Teachers Webpage

In my future classroom I plan to have a class website for my students to visit, for homework, and upcoming tests, important announcements and upcoming project due dates. I can also use it to explain in detail exactly what is required for each project. Having a class website is also a great way to communicate with parents. By doing this online, I can save a lot of time because I wouldn't need to send a letter home to the parents for every little thing. Google has an option on there where you can create a website. You have to have an email account to access Google sites.
Things I included on my website was:

Home Page- This page introduced the class.  Basically it is a welcome to the class. It also has a list of the things you could find on the website.

Course Info- This page was about the course itself. It had information about the required course materials and a calendar with homework activities.

A Personal Page- Students and parents are always interested in who is teaching them. They want to know background information. They want to know what do you do other than being a teacher. This page introduces me to whoever visits the website.

Web Resources- This includes websites with a short description of whats on the website, that students and parents can use for more information on the subject I would be teaching in my classroom.

My website was overall very creative and I will use it in my classroom, because I completed this assignment I will not have to add much to the website when it is actually time for me to use it.

Click here to visit my website Miss Flanagan's Class Website
   

Net S-  4

Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Final Reflection

What I learned in this class

I learned so much in this class. I have learned so much about technology that I did not know before. Technology helps people shape the world. There are many uses for technology. I take with me from this class so many things and ideas of how to improve my classroom by the use of technology.

My Strong and Weak Points

My strong points in using technology would be the use of the internet and word processing skills. I have had a lot of experience with these. Writing papers, researching topics and even using social media sites are just a few experiences that I have had with word processing and internet usage. My weak point would be assistive technology. Before, this class I knew of only a few things that I as a teacher could do to help students with disabilities. Another weak point of mine would be the use of media and pictures off the internet. This is a form of plagiarism. Before this class if I needed any type of picture I would Google it and “Steal” it from the website. I did not know this was a form of plagiarism. I was using other people’s pictures without their permission

How I will address my weak points

I plan on addressing my weak points with assistive technology by working on it more. I plan on doing this by researching assistive technology and the many ways I can use this. Then I will practice using assistive technology to become more comfortable with it. To address my issue of using pictures without the original owner’s permission, I would just take my own pictures with my own personal camera.  Another way to avoid plagiarism, by stealing pictures is to use the clip art feature on your computer or use a website that has stock photos that are free from copyright laws. You can find some of these websites and a short description of them in my blog about assistive technology. I plan on fully informing the students of my future classroom the dangers of plagiarism.

Integrating Technology in the classroom

I plan on integrating technology into my future classroom by teaching lessons that involve students using various forms of technology. I plan to incorporate technology into my classroom by students’ use of computers, the internet, television, VCRs, DVD players, compact discs, CD-ROMS, electronic games, cell phones, PDAs, and other high tech items.

Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology

As a future teacher, I am sure I will have students within in my class with a disability. There are many different types of equipment that are used to increase maintain and improve the functional capabilities of individuals. These are called Assistive technology.  It is import as a teacher to create an assessable learning environment for all learners and students. As a teacher this means I must modify lessons and activities for students with disabilities.

We had to complete an assignment on assistive technology.  In this assignment we explored Accessibility features for people who are hard of hearing, people who are visually impaired and people who have mobility impairments. I knew Windows had accessibility options but I never knew how many. I learned so many things from this assignment that I can use in my future classroom. We also used the PRINT SCREEN option to take a picture of the screen. I did not know a computer was capable of this at all. It’s kind of like my cell phone screen shot option.

If I have a student that is a low vision computer user, I can adjust the display to high or low contrast depending on what the student needs. I can also use the magnifier to increase the text size of a document.

If I have a student who has a physical disability that makes it easy for them to accidentally engage a computer key I can assign alert sounds to keys to let them know when a key has been accidentally pressed.

If I have a student with a mild hearing impairment, I can set the computer so when a computer sounds an alert a visual one flashes in the window.

All of this info I combined into a PowerPoint presentation

Click here to view the PowerPoint----------- Assistive Technology PowerPoint

Net S- 1 & 4

Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Google Groups

Google Groups 
Google groups is a great resource for a classroom. As a future teacher I can have my students use Google groups to communicate with their group members on a project that they would have to complete.  The students get to share their ideas experiences and communicate with each other without actually being in the same room.

For my "Google Groups" Assignment we were placed in groups of 5. We then had to participate in a discussion thread. This can be a great resource in the classroom. A teacher can have her students create a discussion thread pertaining to the subject their currently learning.
Then we had to create a story, and share the document among other members of the group. Every member had to contribute at least 150 words to the story.  Everyone gets to add to the document.

Next we had to create a presentation using the presentation file under Google drive. It is just like creating a PowerPoint presentation but with a few differences. If you are familiar with PowerPoint then it would be fairly easy for you to  I must say that before this class I did not know Google was capable of doing all this. We had to each select a chapter from our book then create a seven slide presentation concerning the content of that chapter.
Click here to view my presentation.... Chapter 5 Presentation on The Internet
Completed this using these Standards
Net S- 1, 2, 4, & 5
Facilitate  and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Lets Make a Movie Yeah..Starring you & me...Yeah!

I have always wanted to be a director, or create movies. My computer has this program where you can create movies called Windows Live Movie Maker. It’s amazing how many programs that come pre-installed on our computers that we never use. I had never used WLMM until today. Hadn't thought twice about it. But it’s a great tool to use in and out of your classroom. You can use it for so many projects! You can use it to make educational movies or not so educational movies.  

I made a short film depicting my son’s first haircut. I waited until he was 20 months before I got his first haircut. I didn't want to cut his hair because it was so long and so pretty.

 Lets, just say when I finally did cut it, I cried more than he did. He doesn’t even miss it. Not one single bit. The haircut  makes him look older though. 

  See the difference? A totally different child. Hes looks more mature now that he has a haircut. He stills acts his age thats why I said LOOKS. Now though, its easier for me to just get up and go places with him instead of trying to put his hair in a ponytail or making sure it’s neatly braided.

Check out my video its on YOUTUBE..

Nets: 2 & 3

Design and develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

Rubrics,Word Clouds, ..Webtools Oh My!!

RubiSTAR! (<<Clicking this takes you to the website)

Most students today have seen or been given a rubric by their teacher. These are great tools that keep the student on task when writing a paper or completing a project. I created a rubric to accompany my 5 senses concept map. I used a website called Rubistar for teachers. Its FREE!!! Everyone likes free.

5 Senses Project Rubric 
^^^ (Clicking this takes you to my rubric)

Wordle.net   

  When teaching you are going to have to assign vocabulary to your students. Wordle.net is a great website to create word clouds to show off your vocabulary. I created one using vocabulary concepts that I plan to use in my class room.

 Vocabulary WordCloud <<<Click this link for a larger view or to print

StoryBird.com

I don't know about you, but I really enjoy reading. I also like writing stories, poetry, etc. Storybird allows you to choose art and add a story to it. There are a lot of themes to choose from..
click here to see my book Sweet Dreams are made of Fears by Marquisha F.


TrackStar.4teachers

So I created a track and no I'm not talking about going to the studio and making a song. A track for teachers is way to keep up with useful websites that pertain to a certain subject. This can be extremely helpful for teachers and non-teachers. It keeps you from having to memorize a lot of websites. Here is my example
Great Websites for Info on Senses

Nets: 2 & 3
Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Model Digital Age Working and Learning

Uh oh! Plagiarism & Turnitin.com

Plagiarism is stealing someone else work and claiming it as your own.It comes in many forms, Pirating music and DVDs, or stealing at work. Plagiarism is a big deal. You don't want to mistakenly or purposely steal someone else work. THAT IS A CRIME punishable by law. Can you imagine that conversation?

Big Buff Guy in Jail: I'm doing a dime for stabbing this guy who tried to steal my lady. What you in for?
You: I plagiarized something. I plagiarized it so bad they had to put me in here. I don't play when it comes to plagiarizing.

If you're lucky he won't even know what Plagiarism is, but if you're unlucky, lets just say you don't want to be in jail for plagiarism.

Turn It IN:

When writing papers there is this website called Turnitin.com that will tell you how much of the paper was plagiarized. I know! I know! What a wonderful invention! This allows me as a future teacher to check my students papers and make sure they are not Copy,Cutting and Pasting. It is a very good tool.

To get a good gist Turnitin works...I submitted two papers. The first one was copied, cut and pasted directly from the Internet. The website said I had 100% worth of work that did NOT belong to me. I was happy for a second, but that's not a good thing.

Then it listed the websites where I had gotten the info from. BUMMER!! I had got caught in the crime of plagiarism and turnitin.com had proof.
The next paper I submitted received  0%. It was completely original. It contained only my thoughts. SHOCKER!! The quality of that paper is questionable.
Click to view my 100% Plagiarized paper.. Plagiarized Paper
Click to view my 0% plagiarized paper... unplagiarized Paper

NETS: 3 & 4
Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility