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.

Blog #4

I was viewing the standards for the 2nd grade computer science class, and settled on exploring one called "Communicate information with digital tools." This standard is implemented to help kids learn about Artificial Intelligence and building some basic computer skills. These range from searching keywords to using different digital tools to communicate. I believe that with my knowledge of technology I would be able to implement this standard in the classroom. I might have to brush up on some skills to ensure I will accurately and slowly teach these students as they are younger and simple steps might need more attention than others.

One standard for the second grade ELA subject is making inferences based off of comprehending texts. I was surprised to see almost 200 lesson plans available for this standard alone. These can help teachers with planning a lesson that accurately aligns with the standards. The resources for the original student tutorials can benefit students with further developing these essential skills with fun activities and lessons.

As a teacher, you are still learning as you go yourself, and it is important to have basic internet searching skills to be able to successfully run your classroom. I think the use of image searching and advanced searching can lead to accurate resources to use in the classroom to improve the quality and comprehension of the lessons. One of my old history teachers used to post a history meme he found online to not only make people laugh, but to help the information stick. He never would have had access to the images without searching online for them. I will definitely be using the image search in the future as I think they are a good way to benefit visual learners and help concepts stick with students. I was unaware of both of these searching skills, and if there are any more available I'd love to learn about them too!

I always viewed AI as something negative and a resource to avoid as a student, but after gaining some insight from the benefits of using it as a teacher, I think that there are some positive aspects of using it in education. I feel that students should learn the good and bad of using Artificial Intelligence to have a firm grasp on how to use it in an academic setting. They should learn to use AI for inspiration, not copying an essay and submitting it as their own work. AI should be discussed more than used in a K-12 setting, as these kids are learning the basic skills that will be built upon as they continue their education. If they have access to it from their early days, it could lead to bad habits of relying on it instead of learning properly. There should be some moderation when using it in the classroom.