Blog Journal 8 - Diigo, PowerPoint & Bloom's Taxonomy, and Professional Development

Welcome back!

Over the past few weeks, we've made some use of Diigo, an online social bookmarking tool allowing the user to share bookmarked websites with others, along with various comments around the page. Diigo seems like it could be a very useful tool in a teaching setting. First off, it gives you the ability to easily share websites with colleagues, and second, it lets you share important websites with your students or give them an easy way to share websites among themselves. It also seems useful for solo usage in giving an easy way to organize your thoughts to look back on a web page later on.

Allowing students to share sites between themselves would definitely help in making teaching easier, but of course that would not remotely do my job for me. I still have to actively teach, and what can be a very useful tool for that is PowerPoint. PowerPoint can be used in all sorts of ways, but in this case it can be used to guide students to mastery of material in accordance with Bloom's Taxonomy- remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Maybe the most obvious usage of PowerPoint is for that first one- by setting up some sort of quiz game through PowerPoint, it encourages students to remember terms and ideas. Encouraging understanding, however, would take a little more work, in the sense that a similar format could be used but it would require more complex questions and maybe a different type of game setup. Applying would be largely based on using sections of a PowerPoint to encourage discussion in order to relate ideas being learned to other things. Analyzing could take the form of using the PowerPoint to break the students up into groups for group discussions in order to draw comparisons between different ideas being covered, and then, say, bring the groups back together to see what they had to say about the subject at hand. In the way of evaluation, a PowerPoint could be used to sort of pose questions for something of a debate over key ideas that were covered, thus encouraging students to interact with the ideas and actively appraise them. Creation is a weird one in that I really have trouble thinking of any way a PowerPoint could encourage students to create their own, original work except through putting out an assignment for them to do and turn in. Maybe some sort of project? This is something I will probably need to put some more research into.

Speaking of further research, professional development is a big part of being a teacher. As technology changes and becomes more advanced, the profession changes with it and demands more and more connection with that technology. If I want to last all that long as a teacher, I need to find a way to stay on top of new tech. One site I found to help keep track of new technology and more specifically its effects in the classroom is the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis, which offers articles and papers covering new technology being used in education and various effects associated with it, both good and bad. It seems to have a number of interesting articles covering topics ranging from online classes to educational text messaging. It seems like something I will definitely want to read through a little more in the future.

ILP #2 PLN - Reddit

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For the PLN project, I took a look at Reddit, and more specifically its usage for teachers. Reddit is a sort of social media platform that allows the user to participate in all sorts of "subreddits," which are concentrated groups of people gathered in one spot to discuss one particular subject- for example, r/teachers is dedicated primarily to teachers and the challenges they face in their profession. Reddit has plenty of use for teachers in the form of not only content such as r/teachers, which gives that sort of personal advice, but also in the form of r/teaching which is more broad and sees posts covering a very wide range of teaching-related subjects.

I made a VoiceThread on this topic- you can find it here!

Blog Post 7 - Twitter, Web Design, and Assistive and Adaptive Technologies

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I covered in an earlier post how much I enjoy keeping up with this blog- that I feel it gives me enough structure to properly lay out my thoughts and gives some sort of guidance as to what I should mostly write about, while simultaneously giving me enough freedom to write it almost however I see fit. Twitter, on the other hand, gives me that same freedom but absolutely no guidance. I have never in my life been an avid user of social media, nor have I ever been particularly conversational. I just don't ever feel like I have much to say, plain and simple. Trying to make myself post something on Twitter has been a pain for that reason. I don't know what I want to post, I don't know what I want to retweet, I don't know what I really even want to keep up with- I'm just kind of lost with it. I'm sure if I used anything aside from Snapchat on a regular basis I might manage it, but as it stands I can't even think about how to get my page off the ground. I suppose I should, though, if I want to get a decent grade. As such, starting tonight once I find my Twitter account's login info, I'm going to post or retweet something- I don't particularly care what, or who it's by, or whatever, I just need to get something on that empty page to make myself get that going. Once that's done, I'll do my best to post daily on the page.

While I certainly haven't acquired any Twitter skills to speak of, what I have learned a bit about is web design! Web design is something I've toyed with since as far back as elementary school, probably. Back around then, I went on some website creator and threw together a shoddy guide to being good at the video game Team Fortress 2 (I was not remotely good at that game and my recent trip back into that mess has taught me that I still am not). Going into the web design project, I was definitely interested in using what 8-year-old Dylan had learned. With the skills I'd learned from both class and personal experience, I did my best to put together this website for the project. Personally, I'm not all that satisfied with the result- sure, it doesn't look bad, but I just feel like Weebly's options were kind of limiting. They give you a template to toy with and it's pretty difficult to deviate from the template's layout without actually changing to a different one. While I couldn't actually give this website to a class or anything, this did give me an idea of just how useful a class website could be. I mean, Canvas is already super useful, so having an entire website dedicated to the class with all the info you could possibly need would be absolutely great.

I'd fit in a segue from web design to assistive technology but I'm kind of blanking on how I can connect those two things. Man, this paragraph is going to flow awkwardly- it already does because I'm ranting about segues.

Anyway, assistive technology is basically what it sounds like- it's technology to assist people with disabilities in performing tasks with ease. It goes without saying how, not just valuable, but absolutely necessary that is in a classroom setting. Students need to get the support they need in order to reach their full potential, so a lack of such technology is really detrimental. My own personal experience with these technologies is nonexistent- however, my family does have a history of eye troubles, specifically degenerative eye disorders like retinitis pigmentosa. Most of my uncles have this disorder, and as such they use various technology to offset its effects. If they have to read on a web page, they use white text on a black page and magnify the page to make reading as easy as possible. If they are reading a book, they get it as an audiobook. It goes without saying that these sorts of options being available has been very beneficial for them. One issue I see with implementing assistive or adaptive technology in the classroom is dependent on something that I really hope ends up not being an issue- prejudice. Last summer, I went on a cruise with my family. While we were stopped in Puerto Rico, we took a tour through the rainforest. With us on the tour was a woman who must have had severe vision issues- when she opened her phone, she had to place a magnifying glass against the screen and hold the screen up to her eye to read it. I noticed that my brothers were all going back and forth kind of cracking jokes about it. While I definitely hope this isn't a problem in the classroom, I could definitely see students viewing another student's issues and accommodations as kind of funny. That said, I don't think student reactions are any reason to not offer this sort of support to those who need it.

Blog Journal 6 - Teacher Pages, My Future Tech Use, and Tech Sandbox

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When looking for teacher pages, my first instinct was obviously to go to my high school's website. That's how I get in touch with my old teachers, after all, so I figured if there were any teacher pages they would be there. This idea of teacher pages seems pretty widespread too, so I figured my school would have them- so imagine my surprise when the only thing available about the teachers was an email address. I even went back and checked my middle school, and then even my elementary school- nothing. I guess teachers pages haven't caught on out in Baker yet. With that failure, I went on over to the page of the school I pass every time I drive on out here to Tallahassee- Leon High, grades 9 through 12. I immediately found teacher pages, right there at the top of the page. The pages were laid out in alphabetical order, and it was easy to find what you were looking for, but the pages I looked at weren't all that detailed. For example, some "about me" pages were about a sentence or two in length- it really didn't tell you anything. If you feel inclined to take a look at Leon High's teachers for yourself, you can locate the teacher pages here.

Now, as a future educator, I need to put some thought toward how I'll use technology in the future. I think what I'd plan on using a lot honestly might just be Diigo. Getting access to communities that could help me find useful resources to plan my lessons sounds absolutely amazing. What I'd also want is some sort of notepad extension or something like that to help me keep track of resources for when I'm planning lessons or doing other things. Really, I think just whatever helps me stay organized would be great.

Speaking of technology, the visit to the Tech Sandbox was great. It exposed me to technology that, previously, I'd only ever really seen on Youtube- for example, 3D printing. What really amazed me though was virtual reality. Now, when I was in high school, I was convinced I wanted to be an architect (having to take calculus quickly changed my mind on that), and as such I toured SCAD- the Savannah College of Art and Design. Along the tour they gave us these nice little cardboard cutout VR goggles to use- I still have them laying around somewhere at home. Even getting those little rinky-dink cardboard goggles was great for showing me just how cool virtual reality could be. Over time, though, I kind of started to associate virtual reality programs with poor graphical quality- probably because my only exposure to it was phone apps. Getting to see modern VR programs and equipment in the Tech Sandbox quickly changed my conceptions. Honestly, a lot of the stuff they had running in there looked even more realistic than a good number of modern, triple-A video game titles. With that in mind, I think VR would be a great thing to implement in classrooms-maybe not an English class, but it would definitely be a great addition to a science class, a history class, or maybe even a logistics or automotive class. Virtual reality technology opens the door for so many different experiences that we just can't get in a classroom today.

Blog Journal 5 - The Blog So Far, Diigo, and Web 2.0 Tools

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This marks the fifth journal on this blog, and somewhere between the sixth and eighth post overall- I think, anyway, I haven't been keeping much of a count going. Personally, the idea of keeping an active blog before this class didn't seem like something I much cared to do. I mean, I haven't posted on my Twitter in years, I deleted my Facebook (if I remember correctly, anyway), and I rarely do anything on Snapchat- all things considered, social media has just never really been my thing. I just never feel like I actually have much to share. That said, compared to other sorts of social media, I do enjoy keeping up with this blog. It feels like a good place to write down my thoughts on whatever the topic at hand is, in an environment specifically designed for that purpose. It feels more focused than Twitter and Facebook and all that- I guess, in my mind at least, it feels like it actually has a point. With that in mind, I really do like keeping up with this blog for that reason. Honestly, trying to list any one thing that I don't like about the blogging experience would probably get into nitpicking. I feel like it's a great experience all around to help in gathering your thoughts and putting them in an understandable format for others. If I've learned one thing from doing this blog so far, it's that I really shouldn't knock an experience before I try it. Before running this, blogging just never seemed like something I'd be interested in, but here I am now writing nearly 300 words just about that very thing. I still have two topics to cover!

Now, blogging is still pretty new to me, but not nearly as new as some other things- for example, Diigo. I'll be honest- when I first heard of Diigo and the whole idea of "social bookmarking," the first thing that ran through my head was "who in the world would want to use something like that?" Needless to say, my thoughts on it have changed a good bit. It definitely seems like it could be very useful for networking and in helping people connect and share resources. It's very easy to use, which is definitely a plus. What I don't like about it, however, is that it seems like it would open the door for people to potentially flood a group with all sorts of resources that are either out-of-date or otherwise unreliable. It seems like you'd have to make sure the people in your group know what to look for and what sources are reliable.

Now, tools like Diigo wouldn't exist were it not for the advent of Web 2.0- the current (I think) age of the internet. Under web 2.0, users are able to view, interact with, and produce content on a massive scale. An interesting tool that's emerged as a result of Web 2.0 is the wiki, which is basically a collection of interactive, collaborative web-pages. The most well-known example of this is, of course, Wikipedia. I'm sure many a teacher will frown upon what I'm about to say, but honestly Wikipedia receives a glowing review from me. Sure, you shouldn't use it alone, it definitely isn't flawless, but over time it has become an amazing source of information. I wrote a speech back in high school- specifically to spite my public speaking teacher because he really didn't like Wikipedia- about the site's honestly incredible reliability, and as it turns out based on my research (mostly done on Wikipedia), Wikipedia actually isn't that much less reliable than the Encyclopedia Britannica. I believe the exact number given is that Wikipedia has about one more error per page than the Britannica. When used in conjunction with other sources and not used alone, I think Wikipedia is honestly a wonderful resource when seeking new information.

Blog Journal 4 - Early Twitter Usage (or Lack Thereof), the Digital Divide, and Software for Students

Welcome back! This week I want to address my usage of Twitter, and take a look at the digital divide and some software for students.

Let's start with the real elephant in the room (can that phrase be used here?), my Twitter usage. That is to say, I completely forgot my Twitter account existed. I guess I've gotten so accustomed to my usual habit of lurking on the Jaguars account that I kind of forgot the need to actually post stuff. Anyway, from this point on, I'll be setting myself a strict schedule- every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I will tweet something. I'll set an alarm for it if I need to. Maybe I'll just tweet right when my alarm goes off in the morning. Who knows?

On a bit more serious of a note, there are plenty of issues that affect students as they work toward their education. One in particular, though, is a lack of technology. Even today many students suffer from poor access to or a complete lack of up-to-date technology, often due to economic issues- there are plenty of families, after all, that barely bring in enough money to feed themselves, let alone buy expensive tech like computers. Needless to say, this lack of computer access puts students at a severe disadvantage. If a student can't use a computer often, then they don't develop computer skills as well and suffer even after school when they have to get a job and don't have the same technological familiarity. Personally, I plan on going back to my home town to teach once I graduate, and I honestly didn't know many people in my town that even owned a personal computer. A lot of people relied on one family PC- in fact, one of my friends just recently upgraded from his family's early-2000s Windows XP dinosaur to a new laptop. With that in mind, I really don't think I could tackle the issue of tech access all that well- no matter what I do, people still won't be able to access good computers at home. As such, I think the best I can do is try to make sure students have some access to school computers, even if it's just a Chromebook with a screw drilled directly through the screen (and believe me, I've had to use one of those before). Just getting students something to use is better than doing nothing, right?

Now, on to educational software. Just recently I covered Gimkit, and really I think that deserves another spot here because I swear up and down that it is leagues ahead of Kahoot. Seriously, I just watched students play it when I observed classes out at FSUS, and even just watching was at least as engaging as actually playing a Kahoot game- I was immersed in the action, watching the leaderboard constantly changing as students answered questions or missed them. Throw in all the powerups and their added tension, and you've basically got educational Mario Kart. It is perfection. As for other software I could implement, I do think it could be pretty interesting to implement Diigo in some way. I think it would make for a much more engaging, interactive way for students to do stuff like locate sources for an essay. It would give them a chance to share sources with friends, and more importantly me, the teacher, to make sure their sources are actually useful and credible.

Blog Journal 3 - ELA Tech Standards, CPALMS, and the Newsletter Project

Hello everyone, and welcome back!

The Florida Department of Education has released ELA Standards, showing what technology standards are expected of teachers at each grade level. I wish to look more closely at grades 11 and 12, and more specifically at standard LAFS.1112.W.2.6, in which teachers must teach students to "use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information." The various example tools it lists for this are Wikispaces, Microsoft Word, and- to my surprise- Skype. Skype seems like an odd choice to me since it seems to be mainly focused on just talking to people. Then again, I haven't used Skype in some four or five years, so a lot could definitely have changed. It also lists online blogs as a possible tool to use for this standard, which- at least in my opinion- seems like a much better choice than Skype. Regardless of my thoughts on their tool choice, I have to say that I feel at least partially to implement this standard, since I'm basically learning just that right now. If I can't implement it yet, I almost certainly will be able to when I finish this course.

CPALMS is a very interesting website to me because of the sheer volume of stuff it gives you access to. In my past experiences, it was hard to find more than a handful of resources to use for designing lessons, but a single section on CPALMS in the "Grades 9-12" category has over one thousand two hundred items to use.What I found particularly interesting was a resource they called a "student tutorial," that seemed pretty similar to a lesson plan. The one I looked at covered how themes are developed in short poetry. Personally, I found this to be pretty interesting since it seems like something I'd like to adapt for my own usage later on (assuming its CC license would allow that, if it even has one). To be more specific, I'd want to take its ideas but adapt them to look at songs- songs are, after all, basically poems in their own right. I think this sort of thing would fit right in in an English class, since it would add another way to get students accustomed to analyzing media.

Lastly, I want to take a second to talk about the newsletter assignment. Personally, when I came into this class, I thought my four years of high school drilled every possible bit of knowledge about Microsoft Word into my head so securely that I'd never forget anything about it. I was pretty badly mistaken- it took me a solid fifteen minutes to figure out how to change the level of a bullet point after accidentally doing so. It also taught me more about how to properly implement hyperlinks, and how to use different graphics, and also how to shade sections (something I should admit I didn't find out until I'd already turned in the newsletter, any shading seen was actually done by depositing a shape behind the text). I think the main ways to improve the newsletter would be to use more space and not have like two-thirds of a page completely blank, and also to use proper shading techniques. Below is a composite image of my final newsletter design if you're interested!