Journal 7

Over the course of the quarter, we have been introduced to several Professional Learning Networks (PLNs). From Blogger to Twitter and RSS feeds to affinity groups, these are all valuable resources. Prior to this course I was already familiar with Twitter and Blogger, however I had hardly used them. Blogger was a great way to keep in contact with classmates. The PLN that really stood out to me was the Digg, the RSS feed. On my web browser I have a favorites folder dedicated to teacher written blogs--about 10. One by one I would read each blog to get a sneak peak of their classroom, lesson plan ideas, and free downloads. These are great resources, but it was time consuming to go to each individual blog. With Digg, their most recent posts are all in one spot! Now instead of going through my folder, I just go to my Digg. These PLNs are all resources I plan to carry with into my classroom for students as well as my professional growth.

Journal 6

This time last year, if you had told me I would be using html and actually understand it come next November I would have told you you’re crazy! This class (and program) has pushed me to do things that I never thought I would be capable of accomplishing—and it’s only the first quarter.

The most challenging assignment thus far was book exercise 6.8 (the glossary). This exercise was long and had link after link after link. If one hyperlink didn’t have a </a> then it wouldn’t work and I had to search through the text to close it. What I truly gained from this assignment was to check and make sure codes are working properly before finishing the page.

As for the most rewarding assignment that’s harder to decide which one, but I think it has to be book exercises 9.1-9.4 (“Pimp My Shoes” contest entry form). For this assignment we had to add text boxes, radio buttons and checkboxes, a drop-down menu, and a submit button to create an interactive form. I had a lot of fun completing this assignment and loved how everything came together (and actually worked!).

I am very much looking forward to see what else this course has in store for us!

Journal 5

­­When I think of Twitter, celebrities, sports and reality TV usually come to mind. However, after taking a look at this week’s resources, I think Twitter can have a dominant role in the classroom for educational purposes. In the YouTube video, the Minneapolis high school teacher said “If you don’t engage the kids you may as well be talking to a wall” and I couldn't agree more. Today there is so much going on around us and people feeling the need to always check their smart phones and be engaged with it, it’s important to hold the attention spans of students. So using a social media site like Twitter can be that little something extra to make them want to participate and learn.

Q: How could you use Twitter in the classroom?

A: From the list of “35 Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom,” the idea of summarizing topics/views as tweets was a great idea and using historicaltweets.com see what a historical figure could have said to summarize their idea in 140 characters. The idea of tweeting shared stories was interesting as well by having students take turns write 140 characters to create a story. It’s a fun update to the shared story writing experience.

Q: Is it possible to incorporate Twitter in an elementary classroom setting?

A: I think using Twitter may be difficult to use with younger students, but it would be a great way to keep parents updated on what is going on in their child’s class and daily activities. Perhaps in 4^th or 5^th grade students could handle using Twitter, but who knows children are getting more and more tech savvy every day. If they can use an iPad as a toddler, they can probably figure out social media by elementary school.

Journal 4

Site Title: Hiking Club (working title)

Developer: Jessica Pansegrau

Rational or Focus: For as long as I can remember, my family and I have gone on camping trips in the summer that consisted of playing card/board games, making s'mores, and long hikes. The time spent on those hikes are fond memories of my childhood and instilled a love for the outdoors. My goal of having a hiking club for elementary school students is to get them out in nature and find their own love for the outdoors. Having a website for the club will help students and parents stay up to date about hikes and club news.

Main Features Outline: Below the header there will be a navigation panel down the left side of the page. The panel will have five buttons that redirect visitors to new pages.

Content: There will be five individual web pages. The “Home” page, this will be where information and updates will be posted. The “Calendar” page, a monthly calendar will be on this page with the dates of past and upcoming hikes. The “Trails” page, an informational page describing the different hikes the club does. The “Photos” page, pictures from past hikes will be posted. And lastly, a “Parents” page where there will be a section listing the volunteers for hikes and a sign up section for future hikes.

Target Audience: Elementary school students (3^rd – 5^th graders), parents, and school faculty.

Design Considerations: I would like to design a navigation bar on the left side, that way visitors can go through the site with ease and not get lost. I’m playing around with the idea of having another navigation bar on the “Trails” page, each trail will have a dedicated page with descriptions, pictures, maps, and driving directions.

Limiting Factors: At the moment the only limiting factor I’m anticipating is designing the navigation bars, but I’m sure we will be learning how to do this in class.

Journal 3: Social Media in Schools

Kessler, S. (2010, September 29). The Case for Social Media in Schools. Retrieved October 14, 2014, from http://mashable.com/2010/09/29/social-media-in-school/

In the article “The Case for Social Media in Schools,” Sarah Kessler teamed up with a middle school teacher from Oregon—who has made social media a part of her curriculum, to come up with six reasons why educators should embrace social media in the classroom. Those reasons being: social media isn't going anywhere anytime soon, student engagement leads to better learning, there are safe and free social media tools available, decrease online distractions and increase social education, student collaboration, and cell phones can be useful tools. I could not agree more with this list. Social media is part of many people’s daily routines, updating their status, checking their newsfeed, and using hashtags to describe their days. So when schools ban social media and cell phones that usually results in students craving to go on those sites and using their phones even more. Rather than refusing access, teachers should embrace it by incorporating it into lessons. Blogging sites, such as edublog and Edmodo, are a great way for students to collaborate inside and outside the classroom. As stated in the first reason “social media is not going away,” schools were apprehensive about allowing internet usage and look at where we are now. The internet is used almost every day in the classroom and engages students in a positive way. If we can learn to do the same with social media and embrace it, I believe it will be a powerful learning tool for teachers.

Q: How can teachers use blogging sites effectively in the classroom?

A: Blogs can be used as student journals for writing prompts, answering assigned reading questions, or writing narratives. In the article, it’s said that students feel empowered when writing on their blog because they’re writing for more than just their teacher, they’re writing for the internet. By changing the way students are writing, they are producing better pieces of work.

Q: How can teachers make sure students use blogs appropriately?

A: Before allowing students to create their blogs, there should be a class contract on agreed upon behavior and expectations of their personal blogs and interacting with their peers’ blogs. Having a student-generated contract means everyone knows what is and isn’t appropriate. If someone breaks a rule, they will lose all privileges.

Journal 2

This week for class we discussed online communities and affinity groups. As I was looking over the list of educational affinity groups, I found myself overwhelmed (due to being quite indecisive when I have numerous options presented to me). There are so many groups and communities to choose from! After clicking on majority of the links, I found myself drawn to Promethean Planet. This site describes itself as “the world’s largest interactive whiteboard community” and it definitely delivers. Promethean Planet provides blog posts, discussion forums, and resources for all grades and subjects—lesson plans, games, worksheets, etc. There is so much to explore on this site and I have barely scratched the surface! From what I have seen so far, this is going to be a great asset.

As for my Digg Reader, I added a few teaching blogs to my stream. At the moment I do not have my own classroom, so I added blogs written by substitute teachers who document their experiences and tips of the trade. I’m really enjoying Digg Reader! It’s so nice to have everything in one spot instead of having clicking through bookmark tabs.

Q: How can being part of an affinity group help an educator develop professionally?

A: Affinity groups are great resources for professional development. The online community within Promethean Planet has a great section dedicated to discussions on curriculum; including informal topics such as tips on how to stay organized at the beginning of the school year to lesson plan ideas. Additionally there’s a section solely for professional development, linking to videos and webinars.

Q: How can Digg Reader help professional development?

A: By having a Digg Reader, educators can add various blogs and websites to their stream in order to stay up to date on the latest articles about education, technology, or a sale on TeacherPayTeachers.

Chapters 1-3

The first section of Jennifer Niederst Robbins’s book, Learning Web Design, is comprised of three chapters giving a general overview of what goes into designing a website. In chapter one, Robbins describes web design as having four subcategories: design, development, content strategy, and multimedia. Then she introduced us to some web-related technologies that are used while creating websites, such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CCS), and JavaScript. The second chapter describes how the web works, dissects URLs, and shows how an HTML markup creates a webpage. The final chapter of the section discusses how the web has been expanding and evolving. For example, the internet in 2007 was solely on computers and now web designers need to take phones and tablets into consideration when working on websites.

What are your web design goals?

My biggest goal is being able to design my own class website. A site parents can visit to get a sneak peak of what their child is learning and the doing at school. If a student is unable to make it to school, they can visit the site and know what they missed that day.

Which aspect of web design interests you the most?

Web design is completely new to me, but as of right now the graphic design aspect interests me the most. I enjoy painting and being crafty, so the artistic element of graphic design is intriguing. However, I’m looking forward to learning and familiarizing myself with each aspect of web design.