Independent Learning Project #2

For my second ILP I decided to create a Prezi. The Prezi I created was about World Geography because that is the subject matter I hope to teach when I become a teacher. I would use the presentation as a intro presentation to a unit about the United States in comparison to other countries/continents. My presentation would include extra details about each location mentioned in relation to the United States. Below is a link to my Prezi:

http://prezi.com/xwew5qqrfm9l/present/?auth_key=xb4ql21&follow=baqx3jvudklt

Presentation notes:

Discuss Canada's history with the U.S. and compare its Geography
Discuss the United States geography
Discuss Africa in comparison to the United States, history and geography
Discuss Russia's history and geography in comparison with  the United States

Independent Learning Project #1

For this Independent Learning Project I created an infographic using canva.com. The website is free and extremely easy to use. I created more of a welcome sign for my classroom than an actual infographic but that just goes to show that canvas.com can be useful in more than one way. Below is the infographic I created:

I also created the back side of it to let students know when i am unavailable:

Blog Post #10

Working on the PowerPoint Interaction assignment allowed me to view other purposes of PowerPoint other than a presentation. Creating an interactive quiz was a lot of fun. It gave me many ideas of ways I can use PowerPoint within the classroom. Action buttons were very useful in this assignment and will continue to be useful in future presentations/activities I create for my classrooms.

As a teacher, I think I will use data collecting tools to take attendance and keep records of grades organized. Since I want to teach high school, I will have multiple classrooms so it is important for me to have access to a data collecting tool, like excel, to keep myself organized. Excel also provides many functions so keeping my data in excel will make my life easier when I need to provide administration with data. 

After viewing my peers blogs, the topics I found most interesting were all the different tools teachers have access to online. I never knew of all these different tools, like website and presentation creators, that could help me keep organized and produce better presentation for better instruction. I took note of all the different internet resources my peers mentioned in hope that I will be able to use them when I become a teacher.

The technology-related skill I would most like to learn next is how to create a better website. I want to be able to provide my students with an interactive website that has chat rooms for them to discuss assignments on, but that I can regulate. I also want to be able to make the website accessible for the parents but only parts of the website. For example, I don't want the parents to be able to access the students chat. 

In the future, I hope to achieve my technology-related goals by taking courses and advancing my knowledge on the different technologies I wish to improve on. I also hope to achieve these goals by continuing to practice with these different technologies and improve my skills. By doing this, I hope I'll be ready to use this technologies efficiently within my future classrooms.

Blog Post #9

Essentially, a flipped classroom involves the students viewing class lectures at home on their own time and then completing a reflective activity in class the following day. A flipped classroom could be very beneficial for students who are more hands on/interactive learners. The only problem I could see with flipped classrooms would be students not completing the lecture based homework and coming into class unprepared. Teachers could use teachertube.com to find information videos for the students to watch at home.
I found a very interesting website (http://www.edutopia.org/diy-professional-development-resources) that provides "DIY Professional Development." The website has 5 different resource topics to benefit you as an educator. The five resource topics are All About Twitter, The Un-Conference Model, Tech Tools on Your Own Time, Building a Professional Learning Network, and Additional Resources on the Web. Each resource topic has 6-10 links to helpful articles and resources for teachers who are trying to expand their professional development. These links include videos and diagrams to help educators. At the end of the page there are additional helpful resources for teachers to explore.
I enjoyed the PowerPoint Information Dissemination assignment. It was fun to pretend that I was making a presentation for an assignment I was giving my class. I feel as if I could potentially use the exact powerpoint I made or at least use it as inspiration for future presentations I will have to give to my future classes. Below is a picture of the intro slide to my powerpoint:

Blog Post #8

The technology that I believe holds the biggest promise for education is 3D printing. I think 3D printing is most promising especially for students with visual disabilities. Being able to create 3D objects fast and affordably can help educators communicate ideas with those who are visually impaired. It is also promising for students without visual disabilities because it can act as an extra aid during lessons.
Augmented reality eye-wear is a future technology that I see being very beneficial for classrooms. These glasses can show students an alternate reality. For example, they could bring students to a different region of the world with just a click of a button. This technology is just another way an educator can improve their lessons and provide students with better examples/experiences to help them absorb information.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/five-future-education-technologies-nick-grantham
I am definitely on the side of the divide that had access to technology while growing up. My parents are both graphic designers so technology was their business. The digital divide will be difficult for teachers in future classrooms because technology is becoming such a huge part of the classroom. Teachers are going to have to be able to provide accommodations for those students who do not have easy access to technology.

Blog Post #7

PowerPoint is a great way to support student learning at each level of Bloom's Taxonomy because it is a software that provides opportunity to create, evaluate, analyze, apply, understand, and remember information. It helps teachers create original presentations that will help students evaluate the subject of the lesson and analyze the information given. It also helps students apply the information to examples by providing the teachers ways to properly explain the subject matter so that students can understand and remember the lesson.
Adaptive technologies are used to support learners in many different ways. They are there to help the students who have learning disabilities or an impairment that could affect the student's learning process. The podcast mentions a couple of adaptive technologies like magnified screens or brail printers. Technologies like this can help students with visual impairments. Adaptive technologies are important because they help break down the learning barriers between exceptional and non exceptional students. Personally, I have not know a student who has needed/used adaptive technologies. I feel as if these technologies will be helpful for me as a teacher in the classroom, but I also feel as if they can cause conflict between students (unfair/jealous students).
This weeks web design assignment was a lot of fun. I liked being able to explore and practice creating a classroom website. This assignment gave me a lot of ideas for how I would design my website when I do eventually become a teacher. Website link: http://mswronks.weebly.com

Blog Post #6

I visited my old high school's (Charles W. Flanagan high school) website and took a look at some of the teacher's class pages. The first thing I noticed is that all assignments and test information is public. I also noticed that the teachers included links to helpful/relevant websites. Each teacher also had a link to their class calendar and news board. All the class pages followed the same format, which keeps it look crisp and professional. Below is an example of one of the teachers webpages:

I envision myself using technology as often as I see necessary. By this I mean, if the technology is actually beneficial to me and not just another hassle. The main technology, which is mentioned in the podcast, that I would find extremely beneficial to me is twitter. Twitter would be helpful in and out of the classroom because it would provide a way for me to easily communicate with my students. My students would create a classroom account and I could use it for assignments or to just keep my students updated on what is to be expected of them. If some students don't have access to twitter I would provide them with another way to keep in contact with me. 

This assignment was extremely confusing to me at first. I wasn't sure exactly what was expected from me but after help from my teacher, my group and I were able to figure it out. This assignment was helpful for me because it made me see how important it is to evaluate the websites you plan to use. If I had to improve this assignment I would probably use a different wiki site, I found pbworks to be confusing. I can use what I learned from this assignment to evaluate the websites I plan to use within the classroom and to make sure my students also evaluate the websites they use for different assignments. Below are some screenshots of the assignment:

Blog Post #5

I think web 2.0 tools can all be useful within the classroom. Teachers could use all the help they can get and technology, like web 2.0 tools, have been extremely helpful for teachers in the 21st century. These tools can help teachers become more effective. One of the web 2.0 tools that I caught in the podcast is wiki. Wiki is a website that allows collaborative editing from its users. This could be helpful for teachers because it could allow them to create an interactive websites where their students could ask questions, post assignment, etc. Unfortunately, students will need access to a computer and internet source in order to participate. These things can most likely be found within the school, so it should not be an issue.
A web 2.0 tool that I might use in the classroom is teacher-tube. Teacher-tube is exactly like YouTube but is meant specifically for educators. Teacher-tube is filtered out so that every video is appropriate for the classroom. It is also much easier for teachers to find a video on Teacher-tube because it only has educational videos.
I would use Teacher-tube to find relevant videos that I could use as examples throughout the lesson or could just build a lesson around altogether. Since there is such a large amount of videos on Teacher-tube, it shouldn't be hard for me to find a video that is relevant and helpful for whatever lesson I am teaching that day. This web 2.0 tool doesn't involve much and can be very useful for within the classroom. http://www.teachertube.com
The concept map assignment was a lot of fun for me. I played around with the Inspiration tool and had a lot of fun changing the colors of the bubbles and going through the different graphic options. Even though our assignment was to create a study guide, I was able to get a feel of the ways a concept map could be used within a lesson. Concept maps could be used as something you project on the board that has the basic ideas of the days lessons so the students can physically see what it is they should be learning. Below is the concept map I created for the assignment:

Blog Post #4

http://www.cpalms.org/Public/search/Standard#0

One web based resource my students could use to learn this standard could be some soft of simulation software. The simulation software could involve an interactive map that shows the migrations and distribution of human populations. This software would be best for my student to learn this standard because it would be hands on/interactive. 

Using the internet for student research can be really beneficial if students know the right ways to research. It can be useful for students to gain background information on their topic of research. It can also be useful for students to search for scholarly articles to use for their research. However, internet use for research can be risky because not everything on the internet is correct. In order to surpass this I will make sure my students know how to tell the difference between a credible source and a non credible source. 

In the past I usually ignored the proper ways to search the internet unless I was being fact checked. I would just google what it was I was looking for and use any website that sufficed. I never thought about checking the date it was published to see if it was current. That probably would have been useful for me in the past but now I know to make sure to check for that in the future.

Working on the web hunt assignment I gained the understanding of keywords. By this I mean, adding a keyword into the search bar that indicates what you're searching for. Using the different google sources, like google scholar and google video, also help condense your search and find more valuable resources. 

Web hunt challenge 1: 

Find an informational video that combines graphics and audio on World War I.

Web hunt challenge 2:

Find an some sort of interactive website that will help students gain reading skills. 

Blog Post #3

The infographic I found can be seen below: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/48202658488549457/

This infographic gives teachers a break down of what is looked for during their observation. It is a helpful infographic for teachers because it can help them prepare for observations. The infographic is clean and easy to read. There is just the right amount of graphics and the information provided is short and sweet. I'd say this a very successful infographic because it gets across its message and is pleasing to look at.
Based on chapter nine I would like to use blogs within the classroom. I think blogs are great way for students to share their opinion and interact with one another. Firstly, I would need to address netiquette because the students will be interacting with each other through the blogs. I'll also have to teach students how to protect personal information about themselves because blogs are public. Since my students will be about 15-16 years old I feel blogs would be an appropriate way to keep them interacting inside and outside of class.
Working on the newsletter was a bit challenging for me but it did help me learn how to format word better. It took me some time to figure it out because word has a different layout on my mac than it does on the PCs in class. I was able to get it done and I am proud with the results. I found the newsletter assignment to be beneficial because it forced me to explore word more.

Blog Post #2

MS Word
Throughout my educational career I have used MS mainly for writing papers. Occasionally I have used MS to create a newspaper article or a graph, but for the most part, it was used to write essays. My teachers used MS word for writing out rubrics/instructions for assignments they were giving, but I've also had teachers use it during lectures to show notes on the projector screen. I think MS word is best used for textual projects but it could be used for other things as well. As a teacher I will explore MS word and try and use it for all the ways it can benefit me. For example, I could use MS word to create a visual representation of what the days lesson will be about through graphs, text, pictures, etc.
Copyright and Fair Use
Copyright happens constantly throughout the world. People who create things (like photos, songs, paintings, reviews, etc.) aren't getting proper recognition when others want to use their creations. In school we learn about copyright and how we can avoid it, but it is difficult to avoid it completely. In order to avoid copyright within my classroom, I will make sure to teach my students about fair use and the proper way to cite/give credit for something they may use in their projects that they did not create themselves and give proper consequences to those students who don't.
Twitter
Twitter is a great tool for teachers to use to connect with students and their parents. After using twitter for a couple of weeks, I feel as if it is a great way to keep in contact with different departments/programs that could be useful to me when I become a teacher. I plan to use twitter as a resource for my students, whether it be to post homework assignments or just share an article that relates to that days lesson. I could give assignments through twitter, make a last minute due date change, post updates on the next days class, let my students know if I'll be missing a day of class, etc. There are so many positive opportunities through the use of Twitter. Twitter will provide me with a way to keep in contact with my students inside and outside of the classroom.

Blog Post #1

Computers in Classroom
I think computers are extremely beneficial within Education but not necessarily within the actual classroom. Computers within the physical classroom are great when the teacher is the only one that has access but they can pose a huge threat to student concentration/participation if each individual student were to have access to one during class time. It is important for students to know how to use different forms of technology because technology is and will continue to be a huge part of our society but there is a time and place for them to learn those things, and I feel that it should be its own class. There are pros and cons to every new technological development but I feel as if the pros of technology within education outweigh the cons. Yes, learning the new technologies and keeping up-to-date can be time consuming for the teachers, but overall, having technology within the classroom creates a lot of new opportunities for educators to modify/enhance their teaching abilities.

My use of Computers
I plan to use computers in my classroom mainly for the internet. You can find almost anything on the internet and I think it is extremely beneficial for teachers. Since I plan on becoming a history teacher, the internet will be a great way for me to research historical events and keep up with/compare them to current events and share them in class. I will also use computers to make presentations for my lectures and make my life easier when it comes to organization and making lesson plans.

Digital Natives
I feel that the term "digital native" is fluid when it comes to who is and who isn't. Just because someone is born during a time of technology doesn't mean they have access to that technology and therefor, they should not be considered a "digital native". The term "digital native" seems unnecessary because everyone feels differently about the uses of technology, whether they grew up with it or not. Since I am considered a "digital native" I will point out that I do do things differently, when it comes to technology, compared to my parents who are considered "digital immigrants." Growing up with technology I feel that it is easier for me to learn new technologies than it is for those who did not grow up with it. I also feel like I am able to find shortcuts faster than the "digital immigrants." I feel that in time the word "digital natives" will disappear because soon, everyone will be a digital native and as long as you keep up with new technological discoveries, I don't think there will be a huge difference between future students and teachers when it comes to technological ability.

Twitter Username

@N_B_Wronski

Blog Post #0

Both of my parents are graphic designers so I have been exposed to different forms of technology since I was little. Technology is an important part of my everyday life, I use my phone constantly to keep tabs on my friends and family, my computer is vital when it comes to checking up on my social media accounts and completing school assignments, I rely on my alarm clock to wake me up in the morning and my Netflix to keep me entertained. I began school during a time of huge technological developments, this caused me to be exposed to many different forms of technology that would be helpful to me during my time in school and out in the "real" world. I learned how to use Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, I learned how to research efficiently and effectively and I became and avid technology user.
 During the duration on EME2040, I hope to learn/refresh my knowledge on the important aspects of different technologies and programs, especially the technologies and programs used within a classroom. Since I am planning to become a teacher, and I know that this class will help me achieve my goal of understanding these different technologies, I plan to put forward my full attention and make sure that I am comfortable using these different technologies/programs. I also hope to obtain an understanding of how to apply these technologies within the classroom so that when I am ready to teach/become a teacher, I can.

Pictured above, I have my learning style results. From these results I can conclude that am able to learn effectively through both active and reflective techniques, I am an intuitive learner so I prefer more innovative ways to solve problems and dislike repetition. I can also conclude that I prefer/do better with visual learning but can learn through verbal techniques. These results also tell me that I am more of a sequential learner than a global one, but have tendencies to learn both ways, this means that I either grasp details of what is being taught to me without fully understanding the material (sequential) or grasp different parts of what is being taught to but eventually fully "getting it" (global). By knowing and understanding my learning style, I should be able to alter my study habits to become a better student.