Stephanie's+445+Wiki+Workspace

~I went to PD 121 edTPA Planing to Video on 9/15/2016~
Status Report for 10/24: I created my about me page with two paragraphs introducing who I am as well as pictures of me working with children. I also created my pi beta phi page which has information about my sorority and the work I have done with them. Then, I made my resume page that has everything except my address. I worked with different themes, and am yet to find one I truly like.
 * EP Status Reports:**

Status Report for 11/7: I picked my theme: learning is a vertical climb, so I am using trees and mountains to show this. I also rearranged different tabs and deleted those that I did not need. I added mountain or tree pictures to all of the headings of my pages as well as quotes to my five main pages (Home, About me, My Pedagogy, My Ideal Classroom, and Teaching in the 21st century). I added to my Home page as well as to my Teaching in the 21st century and Tech Tools pages.

Status Report for 11/14: I made my Philosophies page, and started my educational philosophy page. I created a philosophy of assessment page but have not added to it yet. I also made a my pedagogy page and have finished that. I deleted my ideal classroom page but I will need to make a page showing my content knowledge.

My plan for videoing my edTPA are using my first period class. There is only about 11 kids in the class but they are super into discussions and all activities. I don't know if they are able to all have their faces in the video, but if not I will have the camera at the back of the classroom and only show the back. I want to video something that has a class discussion and then student work where I can walk around and give them feedback. To incorporate digital video in my class I like the idea of book trailers. However my CT doesn't use novels so I'm not sure it is something reasonable to use. I think doing what we did in class with theme could be fun. I also think it would be interesting to use it for giving the students their warm up (me recorded talking to them). As well as students to record themselves at home and give a video presentation the next day (this could be useful for shy students who don't like presenting in front of class)
 * Seminar 8 Prep (Class on 10/17):**

__Language Today:__ I have made 6 posts, I need to make 1-4 more. I think having students go through and find an article that they think is interesting and then research it could be good. I think this can be used for this twitter page or other educational pages. For me, looking up more information on articles I read made me more connected to them and the page. If I had students do our own twitter page, I could have them present on an article that they did not post.

Book trailers are so much fun to do. I did a project during my master's program on book trailers and I was 22 running around making book trailers. I also think using videos to accommodate for shyer students, especially if the point of the assessment is to evaluate their knowledge and not their ability to present. I think starting your own Language Today twitter page for the class would be a cool way to allow students to have their voice and interests heard.

3 takeaways from //Electronic Portfolio 2.0//:
 * Seminar 6 Prep (Class on 10/3):**
 * I can use my design of my portfolio to show small aspects of my outlook on teaching and my journey to get there. I think this is a really cool way to show people my professional side while also letting them glimpse my personality.
 * I like the idea of it acting as an ongoing reflection. Some of the students in the article were quoted on how they watched all their decisions and how, as they grow-even after they have reflected on that particular thing- they are still thinking about past choices and if they would react differently now. We're always told to reflect on our practices and I think that this would be a great way to do so, not only for this year while I student teach, but for years after.
 * -I also like how an EP can show growth with students. It would be easy to show student samples over the course of the year and how they grow and how my lessons and projects grow to support them.

I think I am going to do an Electronic Portfolio. I want to do it on google sites and make it very user friendly like Dr. Falter's sites are. Currently I'm picturing a ladder going up a tree to a treehouse on my site. I like this because I think it shows my personality, nature, calm, but creative. I've always loved climbing trees and mountains and I think it would be a good representation of my journey to become a teacher, and continue daily to be an even better teacher. I want this to be for future educators to see me as a proffesional as well as let it be a spot for other teachers to find ideas. I'd like to include some of my favorite activities as well as activities I'd like to try. Lesson plans, and reflections to if they worked or not. A collection of technology that I enjoy using in the classroom. As well as student work.

I like how you focus on showing your personality and your philosophy through the project. It is as much about showing what you can do as who you are. I think having a student examples section is awesome. That would be perfect for future employers as well as parents and students. They can get a feel for how you teach, how you assess, and what you find important. I like the ladder up the tree idea. Sounds very you!

I struggled to find examples of a teaching toolkit, but I was able to find one. I think that I would prefer to use an electronic portfolio. I think this would work better for me because I have made something similar in the past and I've used google sites before. I would be able to include a picture of myself and information about me. I could have my resume attached as well as sections on the page that have relative information important to me as a professional teacher. I also would want to make a google site because I like google classrooms as well and I think it would flow nicely to my teaching style. I would be able to personalize it while showing other educators my thoughts, work, and philosophies.
 * Seminar 5 Prep (class on 9/26):**

There's nothing wrong with building on work you've already done. I think a portfolio would be awesome. So is your target audience for this project other educators? Who else could you benefit from seeing this? You mention relevant information important to you as a professional teacher - what kind of information would that include?


 * Seminar 4 Prep Reading Responses (class on 9/19):**

__//Approaching Technology in English Education from a Different Perspective://__ This article really spoke to me. It was designed for educators teaching preservice teachers, but it really showed the passion for technology. One thing I really liked was " It took time to realize my preservice teachers are reacting just as I had initially in graduate school, focusing too much on the technology and too little on student learning. Much like Dug in the Pixar film Up, they are distracted by shiny technological squirrels" because i really feel like this describes me. I want to use technology, and sometimes I want to use a specific technology because it's 'cool' but I do not have the lesson to back up using it. I hope that I will soon be able to ignore the "technological squirrels" out there and be able to sift through technology with a teacher eye.

__//We Are Teachers://__ This article was about how teachers can use instagram in the classroom. I thought some of the ideas were amazing! I love the idea of making it a book sharing account where students can take a picture of a book they read, make a blurb about it, and then another student could see it and pick up that book. I also liked the ideas of posting what a book character, or famous person from history would post. I think that could be a fun way to have students either place themselves in that book, or time period. I also liked (with parent permission) posting a student of the week to encourage student who are working hard or just accomplished something new. I wonder if it would be possible for the students to have access to posting, or if it should be left to the teacher?

//__Enhancing English Language Arts Education With Digital Video:__// Before now, for some reason, I had never viewed movies as a narrative. Which is absurd because all movies tell a story. I like the idea of a student analyzing a film, and I think this could be an option for a journal entry warm up after a long weekend, or a new movie is released. I also like the idea of using a film throughout reading a novel as a class. I also think students going on YouTube and finding educational videos to watch/comment on could be a fun way to bring videos into the classroom. Sending out video reminders to my students, like Dr. Young did the other day, is also a good way to incorporate videos into my class.

I definitely think you're right to make sure there is a purpose behind the technology you use. And I don't think there's anything wrong with finding a "cool" tool first and storing it somewhere until you find some topic or activity that it would complement perfectly. I think she is more warning us against using technology just to use it, even when it does not enhance student learning. I also loved the ideas about how to use Instagram and featuring students of the week. I think if you want to use Instagram it might be good to start off with you controlling it, but then moving it student use. You could change the password every time a different student was in charge to make them responsible for keeping it safe. Just a thought! I'm with you - I love the idea of analyzing a film instead of just using it as a time to not think and veg out. There are some many strategies and techniques that a director uses to influence our thinking and emotions; it makes me excited to think we could send out a generation of students who can see past that! Nice job.


 * My Online Identity Presentation 9/9/2016:**
 * Online Identity**


 * Seminar 2 Prep Reading responses (for class on 8/29):**

__//An Educator's Social Media Guide://__ Aaron is suggesting using social media as a way to grow as an educator by not only connecting with your students on a digital level, but connect with other educators. He essentially is advocating for almost online PLTs, but on a much larger scale. I think it is very interesting how Aaron has found use of all these apps working together to give him a large presence on social media. I also think its really nice how he stresses that this can be done even if you don't have tons of time to be on your phone all day. You can still go back and read what is relevant to you, and you can schedule to post things ahead of time. Advantages of having an online PLT are that you get to collaborate with educators who have dealt with a wider range than most people in your general area. I think I would benefit from being able to bounce ideas off other people, and also use other people's ideas and modify them for my classroom. Collaboration is important because it allows teachers to make better accommodations and lessons for their students. It also allows teachers to know what students are doing not just across the hall, but across the country and with twitter, across the world.

I think you definitely identified his main argument that social media, Twitter in particular, can be used as a large scale online PLT. What are some advantages he notes to this approach? How do you think you could benefit from it? What is collaboration so important? Have you found any individuals or groups to follow that can serve as a resource when you begin student teaching? Please add more detail.

__//Instant Message, Instant Girlfriend://__ In reading this I thought it was a great article to talk to my students about online identities. It is not as horrible as someone pretending to be their age or something in order to make connections with. But then, I started to think about how I can apply this to my interactions with my students. I realized that I do see myself using technology in the classroom but I also need to pay special attention to how my students interact online vs in the classroom. If I have a student who is outgoing and active on our classes online assignments but shy in class, how can I get them to open up in class? I think it will be important to establish good relations with my students before I let them get to deep into our online classroom. I think that having a relationship with my students is important to be able to understand how the best learn, and to create activities to cater to that. It is also important for my students to trust me and be able to have honest conversations with me so together we can create a learning environment that is most beneficial for the whole class. Even if I had students who preferred to interact online, I would still make them interact face to face because I think it is very important to be able to have interpersonal skills.

I think you're right, that all good teaching starts with a good relationship with your students. Why do you think establishing that relationship is important alongside using online activities in the classroom? How do you intend to use the knowledge of your students to guide the activities you choose? I also like your idea of paying attention to who interacts better online and offline. Do you think that allowing students who don't interact well in the classroom to do their interaction online is like accommodating the different assessments needs of students (like allowing students to choose between projects) or that all students need to learn to interact on and offline? Please add more detail.

__Online Professional Identity Follow-up:__ My online identity I feel holds basic, shallow information of me. It has my love of NCSU and football. As far as too personal, it can be found that my sister is getting married, as well as my home address. I changed the fact that my home address was available through NCSU student directory and only made my email address available. I think that my online identity shows your average person. I don't look extremely professional, but I also do not look unprofessional. I think that to change it I just need to be more involved in the education community. I think that my students wouldn't mind that they can't find out much about me since many teachers have their social media blocked to students. Parents, might wonder about my ideals and qualifications, which I would be more specific with a letter home to families at the start of the year. I know having a presence online is important, but I am not worried about how little about me is available, I was taught to keep all online activities private.

Good summary of what you found during your search with your partner. What perception do you think this information gives to future students, parents, and employers? What do you want to improve or change about your online identity? How do you plan on making those changes? Please add more detail.