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.