Blog Post #10

I enjoyed doing this assignment! I used to play these kinds of learning games as a student and wonder how they were created. It was a fun assignment and I enjoyed doing it as I would have loved to play this when learning about The Hunger Games in middle school. I learned how to utilize buttons and they could be  a tedious process. At one point I had to redo all of the buttons because they stopped working. If I were to do this again, I would add some of my own sound effects, because I felt limited with the ones PowerPoint has to offer. I was messing around with it and tried to add my own sounds, but I ran out of time. Here is a picture of my Jeopardy game!

As a teacher, using data collection tools can help me get feedback from both students and parents. As a second grade educator, I can use this resource to help measure my student's progress and certainty in their knowledge of skills. One way I could use this is I can conduct a pre, during, and post math skill survey to see how my students are doing with the material and how confident they feel. I can also send this to their parents to see if they have any concerns or feel as though their child isn't grasping these concepts. This will help me accurately assess how ready my class is to move on to other skills and be able to prepare them for their tests.

One technology-related skill I'd like to learn is creating videos through Capcut. By the end of this year, I want to be familiar with video editing and the different features available through Capcut and be able to create videos. I will accomplish this by educating myself and learning the different tools Capcut has to offer. I will then record a video, and successfully edit and utilize these tools, and successfully complete my goal.

Blog Post 9

Before the pandemic, I had little experience with distance learning. I then moved to completely online classes my freshman year. I experienced platforms like Google Classroom and Zoom. It was a big difference from using them while having in-person classes, and it was a struggle to teach myself the material through them. I felt as though I wasn't truly learning and was just trying to do whatever I could to simply pass. Zoom classes were slightly more effective than Google Classroom because my teachers were available in real time and it felt as though I was learning instead of struggling and getting by on my own. I didn't experience Canvas or MS Teams, but from what I've experienced of Canvas, so far it's been a good platform for both students and teachers. Before I used it I've heard so many peers used it and heard their different opinions. I think MS Teams is like Google Classroom, so it seems like an interesting platform to explore and utilize as a teacher.

Open Educational Resources are materials that are open for public domain and free to use. They are created for learning and teaching. I found a source that gives an overview of the role of OERs and why they are important to education. It also mentions the benefits of this ranging from the accessibility to the affordability.
Here is the link! https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/what-is-oer/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ggl-display_pmax_us&utm_term=%7Badid%7D&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACtmnkdAiw2DnQcppjAl6gc4bQPBb&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0MG5BhD1ARIsAEcZtwSuKiKAk8Bk9JWUuAfv6mb_jqmm-BbWVulx__6U6yWfiQ_xcuJvLZwaAgPuEALw_wcB

After completing Assignment 4, I learned several new skills that I will continue to use in future presentations as both a student and as a teacher. I can now record my presentations, attach hyperlinks, and create my own slide layouts. I also feel more comfortable using PowerPoint as I was fairly new to this type of media. I enjoyed this presentation because I got to discuss a fun topic and had creative freedom. If I were to do this again, I would try to add more to my slide notes to discuss and expand off of.

Blog Post 8

I enjoyed creating a website for this assignment. It was easier than I had originally anticipated, and I loved being able to have a creative touch when making it. I even showed my friends the results because I was so proud. I enjoyed making my website colorful and adding cute visuals that made it 2nd grade friendly and welcoming, which added an element of contrast against the white background and black text. I also took extra care in ensuring I used the principles of alignment and proximity into consideration when building my website to make sure it looked visually appealing and repeated throughout the entire site. I made everything centered and evenly spaced out throughout each page. In the future, I will be using the design principles and skills to create my own website for my students and parents to make resources easily accessible and simple to find in a visually pleasing format.

In the classroom, I would use QR codes when making group documents for activities and digital worksheets to fill out. I would also use this as a way to share additional resources to help foster learning. Another way I would use them would be for a scavenger hunt. The students will have a question and can use the code to double check their answers and lead them to the next step.

Case:

You decide to use an AI tool to help create lesson plans for your 2nd grade English class. The AI generates a variety of activities, reading materials, and assessments. However, you notice that some of the generated content includes themes or vocabulary that may not be age-appropriate or culturally sensitive for your students.                                                          

Ethical Dilemma:                                                           

Age Appropriateness: How do you ensure that the content is suitable for 2nd graders? Relying solely on AI may lead to inappropriate material.

Cultural Sensitivity: AI may inadvertently produce content that lacks cultural relevance or includes stereotypes. How will you address potential biases in the materials?

Personalization: Your students have diverse backgrounds and learning needs. How can you ensure the lessons generated by AI are adaptable and inclusive for all learners?                                 

In this scenario, I would not solely rely on AI to create my lesson plans. Instead of just copying and pasting the material, I would use parts from the generated options that were age appropriate and culturally acceptable for my classroom, and will do further research to make sure my content is inclusive and diverse.This is an ethical solution and it is solving all three dilemmas because I am still using this as inspiration and am producing my own work by adjusting it to my needs, keeping the ages of my students in mind, and am keeping the values I want to uphold in my classroom and teach to my students.

Portfolio # 20 URL Shortener

 https://tinyurl.com/mrykr7n2 This link leads to a resource that has a list of webinars to help teachers have access to develop their skills and have training. This is a helpful webpage as it offers numerous different pages for each level of education and encourages teacher's growth.

Blog #7

At my high school, there was a page on the school website for the students and teachers to communicate and highlight key information. It was used mostly during the pandemic with online classes. It currently has things like a picture of the teacher and prior experience they have in their field, as well as their email information. It includes what classes they teach. This page also used to have more information about the classes and links to resources, but they recently updated their website. This is a helpful way to connect with students and parents and make sure information is accessible.  https://www.somersetcollegeprep.org/staff

When I become a teacher, I will use technology such as Canva to create interactive resources for my classroom. I may also use AI and Pinterest to help generate some ideas for my lesson plans and projects for my class. I will also use the skills I have learned this past week to create a class webpage and have a calendar with due dates, tests, and class activities. These should help make my professional responsibilities be completed in an effective and efficient manner.

I enjoyed working on this assignment with my peers. Canvas was definitely more intricate to navigate than other sources we have used in the class so far. I wasn't a fan of not being able to change the block colors to my liking and having to watch videos on YouTube to make the page visually pleasing. But besides the little technical issues, it was easy to navigate once you had a grasp on the tools. I will now admire any teachers that have pretty canvas pages, because it takes a lot of time and effort to make it perfect. I prefer Google Classroom over Canvas as that is so much easier to understand and navigate quickly, and has many options for colorful flare and cute pages.

Blog # 6

As someone that loves to write as a form of self-expression and a creative outlet, I have enjoyed blogging so far. Originally my view on people blogging was that it was a way to share their opinions and experiences before social media was created, and therefore was for older people, but it has since changes. I didn't realize that blogging can be very therapeutic, and am never bothered when I see I have a post due unlike some other assignments I have. It is also a good way to recall the information discussed throughout the past week that I may have forgotten otherwise.

One source I love from both a student and a teacher perspective is the website Prezi. As a student it made creating presentations easier and more enjoyable to complete. There are many visually pleasing and interactive presentations for students and educators alike to engage with learning. These fun slideshows can help make learning more entertaining and concepts easier to comprehend. https://prezi.com/

When using Generative AI, I learned quickly that I had to be very specific to get a condensed answer I liked. The first few times I tried to generate a lesson plan I asked it to make a lesson plan on 10th grade U.S. history. After seeing it was quite vague and lengthy, I added the subject of World War 1. It was still really long, so I added a timeframe for a 60 minute class, and was happy with the detailed response I received.

I can see incorporating the use of AI in my teaching by creating lesson plans and finding creative ways to engage my students in the material being discussed. One part that came up in my original search when using Generative AI was a project to help strengthen the topics being discussed. I would expand on that to generate ideas on crafts and interactive activities to help make learning more fun for my students. I would use bits of what is suggested and use other platforms too and use them as inspiration to make my own lessons and activities. 

Blog #5

I wasn't allowed to have a phone until 8th grade, and later had social media the summer of 9th grade. I was a big fan of Pinterest and Youtube before having the common social media platforms. I then got Instagram and Snapchat and interacted with long distance friends and classmates, and it was helpful to be able to contact them with homework questions and just to catch up. Pinterest and YouTube can be good resources for inspiration and activities I can implement into my lesson plans. Instagram can be a good way to connect with fellow educators and inspire others in this field as well.

I had the best of both worlds and went to a digitally poor elementary school and a digitally rich school in middle school and high school. I remember students having to do more work on paper and sharing technology so we had enough to go around. This didn't impact me as much as we still had access to some technology and were still young enough to adapt without needing tech as one would in 6-12th grade. I had limited access to technology in general, and my family shared one computer for schoolwork. I remember transferring and thinking how weird it was for everyone in my class to have an iPad to take home and use for the year for assignments. Some kids were used to this and took advantage, and it was the weirdest transition coming from a digitally poor school and seeing my peers view this as normal. Overall, these experiences have made me grateful and I still find it a blessing to have technology of my own. This has made college so much easier so far. I don't think I would change anything to better prepare me as I quickly adjusted to technology in middle and high school, and feel as though I'm adequately prepared for college.

Collaborative writing and social annotation are good ways to encourage comprehension and review in the classroom. Google Docs is a good way for collaborative and interactive work that will encourage my students to contribute in their assignments. It also has features like commenting and highlighting that are good forms of annotating and furthering comprehension.

I've used it as a student and with my friend as we are writing our book, and can say that it has helped me in my studies. I love this resource, and will implement this into my lessons. It is a good way to digitally work on an assignment as everyone can type at the same time instead of passing papers around, and their work will automatically save, where other platforms won't. I will also be able to see which students contributed and how much they added to their group work. This will allow me to work with students that might need additional help with the topics and be a good way to review for others. I would use this resource to have my students answer a list of reading comprehension questions, and whichever group finishes first will win a prize. This will help me see how effective my teaching has been and how prepared my students are for the next lesson.