Welcome back to my Blog!

This week the blog is about ELA technology standards, CPALMS Educator Toolkit, and the Newsletter assignment... The ELA technology standard that I feel most prepared to teach with is the Smart Board. Being a Kindergarten Teacher, limits the amount of technology devices that can be used due to the fact that they are too young to learn how to use most of the devices. However, a Smart Board allows the teacher to write on the board with an electronic pen and have it appear really big on the board. It also allows the students to get up and write on the board with out accidentally creating a mess. A technology device that I have to look more into is the online story reader, "Story Jumper". It is written in the kindergarten standard, but I have never heard of it.

The CPALMS Educator Toolkit is a great resource as a teacher. It provides the teacher with lesson plans, activity examples, and lesson tutorials to prepare you for the module. There are categories for each class subject and provides the standards for them as well. The one I found most intriguing was the student resource where they provide the Standard rule and expectations for the lesson you are about to teach.

I really enjoyed creating an imaginary school parent newsletter. I used Word and looked up the template for Newsletter. From there, I inserted pictures, colorful borders and different writing sections. I mainly used the newsletter to update the parents on what was going on in the classroom semester 1, and to prepare them for semester two. By making this Newsletter I learned more about using premade templates in Word. If I were to redo this assignment, I believe I could improve on the pictures I inserted.

That is all for this week,

XOXO,
Kat

Blog post #2

The Microsoft application I tend to use the most is Microsoft Word. I have never been in a class that did not use Word, it is an app that allows you to type out essays, paragraphs, letters, resumes, etc. While using this app, Word checks your spelling, counts the amount of characters and words that you have written and fixes grammar mistakes. It is a great way to type up an essay and double check your work. I have used word in countless classes from writing 3,000 word papers to just jotting down quick notes that I learned  in the class. Teachers love Word, because after typing up their work they are able to send it online to all students and cut back on wasting paper and vice versa, the teachers have students type papers up on word and the submit it through an online website to avoid receiving hundreds of papers. Another bonus to having students submit an essay that was written on Word is that teachers are able to check for plagiarism much easier.

Plagiarism is taken very seriously now a days. On the first day of school, teachers explain to the students that plagiarism is not tolerated and if caught, the student is at risk for expulsion. By having students submit their work online, the teacher is able to run the paperwork through a system that checks all websites online to see if the student's work has been copied. As a teacher, I believe it is a very smart idea to have the students turn in the work through the website "turnitin.com". Turnitin.com is a website that tells the teacher the exact percentage of the student's work that was copied. By using this website, not only is it an efficient way to check the students work, but it also encourages the students to not plagiarize, since they are aware the teacher is able to check.

Three technology issues that I tend to notice in a classroom are: copyright, privacy, and the digital divide. I explained earlier that the website "turnitin.com" is an easy and efficient way to avoid plagiarism with in students. When it comes to privacy, I believe there is a fine line. Students should be able to have privacy while on their technology devices, but there needs to be a way for supervising the students, in order to ensure they are doing the right thing. I believe a solution to this issue would be a teacher walking around the classroom subtlety checking to make sure the students are on track. The teachers do not need to go over the students shoulder or read exactly what they are doing, but making sure they appear to be on the correct website. The last issue is the digital divide. It is very apparent that not every child has their own computer to bring into the classroom, I know I didn't have on in high school. It needs to be known that if the students do not have their own computer, that they are allowed to use the computers that are in the classroom or in the library. If there is a big project approaching, there needs to be frequent class trips to the school library so that everyone is able to use the same computer.

xoxo,
Kat Burnham   

An Always Advancing World...

The world is ever changing. Things are being invented, improving, and advancing each day. The biggest advancement in education is the technology that is being used. Students are turning from paper to computers, and teachers are turning from white boards to projection power points. The motivation for these changes vary from the convenience of having six textbooks installed onto a computer that weighs two pounds, to the instant information that can be brought to the users fingertips within seconds. Furthermore, due to the use of technology in classrooms, teachers are able to post information, homework, class notes etc., online for students to see and use. Not only does that make it easier for everyone involved,  but it cuts down on a lot of paper. There are also now many websites such as "turnitin.com" that check students' work for plagiarism and copied work, making it harder for  students to get away with cheating.

ISTE standards is a list of expectations for students and educators while teaching.  This list involves the expectation of technology use.  For example, the standards listed for teachers are broken down to seven different categories: Learner, Leader, Citizen, Collaborator, Designer, Facilitator, and Analyst. Out of these listed, I believe the hardest for me would be the collaborator just due to the fact that it takes a lot of time out of the day to sit down and talk to other teachers about the work that you have been doing. However, I do believe it is a vital portion, because it allows others to help improve your teaching with technology, and they are able to provide ideas that you may not have thought of. The standard that I think is very valuable is the Designer expectation. The Designer Standard expects teachers to make creative class notes through technology to present to their students. For my major, Elementary education, it is vital that the information that is being taught is taught in a fun, colorful, memorable way. Five year old kids are in need of fun power points that catch their attention.

I do agree with the term "digital native", just for the fact that there are significant differences between those that were born in the digital age and grew up using the newest technology and those that were introduced to the technology after they were used to the old fashion ways. Kids these days are growing up watching Netflix, taking online classes, and owning a smart phone by the age of 13. They are very adjusted to the technology life, where as those that are older, have to get adjusted. Speaking from personal experience, just yesterday I was in my astronomy class and we were taking a quiz using the iclicker, a new form of submitting your answer online. The teacher was having a hard time figuring out how to sync the students iclickers to his computer, so a student went up to help him. Within seconds, the student had all 200 students synced and the quiz was ready to go.

xoxo,
Kat

The One Where Kat Writes Her First Blog Post...

Hey fellow bloggers, my name is Kat and I am going to post weekly about my journey through EME 2040. I took this class for two reasons: it is a requirement for my major and I am very interested in technology. I grew up in a family that is tech savvy, with my dad being a Chief Technology Officer in the military and my brother majoring in computer science. Due to this, every family dinner would consist of some sort of discussion about coding. I took four years of TV production where I was certified in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Adobe Premiers. I am very excited about this class as it is comprised of two things I enjoy: teaching and technology. 

I am pursuing a major in Elementary Education with the hope to be a kindergarten through third grade teacher. I have always loved kids and seeing how intrigued they are to learn. I have been a Sunday school teacher for four year olds for the last seven years, as well as an elementary Sunday school teacher for the last two.  Along with being a Sunday school teacher, I have also been a child care teacher for the last couple years as a part time job. 

In this class I am looking forward to learning more in depth about these programs and being introduced to the new programs that I have yet to learn about such as, Diigo and Wix. I hope you enjoy reading about my journey through this class for the next ten weeks, especially because I am required to!

XOXO,
Kat