Final Reflection

I think what I liked best about my blog is that I got to put my personality into it. Even when I was writing a blog that was about classwork, it wasn't tedious because it was my own voice. I liked that I was able to be creative with it. Overall the personal aspect of this was my favorite part, and especially when there were numerous Open Post, it was awesome because it gave me time to just sit down and write. Most of the time the only writing I get to do is whatever was required for school. Since this was a requirement, obviously I did it, but it also gave me time to just vent and write more than I would normally get to and I really liked that. I think I will continue to use my blog, even if no one is viewing just to take a second of my time to write what I want and detox.

I do wish I could have been a bit more creative with my blog. I would have liked to add a couple more bells and whistles to it, but it was either that I didn't have time, or i didn't know how....

I posted all of the blogs that were required but sometimes I forgot to "Publish" them. I would come back to my blog the next day to see if anyone had commented and realize that I had just hit "Save," which apparently just saves it as a draft.. And it took me a couple times to figure that out... Gotta love technology (:

I really liked the aspects of commenting on other classmate's post, especially the open post. This was really cool because we got to learn about their interest and activities they enjoyed, and maybe even get some cool ideas of our own from them. I found myself commenting on the post that really intrigued me or people that I was closer to in class. I kind of used my blog to vent or pot about what I was doing at the time and I got the vibes that other classmates were doing that as well and it was interesting to see how we recorded them differently.

I think this would be a really cool thing to do with students. I was thinking about how I could use it in the class and I was thinking of kind of using it as a platform for free writes. I was considering having students write a blog once or twice a week and either doing open post, or having them react or reflect on the content in class. I considered this because personally, I like writing, and that's why I liked the blog because it gave me a platform do do something I love that didn't really seem like an assignment. On this platform, students could create videos, upload images, or just write as well and I think it would be a great way for them to explore themselves and have fun doing it all while WRITING :)

Teaching Argument Writing Favorites

I originally rented this book, but now I have decided to go ahead and complete the purchase. I had a lot of my own ideas about how to teach argument writing but still found myself intimidated by it a little. I remember when I was younger, I liked argumentative writing, but that doesn’t mean I was that good at it until after a bit more instruction. I looked back into when I was learning argumentative writing, (even though it was called persuasive back then…) and tried to consider what it was about the writing that was either the largest component I struggled with or what was something I disliked the most about it. Honestly, it all came back to engagement. It was what I had to argue about that really decided for me whether it would be a good essay or not. If I wasn’t engaged with my writing, you could tell. I grew out of that eventually as I grew older but I think that is why I liked this book so much. When looking back to my education and comparing it to the activities in this book, I really wish I had these kind of activities. So for my blog, I’m going to talk about my TOP 3 Activities or lessons from the book and give a bit of a synopses of the lesson and the reasoning behind my finding them favorable.

  

Chapter 3: Solving Problems Kids Care About

The activity presented in this chapter had a lot to do with research. Since gum has been banned at the school, the students conduct their own research on the matter, and gather data (EVIDENCE) to back up their claim of whether or not this ban is helping or hindering the school. I really loved this activity and it, or ones like it can easily be done in classroom. As the students get involved in the activity and because it is something that directly affects them, they can be thoroughly engaged in the research. I think this is great because it doesn’t only put them in a real-world situation, but they decide what would work best as they find information, to prove their point, just as they would as they would if they were pulling evidence from a text. I think getting them involved like this doesn’t us get them interested in the topic, but also the writing that comes after it because the evidence is directly connected to them.

Chapter 5: Answering Difficult Questions - Giraffes Award

I really liked the “Giraffes Award” Activity. I found that all of the activities I liked the most were ones that put students in real-life situations; they could find themselves in if they were on a committee later down the road. The students were to read a description of the award as well as the criteria, and then would accept or reject candidates based on how they met the criteria. The end goal was a discussion where the students would use the criteria as a means to defend their decision in deciding the winners of the award. The students would be acquiring the skill to make well-founded decisions based on evidence and this skill can be applied directly into argumentative writing as they critically analyze evidence.

Also Chapter 5: Answering Difficult Questions – Judgements of Murder

I think this would be a super engaging assignment for the students and I was a little sad we didn’t get to do things like this when I was in high school. After strategically having a discussion with the students that thoroughly define the proper terminology for case studies, the students are separated into groups. In their groups they will analyze the defendant and in the end present the case to the class, share whether they would be charged guilty or not guilty and why. After, the students will have an in class debate about the cases. This doubles as writing skills as well as speaking skill. When I was in school, we loved debates but we didn’t get to do many of them. The best paper I think I wrote in high school was based on research that I had prepared for my debate. It truly teaches students how to consider both sides of an argument and combines many components used in argumentative writing.

🙊🙊🙊

Tech Post/Travel Blog

I made a travel blog with Canva. I love how many options are given and I can't wait to play with it more!

Traveling is a passion of mine and I look forward to meeting new people and seeing new places!
It is my hopes to live in France, and while I'm there, lots of travel will fill my open weekends. I've been planning already and this is only a small portion of where I've been and where I hope to go. Hope you enjoy!!  🌎🌏🌍

Travel Canva!

Tech Post!

1. Consider the terms in the Wordle below and these questions:   How do you live your tech life–personally? academically?  How does that compare to your students or your former teachers?  My tech life mostly consist of cell phone use and basic computer use. I can get by with most other technology, I learn quickly, and I love learning new technology. It is always interesting and I love seeing the new and coming options. The think is, I haven’t really had time to truly learn more. Therefore, my academic and personal tech use, is pretty much the same thing. I use a Promethean Board in my internship, (one that my super visor does not,) but other than that, unfortunately, I don’t extensively dive into technology as much as I probably should. My K-12 education didn’t really have a ton of technology. We had those little jeopardy game via a game console and that’s about it. Looking at that list below makes me think I have a lot to learn, (and I’m more than excited to do so!) but truly, I only recognize like 3 that are in that list.

2. Tech Tools to Enhance Student Learning:   Follow the links below and some of the tools that I have used with my students- just a small sample. Think about how you might use each one to reach out to students, parents, or the community.  Choose one and write about it.

I really liked EdPuzzle. Again, It was one I hadn’t seen before, but the way you can track students along the way is really cool. I thought about how I could use it in the classroom with videos I want them to watch as content for class. But since I could track to see who watched it, I could assign it to be watched as homework and truly know if the student did. And since you can add questions or focus ideas along the way, it is really a good way to get them prepared for class.

I’ve also been introduced to padlet this semester and think it’s an awesome way to get students involved like idea board.

And lastly, I loved the idea of screen casting. Using it as a model essay tool was a great idea, but I also thought about using it as a model for actually using technology.

Students and parents sometimes struggle with technology and this would be a great way to provide a tutorial on whatever is needed.

3. Authentic Tasks for Students:  Here are a list of a few tools that you can use with students to write virtually.  Why is this important?  What are the benefits? The risks?  Write about your favorite discoveries. 

Writing virtually allows students to combine their love for technology with writing. If they can use their laptop or their cell phone to write, I can assume that they will be much more inclined to do it compared to constantly writing by hand. Also, Writing virtually means students aren’t losing their papers or notebooks, (“It’s all in the cloud”)! As far as the resources listed goes, there are so so many. Goodness! I was a little overwhelmed! To be fair, I have seen more of these and it made me feel a little bit better. But all of the ones where students are creating something, whether it me visual, audio, or actually just writing, they were a new way for students to show comprehension and I love that idea. All students learn differently and can show that learning differently also. I really like the WORDLE idea, it reminds me of brainstorming. And I like the one that allows students to make their work look like a newspaper. The kids like seeing their work published or up on a wall and these ideas are a great way to make that a reality.

4. What Lies Ahead?  Check out what is going on in the teacher-tech world.  Review Jane Hart’s Top 200 Tool’s for Learning and see what teachers are using around the world.  I like to click on the tool’s that are “new” to the list.  What you notice about the tools that educators are using around the world. 

I found it interesting that Youtube was listed as the first took for learning because I’ve seen it “banned” in many schools. In fact, 1-25 on the list are all ones that I recognize, (which says something), but a lot of them are either social media or a virtual way to collaborate. This is awesome because not only can kids n one class collaborate but they can collaborate with other classes around the world too!

5. The Thinking Matters aka Choose Your Tools Wisely:  Review this digital tool version of Bloom’s Taxonomy below.  Based on what you have done today and what you understand about Bloom’s Taxonomy, explain what teachers need to consider as they integrate technology?

Obviously the digital version shows how accessible the resources are for each section of the hierarchy. Students learn in different ways and with some many options for ways to learn. Some could prefer traditional ways so with so many options we must be sure to not overload our students with tech. advancements but we should definitely give them an option.

6.  Based on your exploration, what do you want to try next? I only try to get good at one tool at a time. Currently I have been working on HaikuDeck and my next is FlipGrid.

I’ve played kahoots before but I’m planning on making one for class and I really look forward to mastering it. Also, I have really seen benefits to using GoogleClassroom in my internship but have no clue of how to do it. So I’d like to learn more from my internship teacher about it.