make it harder for them to complete assignments that require it. Some causes of digital divide may be lack of money or resources. In a classroom, teachers may experience digital divide when teaching a wide variety of students. To help, teachers may urge fundraisers to get a class set of technology. 

Two softwares I would like to use in my future classroom are near pod and blooket. Nearpod is a software that can help facilitate lessons through activities and slide shows, this is beneficial because of its wide variety of uses. Blooket is a review game with many different settings and styles. this is beneficial because teachers can input their own information to create games catered to their lessons, and the games are super engaging for students.