ILP#2

For my ILP#2 I chose to do a Lynda tutorial. The course that I chose was about basic job skills. It offered friendly advice that went in depth with what is acceptable in the workplace and how one should act. The tutorial focuses on small things that can have a huge impact on everyday communications. An aspect that I found interesting about communicating effectively in customer service was always treat the customer like a friend. The employee should give honest and helpful answers and advice. Working as a team is sometimes challenging so the tutorial talks about how it is a game of give and take. Some days it seems like you may be pulling most of the weight but other days it is someone else. Do not succumb to confirmation bias by comparing your own work. A fascinating topic that the tutorial touched on was asking questions at work. Bosses and experienced employees often forget what it is like to be knew so stay pleasant and ask for further clarification. Punctuality says a lot about a person's value of the work. When a fellow employee is always late it is noticed and frustrates the other employees. Setting goals is important because it provides an illustration of how one needs to manage their time. Finally, handling conflict is one of the most valuable tools they touch on. Fleeing from conflict is the first thing people want to do but addressing the issue is the first step to overcoming the conflict. One must understand why the other person thinks how they think and then find common ground for compromise. Sweeping the issue under the rug solves nothing and only allows those issues to fester.
This Lynda.com tutorial was very interesting and taught me a lot.

Blog 10

In a Spanish 1 and 2 classroom, the students are very diverse. Everyone comes in with a different level of Spanish knowledge. A survey is the quickest way to evaluate the starting point of each student and assists my understanding of where the students are coming from. The same survey at the end of the course can show me what and how much they remember in the course. In my first few years of teaching I will be self-assessing constantly and always acquiring feedback from students to see where I can improve. An excel spreadsheet is great for attendance, grades, and class averages. In my experience, seeing the class averages of tests gives me comfort if I did not do as well knowing that others did not either. It is a tangible tool to use to see if the students understood the material or if i need to go over some ideas. 

The most interesting week for blog was the one where we had to discuss Web 2.0. Many students found C.R.A.A.P.y sites that I had not heard of before and shared them to the blog. There are so many teachers in the world so it is nice to see there are sites customized to further professionals. Facebook is great but it is not used solely for education. Even with platforms I already knew how to use, I could see how others used it differently. Examples of this would be: a feature I did not know existed on Microsoft Word, a creativity aspect of Facebook, or ways to search for information on Google. 

A skill that I would like to learn is how to incorporate technology into the learning experience through hands on activity. Smartboards, 3D printers, and Microsoft Office all help me do my job but I am unaware of how to allow students to use these items to learn. Allowing students to use the Smartboard as a special reward can be a great motivator because it does so many cool things so I hope to learn what type of assignments I can do and how to implement the students' use of the Smartboard into the classroom. I know that there are great people at the Tech Sandbox who can help me which is great to be aware of. I can also join a group of professionals and ask their advice through a Web 2.0 site.

Blog 9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUUaC-gyDpY
The flipped classroom is a style of education that is the opposite of the classical classroom. The traditional class learns from the lecture and then takes home readings and homework to complete to practice. The flipped classroom is where the student listens to the lecture and learns the material on their own time and then in classroom they have homework.
https://opensource.org/
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/open-content
https://sparcopen.org/open-education/
The idea of open source is to provide quality education that is widely accessible to all constituencies. This idea derives from the sky rocketing prices of text books and other educational texts. The belief is that education should be free or affordable and not just for those with the money to pay for it. Open content is educational instruction via the internet the is free or affordable and widely accessible. It can be a video presentation, images, document, etc. It is all legally available. Open education understands the importance of education and attempts to tackle the education disparity due to monetary costs. With the growth in technology it is now easier to share than ever before.

The two powerpoint assignments have been so helpful in many ways. All of my teachers throughout school have used powerpoints daily. Creating a lesson plan and then teaching it through the PowerPoint audio option was excellent practice and will be super useful in the future. The second assignment allowed me to put another education weapon into my arsenal: Jeopardy. Being able to make the Jeopardy game taught me a lot about PowerPoint and will serve as a great review tool for my future students. I really enjoyed these two assignments because even though they were tedious, it is still something that I need to learn how to do to become a teacher. Creating lesson plans and reviews are part of the job and so I must know how to do it.

Blog #8

      Adaptive technologies are meant to do exactly what the title says. The technology is supposed to adapt to different situations to allow a student to receive the information in a way that is beneficial. This can be reading aloud for students with visual impairment or digital translators for ELLs. The reading aloud option provides a personalized learning experience for a visually impaired student so that they can learn the course material. One hurdle that ELLs must face in school is the language barrier. A digital translator allows a student to keep up with what the teacher is saying or what is on the board without holding back the other students in the class. At the restaurant where I work there is a blind couple that comes in occasionally and I see them on their phones tapping and listening to the menu options. The screen is still black and it relies on the user's finger. In middle school I remember sitting next to an Asian students who had a mini tablet with a keyboard and she used that to translate the English words. 
      With all technology, there are drawbacks. Technology has a set algorithm and code so sometimes it cannot adjust for user error. The standard computer relies heavily on the users ability to read and interpret the words and symbols on the screen. The visually impaired student has to learn how to use the adapted technology as proficiently as a non-visually impaired student must learn a standard computer. Navigating the internet, making a PowerPoint, or searching Word documents all require time to learn. The visually impaired does not have the same help from a more knowledgeable other so it is a greater challenge to learn the intricacies of the process. Another challenge for adaptive technology is the cost. The translator tablet or specialized computer for the visually impaired come at a high cost. If a school is underfunded then the student has to provide this themselves. This inherently hurts impoverished students with disabilities more than affluent students. 

      A great site to stay informed on tech trends is Engadget.com. The front page of the site always has the latest technology news. Today it discussed the Cambridge Analytica scandal with Facebook as well as the new Samsung TV that allows a mode to "see through" the TV. There are different subcategories relating to "gaming," "entertainment," and a "Tomorrow" page that discusses where technology is going and what people are working on. 

PLN

      When I worked as a summer camp counselor it was always necessary to have an appropriate game for each age of kids. Seeing as how children get bored of games rather quickly I always had to look for new sources of fun. Pinterest was very helpful in this search. I learned games from elementary teachers that they played with their classes; I read about game that were intended for adults but could be modified to suit a younger age; and I even found games that someone played with their family at a reunion. Pinterest brought all of these ideas together and I found them just by searching "group games" or something like that. Now imagine that same pool of ideas for lesson plans or interactive activities. Pinterest is great for teachers because it allows the whole teaching community to collaborate and share what worked in their classroom with other teachers across the country.
      The National Education Association has comprised a list of professional development programs to help teachers in many ways. The NEA has a series of Webinars that teachers can sign up for and attend online at their convenience. Listening to other professionals discuss new thought provoking ideas not only provides a new way to approach a lesson, it also motivates teachers through a sense of community. Teachers who successfully incorporate what they learned from a webinar will share their stories with others.

Blog #7

      Twitter is a truly incredible social media platform. I remember creating a twitter in 2007/2008 when the site just opened. The twitter that I made for this class has changed how I use twitter. On my regular account I keep up with pop culture, my favorite artists, meme pages, etc. On this twitter I follow news sites and sites related to education. I find interesting articles every week that pertain to my teaching profession. It is really great to have a personalized community for education technology, teaching theories, and political policies. 

      The Weebly site took a minute for me to get used to but once I did it was super easy. At times I could not figure out how to split the page because there is not a column option. I love the idea of a class website. I added a calendar page which I feel would be super helpful with students. It is a more friendly way to post information from the syllabus. If I use this later in my career I will add more direct contact information and keep it up to date with links to assignments. 

      http://joshmeinerteme2040.weebly.com/

      

      

Diigo is a pretty nice site. However, it is dependent upon the community. In this class we had to find trustworthy C.R.A.A.P.Y. websites. With other communities it is not as regulated so unless the group has a lot of members who participate it is not worth it. The amount of work put into a Diigo reflects what you get out of it. In the future I will try to show this to other Spanish teachers and hopefully they will add their friends and we can create a community with all the Spanish teachers in the county or state. 

ILP #1

Voicethread for ILP #1

Link: https://voicethread.com/share/10466695/

Blog #6

      The first thing you see when you go to the teacher's website is a brief overview of important information. His email, phone, and even Instagram and Twitter are the first things you see. This makes it easy if a parent is just searching for how to contact him. He has a few interesting cosmetic features that make the website more friendly. He then has a tab for announcements that discuss the homework. He displays his instagram photos that keep students and parents up to date with what the class has done. Mr. Bowen is a Civics teacher at Cobb Middle School.

https://www.leonschools.net/Domain/2640

      

      For my first ILP I learned about this website called 10minutelessonplans.com. It walks a teacher through making a lesson plan. It is simple and easy to use. It asks key questions and then offers advice on what to do. I can see myself using this tool. Also, in the DIIGO group, other students have shared websites that make it easier to communicate with parents, take attendance, create a class discussion forum, and others. Keeping track of my classes online will keep me organized and all the information will be in the same place and easy to access. 

      The Tech Sandbox was incredibly interesting! Technology has so much utility and seeing how professionals use it in creative ways is very inspiring. I can see myself using the smart board to create interactive activities where students can use the touch pad. The virtual reality device would be so useful in my Spanish classroom. I can take them on a trip back in time to colonial South America or hike the trail of Machu Pichu. The reason I want to become a teacher is to share the culture of other peoples. Providing an interactive experience where they can see "first hand" how other people live will inspire and engage them with the material. 

Blog #5

      Web 2.0 revolutionized the use of technology in the classroom. In this class we made twitter accounts and share different articles about technology and studies that impact students' lives and also our ways to teach diverse populations. The truth is that students nowadays are comfortable with technology and know all about social media. Social media is a perfect example of Web 2.0. Students interact with each other as well as news and trending topics. The ability to read an article and then read the comments or responses to an article helps students realize that there is often more than one side to an argument and authors tend to be one sided and biased. 

      Pinterest is a great Web 2.0 tool for the classroom. It is an easy to navigate site where teachers share their own lessons and then discuss the results and how it went with the students. Teachers can make folders that have multiple articles that they found interesting. For example, as a science teacher they could make a folder about biology experiments in one folder and chemistry in another. 

Pinterest.com 

      The ability to share knowledge with someone miles away is very promising. As technology improves so will being able to find other people's work. If I am having trouble with teaching a particular lesson I can look around at how other teachers taught the material and read the advice they gave in annotations. This is super helpful because we all have our own skill set and being able to accommodate different needs is crucial. Say that my teaching style is not good for a few students in my class, I can find a teacher that is compatible with their learning style and incorporate those techniques into my classroom.  

Web Evaluation

High School Spanish

Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com 

      This is a great website for practicing the fundamentals of a language. It is a game app on the phone as well as a website. It is very user friendly. 

• Currency: The company won the iPhone Best App of the Year award in 2013. There have also been various studies published by the team from the year 2014-2016. They have been working to add more languages.
• Relevance: The app is very easy to use. It starts from basic vocabulary words and progresses into sentences. This app would serve as extra homework practice.
• Authority: There have been articles published from various universities about the effectiveness of Duolingo and also their language learning model.
• Accuracy: The site is accurate in the way that it will not teach you the wrong words. The grammar and vocabulary it teaches are correct. However, since Spanish is a very complex language that has many lexical changes depending on region it is nearly impossible to be 100% accurate. 
• Purpose: The purpose is to teach a basis of a new language. Their motto is that you can learn a new language by doing 5 minutes of Duolingo a day. 

http://spanish4teachers.org/

This site provides lesson plans and PowerPoint for Spanish teachers.

• Currency: The founder started the website in 2009 and allows for teachers to share lesson plans and other materials so it is updated quite frequently. 
• Relevance: The site is easy to maneuver. It has tabs that mark lesson plans, quizzes, culture, and within those tabs are subcategories that dive in deeper to a subject. 
• Authority: The website is managed by an IB Spanish teacher. She has a disclaimer that they do their best to make sure all the information is accurate but admit it is nearly impossible. The site does have authority because it takes information from many experienced professionals in the field. 
• Accuracy: The site offers a disclaimer that not all the information is completely accurate so it warns to use the information with a grain of salt. It is still a useful site for a knowledgeable reader who can identify mistakes. 
• Purpose: The purpose is to enhance learning across the country. The author's mission statement says that collaboration enhances learning. 

Blog #4

      The Twitter account I made for this class is my second account. However, I prefer this account because I follow a lot more beneficial pages. On my other account I follow meme accounts, celebrities, and less professional accounts. I have customized this account so that I see educational articles about technology, and cutting edge educational theories and studies. I have really enjoyed being able to open up my phone and get useful information and learn something new every time. Twitter will absolutely help me in my future career because the news pages that I follow stay up to date and post new articles every day. 

      The digital divide is the inequality of internet access based on socioeconomic status. The overwhelming majority of affluent families have internet access in their home as well as access on their phones. However, families of lower SES tend to have less access. This is detrimental to a student's success. For example, if a student without a computer has to do research or make a PowerPoint for class, that student must stay after school to use the school's computers or commute to a public library. If that student has to take the bus then it is more difficult to stay late. This is a huge roadblock because now the poorer student has to put in twice the effort to do the same work as a more affluent student. Other causes of the divide could be living in a rural area where internet providers do not reach because the demand is too low. In my classroom I will continue to assign projects that need to be done on the computer but just be open and flexible with students who do not have them. This could mean an alternate assignment or being more lenient on grading if the student only has 20 minutes to work on it during their lunch hour.

      Over the course of my career I will use student software more and more as the need and access to technology progresses. I will probably use Microsoft Word most just because that is how I will write newsletters, tests/assignments, and make a syllabus. I also hope to incorporate EdModo or another site that allows all the students to communicate in a "social media"-esque format. It will allow students to communicate without exchanging more private information like Facebook profiles. I will be teaching high school students so most of them will have access to the internet either at home or on a smart phone. It is important for a teacher to be fluent in technological software and also important to teach students a wide span of internet resources.