Week 9: Digital Learning Spaces & Cool Tool #5 & Major Project Progress #2

                                           

This weeks topic, was very interesting to me. I hope to one day work in a school that is built around flexible learning styles. Watching all the different videos and reading the material really got me thinking how important it is for students to be able to have space in the classroom. I remember in elementary school, feeling like I was stuck in one room all day. Having open spaces can encourage students to move around and meet new people. It will encourage learning and students will try harder since their work is usually out in the open more. Having glass walls and swivel chairs are just two things that schools can model in order to have a more flexible learning style. Google Apps for Education can give the students access to the information that the teacher has. Uploading the lessons can allow absent students to receive it faster than waiting until the next day or days after. The apps can be used in the classroom and they can be brought to the laps of students. Using IPads or laptops, gives students the freedom to search and navigate through different slides. 

Designing learning spaces for the future is important to think about. The future students will grow to be the future population and raising them right and educating them correctly is crucial. I believe that designing them how they look now, would be a great choice. Having movable furniture and an open space allows children to be able to have the freedom to work in which ever way is comfortable to them. Using an open space library lets students learn while also having fun.  

The University of Akron's campus only has a few things that I can think of right away that uses a flexible learning space. They have swivel chairs, movable furniture and glass walls in some areas. They have open access to internet and the campus covers a vast area. The library and student union are two places where students meet and study, so making sure that those building are up to date is important for our success. The spaces on UA campus align with my learning needs by providing me with a sense of motivation.

Having an open learning space is important for anyone, so they feel like they have the materials needed to succeed. You are in school for the first part of your life, and onto college, so having an open and flexible learning space gives freedom and brings success. 

                                                        

                                                                                  

For my final Cool Tool Review, I chose to do the tool, e-maze. E-maze is a presentation creation website. You can choose your own layout, which includes either a blank layout, or you can chose themed layouts where the colors and images are geared towards the theme. Adding other slides are super easy and it gives you recommendations on what sides you should choose. It allows you to insert images and video to your presentation. You can also add in your own text and edit your slides how ever you want. It has the option to download your PowerPoint and make it better with e-maze! Once you have created your e-maze presentation, you can save, send or share your finished presentation anywhere. I am always looking for different and fun sites to use for presentations and I think I finally found one! I created a short presentation, just to show how it's done! 

I would use this tool in my classroom as visuals for what we are learning about. Having bright colors, big words and child centered images, e-maze presentations would get my students involved and hopefully I can make them good enough, students will be excited to learn. This tool would be important for my students to remember so they can use it for themselves, when they have their own projects. It is easy to sign up and has very good step by step instructions.

Students can definitely make their own digital artifacts while using e-maze. They have the power to chose what they want it to look like, and their creativity can shine through their presentations. Figuring out how the website works at first can be challenging, however, I think with help and practice students will learn in know time. Overall, I think this is a great presentation creation website, and I will be using this for future presentations, in college and even after I graduate in my future classrooms.  

Interested?  https://www.emaze.com/

This week, I chose to make one of my favorite desserts, brownies! Every other time, I have baked brownies, I had to throw my pan away, since the brownies got burned! With that being said, I was very nervous to start this brownie baking process. I heard that using a glass pan for brownies, helps them not to stick. I decided to try it, and maybe even used to much Canola spray, but the after result was worth it, because the brownies came out a success! 

I started out stirring the ingredients to become a batter. The recipe did not call for chocolate chips, but I figured I would be brave to trying something new, and use them in my brownies. I poured them in a pan and anxiously waited to see my dessert. I could smell the brownies once they were done and knew that I had done something right. Checking them for perfection, I decided it was time for them to be done. Sprinkling powder sugar on top of them was the best part of the whole process. I just to do that when I was younger after my mom had baked her famous brownies. I feel very accomplished that I have once again, successfully followed all directions and produced such a great treat!   

Week 8: Global Publishing through EBooks & Cool Tool #4 & Major Project Progress #1

                                                             

This week, we listened to Jon Smith talk about e-books and how they are being integrated into the classroom. Jon is a special education teacher in middle school, who had his students each create an e-book about language arts, math or any other informative topics. Creating the e-books the students writing level increased and it caused them to work together. I think creating e-books could be a positive thing. Students would be able to use their creativity, and are more motivated because they are sharing their work with so many people. E-books might make the writing process become easier or more exciting for students. It will affect students and teachers by letting them have a better relationship through writing. This is important for teachers to know if using e-books in the classroom. 

Being an early childhood education major, I do not see my students creating to many e-books. They might be a little to young or immature when it comes to figuring it all out. If I would however, I would only have maybe two or three created. I see many benefits for using them though. It can help students become better writers and it also allows them to be able to read any e-books online. Using e-books gives students the responsibility for creating something great! Making sure that students use the e-books effectively is important if using them for reading. Reading at a early age will shape their reading skills for the rest of their lives. 

Jon's presentation was very fun to watch and I really enjoyed it. The most striking thing I took away from his presentation was the love that he had for his students and how he tried so many times to get his students to love writing. Eventually that was e-books. As a teacher I have now learned that it is important to stick with trying new lessons, even if I get, negative feedback from my students. Pushing kids to succeed, is basically my job, and I hope that I am really good at my future job.   

                                                          

                                                                           

For my Cool Tool #4, I chose to try out the tool "Canva."This is a graphic designers dream website. While using this tool, you are able to create flyers, presentations, blog graphics, business cards, posters and invitations. You can search any picture you would like and add it to your blank creation. From there you can type your own things, you want to say, on the page, and you can edit it however you like. Students or users are able to upload their own photos and are able to add any frames or icons they would like. There are many different events or icons present on Canva, along with the different font colors. This gives variety when it comes to what you can make. After your creation is done, you can save it, and eventually have multiple pieces art of art. This is a free and easy website to use in all classrooms. I love cheap but nice creation sites, like this one, and creating your own pieces can be so rewarding. I can use this tool in my classroom in many ways. Using it having students create silly work during free-time, or to use Canva, after reading a book to portray a scene that happened. 

Using this tool gives students the ability to express all of their ideas, on one piece of paper. They can have creativity when trying to make up their own creation. Again, there is so many things to make off of Canva. Check out my creation, of a poster, here!

Students can use Canva to create almost anything. It is a good all around website that gets the students involved and uses their creativity. The site is easy to navigate, however when uploading photos teachers or assists might need to help out. Some types of editing like creating your own texts, may be difficult for some students but the basis of photo creating is much simpler.

Try it out! (Canva)


This week is the first week, in the major project. I was so excited to start this, because I knew, I would have a good time. I chose to learn how to bake! I love sweets and thought it would be great if I could make them for myself. Usually, its my mom or grandma that always do the baking in my family, but I thought it was time for me to finally learn, and figured this was the perfect timing. Hopefully I have a family of my own one day, and being able to bake and cook, (which I believe I can do) is important to feed my future family. Following directions is crucial when baking if you want your treat to come out yummy. I was able to follow all directions and successfully baked my first  of many, desserts! 

I provided a picture here, of my steps that I had taken on the first day I baked cupcakes. I had a great experience and am happy that I get to do this many more times! Actually not burning or under baking them feels great! They were perfect! My whole family was very happy that we had dessert after dinner. 

Week 7: Creative Commons & Cool Tool #3

Becoming an educator it is important that I understand my responsibilities with the use of images with copyright,public domain and creative commons licenses. This subject was never taught to me before, so I am all new to it. I always thought that everything on the internet was free for everybody to use. I have never that you could have to possibly pay someone to use their work. However, I do know a little bit about plagiarism. I guess they could fall into the same category. For teachers to use images with copyright, they must seek permission from the original creator. Public domain though, is considered public access and those are open to anyone. Creative commons licenses have rules that come with them. Teachers are allowed to use the content, but must follow the rules. This weeks topic had so many good videos to explain these questions. I learned so many important things from this one! 

                                           

Technology is continuing to grow and is now overtaking education. Learning how to do something young, will only get easier as you grow up. Conquering an activity, you can become more successful later in life while using it. If education wants to incorporate technology, we all need to know how to use it. Teachers need to have a firm grasp on topics that revolve around technology. If teachers do not know the information, how are they supposed to pass on, or teach it to their students? Teachers need to be a role model, in all aspects. Knowing when to attach a citation on another persons work to a image, text, video or audio, is important with the rise of technology. This topic was never taught to be in depth, but I am going to do whatever I can to make sure that I spread the word of importance for it. Especially, as a teacher, I need to shape my future students for society. 

Stealing is against the law. Unfortunately, that is what so many people do everyday. Technology is so accessible nowadays, and you can find anything you want. Entertainment is one of the most important thing is today's society and receiving that entertainment, to some, is a necessity. Music and movies are the two most downloaded files across the web. However, there is an ethical issue with downloading. People are doing it, for free, and illegally. The people who create the files, need to make their money, and they cannot do so, when society is not paying for their products. I will be the first to admit, I have downloaded some music from the internet, but now that I know the importance and the consequences of that action, I will never illegally do it again. Teaching students the rights and wrongs of the internet, will better prepare them for having to use it in the future. 

I was never taught about creative commons when I was in school, but I am glad that I now know about it, and I can teach my future students the importance of making sure to use citations. 

For my third Cool Tool review I chose to do the tool, "Storybird." On Storybird, you can create your own picture books, short word or longform books and poetry. You are able to create an account and save your creations in a different file called "bookshelf". You can publish your book, privately or publicly and also, you can explore and read other people's published books. You can even able to share your books on different social media accounts! They can give you a price estimation and you can buy your created story. I love arts and crafts, so I tend lean more towards interactive and fun tools. I have never heard of Storybird before, but I am glad that I did. I was trying to find a website like this for another reason awhile back. Anyway, I chose to create a short word book. Since I am an early childhood major, I figured this was the perfect choice.  Check out my book here!

I would use this in and outside of the classroom. Using it in the classroom, I can implement it in many ways. By having my students either create their own storybook, or read another ones, use it as a project after a book report, or just for fun. I can use this tool outside of the classroom to create a special book on a topic that I want my future students to learn about or maybe one day publishing my own children's books. I would use this tool to help my students learn to read, type and use the computer. 

Students are definitely able to create their own artifacts using Storybird. They can create their own masterpieces at home and who knows... maybe they will create a best seller!  It is very easy to use. Signing up is free and choosing illustrations for the book is exciting. Some challenges that teachers may face when using Storybird would be how they might need to focus more on instruction with little children. For the younger ones, it might be a little complex, but with some practice, they'll be experts in no time!

I really enjoyed creating my own little book on Storybird. I will be using this tool later on, and will share my interest in it with all educators.

Want to create your own story? https://storybird.com/accounts/signup/?

Week 6: Digital Citizenship & Cool Tool #2

Garth Holman talks about digital citizenship, and explains how it is "your resume online." Everything that you post online, someone can see. It never goes away, even if you think, it has been deleted. The internet can be a scary thing. With technology rising more and more each day, it is becoming more accessible to the younger crowds. Educating them on the importance of this topic is crucial for their safety. All of society needs to understand the "think before you post" rule. Whenever I post on social media, I always try to post positive things, instead of complaining about another. Being a teacher is a very professional job and keeping all social media pages appropriate is important. I honestly have never, and will never, post anything that I would feel ashamed of. Putting my future job, and life in jeopardy because of a post, is not worth it to me. 

Cyber-Bulling is growing rapidly and effects so many people. Cyber-bullying can happen to anyone, no matter, age, race, gender etc. Hiding behind a screen and making fun of others is so cowardly, and anyone who has been affected knows the pain. Personally, I was lucky enough to not ever be cyber-bullied. Of course, I had the occasion high school drama, but I also have never hurt anyone's feeling online. However, I do know some people that have. Hurting someone else's feelings because you have your own problems is not okay. One thing I will never tolerate in my future classroom is bullying. Everyone is someone, and deserves to be treated like that.

Again, technology is continuing, and does not have a plan to stop, to take over lives. There are so many people that own these devices and use them everyday, just like you. Parents of course, are worried about their children and their safety while using the internet. Some, unfortunately do not use the correct parental control. There is a new story almost everyday about a kidnapping, or others in that category, that happen to young kids, while communicating through the internet. Having a participatory culture involves others sharing information. Fear might make these shared posts decrease. Not allowing others to participate in the sharing community, can eventually led to the fall of those cultures. 

Teachers need to educate children on to be aware, of what they post, and that it will never go away. 

For my Cool Tool #2, I chose from the category "comic creation tools." The tool I chose to explore was called, "Comic Master." This tool allows you to create your own comic by choosing the layout, the characters, and even allowing you to type in your own words! After you create your own comic, you can even print it out to share with others. This was the first time that I used comic master, so I created an account and made my own comic.

I would use this tool in my classroom, after my students finishing read a book, or have learned about a specific event. They can create their individual comics, on what they believe was the summary of either the book or the event. Using this tool, gets the children to be creative thinkers. They can personalize it however they want, and it is easy to create the account, and to put the comic together. Students can definitely use this website to create their own digital media artifacts. Comic master allows you to print and safe your comics, so children can eventually continue to create them and possibly make their own comic book. It only allows you to create one page at a time, so it is easy for students to stay on track. Also, the icons are big enough to see and read clearly. Again, this was my first time using this site, so what challenged me, which might challenge some of my students was trying to fit it all in the little boxes. Some of the props or characters were to big to fit into the little squares. It got a little frustrating trying to size it right, but I eventually managed to do so. This is overall a great tool to review. I will be using this site and will recommend it to everyone.

http://www.comicmaster.org.uk/

Week 5: TPACK & Cool Tool #1

TPACK is so important to understand, when it comes to learning. It involves our technology knowledge, our content knowledge and our pedagogical knowledge. Dr. Holliday says "It is used to increase student motivation and make content more accessible to students." (http://springboard.uakron.edu/d2l/le/content/4060273/viewContent/3429226/View)

I agree, that students can grow and learn more with technology available to them. 

It is important to think ahead before introducing new tools or technology into the classroom. There are many questions that you could ask yourself prior to implementation. Some questions may be: Is the technology I am using age appropriate for my students? Are my students learning effectively by this tool? Do my lesson plans and the tools I want to use coordinate with each other? Do my students like the technology I am using? Are they engaged? There are many other questions someone could ask themselves. However everyone's ultimate goal: Getting the students to learn. 

There are many positive attributions that can come about when integrating technology into the classroom. Educator Nada Salem Abisamra talks about the benefits of using technology into the classroom. (http://www.nadasisland.com/tpack/#benefits) She says that students show a higher motivation, increased organization with writing mechanics, enhanced reading skills and higher order thinking skills. Using technology can give students so many opportunities and let them explore all the things accessible to them. Technology can easily be called the best resource we have today.
Along with all of the positives that come along with technology, there comes potential barriers as well. Nada Salem Abisamra also discusses these. (http://www.nadasisland.com/tpack/#hinder) She says how teachers now, did not grow up around technology and therefore do not know the importance of it. Teachers may not also be properly trained in using technology. Since technology is so high tech, it can be hard to figure out. Nada uses the term "digital natives," the students who grew up surrounded by technology. They challenge the “digital immigrants,” the teachers, who did not grow up with it, because of differences in comfort levels and lack of knowledge in technology. I can see how some technology can be hard to figure out, or maybe distracting.

Using technology can enhance teachers teaching in many ways. One day, when I am a future educator, I hope to use the traditional ways of teaching, but also be open to exploring using technology! When I use technology I hope that my students learn better or get a better understanding of my lessons. I can try to enhance my lessons by picking out the right tools that go along with what I am trying to teach. Using laptops or IPads will hopefully allow students to personally engage at their own pace and having the freedom to different activities on their own.

After learning about TPACK, One question I have is, how will I know if my lessons or ways of teaching is effective to all the different parts of knowledge? I plan to be teaching 1st graders so it is crucial for me to be able to teach them and that they fully understand. This age is they key age when learning and developing. I hope that I can find my answers one day at educational programs or seminars.

This week was the first week for our "Cool Tool Reviews." The tool that I have chosen is the tool from the audio category called "Soundcloud." It is a website where you can listen to podcasts, or any type of music. I have never heard of, or used, this tool before. While experimenting with this tool, I found out that you can listen to books online. This is something that I would definitely use in my future classroom.I would use this tool because it was easy to navigate, and also having books on tape, allows students to read along and stay on track. They can also create an account, for free, and can access it anywhere. Students can be really creative with this site. It allows them to record, edit and upload their own sounds. It is easy to use by its simple instruction and its speed. What might challenge students, is what challenged me, that is trying to find music you like. Searching for it, is an option or scrolling through a bunch of suggestions is another one. Overall, this tool was organized ans simple. I enjoyed making my own collection (https://soundcloud.com/you/collection) and I will definitely look forward to learning about new cool tools that I can use in my future classroom. 

Interested in this site? : (https://soundcloud.com/)

Week 4: Open Learning

I never realized how important it is in being open in learning environments. Using the internet, many people can figure out so many things and learn other ideas from the ones who shared them. However, if those people were to shy or never shared their thinking's then, other people, using the internet, would never find out about their ideas. The ones sharing the knowledge, is letting others utilize what they know and apply it somewhere. As talking more and more about sharing, I am coming to find out how beneficial sharing really is. 

The more shared information, the more knowledge there is to soak up. Spreading the word about sharing can get others interested and it may convince them to share something they know. How we can capture the spirit about open learning is by telling others about the importance of it. Having a participatory community can influence others to want to share more, leading to better people who read them. Teaching children about being open while learning can get them sharing at a young age. Open access to technology in the classroom, I believe, is important in eventually happening. If a student is asked a question, but they do not know the answer, they can quickly look it up, and learn what the answer is. Being able to provide those tools would help future students. 

Having face-to-face interaction between a teacher and student, is so important when it comes to learning. Trying to teach anyone anywhere, anytime could be tough. All children learn differently. Some children need to see the material, others need to hear it, or do it. Being in a traditional classroom set up, I think, it gives all of the different students a fair chance in learning. Being able to have the educator at eye level with students is helpful for them in learning the material. If students are struggling in the classroom, it is more obvious for a teacher to figure out then online. They can get the help they need right away. However, I do like the idea that children can use video chat to communicate with teachers, if needed. 

Slowly but surely some things start to go away, or be unheard of. The future of textbooks are so questionable. Technology has its way of moving in and taking over. Schools have been using different types of technology for years now and are still continuing to bring in different types of technology today. Having textbooks is the classroom, is one thing that might be taken over as well. Textbooks are expensive to buy but printing them has a ridiculous cost. Converting textbooks into digital copies will be more accessible, however, reading print is easily than reading something through a screen. Some students learn better with having the book, in their hands. Textbooks have their purpose, and I would hate to see them go. 

In Alec Couros one video about open learning, he quotes "Its not just experiencing these resources that we have but also being able to be an open learner, yourself." I have never thought about how important, sharing and being open while educating, is. Contributing your own knowledge to a network can help out so many other people, and may give another one many more ideas.  

http://springboard.uakron.edu/d2l/le/content/4060273/viewContent/3429214/View

Week 3: Ideas on Sharing

Sharing ideas in education is so important. Being connected to others by any types of networks can get others talking, searching and sharing their own ideas. Becoming a teacher is such a rewarding job and knowing how to succeed in my future job is very important to me. By learning all of the ways that teachers can share their work or ideas, and ways that they can exchange knowledge makes the role of technology and social media that much more crucial to today's world.

Teachers and learners have many resources that are accessible to them to share their work with other professionals. They can use Twitter, make a blog, or create their own website to share their posts or ideas. However, sharing ideas does not always have to be through technology. Teachers can simply spread their knowledge through word of mouth or even creating posters, filers or art trying to get their message, or point across to others. Deciding on what to share and what not to share can be tricky. People may be worried about what others think about their different ideas. Sharing is so important, and what some people may think is obvious, may be amazing or life changing to some one else. The importance of sharing "everything" is knowing that certain knowledge can go viral and can potentially help out so many people throughout the world. You never know who is looking at your posts so share as much as you can, and keep in mind, that your shared knowledge may be the light in the dark. 

Being in school as a young individual can be very stressful or even scary as a student. Being afraid of failure or not wanting to speak aloud because of fearing being called "stupid." Most students may have had this experience. What teachers need to do to make their students feel smart in the classroom is praise all of the good things that students do. Making the whole class focus in on one students failures makes that failed student never want to try again. They think if they try again, they will just fail again.A students confidence can easily go away with one bad grade or mistake. Students need to be reminded of the good things they are capable of. Even if the student does not receive an A, but they tried their best, and received a C, the teachers should praise them for trying and give the struggling student some more help.Knowing how to help students is important as a teacher and finding the answers can be found by someone sharing them. Sharing does not always have to be online. As said before, teachers can share their knowledge through communication. Face to face communication can sometimes be more effective than online, due to being able to listen and ask any questions. Getting the knowledge from a person can even help spread ideas faster.

Being able to give constructive criticism to my future students is really important. Knowing what to say to them and having them understand that the words are not to hurt their feelings, but only to get them to work harder and do better. Seeing all of my students succeed in my grade, and move on in life by what I teach them is going to be an awesome feeling. I want to engage the whole professional learning community into using this kind of criticism. It can be good for students to hear and lets them focus on what they need to improve. 

Grammar and Language Arts are two words that may not come easy to all people. We are all humans, we all make mistakes and no one is absolutely perfect. Thinking that our public, published writing or media will be error-free is a reality that no one thinks about. Authors, journals and even teachers need to be professional and appropriate at all times, but having grammatical errors is no big deal. Having a blog or a website where others can share, gives them an opportunity to be themselves and to freely, but not trying to, mess up grammatically. It is important for teachers to understand how to teach and help students who could be struggling with grammar. Transparency is showing some strengthens and weaknesses in the classroom. Creating a culture that encourages transparency leads to a better classroom by letting others accept their flaws. Sharing is the most effective way to spread knowledge and is the best way to let others know what you already do. So share everything, whenever you can, and keep in mind that what you share, could maybe change the world.