Blog Post Ten

My biggest concern as an educator is my student’s success. I want to be able to track their progress and see where they might be struggling. I think the perfect way of doing so is using surveys and reporting the results in Microsoft Excel. For instance, my dream subject to teach in English I Honors. One of the biggest parts of the English I curriculum is Shakespeare, mainly Romeo and Juliet. I think it’d be awesome to keep track of my students quiz grades by act, this way when there’s a test, I’d be able to see which act they may need to review and spend more time on. I also think providing my students with surveys about different units could be helpful in improving my lessons and teaching strategies. I’d love to send out surveys after every unit, allowing my students to tell me what was helpful, what wasn’t helpful, and what they think would have helped them do better. Putting this information into a spreadsheet would allow me to see all the responses and review this information at anytime during any school year; it could be helpful to look back on and see if my previous students felt the same way as my current students.

When reviewing my classmates blogs, I was most interested in what they learned and struggled with. I liked comparing their results with my own. When we completed the Newsletter Assignment, I went on to a few of my classmate blogs and read what they learned. I was surprised how many of them discovered features that I was unaware of. I found this to be incredibly helpful, being that it expanded my understanding on very useful softwares. 

          The next technology-related skill I’d like to explore next is IMovie. I’ve tried using iMovie for several projects in colleges and always struggle. I think it’s one of the coolest applications on my laptop and I’d love to be able to create my own educational videos. My sister, who teaches 4th grade math and science, incorporate IMovie into her science curriculum. When she teaches her students about weather patterns, she has them use IMovie to create a weather report. I think her idea is an excellent way to incorporate technology into the elementary curriculum. I’d also love to assign projects like this (which are fun and make students excited to learn), but first, I need to learn the software myself. 

Blog Post Nine

           I had never heard the term “ The Flipped Classroom” until I began researching this concept for my blog post, but I remember teachers at my high school adopting different concepts from the “Flipped Classroom” idea. Basically, “ The Flipped Classroom” involves teachers posting lessons and notes online, expecting students to review the material before coming to class. This allows teachers to spend more time with students who may be struggling; it also gives students who understand the material more time to independently work and be productive. My high school chemistry teacher operated this way. We were expected to copy notes the night before at home, then come to class the next day with questions. She enjoyed this method because it allowed her to spend more time doing activities and labs in class. I think the idea of “The Flipped Classroom” is genius. I plan on doing something similar for my students when I’m a teacher. 

Being that my family is full of educators, I’ve heard them talk about open educational resources (OER) often. Basically, they’re resources that can be edited by different educators, keeping the information relevant and up-to-date. Students are given access to these resources (for free), allowing them to use accurate information to complete assignments without having pay. This entire process not only gives students the resources to be successful, it also benefits the teachers by allowing everyone to continuously make edits that will make the information more accurate. One OEF that I discovered was OER Commons. This website offers 73,000 OER and provides teachers with the tools to create their own. OER Commons also provides trainings on how to use OER and how to create “commons,” which are groups created for the sole purpose of sharing resources. The website allows teachers to create resources, lessons, and modules. It even contained Common Core resources, which I was really impressed by. I’m sure I’ll be using ORE Commons once I become an educator. Here's the link: https://www.oercommons.org

          Using PowerPoint for these past few weeks has actually been enjoyable. I’ve been using PowerPoint since I was a child, which made be believe I knew everything there is to know. However, these past two assignments made me realize how little I actually knew. From Assignment Four, I learned how to create my own slide format and add hyperlinks: two things that sound very easy but I never understood. I like the idea of adding hyperlinks, but I didn’t really care for making my own slide format. I guess it’d be cool for creating something interactive, or maybe for a teacher who relies on graphs or maps, but I didn’t see a need for this function. Next time I create a PowerPoint to teach a lesson, I’d like to incorporate more interactive slides. I feel that this will make my students more engaged with the lesson and encourage them to participate in class. Assignment Five showed me how to create my own buttons, input sounds, and make it so that you can’t click through the slide show. This was awesome; by the end of this assignment, I felt like a PowerPoint expert. The only thing I didn’t think was necessary was the incorporation of images. By now, I think everyone knows how to add a picture to PowerPoint; I felt that to be redundant from Assignment Four, but I suppose it’s a good refresher. Next time, I want to add more a variety of transitions and make my buttons more visually appealing. For now, I just wanted to learn the basics. Also, check out pictures of my projects below! 

ILP "Participation" - Teacher Interview

For my second Independent Learning Project, I decided to interview one of my favorite teachers from high school. I complied a list of six questions and asked my former teacher via email. He responded promptly with concise and thorough answers. Overall, I enjoyed interviewing my teacher and learning from his experience. I definitely plan on adopting some of his ideas when I have a classroom of my own. Check out my project in the link below!
https://voicethread.com/myvoice/thread/13071418/80158235/74455744