Miranda's+445+Wiki+Workspace

"Social media find place in classroom" While I know how to use technology and social media for personal purposes, I was never really taught how to use technology, beyond things such as Microsoft word, for educational purposes. My high school had a strict ban on technology and tons of sites, even those that were nearly all educational, were blocked on our school's internet, so I never learned how to be "digitally literate". If I had been taught a basis on how to use a wider range of technology in high school, I would be in a much better place now. //The lack of technology used in my high school didn't change the way I viewed my teachers at all, because the way our school handled technology was on a district basis--so if anything it made me view Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district negatively. There were a lot of decisions that CMS made that didn't make sense to me as a student and still don't make sense to me now. This is one of those things. The main advantage I see in using technology and social media in the classroom is the ease of communication it affords to both teachers and students. Students are used to using social media and other technology tools to communicate, so using these platforms to help keep your students up-to-date on things happening in your classroom and school as a whole. Using technology also allows students to work more independently and at their own pace on work in class. Last week my CT had her students working independently on a list of tasks on their phones, tablets or laptops. The students were able take as long on each individual task for as long as they needed to, but they all finished in the allotted class time because different tasks took different students longer or shorter. The main issue I could see with letting students work independently, especially on their phones, is making sure they are only visiting the websites they are supposed to be visiting rather than checking their own social media. Even if you circled around the classroom to make sure students were on the right pages, they could easily switch to social media once you walk away from them. To be honest, I'm not really sure how to solve this issue.//

Interesting approach your school had to technology - sounds like a pretty unfortunate situation. How do you think this situation impacted your relationship with learning or with your teachers? Compare that to how the environment in the article is presented. What are the advantages of using social media and technology in schools? What might be some challenges? What lines do you plan on drawing for your students to determine how they will use those tools appropriately? Please add more detail.

"An Educators Social Media Guide" //What does Aaron offer you and your fellow teachers in thinking about using social media to grow as an educator?// Ever since I entered NC State's college of education, I heard professors talking about using Twitter as a educational tool and professional resource, but as someone who uses Twitter for the personal side of social media, I didn't understand how Twitter could be a place for professional educators. In his article, Aaron describes how his outlook on Twitter changed when he started following more people. As someone who follows people I don't know but find funny on my personal Twitter, I can see how following someone you may not know but agree with professionally would increase the amount of content related actually appreciated. Then when you follow those people you will get connected with the people they follow and find more people you agree with and like. This makes a ton of sense to me as I think about how my personal Twitter skills can transfer to a professional Twitter. //By following other educators or education groups it allows you as a teacher to hear about and learn about new teaching tools and strategies. In doing so, however, it is important to make sure that the new topics are based in research. Seeing what works for other teachers is important, especially for me as a new teacher, because a lot of what I try in my first few years might fail and I’ll need to go back to the drawing board for that particular lesson or unit as a whole. Then once I’m a more experience teacher, collaboration is important to prevent me from getting stuck in my ways of teaching. Even if I start off as the best first year teacher in the country, there is always room for improvement. The one account I’ve followed recently that I feel will be very beneficial as I student teach is my school’s twitter account. I don’t know much about Wake County schools in general, Apex Middle included. This is an easy way to get to know the school as a whole and to keep up with what’s going on there week by week.//

Nice personal connection to transferring your personal skills to professional skills. What are some things you think following other educators or education groups can offer you? Why do you think this collaboration is so important? Have you found any individuals or groups you can follow that can serve as a resource during student teaching? Please add more detail.

Professional identity takeaway: When I thought about my online presence as a future teacher, I always thought that everything about me would need to be hidden and protected from parents and students' eyes. Instead I should embrace the fact that I do have an online presence, and I should "overload Google with a long tail of good stuff". //Doing the online identity activity with my partner was very helpful, because it showed me what other see when they search my name. Nothing that she found was very concerning at all, most of what she found was neutral. The perception that the public can see of me is positive. I look like someone who goes out and does respectable things with my friends who also cares about her school and work. The things that I discovered on my own investigation or things I want to change are discussed in my Prezi below.//

I definitely approached my online identity in the same way at the beginning. I kind of thought no news was good news. But being online is so prevalent today that not having an identity is almost a little strange and could potentially portray us as out of touch educators. Tell me more about what you experienced during the online identity activity in class. What did you and your partner find out about you through the search? What perception do you think students, parents, and employers would have of you based on what you found? What are some things you want to improve or change? How do you plan on doing that? Please add more detail.


 * [|Professional Identity Presentation]**
 * [|Rubric]**

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 * I attended the edTPA boot-camp session this past Saturday.**


 * What are your takeaways? How do they help you think about your own teaching? If applicable, what questions do they raise for you?**

As I brought up in class, I can't see myself using Instagram in my classroom as much as I can see myself using a Google Site as a form of a picture blog similar to Instagram. I like that concept behind using Instagram in the classroom--allowing students to express themselves and their work in a different way, but I worry about the practicality of a class Instagram. First, as other brought up, I would worry about privacy. In order to see your students posts and to allow them to post on the class Instagram, a teacher might not be able to have to privacy settings as high as I would like. I really think a class Google Site is a good way around this. Each student could have their own page, a blog similar to the formatting of our ECI 405 blogs, where they could post pictures with short captions, in the same aspects the article suggested teachers could use Instagram. But with a Google Site, only people with the link will have access to the site--which means it's easy to share with your students and to be able to see everything that they post without having to make it public. I also like the idea of having a class Google Site, because the site would allow you to post homework, readings, announcements, etc. all on the same site where students can post their pictures and write up their homework. This makes it easier for students, teachers and parents. //Before taking a film class here at State, I didn't realize how much like a novel a film really was and how much there was to analyze in a film--actually more to analyze in a film than a book, because of things such as camera angle and actors' placement. With that being said, I'm surprised that film was accepted by the NCTE as early as 1932, even though it wasn't widely accepted by teachers at first. Personally I can see the use in using film as a real "medium for teaching the skills of literary analysis". As the article describes, students comprehend and analyze film and TV on a daily basis. These same skills can be strengthened if teachers use film to its fullest extent. Teachers must move beyond the "read-the-book-see-the-movie" way of using film in the classroom, because this dramatically limits how students view film. This teaches students that film is inferior when in reality it is just different. Something I think would be interesting to do in a classroom would be to watch the film first, then read the book. By using film in the classroom, teachers are by default using technology in the English class. Like the teachers described in Shoffner's article, I would not describe myself as a technology expert by any means, and I do view technology in the classroom as a way to increase student engagement. I loved the examples she gave on how technology tools could transform vocabulary. Using wordle to create vocabulary clouds. Students could create wordles using synonyms for each vocabulary word. Technology should be used to increase learning, not necessarily just student engagement.//

I can definitely respect your concerns for privacy and think that a Google Site as a class website is a great idea. However, the one argument I would make for Instagram is that this is a tool your students are constantly using outside of class, so if we as teachers are trying to be relevant to what students are doing in their personal lives as well as use the skills they are developing on their own, it is fair to say that Instagram is a solid tool. I think if you are concerned about the privacy as well, it might be beneficial to start of small and ease into it. For example, you can create a class account that only you control. You can have all your students follow you (they see what you post), but then not follow them (you don't see what they post). That way, privacy is maintained, but you are still infiltrating their social media with positive, academic material. Just something to think about. Please add some reflection on the other two articles as well.


 * Initial Ideas About MSL Electronic Portfolio or Teaching Toolkit**

//Be thinking about which of these two options you would like to pursue and what each option might include. Brainstorm the following in relation to your choices: purpose, audience, possible categories and contents.//

So to be completely honest, I'm not really sure what the difference is between an electronic portfolio and a teaching toolkit. I looked on the Moodle, Wikispace and syllabus to try to find some clarification, but I couldn't find much to help me. Just based off how I imagine a electronic portfolio versus a teaching toolkit, I think an electronic portfolio might suit me best. A portfolio is where you compile your best work and present yourself in a professional way. This could easily be achieved through a Google site, like the ones we use for Falter, a Wikispace like we use in this or a Weebly like we used in Nicolette's class last year. Since these tools have already been modeled for us, it would be easy for me to use them for an electronic portfolio. I know a Google Site and a Wikispace can be made public for viewing, so that would be helpful when thinking of the audience. //My audience would be my current classmates and professors as well as future possible employers. I want my classmates and professors to look at it so they can offer me suggestions on how to improve the look and presentation of my blog, as well as what I can do to strengthen myself as a soon-to-be first year teacher.// //Content and categories could include:// //professional knowledge, content knowledge, impact on student learning, leadership and collaboration, 21st century technologies, education philosophy, dispositions, resume, reflection. In my opinion, the content and professional knowledge would be most important, because if you have these as your base the rest of the categories can be built on.//

I think a portfolio would be an awesome tool to use for the future. Speaking of an audience, who exactly are you targeting as your audience for this project? Who do you want to see it and why? Also, what kind of content do you want to include in your portfolio? What categories would they be broken up into? What's most important? Please add more detail.

//3 Takeaways from the Reading// 1) After reading this, the electronic portfolio for this course sounds a lot like the electronic portfolio we started in ED/ECI 204 and used in ED 311/312 as well. The point of both of these was to showcase your best work and to reflect while you work on each assignment. The portfolio we created for ED/ECI 204 was 2) As stated above, this portfolio seems heavy on reflection, even heavier than the reflection portions of the portfolio we started our sophomore year. The point of these reflections is to help you grow and discover who you are as a teacher. 3) I would much rather do an electronic portfolio this semester and add onto it during our student teaching than do edTPA. I feel like this would be more useful during my first year of teaching than edTPA will be.

//Two Options for you EP/TT// 1) Google site- this allows you to upload documents that you've already completed directly to your site 2) Word press- this would allow you to reflect heavily since word press is a blogging website

//I chose to create an Electronic Portfolio using wordpress. I like the idea of using wordpress because after graduation I could start using it as a class blog for teachers and administrators to look at, and because I tried to make a weebly and it wasn't really working for me.// //Purpose: Showcase who I am as a teacher and who I want to become as a teacher.// //Audience: Fellow educators, professors, future employers// //Categories: professional knowledge, content knowledge, impact on student learning, leadership and collaboration, 21st century technologies, education philosophy, dispositions, resume, reflection// //Themes: Accepting classroom environment (is this right..?)//

I think you are right to note the importance of reflection in the electronic portfolio. It is definitely important to think of it as a growing body of knowledge versus a static project that you will complete and then leave behind. I know reflection is stressed in the college of ed, but I think that's because it's the only way we grow as educators. I think the EP is cool to show future employers and parents that you are capable of learning from your experiences and bettering yourself. The second half of this should be to share which you have chosen (EP/TT), the purpose, audience, possible categories, and themes you are thinking about to communicate who you are. Please add that detail.

Digital Video Follow Up: a) The next time I go into my school I need to talk to my CT about videoing permission slips and see what her thoughts are in general on recording for edTPA. I know a lot of the other girls' CTs have had input and opinions about what class they should record and some other tips, but my CT and I just haven't talked about recording much at all yet. As of now, I think recording for third core would be best because they've seen me the most this semester and because they are the best behaved. But I also know the most well behaved class isn't necessarily always the best class to record so I just need to look at the rubrics and talk to my CT. Regardless of which class I record, I would have the camera set up for a few days before I was actually planning on recording. I would record at least one class period as a practice run to test the camera placement and see if the sound and visuals are strong with the camera in that spot. I would then record for the entirety of my 3-5 days so I had a wide range of clips to pick from. b) In ECI 405 we have used digital video in several ways ourselves as a way to discuss book material. Two ways are through vlogs and voicethreads. Both of these tools allow students to respond verbally to a book or discussion question. If I had a class Instagram or my students had blogs, I would love to incorporate vlogs into these mediums like we have in ECI 405. Allowing students to respond verbally would help students who struggle to get their point across in writing have their voices and opinions heard by me and their classmates.

Language Today: a) Before today I had only posted two articles on the Twitter, and today I added two more, so I am about halfway done with the Language Today requirement. b) The first way I could use this in my future classroom is by reading the articles to get new ideas for skills or topics to cover in class. As a teacher it's important to stay up to date with what's changing in the world of education, and the world in general, and Language Today is one way to stay up to date on new trends. The second way I could use this in my future classroom would be to have my students read the articles off of Language Today. This could be done in two ways: I could choose the article for them, or they could scroll through the page and pick an article that interests them-- similar to what we did today. Once students have their article they could conduct a SCIM-C on the article. This is a strategy we learned in Social Studies Methods as a way to conduct inquiry. We used it to analyze primary sources, but it could be used for current events as well.

I really like the idea of a vlog, especially if the point is to grade students on their grasp of the content, not their typing or writing skills. I think this could be a great tool to use to assess that. I also like using Language Today to get ideas for lessons in your classroom. It would even be cool to have students look through it and suggest lessons for you to teach so that they can be a part of the process.

Electronic Portfolio Follow Up #1

After watching tutorials and trying to figure out how to navigate the WordPress site, I gave up on it and created a Google Site using the new format. I wish I would have done this from the beginning, because it has been so easy to set up. I was just hesitant about it, because I hated trying to use the old version of Google Sites when we had to create a portfolio for ED 204 and ECI 204. Now that my new site has been created, I have formatted it how I want it and created all my tabs. I added to the teaching philosophy and disposition tabs.

E.P. follow up #2

I continued to add to my teaching philosophy and disposition tabs. I also started an "About Me" portion on my home page, added my courses to my pedagogical and content knowledge tabs, as well as creating a tab for a list of my minor classes. Lastly, I added tabs to both my "impact on student learning" and "leadership and collaboration" tabs.

E.P. follow up #3

I created a tab under my "Knowledge" tab for Lesson and Unit plans to show how content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge can be combined. I went through courses I took my sophomore and junior year and started to add lesson plans that I felt were strong and covered diverse topics. I continued to add pictures and videos relevant to particular tabs on my portfolio. I began to work on my resume, and lastly I started to add to my 21st Century Technologies tab.