Kaley's Blog

For my second ILP I decided to try and make an InfoGraphic, which displays information with pictures and images instead of just a regular newsletter or fact sheet. With finals coming up I thought a graphic on ways to reduce stress would be helpful for many of my classmates. This was a lot harder to make than I thought it would be, but I definitely think that using InfoGraphics would portray information to students in an engaging way. https://create.piktochart.com/output/29566919-new-piktochart

      Data collection and reporting tools could be very helpful in showing teachers how well students understand certain concepts. For example a teacher could survey the class on how comfortable they feel with learning objectives XYZ and then use the reporting tools to evaluate which lessons to review, and what to not cover as thoroughly. This probably would work better in middle school and high school classrooms, as younger students not understand self evaluation quite as well, but this could work for any subject matter. It would be helpful in averaging exam scores and grades overall to see how the class is progressing.       I learned a lot from my classmates’ blogs this semester. I enjoyed reading different people’s opinions on certain topics, and seeing their recommendations for certain educational tools. I remember one of my classmates discussed a program called Classroom 2.0 that I thought was really interesting. Overall by inte...

A flipped classroom sends the student home with the task of watching the lesson, and then coming into the classroom to complete what we would typically think of as homework and assignments.  Personally I don't like the idea of flipped classrooms, it takes away from interaction during a class lecture. A child will watch a video at home and be confused 5 minutes in with no way to get immediate clarity that they would if they could just raise their hand and ask a question. Consequently the student would be confused for the rest of the lesson and not be learning as effectively as possible. I feel as though teachers don't want to be a voice on a computer, but rather a critical and tangible element in a student's learning that I just can't see from a flipped classroom.  https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/ Open source content and software programs seem to be very beneficial for many people and teachers on a budget. It seems that these prog...

One amazing PLN for teachers is Pinterest, it has so many different boards for teachers that can show anything from classroom organization tips to fun assignments and even behavioral management ideas. Due to the format of Pinterest it is really easy for a teacher to customize it to meet their own needs, which really makes it personal. You can also form collaborative boards, so like Diigo multiple teachers can add pins to the group of topics that they find helpful to the group as a whole. https://www.pinterest.com/ YouTube can also be very helpful because they have videos to explain almost anything you could think of. Teachers throughout my schooling have always used creative short videos to summarize or visually go into depth on different topics. YouTubers such as CrashCourse are perfect additional information to help students understand certain topics. Also, teachers who are having difficulties with using technology in the classroom can almost always just look up a YouTube video on...

Adaptive technologies are critical to allowing students with impairments to function as close to normally as possible in their classroom.   This is important because if these sorts of software and hardware were not available a very intelligent yet deaf student would not be capable of reaching their full potential in the standard classroom. I had a friend in high school that had severe arthritis and was able to use her laptop for note taking and exams even when the rest of us had to use a standard paper and pencil because it was easier on her joints. While this is not a complex form or assistive technology, it shows that small changes using technology can make huge differences in a student’s education.             The difficulty with assistive technology is that they are not always simple for the teachers or the students to use. As a teacher you are meant to know how to use this technology, but sometimes i...

Using Twitter has been really fun. Some of the tweets are really stupid and pointless, but others are actually very helpful or even make me laugh. I think that the education accounts that I follow post really great material that could make life as a teacher much easier. I could see Twitter being a very useful source one day if I decide to become a teacher, it is really easy to use and you can quickly find things that you liked earlier. I love Twitter so I do not really have any problems with it. The Web Design project has been really interesting, and I was pretty shocked by how fast I got the hang of designing the website. I have used Weebly before for middle school projects, but it has been a very long time and things have definitely changed. I think I could improve it next time if I had real information that I wanted to present, because I made up lots of the information. Additionally, adding cool videos or a gallery of class pictures and work would be cute on a real teacher website...